Early April run?

[JeepFreak21]

Well, I should be done with my full width and long arms by the end of the week or so... I'm going to make a few test runs to Prarie City and such, but by early April I'm going to be dyin' to do some real wheelin! Anybody wanna do Fordyce, Barret, or The 'Con? Or is it too early in the year??? Any other "more difficult" trails in the area open?
Billy

 

[Phil]

Hey Billy, I'm gonna make a run down to Hollister on March 28th and 29th (yes, that's a Sunday and Monday). How about a day run up to the snow or even Prarie City on the 27th, if you can't take Monday off?

Well, I should be done with my full width and long arms by the end of the week or so... I'm going to make a few test runs to Prarie City and such, but by early April I'm going to be dyin' to do some real wheelin! Anybody wanna do Fordyce, Barret, or The 'Con? Or is it too early in the year??? Any other "more difficult" trails in the area open?
Billy

 

[JeepFreak21]

Hey Billy, I'm gonna make a run down to Hollister on March 28th and 29th (yes, that's a Sunday and Monday). How about a day run up to the snow or even Prarie City on the 27th, if you can't take Monday off?

I may be up for that hollister run, and definatly a Prarie City run between now and then. I was affraid that there wouldn't be any snow left around here by april. How long does it take to get to hollister from sacto?
Billy

 

[SeanP]

maybe I'll be done with my axle swap soon too

Barret won't open until late July. Lotta snow on the con right now too, which doesn't mean you cannot go, but just be prepared for bad stuff to happen. I am of the understanding that folks are staying off the loon road for the x-country skiers. Wentworth is going to have a pretty deep (4'+) stream crossing. McInstry Lake trail that drops down to Ellis is probably the best way to go in.

Not sure on Fordyce, but it could be pretty deep. Check dreamflows.org for water. Anything over 300 FPS could be pretty hairy.

SeanP

 

[JeepFreak21]

maybe I'll be done with my axle swap soon too

Barret won't open until late July. Lotta snow on the con right now too, which doesn't mean you cannot go, but just be prepared for bad stuff to happen. I am of the understanding that folks are staying off the loon road for the x-country skiers. Wentworth is going to have a pretty deep (4'+) stream crossing. McInstry Lake trail that drops down to Ellis is probably the best way to go in.

Not sure on Fordyce, but it could be pretty deep. Check dreamflows.org for water. Anything over 300 FPS could be pretty hairy.

SeanP

What's left on your Sean? I'm game for some wrenchin' after mine's done... just let me know!
Billy

 

[SeanP]

biggest thing I'll need help with is wrestling my 500# axle back into place, which should go OK with two floor jacks. I also am running a ball valve line lock for my rear e-brake, so I need to run the SS brake lines and then bleed the whole system again. Getting closer, I have been fixing a lot of stuff that has been bugging me: adhesive heat shield undr the whole tranny tunnel and exhaust, fixed the bent exhaust tubing that was laying right on the floor. Just a bunch of PITA stuff.

SeanP

 

[Big Red]

I may be up for that hollister run, and definatly a Prarie City run between now and then. I was affraid that there wouldn't be any snow left around here by april. How long does it take to get to hollister from sacto?
Billy

177 miles each way about 3hrs or less drive. I would recogment taking 80 to 680 to 101 to 156. Or 5 to 152 to 156. I got lost on 5 & ended up going 140 out of my way, CA-33 has 3 exits off of 5 & I took the last 1 going south instead of the 1st 1 wich is Ca-33/152. Hollister is fun, but it doesn't look that fun unless there is some mud. The unmarked revine trail looks pretty fun. That is where I caught up with the naxja group after I didn't get to the park until 1:15 (I found them around 3. We were supposed to meet at 10. My opinion is that Hollister is fun in the winter months when we cannot reasonably get up to the Tahoe/mountain trails, but I prefer a little more mud like Prairie City has. Hollister does have some good marked trails, but they are more like fire roads with some ruts and hills, some off-camber stuff & some fairly steep hill climbs (black diamond). I think that most of this stuff can be handled with 31" tires & about 3" of lift. There is some challenging stuff, but for the drive I rather check out some more trails up around Tahoe. My wife and I headed to Monterey after Hollister, so you could combine this trip with a coastal trip if you want to see the ocean. We got to Citrus Heights in under 3 hrs from Monterey taking 101 to 680 to 80 to 50.

 

[Big Red]

Well, I should be done with my full width and long arms by the end of the week or so... I'm going to make a few test runs to Prarie City and such, but by early April I'm going to be dyin' to do some real wheelin! Anybody wanna do Fordyce, Barret, or The 'Con? Or is it too early in the year??? Any other "more difficult" trails in the area open?
Billy

I could go with you to Prairie City & the harder trails you mentioned, but I think we should try the Bowman lake/Malokoff Diggins trail because there is a lot of snow, but no hidden boulders to worry about that we cannot see. I definately want to do the con a few times this year as well as Fordyce & Barret. I have that xj for 1 thing and that's 4 wheeling it. It's only street driving is to and from the trail. I'm going to work on getting some lockers & rock sliders before the hard stuff though.

 

[JeepFreak21]

I didn't realize that malakoff still had a good amount of snow... the GF has been dying to go play in it... so maybe we could head up there one of these weekends.
Billy

 

[Phil]

For some weird reason, my spring break goes like Wednesday-Wednesday, 24th-31st. If you plan on going up to the snow on the 27th or maybe April 3, I could go too.
I'm kinda thinking about going down to Bald on the 27th, but then I'm going to Hollister the 28th. Davis-Bald-Hollister-Davis would probably be a longer loop than just going up to the "local" mountains for a day then heading out to Hollister the next, so I think you could count me in for the 27th if that's when you go. I wanna see the newest version of your cow!

 

[Big Red]

I should be able to go on the 27th if you want to go up to Bowman Lake/Malokoff Diggins. There should be a lot of snow still up there. Snow is probably falling there right now as storms pass over us to the Sierras. I got a winch so if we can get a group of 3-4 or so we should be able to have alot of fun. Phil & I went with my brother-in-law in his Dodge Ram Hemi, but we had to pull the Dodge out a few times and it was hard because of the greater weight of the Dodge. Phil and I hooked up and hit our brakes and then we were able to extract the Dodge. There are lots of trees to winch to if need be along the way. Let's do it. It's a lot closer than Hollister & covered with lots of the white stuff. Hollister was nice, but it didn't have a lot of mud covered trails. There were some spots but nothing that challenging. It is really just a series of fire roads that are somewhat rutted & muddy. The best area was the rivine were you had to have good wheel placement to avoid scratching up your passenger side as there was a large rut that swallowed up a few rigs.

 

[Bryan C.]

Hollister was nice, but it didn't have a lot of mud covered trails. There were some spots but nothing that challenging. It is really just a series of fire roads that are somewhat rutted & muddy. The best area was the rivine were you had to have good wheel placement to avoid scratching up your passenger side as there was a large rut that swallowed up a few rigs.

I don't think you had enough time at Hollister to judge the trails or the level of difficulty. You really need to explore around and find the really tough stuff. One day at the park will get you aquinted with the layout, but not with the really difficult trails. Too bad you were late, you would have had a much better feeling for the park had you run with us for the whole day. Personally, I think the mud factor really limits the trails you can run. Most of the hill climbs are really unsafe to run when wet, and the canyon walls are really slick and can flop you over real easy. There is plenty to do if you travel with the right people. If you guys do plan on coming down to Hollister, let me know and I will give you the grand tour, including the good stuff for sure.

Bryan

BTW, sorry you and your wife took off early, we were looking for you guys to get some pizza after we left. Hope we didn't run you off. Hoefully we'll get a chance to hang out a little longer next time.

 

[Big Red]

I don't think you had enough time at Hollister to judge the trails or the level of difficulty. You really need to explore around and find the really tough stuff. One day at the park will get you aquinted with the layout, but not with the really difficult trails. Too bad you were late, you would have had a much better feeling for the park had you run with us for the whole day. Personally, I think the mud factor really limits the trails you can run. Most of the hill climbs are really unsafe to run when wet, and the canyon walls are really slick and can flop you over real easy. There is plenty to do if you travel with the right people. If you guys do plan on coming down to Hollister, let me know and I will give you the grand tour, including the good stuff for sure.

Bryan

BTW, sorry you and your wife took off early, we were looking for you guys to get some pizza after we left. Hope we didn't run you off. Hoefully we'll get a chance to hang out a little longer next time.

Yeah, I wish I could of run with you guys the whole day like I planned, damn mapquest. I totally missed the Ca-33 sign, I guess I should have been looking for 152. How often do you go wheeling? I still had a good time at Hollister, I'm not trying to downplay it at all. There definately was some parts that took some time to navigate and were challenging. My wife was a tropper but had a long day and was begging me to go to the hotel and get a bite to eat.
I went back to the park from about 8-11:30 on Sunday & almost had the park to myself. That rivine area you guys were in when I caught up with you looks real good. I started into it, but came out because my winch wasn't working & there was nobody around in case I had a roll over. Thanks for getting the pictures up so fast. It is good to go in a pack, you not only have help nearby, similiar parts, etc, but you also get more nerve and try more stuff.
I hope you can come on the 2/27 run up to Malkoff Diggins/Bowman Lake trail near Nevada City. There was some deep snow about a month ago and it had probably only gotten deeper with all the rain that is passing by.
Troy

 

[JeepFreak21]

I hope you can come on the 2/27 run up to Malkoff Diggins/Bowman Lake trail near Nevada City. There was some deep snow about a month ago and it had probably only gotten deeper with all the rain that is passing by.
Troy

You mean 3/27?

 

[Phil]

You mean 3/27?

You mean it's awn?

 

[Letterman]

It is good to go in a pack, you not only have help nearby, similiar parts, etc, but you also get more nerve and try more stuff.

or to be a total idiot and flop on both sides of your heep like me!

Yeah it would have been nice to hang with you all day, next time! Maybe I can make this trip!

 

[Big Red]

biggest thing I'll need help with is wrestling my 500# axle back into place, which should go OK with two floor jacks. I also am running a ball valve line lock for my rear e-brake, so I need to run the SS brake lines and then bleed the whole system again. Getting closer, I have been fixing a lot of stuff that has been bugging me: adhesive heat shield undr the whole tranny tunnel and exhaust, fixed the bent exhaust tubing that was laying right on the floor. Just a bunch of PITA stuff.

SeanP

What are you running in your xj a 2-1/2 Rockwell? That would be awesome. I don't think I've seen that in an xj before.

 

[JeepFreak21]

What are you running in your xj a 2-1/2 Rockwell? That would be awesome. I don't think I've seen that in an xj before.

He's got a 60 up front... and if you wanna see an xj w/ rockwells, I could show you a few pictures.
Billy

 

[Big Red]

He's got a 60 up front... and if you wanna see an xj w/ rockwells, I could show you a few pictures.
Billy

Heah Billy. Do you still have your xj website up? If so, what's the link? It looked great last time I was on it. With the dana 60 front is Sean doing a 14 bolt full-floater rear? That makes a great drivetrain, although the 14 bolt really heavy.

 

[JeepFreak21]

Heah Billy. Do you still have your xj website up? If so, what's the link? It looked great last time I was on it. With the dana 60 front is Sean doing a 14 bolt full-floater rear? That makes a great drivetrain, although the 14 bolt really heavy.

No, the website is down until I finish my axle swap up... I just don't have the time right now. Sean's rear axle is a total Frankenstien job... I believe he's got a 9" center, with 14 bolt outers, custom 35 spline shafts, and 3/4 ton chevy disk brakes.
Billy