Hollister Hills - June 27, 1998

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This is the first trip since I added 33" MTs, 4.88 gears, and a front locker to my 4Runner. Boy, I couldn't believe what a different truck it was!!  Actually, I rebuilt the whole truck from the frame down, and to have the truck ready in time for this trip, I pulled an all nighter just to finish the work. 25 continuous hours working under my truck.....and instead of going to be when it was all over.....I hit the road for Hollister!! ;-)  Of course, by the time 3pm rolled around and we were heading home, Jenn had to drive because I was falling asleep!!

First thing I did when we entered the park was to head to the creek and get it twisted up. I was really curious to see if I could get the 33s to rub. I changed my bumptops while I was working on the suspension, and went back to stock upper bumpstops, and ULTRA low profile lowers. I was hoping this would keep the 33s from rubbing, and it seems to have done the job.

Except for a little piece of the plastic inner fender, there was no rubbing. I'm considering putting the LOW profile upper's back on, and just seeing how much rubbing I'll have to deal with. Before I was getting 7" of travel. With this configuration I was getting 6"

Playing around in the frame twister with all the new gear is just TOO easy. The lower gears make crawling through it much more easy...even with the larger tires.

Hey, Hey!! Hows this for FOUR wheel traction?! It's pretty wild being able to sit there and spin all four! Four Wheeler Magazine's Tough Truck Competition had been held here only a couple weeks prior, so the course was still interesting...though it had been tamed quite a bit since the competition.

Tim's Cherokee made up a lot of the advantage the rest of us had with our lockers, with his wheel travel. Even those his Jeep only has a LSD rear end, his extra flexy Cherokee didn't have much trouble keeping up, since he could keep the front wheels planted, when our IFS usually lifts a wheel.

No problems in the Frame Twister. Though some extra protection is in the works. I hear Tim will have a new bumper/tire rack before the next outting, and possibly gears and a Detroit!

Mark Hansen poking his grill over a steep little hill.

Takin' a break, and seeing how many inches we can squeeze out of our suspension. :-)

5 Fingers was steep and slippery this day!! The top quarter of the hill was nothing but fine powder from all the vehicles spinning their tires, trying to make it to the top. I was the only one to make it to the top this day, and on my 2nd time up I was wondering if I was gonna be able to get up it again or not!

Tim gave it a good shot, but no dice. Don was next to try, and while he didn't make it, he did put on QUITE A SHOW backing down it!! He got off the trail a little bit, and went over the top of a steep whoopdi, SIDEWAYS!! We were really scared he might roll it, but he reacted perfectly, and got on the gas (in reverse) instead of the brake, and landed the truck safe and sound. Quick thinking Don!!

Here's Don going through a twisty section on the way to Truck Hill

Mark Hansen gave Truck Hill a shot for the first time, and made it most of the way up it! This day only Leo D, and myself made it to the top.

The top section had a lot of hole what were off set, so unless you had a really flexy suspension you'd lift wheels, and loose traction. Tim make it within 20 feet of the top, but couldn't quite get all the way without a locker.

On the steep climb to Hector Heights, Tim's Jeep got hot and cracked one of those T-connectors that come with the radiator flush kits. With a donation of tools and parts, we had him patched up good, and the patch held fine all the way home. We didn't really want to climb anymore with a wounded Jeep, so we hit the road for home.....and I hit the sack, and Jenn drove home. :-) Afterall...I'd been up something like 35 hours by this point!!