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| Explore Your World! | Short Cuts | ||||
For the third year in a row, people gathered in Hollister Hills SVRA for what is being called the Day After Turkey Day Run. This is not an organized event, but a casual gathering of 4wheelers, mostly from the Bay Area. Hollister Hills is about an hour south of San Jose. Day use fees are $4/vehicle, $6 for overnight camping. For more information, visit the Hollister Hills web site.
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| Crossing a deep rut | ||
This year the group was about half the size it was last year. This gathering was originally thought up on the Toy4x4 Mailing list, and still has mostly Toyotas in attendance. There are always a few Jeeps in the group as well. All makes are welcome, this is definitely a 'run whatcha brung' type gathering.
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| Kevin in the Mini Rubicon | ||
Kevin Carey and myself caravaned to the event. We were some of the first people to arrive at the park. We immediately headed to the Mini Rubicon at the Obstacle Course. The staff at Hollister Hills had recently done work to the Mini Rubicon, and added another 30' to the length of the rock pile. Good news for those that came for the rocks!
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| Kevin's 85 4Runner | ||
Without wasting time we started into rock pile, Kevin Carey was the first through. Kevin's built '85 4Runner made short work of the rock pile, though at one time we had to pull out the Hi-Lift jack. He was making good progress through the rocks, and suddenly his right front tire slid off the wrong side of the rock he was on. This left his tie rod pressed against a large rock, rear axle just in front of another large rock... in short he was suddenly pinned. A quick lift of his front right tire let us place a rock under that wheel and Kevin was quickly on his way again.
This stuck was the perfect example of why it is sometimes better to lift the wheel than lift the vehicle with the Hi-Lift. We first lifted Kevin's truck by the front bumper, but ran out of Hi-Lift before the tire ever left the ground. Kevin's flexy suspension just let the wheel drop and drop, and we were eventually at the top of our Hi-Lift. Another option when you run into this situation is to wrap a piece of chain around the axle and frame, so that when you lift the frame of the vehicle, the wheel will come up with it. In this case we thought it much easier to just left on the wheel.
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| Suzuki Samurai with Toyota axles and buggy leafs | |
Next through the rock pile was this tan colored Samurai. The Samurai had buggy leaf suspension, and Toyota axles. His flexy suspension, small size, aggressive tires, and experienced driving made short work of this rock pile. He went through the rocks significantly quicker then any of the long wheel base vehicles.
After the Samurai it was my turn to go through the rock pile. My straight axle converted 4Runner had no problem crawling through the rocks. The flexy Alcan springs kept the wheels planted on the rocks. However, I didn't come out of the rock pile unscathed. At one point I was sliding along a large rock with my passenger nerf bar. The bar slid off the rock, and the rock smashed the door. Several bystanders helped push the truck away from the rock to help save sheet metal as I backed off the rock. With a well placed rock to fill the hole that my tire had dropped into, I moved on and finished the Mini Rubicon.
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| Scott in the pile - and finding the big rock with his door! | ||
The next vehicle attempting the Mini Rubicon didn't get passed the first rock she attempted to get over. A lot of throttle and a bad line left the vehicle's tie rod bent, and wrapped backward BEHIND the pumpkin!!! Some how I don't think that cow bell did its job!
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| EXTREMELY bent tie rod!! | |
With the Mini Rubicon tied up because of the large disabled Chevy we decided to move on and met up with many of the other vehicles that had arrived across the Obstacle Course. Here we found Eric Stegall in his FJ40 his fiancee Tracy in her Cherokee, and with them were friend's in an FJ60, and a full size Chevy. Time time was around noon so out came the Turkey Day leftovers... yum! What better way to spend a day not-at-work than wheeling and eating good food. (My fiancee might argue different :-)
After healthy amout of gab and grub we decided to all drive over to 5 Fingers and check out the action there. The top of 5 Fingers had several offset holes this time, which made the top of it tough. The best shows put on were the blue CJ, and Phil Johnson in his '95 4Runner. Each of them got 3+ feet of air under their tires on what was already a steep hill. Unfortunately the CJ lost his clutch linkage while climbing the top section. The driver managed to get the vehicle stopped safely on the hill, and then had to get out to replace the linkage from beneath the vehicle... according to the driver this wasn't the first time this happened.
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| The top of 5 Fingers - CJ getting its clutch linkage put back in | |||
Next we headed over to Truck Hill. A handful of people attempted the hill, but few made it up. Half way up the steep hill there were some very large holes that prevented most vehicles from passing. Most of the group used this as an opportunity to stand around and talk truck some more. When the action on the hill stopped we continued up to Hector Heights, the highest point in the park. With the day coming to and end and the temperatures beginning to drop, we all headed out of the park for our drives home.
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| The action at Truck Hill | ||
If you'd like to be a part of this gathering next year, just show up! It's a very casual group, and all are welcome. Next year the CB channel will be 24 (November 24).
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