Gibby

Yep, I moved to Bonney Lake last spring, up on Church Lake Drive. We might be having a mud bog only event in Bonney Lake this year as well. I just purchased 20 acres just off the Sumner Buckley highway and it's got some GREAT mud bog capabilities. Read this as bordeline wetland if you're NOT a greenie! We might run this event as a fund raiser for our free event.

Why don't you guys all come out to our event on the 17th of June. I know a couple of you have been to the faithwheelers events before. A pretty good place for an outing!

The last of the project it done! Well, it's never done, but you know what I mean...

For those of you curious, there are a few reasons for the bumper/winch change. 1. The bumper was not designed for a body lift, so I had to move it up 2" to look right. That required that I try to weld 1/4" steel to a very thin radiator support. To get the heat up enough for the 1/4" plate, I kept melting away the other bracket. I did finally get it glued together, but it didn't hold and when a strong pull was needed, it would break the 1/4" bracket off the thin metal support. 2. The bumper mounts pretty high and when I pulled, it mostly just pulled down on the suspension and dug the front tires into whatever I was trying to get over or through - not very effective - rather than pulling straight forward or even up. Yes, I tried to attach the strap as high up on a tree as I could, but it still wasn't enough. The original plan was to just lower the winch and get a more solid frame mount that would pull at more optimal angles. 3. When a a 350 equipped, dual locked rig that ramps 1200 and rides on 40s get stuck, it's freakin' STUCK! the 8000# winch wasn't going to pull me out of those situations. The last time that Markus buried my rig, the winch simply would not pull me out of that situation. The only option for a double pull with a snatch block was also a sharp sideways pull. The only tree that was in the right direction was too far for a double pull. None of the other rigs that were with us could have gotten around to get in front or behind to help. They had just spent 2-3 hours getting themselves out - in fact, I had to come rescue them and drag them along on a strap. Thankfully, we had an excavator at hand and Markus used the bucket to lift the entire front end out and then we drug it to a better position. A stronger winch with a better mount would probably have been enough to get me out. This winch also holds an extra 50' of cable which would have been enough for a snatch block pull. 4. The last part of the modification was to accomodate my offroad and driving lights. The Hella 6x9s needed to mount right on top of the bumper inside the headlights, but the winch solenoid was in the way and I had to remove the lights. The PIAA driving/fog lights kept getting knocked off so Mike's going to find a way to build in some protection for the lights. 5. I had always wanted a rear mounted winch for a couple of reasons. First, it sometimes makes sense to pull yourself OUT of a situations, rather than farther in... second, in our club we have several capable vehicles, that simply haven't got a winch yet. We try to intersperse those rigs with vehicles that have rear winch capabilities in case it's needed. Many trails do not offer a snatch pull option with a strap due to very tight corners or poor traction for the other vehicle, and turning around to use the front winch of another vehicle is not an option either. The only options for for a vehicle from behind to go past the stuck rig and then back to the stuck rig, or for the rig in front to go forward to a tree, then back to the stuck rig. We did this a few times at it actually worked pretty good. Third, when crossing difficult side hills where roll over meant roll DOWN, having a winch pulling and winch letting out would provide for a lot more safety. Lastly, this would give me the option of using a winch for braking going down very steep hills.

I'm waiting for the rest of the pics, but this is from my first trip out - between stage 1 and 2.

I think I'd commit Harry Carry (sp?) if I ever tried to figure out how much time or money is invested...

Stage II has begun... http://207.202.208.243/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=3&t=2

I'm driving it now! A few little bugs to work out but otherwise it's V8 power away!

There are some fresh pics up!

More updates for ya! http://207.202.208.243/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=3&t=2

That's my baby This is it now. Driving it out of the shop to get it over to the exhaust shop.

I thought I'd put this in here since I don't have a Pathfinder. I thought I'd share with you my current project... Get out the popcorn! http://207.202.208.243/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=3&t=2

More pics just added!

The Faithwheelers Off Road Club ran the Naches Trail. Here's the report for you. http://207.202.208.243/faithwheelers/071704.htm The report's not complete yet as I'm waiting for pics and need some details but, the bulk of it's there. The Naches Trail, as you know, isn't very hard, but it sure keeps you busy for hours on end!

I didn't mean easy as in dollars and cents. No, I have about $15,000 invested UNDER my truck. I mean easy as in cut off the entire suspension and just weld on a new one. After doing a couple of rigs now, it's getting much less scary. It's the committment to making the first critical cut where there's no turning back that's tough. Since doing any major suspension work is not a bolt on affair, you have to make sure you're committed all the way... On the other hand, to do all this stuff, maybe we should be committed - to a crazy house!