MN4WDA Convention
#1
04-29-2015, 06:47 AM
MN4WDA Convention
Since I got my front axle problems sorted out, I decided to attend the Convention, plus it was less than 20 miles from where I live so how could I pass that up.
When I met up with the rest of the guys from MNLR club, we made the quick jaunt to the farm that was hosting the weekend activities. The farm had been in their family for just about 150 years this year, and has been used for many off road functions. There were about 2 dozen trails of mixed degrees of difficulties, with bypasses around the tougher areas. First time i had been off road with my Disco so I was not sure what to expect.
Keep in mind that I just had a total knee replacement 2 1/2 months ago, and replaced a lot of the parts on my front axle 3 days before. Last tie I did any off road wheeling was 30+ years ago so I was a little out of practice too.
After arriving, I found myself in line for the mechanical inspection, not sure how I ended up there but I figured what the heck. The only problem they had with my truck was the missing battery tie down (didn't even know it was missing) I grabbed a spare nylon strap and got the battery secured to their satisfaction (and mine) and was pronounced OK for trail.
we parked and everyone proceeded to air down their tires. My tires are Destination radials (rated m+s so I didn't think dropping air pressure would help much so I left them at 42 PSI. My truck is 100% stock, aluminum 16" rims, and I figured I could always get pulled out if I got stuck. The other guys (and girls) which was about 7 other trucks, said we would hit some easy trails so I figured why not!! about a mile in, the first two LR's headed up a steep rocky incline which I looked at and said ummmmm.... They ended up backing down and taking an alternate route which was OK with me. I maneuvered around some large rocks that looked like they wanted to do some damage and slid sideways with the drivers mirror up against a tree.. (oops) with a little fancy wheel spinning, I got away without ripping off a mirror, and proceeded down the trail. A bit farther and I found myself heading for some devilishly positioned 'holes' about 3 ft deep, wider than the truck, and about 10 ft long, with a buried tree at the far end. No place else to go so I headed in figuring if I stopped, I was stuck. With CDL locked in hgh, and trans in 1, (auto) I went for it and cruised right through with no problem. there were 5 or 6 with a few variations but I did OK, and positioned myself to miss the deeper side on a few of them, plenty of mud and rocks too. The final one was extra deep, and had an extra foot of drop off in the middle. I watched as another LR ended up almost on it's side with only 3 wheels on the ground. I figured that was not a good line through there. I edged over a bit more and sailed right trough. A Rubicon Jeep behind me didn't do so well and had to be towed out of the hole. we then stopped in a clearing and I was surprised at how ell my Disco did with the green driver at the wheel. The others were impressed with my handling of the obstacles and aside from the near miss with my mirror, I did catch one of my rear bumper end caps on a rock and broke it a bit more than it already was broken, got through with just some brush scrapes on the side. I was grinning from ear to ear. After a few more trails, Te y were going to head for some more challenging trails, so I left mine parked and hopped in with another driver. His Rover was much more equipped for the rougher trails and It was fun to see what it could do.
We were running around on the trails for about 6 hours and afterwards attended the dinner and prize giveaways. I was definitely hurting from all the moving around and limped home(me , not the truck) They announced they had set a record for the event, 135 trucks and 300 people were in attendance. Trucks ranged from trucks held together with bungee straps and duct tape to mega dollar rock crawlers. Everyone was extremely courteous and accommodating
The next day I spent 3 hours clearing mud from just about everywhere underneath and clearing mud from the engine compartment. Smiling the whole time!
I am impressed with what this truck can do and have some plans for a few modifications to help preserve the body but i had a great time. can't wait until the next outing!!
Pictures and videos:
My truck is the front (foreground) one with the grill guard and lights (willow green)
Mn4wd Convention Photos by jimvw | Photobucket
When I met up with the rest of the guys from MNLR club, we made the quick jaunt to the farm that was hosting the weekend activities. The farm had been in their family for just about 150 years this year, and has been used for many off road functions. There were about 2 dozen trails of mixed degrees of difficulties, with bypasses around the tougher areas. First time i had been off road with my Disco so I was not sure what to expect.
Keep in mind that I just had a total knee replacement 2 1/2 months ago, and replaced a lot of the parts on my front axle 3 days before. Last tie I did any off road wheeling was 30+ years ago so I was a little out of practice too.
After arriving, I found myself in line for the mechanical inspection, not sure how I ended up there but I figured what the heck. The only problem they had with my truck was the missing battery tie down (didn't even know it was missing) I grabbed a spare nylon strap and got the battery secured to their satisfaction (and mine) and was pronounced OK for trail.
we parked and everyone proceeded to air down their tires. My tires are Destination radials (rated m+s so I didn't think dropping air pressure would help much so I left them at 42 PSI. My truck is 100% stock, aluminum 16" rims, and I figured I could always get pulled out if I got stuck. The other guys (and girls) which was about 7 other trucks, said we would hit some easy trails so I figured why not!! about a mile in, the first two LR's headed up a steep rocky incline which I looked at and said ummmmm.... They ended up backing down and taking an alternate route which was OK with me. I maneuvered around some large rocks that looked like they wanted to do some damage and slid sideways with the drivers mirror up against a tree.. (oops) with a little fancy wheel spinning, I got away without ripping off a mirror, and proceeded down the trail. A bit farther and I found myself heading for some devilishly positioned 'holes' about 3 ft deep, wider than the truck, and about 10 ft long, with a buried tree at the far end. No place else to go so I headed in figuring if I stopped, I was stuck. With CDL locked in hgh, and trans in 1, (auto) I went for it and cruised right through with no problem. there were 5 or 6 with a few variations but I did OK, and positioned myself to miss the deeper side on a few of them, plenty of mud and rocks too. The final one was extra deep, and had an extra foot of drop off in the middle. I watched as another LR ended up almost on it's side with only 3 wheels on the ground. I figured that was not a good line through there. I edged over a bit more and sailed right trough. A Rubicon Jeep behind me didn't do so well and had to be towed out of the hole. we then stopped in a clearing and I was surprised at how ell my Disco did with the green driver at the wheel. The others were impressed with my handling of the obstacles and aside from the near miss with my mirror, I did catch one of my rear bumper end caps on a rock and broke it a bit more than it already was broken, got through with just some brush scrapes on the side. I was grinning from ear to ear. After a few more trails, Te y were going to head for some more challenging trails, so I left mine parked and hopped in with another driver. His Rover was much more equipped for the rougher trails and It was fun to see what it could do.
We were running around on the trails for about 6 hours and afterwards attended the dinner and prize giveaways. I was definitely hurting from all the moving around and limped home(me , not the truck) They announced they had set a record for the event, 135 trucks and 300 people were in attendance. Trucks ranged from trucks held together with bungee straps and duct tape to mega dollar rock crawlers. Everyone was extremely courteous and accommodating
The next day I spent 3 hours clearing mud from just about everywhere underneath and clearing mud from the engine compartment. Smiling the whole time!
I am impressed with what this truck can do and have some plans for a few modifications to help preserve the body but i had a great time. can't wait until the next outing!!
Pictures and videos:
My truck is the front (foreground) one with the grill guard and lights (willow green)
Mn4wd Convention Photos by jimvw | Photobucket
Last edited by jimvw57; 04-29-2015 at 06:59 AM.