Report - Basic 4WD Clinic - Badlands Offroad Adventures

[jonp154]

I would like to report that I completed the basic 4WD clinic from Badlands Offroad Adventures on Saturday. As Tom said at the beginning of the class, I was amazed at what my vehicle could do by the end of the class.

Tom handled the classroom and was assisted by Burt during the driving portion.

We showed up at 7:30 AM at Hungry Valley where Tom did a safety check on all the vehicles (9 JEEPs, 1 FJ Cruiser).

From 8AM-12PM, Tom presented the basics of 4WD, rear wheel cheating, traction, clearance, lockers, checklists, and many, many things. He covered driving techniques for ruts, rocks, sand, etc. It was based on powerpoint and photos from Tom's previous classes and trips. The photos were good quality and clear. Tom is a very good, articulate instructor. It is clear that he has many years of experience behind him. We were about 1/2 hour behind schedule, due to many questions, by the end of the presentation.

Several times, Tom made positive comments about the FJ Cruiser, which made me feel good with all the JEEP owners surrounding me.

After lunch, we caravaned over to the 4WD practice area. We all aired-down our tires. From 1PM-4PM, we practiced the things he covered in the presentation. There was a wicked ditch that we all went through, I think mostly so Tom could convince us our vehicles could do it. He also stuck us each in the ditch and showed me how to use ATRAC and the rear locker to get out.

From 4PM-5:30PM or so, we took out over one of the trails to reinforce what we had learned. In terms of difficulty, the trail was comparable to the practice area. I found it excellent reinforcement. Through-out the trail, Tom gave comments on ways to handle sections and pointed out places that we would need to walk first because of not knowing what was on the other side. There was a curving rut that reinforced rear wheel cheating and the need to keep track of the rear wheels to stay centered on the rut. We went back and forth to blacktop a couple of times to reinforce switching between 4WD and 2WD. It's clear that Tom chose the trail specifically to match what he is teaching in the class.

The coup de grace was a very steep hill that we all climbed at the end of the trail. Very intimidating, but we all successfuly crawled up it and then came back down with compression braking.

We then used Tom and Burt's onboard air systems to air back up.

For $200, this is easily one of the best investments I feel I have made. If there are any other newbies considering a driving clinic, I can only give positive comments.

Thanks for listening.

John