Saturday March 15th (08) Some buddies and I decided to go hit the trails. Ok so let me set the mood to begin with, it hailed the night before and there were tornado warnings all around central Alabama. (We weren't being dumb the weather never got bad except for wind) The four vehicles are as follows, 1 jeep wrangler, 1 small lifted tacoma with all-terrains (the only one with all-terrains), 1 FJ stock, 1 2wd pathfinder.
The day started out great and I remembered to take pictures once we had already hit the woods.
The first mud hole I dodge since it is quite large and so I'd like to watch the taco go through it first to see how deep it is/rutted out it is. Well after he drives through I see something moving in the hole (first thought was a frog) but no its a snapping turtle, up on the top of a hill in a mud rut. Thankfully he was ok and no harm done. I suppose the mud was soft enough that he was just pressed down into it and probably had quite a ride. We carried him down the hill so hopefully he won't be climbing back in there again.
Well that stretch of mud holes I watched the taco go through turned out to not be bad at all, heck even the 2wd pathfinder made it through nicely (I am seriously impressed by those)
Photo op.
The jeep driver got bored/brave and decided to hit this hole 20-30mph
Not to be outdone the taco was close behind.
Showing everybody up the pathfinder also had some fun.
Believe it or not this is a jeep.
OK so you know that low hanging gas tank on the fj? Well i was going slow as not to crunch mine in half and ended up high centering.. well the pathfinder made it through no problem and wouldn't let me live it down the rest of the day.
Uh oh (every bodies vehicles started acting weird at the same time, worse off the taco's alternator died).
Pressure washer time. (pathfinder had to go early)
Ok so as I was washing I noticed this. You know how fj's will crack in that certain spot under the hood if you jump them? I have read up on it just a little but haven't seen anybody else's that didn't crack but instead bent. Only on the passenger side though.
More damage was found further into the cleaning process. I knew i bottomed out going into some of the holes but ****.
oh well it looks fine from the front.
: /
And that pretty much sums up the day, As for the trails out there, there are a lot of them that are gated and closed off, but quite a few are newly dozed and fun. We found ourselves looping back probably 3-4 times. Except for the dusty dirt road going out there I'd have to rate the area a 6 out of ten. Good nice trails that are accessible in stock trucks (even a 2wd pathfinder) and quite a few power line trails for bigger trucks. Mainly though make sure you aren't interfering with any of the methane pumps out there or trespassing in any of the areas you chose to ride in. They are both clearly marked so it is not a difficult process.
List of things to do to the FJ soon:
-bend skidplate back straight
-move the rear breathers up into the jackmount area.
-make a lightbar that fits on the roofrack
-wash it inside and out (again)
.
I think Edward knows some back way in though....not sure... I think you can still drive on that side...you just can't drive through to that side.
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