3rd Gen 4Runner on Rubicon

[DaveInDenver]

Funny, you actually had more damage than I thought, which just goes to show you the serious nature of that trail. Most Rubicon veterans bring extra main leafs for just the reason you needed them. I keep a front and a rear main with bushings bungied to the front bumper. It looks ghetto but I always know I can repair spring damage.

The spring break was the only serious one in that we were dead in the water. The WilderNest breaking, not much you can do about that. Never in a thousand years would have expected the rears to be the problem and so I was heavy on extra front end parts!

BTW, I was running 2" Northwest Offroad Stage-2 springs. They had 2 main full length leafs with military wraps, two secondary springs plus the inverted diving board overload. The springs broke right at the spring perch, so I was obviously pushing them too far into recurve. They were about 5 or 6 years old at the time.

Besides Marlin, Yodaman found extra springs from a 2nd gen that I used to beef up the pack. James (Marlin's bud) got the main leaf welded and working and my second spring, the one with the military wrap, was still good (only 1 of 4 that did not break luckily). So I sandwiched those two leafs with a leaf on top and two on the bottom with spring clamps and pins (I did remember to bring some leaf spring parts!) and hoped for the best. Cadillac Hill - check. Tahoe - check. Denver - check. I have OME springs now, 7 leafs!

Your line at the top of big sluice was all wrong. That wasn't anything to do with the truck itself. It's usually best to line up a little straighter with the drop. Was that one of our guys spotting you? I can't tell who that was. Is that where your topper tent thing got damaged?

That was a fellow Rising Sun member who was spotting me there. We lined up once and it was all wrong, so we backed up and realigned and this was only slightly better. The problem was my wheelbase was a little too long to snake the 'S' right, so I did not come around right. There was a group of half drunk spectators yelling at us which we did our best to ignore, but sure that didn't help.

Steve (my spotter) had just worked a couple of 80s through but I flex less and was narrower. He watched placement of my left tire like he did on the wagons and knew the line was just not quite right. But we got impatient and tried to sneak one through. Didn't work. Maybe a long travel SAS would have saved it but that would have only been a band-aid on a bad line. :-/

If you see the point with my left wheel drooping, he tried to bring me left there and my right tire did not hold on the sandy rock like we'd hoped. I was standing on the brakes to creep as slow as possible, but when I started to turn the wheel instead of sticking to the rock it slid straight. Truth is that this was not the problem, but the tree stump sticking out of the hill is what got me. Even with the bad line and tipping the truck made it fine and had I not had a camper it wouldn't have been a problem at all.

 

[AndrewP]

BTW, I was running 2" Northwest Offroad Stage-2 springs. They had 2 main full length leafs with military wraps, two secondary springs plus the inverted diving board overload. The springs broke right at the spring perch, so I was obviously pushing them too far into recurve. They were about 5 or 6 years old at the time.

Besides Marlin, Yodaman found extra springs from a 2nd gen that I used to beef up the pack. James (Marlin's bud) got the main leaf welded and working and my second spring, the one with the military wrap, was still good (only 1 of 4 that did not break luckily). So I sandwiched those two leafs with a leaf on top and two on the bottom with spring clamps and pins (I did remember to bring some leaf spring parts!) and hoped for the best. Cadillac Hill - check. Tahoe - check. Denver - check. I have OME springs now, 7 leafs!

There was a group of half drunk spectators yelling at us which we did our best to ignore, but sure that didn't help.

Good spring story! Funny, I don't really know the physics of Leaf Springs, but avoiding a negative arch just seems like a good idea. I have always set bump stops so it stops the spring at flat, and the springs on my FJ40 are 25 (rear) and 35 (front) years old! I have seen Fords set up with negative arch springs from the factory, so maybe it has more to do with the type of metal than the actual arch. I don't know.

Regarding the half drunk spectators, you must have gotten there early. I leave Buck Island and try to be at that spot by 10am, that way they are only quarter drunk. By 2 in the afternoon they are fully drunk and in the way. I don't know who those spectators are, but there always seem to be some at that spot. I think they live there.:Wow1:

 

[DaveInDenver]

Regarding the half drunk spectators, you must have gotten there early. I leave Buck Island and try to be at that spot by 10am, that way they are only quarter drunk. By 2 in the afternoon they are fully drunk and in the way. I don't know who those spectators are, but there always seem to be some at that spot. I think they live there.:Wow1:

LOL! We left Buck Island pretty early, probably 8AM, and hit Gas Can Hill right away but we got stalled not long after because someone had broken in Big Sluice. That closed the trail for a while. Yeah, I guess we totally hit Big Sluice about 2PM.