richard310's 04 Xterra

[richard310]

What a neat trip to JT: always a great time. I did berdoo canyon about two years ago with no lift, at night with stock lighting, and I would not recommend it haha. But it's a great trail for the better planned.

It definitely is always a good time. I did the same earlier last year: stock rig with stock lighting at night... It was really fun though.

 

[richard310]

So with the recent rain, I've found out that I've got a leak somewhere in the rear cargo area. I'm thinking somewhere around the rear side windows may need to re-seal the gasket. Or even the roof rack mounts. Found the stock jack area with a puddle of water and the sides of the rear mat soaked in water and also the wheel well carpets. Everywhere else was dry. Really odd.

 

[richard310]

With the girlfriend working all day and night today, I decided to hit up Big Bear after my morning bike ride. After a good rain, there's bound to be snow and good mud puddles to blast through up there. Grabbed a jacket and headed out for an evening/night run to Forest Service Roads 2N01 and 2N02: something easy as I went solo. Caught a really wonderful sunset, but the temps began to drop drastically. From a comfortable 65-ish degrees to a chilly 22 degrees. Glad I brought my down jacket, although I was in shorts... Anywho, on the way up, the roads became a bit icy and slick. The ST Maxx's tried to hold up but I eventually lost some traction on the ice for a split second as would any tire. On the trail, snow was probably a few inches high, nothing to write home about as it wasn't deep enough for a tire snow test. It wasn't muddy either, but there were numerous large mud puddles to splash through. Saw many coyote tracks along the fireroad, their paw prints were about 2-3inches wide. The trail was easy, didn't need 4WD but kept it occasionally in 4HI in the snowy sections just to be safe. Overall a fun experience going solo in light snow and I'm hoping to head up there again once this upcoming storm this week passes through. The truck needs more mud on it. Only the passenger side has a gratuitous amount as the driverside looks lackluster.

The ST Maxx's did well in this light terrain. Until I actually drive through some deep snow and some decent muddy sections, I'll keep the opinions limited for now.

I did take some pictures, not as much as I wanted to as it got dark very quickly and it was quite cold (I wasn't dressed appropriately):

 

[Allof75]

Very cool! Literally haha, relative to the rest of big bear, where are those roads?

 

[richard310]

Very cool! Literally haha, relative to the rest of big bear, where are those roads?

They are East of Big Bear Lake. 2N02 (Burns Canyon Road) starts off near Highway10 on Vale Drive and it'll take you all the way to Yucca Valley just northeast of Joshua Tree. There are also a number of trails that branch off of 2N02 that make for some good runs as well.

 

[Allof75]

They are East of Big Bear Lake. 2N02 (Burns Canyon Road) starts off near Highway10 on Vale Drive and it'll take you all the way to Yucca Valley just northeast of Joshua Tree. There are also a number of trails that branch off of 2N02 that make for some good runs as well.

Perfect, thanks. I'll know where to go now ️haha.

 

[shmabs]

Beautiful truck, I was checking it out at the Toys 4 tots event at pendleton at the beginning of this month.

Mike

 

[richard310]

Beautiful truck, I was checking it out at the Toys 4 tots event at pendleton at the beginning of this month.

Mike

Thanks Mike. Which rig was yours? Hopefully I'll get to meet you at the next AAV event

 

[richard310]

So I think I overdid it last night. The water was so cold, it froze right on the truck and was playing all sorts of havoc to my bumper mounted HIDs. Cheap pieces of crap kept flickering on and off on every bump and rock. I did see deer and coyote tracks and also what looked like bear tracks.

The snow levels in Big Bear had dropped significantly since the last storm a few days ago. Temp levels were at a decent 20degrees. Most of the snow had melted away already and it looked like about half had gone. The trails were all doable in 2wd, same as the other time I went earlier this month and there was no drama as usual. Just the end result of massive squeaking and a dirty truck.

 

[chmura]

Truck looks killer like that!

Next major cold storm I definitely need to take a day trip to BB.

 

[richard310]

Truck looks killer like that!

Next major cold storm I definitely need to take a day trip to BB.

Thanks! It's definitely an awesome badge to wear around town proudly.

I was hoping for a good amount of snow but it had melted so fast. I guess its not as cold nor was the ceiling of the storm low enough. Its definitely a blast to explore around big bear. I'll have to head up there during the day to go further out.

 

[Allof75]

That's some slick mud there. Hopefully the squeaking is just a mount or something.

 

[shmabs]

My truck wasn't parked in the main staging area as my son and I weren't camping, just drooling over the vehicles there. It's a red 3rd gen 4runner with oregon plates.

I need to sign onto AAV and keep up with those guys.

Mike

 

[richard310]

That's some slick mud there. Hopefully the squeaking is just a mount or something.

I've been white lithium greasing certain parts at a time to figure out where its coming from. Might be the torsion bars..

 

[richard310]

My truck wasn't parked in the main staging area as my son and I weren't camping, just drooling over the vehicles there. It's a red 3rd gen 4runner with oregon plates.

I need to sign onto AAV and keep up with those guys.

Mike

Signup as they're very friendly and welcoming folks