A new Playground

[White trash]

I wheeled my lowered 2x Toyota weekend before last to get to a good spot to wheel my RC crawlers. If it wasn't for the welded rear diff the 195/60's wouldn't have gotten me there.


I used to wheel pretty much every weekend. I'd head to TSF, Naches, Rimrock, Goldendale, Bickelton or any of the local spots. Then I got married which complicated things since my super minimalist take on camping wasn't going to fly. Where I used to just put a couple fresh changes of clothes in my camping bag, restock a couple coolers, one with beer, the other with water and hot dogs. She insists on having "real" food, a big tent, an air mattress etc. Which made wheeling into more of a production that I ever wanted it to be which kinda took the wind out of my sails. She loves wheeling though. The first trip to Naches before we got married I flopped the truck onto her side. I fully expected to look down and see her all sorts of pissed off but she was laughing her head off. I knew she was a keeper.

I'd wheeled the truck pretty hard for 3 years before we met but back then it was my DD on 38's that only saw a trailer a few times for long range trips. Right before the first wheeling trip I took her on my 38's were stolen. I dug up a set of craptastic 40's and ran till I found a crazy deal for 42" tsl's. We wheeled the truck for about 3 years until we went off the side of milk creek road at Naches. That slowed us down a lot as I had to tear the truck apart for a rebuild.





My friends pushed it back over and drove it out and back to camp as I took my wife to the hospital to get checked out.




Right as I finished it getting it back together I was offered a trade of my built Toyota axles for a built set of 1 ton GM axles. Of course I ripped them out immediately. I figured since I was going 1 tons why not swap the 42's for 44's.



Then my brain fell out and I got the bigger, better, badder disease and tore apart a perfectly good truck to go full retard. Pulled the 5 speed with built Toyota dual t cases and dropped in an AW4/231/300 behind the Toyota 4 cylinder. I also did a body swap at the same time. Moved the cab back 8" and the drivetrain back 7 and down 1. Then came the crazy deal for an atlasII with 4.3 gears so out came the 300 and it went right in.



I decided that wouldn't do so I pulled the 22re and my wife put it into her pickup while I was on the road for work. (Told you she was a keeper. ) I picked up a lexus 4.0 all aluminum V8 and right as I was about to put it in we ended up moving to Prosser to be closer to work. About month 3 of being back there work turned to crap so I left and I started working out in Burbank where I still work. So I parted out the truck to buy gas to get to work and keep the lights on as life unfortunately happens sometimes.

One of these days I'll build another wheeler but I'm not too worried about it right now. There are far, far more important things in this world than wheeling at this point. The next rig will be on small tires and stay Toyota drivetrain since it's simple to bulletproof and dead nuts reliable. I might even do it with a yj or flat fender body just annoy some people.



So there it is in a nutshell, I'm a non wheeler in the 1:1 world but I tear it up in the 1:10 scene.

[Danny]

Ryan, for those of us that have wheeled with you, you have nothing to prove. You've done you own thing like everyone else and have done it well. There's a lot to be said about built not bought. My had goes off to you.

[Mandi]

Trashy, it's nice to finally here your story....
and like everyone here.... I'm glad you live to wheel another day.....
But this is the play ground after all..... And I forbid Lance to say a word......
But PINK????. Really ..... Just kidding..... Some day we will see you out on the trail......

[White trash]

Real men are obsessed with pink.

[SquirrelCrusher]

Hahaha

[Grumpy]

Trashy, you are a piece of work You two will drag yourselves over here for a proper visit, and bring the current "wheeler" so I can see it...

[Wrench]

I used to 'wheel, too.

I have a Cherocar that flexed so much the body has cracked, running a 2.5l with no power through an AX-5 made of cheese, and rolling 33" tires on Dana 30/35 axles that break if you sneeze at them sideways. Jeeps are such money-sucking piles of junk.

I built my shop and moved the Jeep in. In response, the Jeep committed harry-carry from fear that it would get "fixed permanently".

The sad part is, when I acquired this hunk of junk, it has left quite a smile on my face and the 'ol Chevy 4x4 went down the road and has never been missed.

[Livin4Today]

Trashy, it's nice to finally here your story....
and like everyone here.... I'm glad you live to wheel another day.....
But this is the play ground after all..... And I forbid Lance to say a word......
But PINK????. Really ..... Just kidding..... Some day we will see you out on the trail......

Not if it's still a truggy/buggy etc, I won't wheel with them - they give the rest of us a bad rap, with their overuse of power (skinny pedal), due to lack of skill (brains). It appears their idea of stuck simply means more power, which in turn trashes more trail, etc. etc...

Just sayin' I hope your __uggy days are behind you...

[Grumpy]

And there in is a major part of the issue with us! Traditional wheelers don't like the buggies, don't like the quads, don't like like the built Jeeps...As long as we have that attitude, we ain't gonna get a damn thing done! We're supposed to be working together to keep the trails open, not bashing what the other guy runs

[OldGreen]

Trashy, it's nice to finally here your story....
and like everyone here.... I'm glad you live to wheel another day.....
But this is the play ground after all..... And I forbid Lance to say a word......
But PINK????. Really ..... Just kidding..... Some day we will see you out on the trail......

Not if it's still a truggy/buggy etc, I won't wheel with them - they give the rest of us a bad rap, with their overuse of power (skinny pedal), due to lack of skill (brains). It appears their idea of stuck simply means more power, which in turn trashes more trail, etc. etc...

Just sayin' I hope your __uggy days are behind you...

While it is true that Ryan's driving skills in an 18 wheeler don't translate to the trail, he never compensated for lack of skill with overuse of power. In fact, he never had any power. All he had was a brazilian:1 crawl ratio and a case of ADD.

Typically, the people that are doing harm to our sport are under-educated on why they shouldn't do what they do. The obvious is not so obvious. It has nothing to do with what they drive. IN fact, the NW truggy is so dang underpowered that it can't get out of its own way. In North Carolina, on the other hand, they have a different vision of the truggy that almost always has a big block. We are blessed to have none of that here.

That said, it really makes no difference what you drive at the end of the day as long as you do your best to respect others and be a good steward of the land.

I grew up learning to HATE motorcycles in the hills. They were noisy, loud, and the people that road them were disrespectful. Snowmobiles = same thing.

Turns out not to be true. Good people ride/drive just about everything under the sun but a lack of association leads to a bad cross hobby reputation that is completely unfounded and akin to other kinds of bigotry. I tend to TRY to judge people individually and not based on what they drive, how much chrome they have, what type of cash they have tied up in their junk or any socio-economic, national, racial, or orientation criteria. It just plane doesn't make sense.

I guess the good news is that, even though I really wanted to, my folks never let me ride a dirt bike. Probably why I'm alive today.

And. . .I'm full circle back to my Radio Flier statement. Just get in the hills and wheel. If someone does something stupid one time, it is a coachable moment. If they are kindly redirected and they continue to offend. . .then THEY are an a$$. The poor vehicle that they are attached to had nothing to do with it.

True to the thread. . .the 22RE has a power curve that looks like. . .well. ..it is short and spikey, you do the math. . .only way to get one of those "stone reliable" wonders to work is to have 2 transfer cases and a few transmissions so you can always keep them in their excuse for a sweet spot.

[White trash]

Not if it's still a truggy/buggy etc, I won't wheel with them - they give the rest of us a bad rap, with their overuse of power (skinny pedal), due to lack of skill (brains). It appears their idea of stuck simply means more power, which in turn trashes more trail, etc. etc...

Just sayin' I hope your __uggy days are behind you...

You really think the peak putter club would knowingly associate with someone out tearing up the trails? The first time the truck left the garage was to assist in pulling a stuck and broken truck out of a ravine in a nature preserve.





Any of those rigs look familiar?


One of the last trips I took was to Rimrock one of the first weekends it was open that year so it was super muddy. People were all gathered around the bigger mud holes waiting for big rigs to come through and put on a show. As I pulled up to the holes I'd drop in and keep it just above idle and walk right through. My truck was the epitome of treading lightly since I didn't have to spin my tires on the trails to make progress. It was built for the rocks first and trails second hence the large parts and low crawl ratio.

My feelings aren't hurt that you wouldn't wheel with me though. I would wheel with anyone in anything once but learned long ago never get behind on the trails and above all never wheel with fancy, shiny bolt on rigs since all they want to do is stop at every bump in the gravel road and take 7584930 pictures of everyone driving over the "obstacle" clogging the trails as they do so. They typically always spent more time trying to prevent their smittybuilt/poison spider or genright bolt on "armor" from being scuffed then actually wheeling and making forward progress and getting on with it.

Don't take that as if I would pinball down the trails, since I didn't but I have no fear of scratching my precious sheetmetal on a tree if it isn't going to cause lasting harm to the tree. It also helped that I was always wearing my wifes non profit educational program "trail watch" stickers on my rig. Yes that's right, that big bunny killing tree destroying truck was owned by the bankroller of a trail education program. It's a crazy world isn't it?

[iaccocca]

Oh stuff just got real! Everybody still playing (kinda nice?)

[White trash]

Lee you know me well enough to know the answer to that question.

[Lurch]

[Grumpy]

[iaccocca]

I want a LIKE button!

[White trash]

[Livin4Today]

My feelings aren't hurt that you wouldn't wheel with me though. I would wheel with anyone in anything once but learned long ago never get behind on the trails and above all never wheel with fancy, shiny bolt on rigs since all they want to do is stop at every bump in the gravel road and take 7584930 pictures of everyone driving over the "obstacle" clogging the trails as they do so. They typically always spent more time trying to prevent their smittybuilt/poison spider or genright bolt on "armor" from being scuffed then actually wheeling and making forward progress and getting on with it.

So let me understand you correctly, nothing on your rig was bolted on to say reduce damage infliction or increase your rigs ability to go farther? I call BS, and just because I add this or that (bolt on of course) doesn't automatically make me any less of a wheeler. If you paid any attention at all you'd find many who are surprised I go where and as far as I do.

So get off your bolt on ledge, and join the real world.... Yeah I no likey Honda Ridgelines too!

[iaccocca]

Great, now I gotta sell the Ridgeline.

[SquirrelCrusher]

You guys are funny with your built not bought vs bolt on battle.

[iaccocca]

Wait, wait, wait... That's the same photo twice! I call photoshop. If I find a garden gnome in the background, I'm gonna say Trahy's wheelin' experience is as faked as the moon landings.

[Livin4Today]

You guys are funny with your built not bought vs bolt on battle.

We are only here to entertain the likes of you...

[White trash]

So let me understand you correctly, nothing on your rig was bolted on to say reduce damage infliction or increase your rigs ability to go farther? I call BS, and just because I add this or that (bolt on of course) doesn't automatically make me any less of a wheeler. If you paid any attention at all you'd find many who are surprised I go where and as far as I do.

So get off your bolt on ledge, and join the real world.... Yeah I no likey Honda Ridgelines too!

3 days and that's the best you could come up with?


The cage, sliders nose pick and receiver hitch were all welded on. The winch was bolted on I suppose.



Lee look closer the top pic was 42's and yota axles the bottom was 44's and 1 tons. I miss that truck...

[iaccocca]

Lee look closer the top pic was 42's and yota axles the bottom was 44's and 1 tons. I miss that truck...

I'm still looking for the Garden Gnome. 44's and 1-tons could all be photoshopped.

[Tell me, do you enjoy a stinky cheese. A pungent, ghastly, stinky piece of cheese?]

[TJDave]

My favorite version. Wasn't the flamingo a bolt on?

I really liked that truck.