New Mexico FJ'ers - Page 121

**Montana Tailgunner** · 06-21-2008, 10:08 PM

Hey Lawrence, that's awesome. I wish I had been there! MT

**JAXTOY** · 06-21-2008, 10:40 PM

Looks like a fun trail to me, sorry I missed it. I am sure we wil have a chance to do it again. Hint,Hint

Archy Chris · 06-22-2008, 07:15 AM

Lawrence,
Nice pics! When you replace your front bumper, which after market bumper are you going to put on? Chris

505FJ · 06-22-2008, 12:09 PM

Thanks guys. Now that I know what to expect I'd be happy to lead a group through there some time. You all tell me when. My only stipulation is that it can not be in September and it can not be in the rain or with in a week of it raining there. The trail was dry but you can tell where the water gathers often and with low traction, we would have a hell of a time getting through.

Now back to the damage report. I crawled under the FJ this morning and found a few more dents and scrapes on both bumpers. I found out that the front tires can rub the frame and sway bar but never touched the unchopped body mounts. The cross over for the exhaust pipe is also a little dented. Both lower control arms and their mounts also took some hits (Thanks for the control arms Jack, the stock ones would not have survived). Then I noticed this:

It's hard to tell from the pic but it's a good dent in the bottom of the slider. After I saw that, I looked between the slider and the body to see how much it flexed. Well it flexed quite a bit, enough to make contact with the rocker

Then I thought I better take a look at the frame.

The sliders are still straight but they pulled the frame out about an 1/8" or so on three of the mounting points. I guess it's time to weld the sliders to the frame.

After all that, I give the trail a

. I think with a group of about 6 we could do the trail in about 4 or 5 hours. With a group that size we could take our time and do more spotting. I did have some spotting but a lot of the trail we just played follow the leader until someone got stuck or wanted a spot. My pride got the best of me and that's where the bumpers received some new "character".

505FJ · 06-22-2008, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Archy Chris previously said:

Lawrence,
Nice pics! When you replace your front bumper, which after market bumper are you going to put on? Chris

I have had my eye on the Demello front bumper for a long time. I am still undecided on the rear but kind of leaning towards the metaltech. It wouldn't match the front at all but I'm not sure you can beat the protection it offers.

505FJ · 06-22-2008, 06:38 PM

Here's some pics of the FJ that I got from one of the jeepers:
This is the first obstacle which I ended up having to use the bypass on:

These two are from two different boulder fields:

AhYeahFJ · 06-23-2008, 02:58 AM

PHEEEW!

No doubt, maybe with some good spoting (not me) you would have had no trouble with that trail, after what I saw on the three amiogs!

hope 505FJ is okay, looks like she took a little bit of a beating from those pics. your front bumper looks allot like mine now?

But with a much better story behind the damage.

I too am saving up for a Demello front bumper.

505FJ · 06-23-2008, 07:34 AM

And a few more pics

I'm pretty sure the rock just behind the front tire in this pic is the one I hit the slider on. I tried to "bump" it

505FJ · 06-23-2008, 08:03 AM

Quote:

AhYeahFJ previously said:

PHEEEW!

No doubt, maybe with some good spoting (not me) you would have had no trouble with that trail, after what I saw on the three amiogs!

hope 505FJ is okay, looks like she took a little bit of a beating from those pics. your front bumper looks allot like mine now?

But with a much better story behind the damage.

I too am saving up for a Demello front bumper.

I don't know, the story is about the same. We both hit a big rock

.

**JAXTOY** · 06-23-2008, 08:55 AM

Quote:

505FJ previously said:

Thanks guys. Now that I know what to expect I'd be happy to lead a group through there some time. You all tell me when. My only stipulation is that it can not be in September and it can not be in the rain or with in a week of it raining there. The trail was dry but you can tell where the water gathers often and with low traction, we would have a hell of a time getting through.

Now back to the damage report. I crawled under the FJ this morning and found a few more dents and scrapes on both bumpers. I found out that the front tires can rub the frame and sway bar but never touched the unchopped body mounts. The cross over for the exhaust pipe is also a little dented. Both lower control arms and their mounts also took some hits (Thanks for the control arms Jack, the stock ones would not have survived). Then I noticed this:

It's hard to tell from the pic but it's a good dent in the bottom of the slider. After I saw that, I looked between the slider and the body to see how much it flexed. Well it flexed quite a bit, enough to make contact with the rocker

Then I thought I better take a look at the frame.

The sliders are still straight but they pulled the frame out about an 1/8" or so on three of the mounting points. I guess it's time to weld the sliders to the frame.

After all that, I give the trail a

. I think with a group of about 6 we could do the trail in about 4 or 5 hours. With a group that size we could take our time and do more spotting. I did have some spotting but a lot of the trail we just played follow the leader until someone got stuck or wanted a spot. My pride got the best of me and that's where the bumpers received some new "character".

Mine did the same thing, that's why I had them welded to the frame. You can always grid the welds down if you need to remove the sliders. This is a weak point in Toyotas design, they should of re-enforce where the nuts are in the inside of the frame. I am suprised at how thin the metal is for the frame. Plenty strong overall but weak if it takes direct hits. Time for some skids, how much longer are you going to "roll the dice".