TOY: Clayton, OK - Labor Day Weekend

["Lance Morin" <lance.morin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

We had 5 vehicles on Saturday. My '85 Toyota 4-Runner (locked with 33"
tires), a locked 4-Runner with 32" tires and a winch (David Morrison), a '95
Toyota pickup with a rear locker and 31" AT's (Travis), a '95 Toyota
4-Runner with rear locker, 32" MTs, and a winch (Jody Young), and finally a
'98 TJ with 33" tires and rear locker (Troy Douroux).

Let me start by saying my 4-Runner broke something in the rear diff. as some
point on Saturday (probably towing that other '85 4-Runner all over the
place). I didn't notice it until we were on Hurd Creek at the end of the
day. I limped it back to the charcoal plant and Misty brought over the
trailer. We started by going down Rock Creek (no problems other than a
fallen tree in the way just below the big boulder. On the top section of
Rock Creek we ran into Joe Dobson and a few other from the Frontier
4-Wheeler's (Oklahoma City, OK) and I questioned Joe about the trails I've
read about in Talihina. He said they
were as hard and some harder than in Clayton, but they've begun to become
overgrown due to lack of use. He gave me a card, so we could arrange a run
up there sometime soon to check it out. Maybe some of you already know about
them. Anyway, we played around on bottom ledge of 3-Stage and had lunch
Everybody made the ledge even though the '89 truck with 31" tires had to
work hard to make it. After that, we went through TimberLine until we
reached the turn-off to
Gene's Hill and the Purple People Eater. Naturally, we veered off to Gene's
Hill. David and his locked 4-Runner decided to give that obstacle a try
after I told him I'd follow. I would following him since he had the winch
and I might need that help up. Man, it's pretty chewed up and ugly now. He
eventually broke his rear drive shaft and then told us he didn't have a
spare! No problem, I had seen a guy with a welder back at the State Park. (I
almost brought my 110v portable welder and will do so from now on.) If he
could find some tubing (didn't have to be perfect) he could have it welded
back up or just borrow my spare and shorten it the 6-1/2" that he needed
because his dual transfer cases. After winching him around and back down
Gene's Hill, I spent a good deal of time and effort strapping him over
obstacles of the first section of the new trail (Purple People Eater). It
wasn't David's fault that his now front wheel drive 4-Runner couldn't climb
like it did earlier in the day :-) Once to the bottom of the first section,
we opted for the exit point to Hurd Creek because it was about 5PM. That's
when I noticed my rear end popping like it didn't love me anymore. So, it
took us from 10AM until 5PM to get down Rock
Creek, play on 3-stage, over 3/4 of Timberline, and down the 1st section of
the new trail. I know it's a new trail, but that seemed like a long time
when only the broken 4-Runner had any real problems that even required a
strap. I guess there were just so many times I had to strap him that it
slowed us down. That and getting him off of Gene's Hill and that bad angle
he was in. Still, that's normally about a half days worth of trails. It goes
that way sometimes.

On Sunday we got started even later (about 11AM) because we were slow
leaving camp and David was hunting for a guy with a welder to fix up my now
shortened spare rear drive shaft. I rode in the now repaired 4-Runner
because I was left little choice after Misty (my wifezilla - I'm kidding
about that part!) again talked her way into driving Troy's TJ (two years in
a row now). It took us all day (until 6:00PM) to run that last two sections
of the new trail. We entered the some place that we exited on Saturday and
began going up the hill. About 50 yards from the top the '95 Toyota truck
broke a rear driveshaft on a nasty little rock. Usually, my spare would fit
this truck (even if we had to swap yoke ends), but we had cut it up to fix
David's 4-Runner. After we built a road over this large rock and got the
drive shaft sections removed, we strapped the 1-wheel drive truck up to the
ridge line. We then proceeded down the final leg of this new trail with only
a few more minor problems. Both were on the same white 4-Runner that slowed
us down the day before. A poorly cut sapling injected
itself into one of his tires and then his fuel pump went out later down the
trail. In the meantime, the 1-legged Toy truck only needed a couple of yanks
to make it over some of the larger rocks. I think he drove better with only
front wheel drive (open diff.) than with 4WD and a rear locker. Perhaps that
will carry over next time out :-)

Damage Report :

Lance's 1985 4-Runner (either broker weld on rear spider gears or
ring/pinion - details known later - parked on trailer for home inspection)

Troy's '98 TJ (not a problem one - that thing crawls great with stock 3.73
gears and 33 Swamper SXs)

Jody's 1995 4-Runner (more custom work on factory rear bumper/bumpettes,
maybe a some new scratches - really nothing)

Travis' 1995 Toyota Truck (new custom front bumper and passenger side
fender, twisted off rear drive shaft, cut front passenger side tire - later
plugged with 2 plugs back at camp)

David's 1985 4-Runner (Hmm, let me see if I can remember all of this in
order...)

1) Plugged a leak in the rear passenger side tire (32" BFG MT)
2) Twisted rear drive shaft on Gene's Hill Saturday (probably helped break
my rear end too!) (I loaned him or gave him my spare rear driveshaft and he
cut it down and had a guy weld it back up for him to run on Sunday)
3) Fuel pump quit as he turned into camp Saturday (Found to be broken
terminal on the pump. I loaned him my spare just in case that wasn't the
only problem - I must have seen the future.)
4) Front differential plug fell out 1st thing as we started on Sunday (We
installed it again)
5) Broken positive battery terminal about 1/3 of the way up the 1st climb
(We rigged it with a small c-clamp covered in duct tape to protect it from
contact with the hood.)
6) Re-plugged the same hole on the passenger side rear tire after it began
to leak again.
7) Fuel pump went out (He swapped in my spare on the trail)
8) Exiting trail on Sunday - popping noise from the right front (Front
birfield going out - it was later replaced with spare for the drive back to
Austin on Monday)

David, did I leave anything out?

Had we left David and/or his 4-Runner back in Austin, it may have been an
easier trail ride. What do you expect when somebody buys a used 4-Runner
from Todd Hoffmaster of all people! Those who know Todd, know he didn't
exactly "take it easy" in that truck. However, David had spent a good deal
of time doing some repairs and maintenance on it.

All in all it was another fine Labor Day weekend in Clayton, we've done this
two years in a row now and it's always a good time. Jody and Troy (the
ragin' Cajuns) cooked up some crawfish creole on Saturday night and we
grilled up some chicken and beef fajitas on Sunday night.

Clayton hosts a Choctaw Indian Festival in town on Labor Day weekend, so the
trails are usually pretty empty. There were more crowded this year than
last, but at no time was traffic a problem. If I had to do it all again, I
wouldn't change anything but me breaking :-)

Lance Morin
'85 4-Runner
'87 Samurai
www.fwd-fwd.org/lance (not very up to date at all)













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