The Frontier 4x4 Club arranged to have our monthly trail ride on May 2nd, 1998.
We met at County Market on Montana and Custer at 9am on Saturday morning. Most of us walked over to McDonalds for a little breakfast.. Mike Kelley drove. :-)
Don, Kathy, and Tyler Gordon were there. Don and Kathy were in their '78/79 Bronco with 36s, 460, C6, rear Detroit and front ARB. Tyler had his 31" tire shod '78/79 Bronco.. V8/C6, with no traction aiding devices that I know of.
George(?) Wheeler and a friend of his pulled up in a red CJ5 from Great Falls.. 258-6cyl, and 31s.. with a nice new Warn XD9000i on the front.
Bryan and Joan Lewis (Club Pres and Secretary) showed up in their blue CJ5 - 258, open/open, with a 2.5" lift and 32s.
Mike and Loretta Kelley showed up with one of this kids and a friend.. in Mike's well built Early Bronco. Mike n' Loretta had recently returned from the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, UT. Mike's EB sports a 302V8, NP435 4-spd, Bronco 20 transfer case, 4.09 gears, Detroit out back, ARB up front, with 33" tires. Warn 8274 up front.. full roll cage.. and one gonzo driver (usually Mike).
Naturally, I was there along my friend Steve. I was in my 1977 IH Scout II, sporting a 196-4cyl, 3spd, Dana 20, 4.09 gears in the Dana 44s with a rear Tracklok, 31" tires, and 4" of lift.
One of Mike's friends, Dan, showed up in his Mustang.. Mike's a member of the local Mustang club and told Dan there was a "run" on Saturday.. Dan quickly raced home and traded the Mustang for an '82 Bronco - built '69 351, manual tranny, and 31s with open diffs on both ends.
Bryan & Joan's CJ, and my Scout were the only topless rigs there.
Once everyone had gassed up, the 7 rigs pulled out of County Market and headed down I-15 south to Jefferson City. We then pulled off and headed up into the hills, past a Pegasus Gold mine, and onwards up to Occidental Plateau. We stopped at the top of a rise to take a look at the mine.. then continued on.
We stopped at one point on the trail to crash a little snow on the side.. while stopped, I aired down a bit (from 35psi to 25psi). At this point, we noticed something sticking out of the 32" tire on Bryan's CJ5.. a large metal spike had imbedded itself in Bryan's tire! Luckily, it had gone right through the treadblocks on the tire, across the tire. Mike grabbed ahold of it and pulled it free.. no air leak. Wow. Lucky.
We drove farther up until we found our first good snow run to hit. Don Gordon plowed into the snow first.. and managed to get that 36" tired, big-blocked Bronco buried.
Tyler drove out to give Dad a pull.. and got his Bronco stuck. Bryan and Joan ended up rescuing the two of them with their CJ5.
The rest of us parked a ways back to watch the fun:
And a close-up of Wheeler's friend from Florida..:
After the three stuckees made it through, the rest of us tried.. I think Wheeler tackled the snow next.. and made it through.. then Mike Kelley crashed it.. not a problem.
It was then my turn. I backed up a bit, and got a good run at it.. the Scout felt a little underpowered.. I made it about halfway through when I lost at momentum.. and couldn't rock or anything. It was around this point that Mike called out to me that I was in 2wd... and so I was! I had shifted into 2wd so I could show Wheeler my on-board air setup (notice the hood up). Don Gordon hooked a strap up to me and tugged me backwards.. I then backed up again.. locked it into 4-lo, and hammered it. Hit 2nd gear and got a little speed going.. plowed into the snow, sent snow n' mud flying up and over the windshield (no top) spraying Steve and I, and then slipped right out the other side.
Dan then attacked the snow in his stock '82 Bronco.. not a problem.
And.. Don Gordon then drove back around, and took one more run at it.. you could hear that 460 growling as Don crashed into the snow at speed.. as Mike Kelley put it, "NOW the road's open!"
We then climbed a bit farther, and found a relatively dry spot to enjoy lunch.
Following lunch, we aired down farther - most to around 20psi, Mike went down to 15 or so.. and we then started the serious climb up through the snow.
Mike and Bryan drove up a steep hill up and around n' over to the top of the plateau. Don Gordon took a side trail and dug some ruts with his 36" tires.. and even *he* was dragging his differentials!
Tyler, Wheeler, Dan, and I came up behind.. and Tyler got his Bronco good n' stuck on the first steep section of the trail. While he and Wheeler tried to get him farther up the trail, I pulled off to the side, and Dan drove up.
While standing there.. Dan looked at my truck and asked if my shackle was bent.. on closer inspection, I had lost the nut on my lower driver's side front shackle bolt! Teach me to NOT check my bolts the night before! Dang!
Some quick thinking, and I had my socket set out.. my Carhart's on, and I was under my Scout removing the bolt that holds my driver's rear shock on - I had used the same Grade 8 7/16" bolts on the shocks.. a good whack from the back of my hatchet, and I was able to put the new nut on the shackle bolt, and my Scout was ready to continue on.
We then drove another 15 feet to find Tyler still stuck. ;)
After some time of shoveling and winching, we decided to take the left route - that Don had taken.
Tyler went first, and went along pretty well.. Dan followed Tyler, I came third, and then Wheeler brough up the tail. Our order was decided based on wheelbase and trackwidth.. the Broncos would pack it down for me.. and I'd pack it down for the CJ.
Tyler got stuck once or twice, and at that point Mike Kelley had come down from the other side and gave him a tug.. once past, the rest of us didn't get stuck at all and reached the end of this section.
We were now almost to the plateau. We were still in the trees, but a large patch of deep snow kept us from reaching the others on the top of the flat. Tyler tried first, and buried his Bronco. Mike was trying to free him when I pulled up. Out of boredom, I started driving in and out of the snow on another entry point.. and found it to be rather deep. Wheeler had to drag me backwards once.. at which point we traded places. I got behind him, and Wheeler took a run at the snow.. Vrroom nice n' fast, and he plowed into the snow and got on top.. but didn't make it all that far.
The last picture is of the snow that fell out of Wheeler's white spokers when he got out.
At this point, Mike Kelley blew his passenger front axle shaft while trying to pull Tyler out.. so off to the side of the trail the EB went. Out came the Hi-Lift and a spare axle shaft.. and in 10 minutes, Mike had field changed the front axle shaft, no problem.
At this point, I pulled Tyler back, and he took another run at it.. and got farther. Don started pulling from the front.
Dan and Wheeler decided to head back.. Dan had to work that night, and Wheeler had a hot date in Great Falls..
Tyler got towed to the top of the flat, leaving me on the other side.. I took a run and got buried. Mike drug me back.. I tried again, same thing. A third time.. no dice. I tried a couple different approaches, I tried using 4-lo 2nd, or 4-lo 1st.. finally, Mike drove through and busted some more snow for me.. I made it farther, but then ended up on the strap and was towed to the plateau.
At this point, it was time to head home anyhow... so we started down the steep trail
Loretta took the lead:
and I followed. She made it look so easy.. floating with those 33s and her creeper gear.. I started off behind her and promptly buried myself. A LOT. I would go 10 or 15 feet, only to get stuck again.. and again.. and again.
At one point, I'd finally made *some* progress, but was continually being strapped by Loretta.. while tugging, she slid into a tree and munched the driver's fender on the Bronco.. :-(
Once I finally got going, I was able to follow a little ways.. we then waited for the other rigs to make it down (I don't feel quite so bad.. they all had some problems too.. except Bryan and Joan in their CJ5.. they just kinda "wiggled" through it all).
While the others worked their way down a bit, I put my soft-top on.. it looked like it would rain.
We then worked on the rest of the decent.. while bouncing through some deep ruts and mounds, I ended up sliding my Scout into a tree and bouncing off.. I hit the passenger front corner on the tree and bounced off - lucky for me, there was already a dent there! I just scratched it a bit. Once we got past the "Y" in the road, it was smooth sailing the whole way home.
We stopped to "corral" near where we at lunch..
We motored most of the way down.. then I stopped to air up, while others unlocked.. I figured, since I only had 3 shocks, I should probably have air in my tires..
We then drove back into town.. I went home to drop Steve off and change my socks n' shoes.. then met everyone at Godfather's for pizza.
An exhausting day.. but what a blast!