Welcome to Botches Off -Road. Join us as we talk
about everything from gear reviews to trail stories,
tank camping to rock landing, and all things
to do with the outdoors. Today is kind of a wrap,
but it's a wrap on a Tuesday. I know, it's weird,
it feels wrong. But we did our third -gen camping
weekend, and I figured that an hour -long episode
was a lot more... than a little half -hour wrap
-up. So we got Mr. Shane and Duncan on with us.
I think that's pretty much everyone. We did have
the rover guy show up, but... Yeah, he doesn't
count. The main focus of the weekend is all here.
Yeah. Yeah, core group's all here. Yeah, nothing
broken at all. I'm not sure about that. I can't
go over 35 anymore. I still smoke gas. It's not
leaking. Superficial. So, I mean, I can't say
that nothing's broken. Just, you know, when we
left Everett and we're driving down to Riggs
and Coffee, that drive on the expressway was
really sketchy, and it just progressively got
worse. I was definitely just out of balance from
how much mud I had packed in my wheels. That's
what I thought. Like I was getting crazy vibrations.
That's what I thought was going on too. So I
sprayed out my wheels and it made it worse. Cool.
Oh, my truck complained about his needed oil
change after the long drive with the trailer.
But other than that, that's fine. That's just
because it's time for an oil change. It is time
for oil change. Well, yeah, and for the record,
Alex and I were very responsible. We did our
oil changes before. I did do my oil change the
weekend before. I was responsible for once. Exactly.
Yeah, and I dipped my finger in mine a few times,
and I didn't see anything shiny, so the bike
VZ continues to live. It's always a plus. You've
only got 150 ,000 miles on that thing? Mm -hmm.
Yeah, and somehow, despite having 150 ,000 miles,
my truck seems to be in the worst shape. All
the rust. I guarantee it's just the fact that
it wasn't driven a lot. Because you have a...
Your third gen is from the Midwest, right, Alex?
It's pretty rusty, man. Is yours a rust -off
car? Yeah, it was from Wisconsin. Wisconsin.
Yeah, I mean, mine did sit for a few years, so
I wonder if they brushed it. Got salt in there
and it just sat on the yard for a long time.
I mean, my frame was definitely a worse shape
than yours. Your frame's not too bad. No, knock
on wood. No, from everything we've seen. It's
weird because my car rusted, the frame rotted,
and then the rockers rotted. Yours, it's like
everything else. I know. It's fantastic. Yeah.
Yeah, that's... That damn rank joint is deep.
Here. Ah, that's just weight reduction. Yeah.
Yeah, right. Yeah, I'll definitely have to...
Disassemble an angle grinder. The question is,
where do I stop cutting? Because, Shane, I think
yours came from down south, didn't it? I don't
know. Mine's a southern truck. Pennsylvania.
It was like... A year in Florida and came back
from Virginia in like 2018, somewhere in there
when I ran the Carfax on it. So it's not spent
its entire life in the Rust Belt, but it's got
touches underneath. I've just been diligent about
recoding it. Each winner, so the frame holds
on better than the discos did. Yeah, speaking
of the disco, that showed up to 3rd Gen Weekend.
We got to check her out. Made you almost want
one. I changed my mind. I don't want one anymore.
After watching it almost roll? Yeah, that's kind
of what... what turned my opinion on it. It had
absolutely no flex whatsoever. Yeah, if you have
the heavy -duty springs on it and aren't running
detachable sway bars or just sway bar deletes,
there's no downward flex. Literally, the only
way that that guy got through that obstacle was
his skinny pedal, and that almost resulted in
a pretty bad accident. that was almost a catastrophic
catastrophic roll over we're talking like two
inches from a tree like it was it was pretty
scary the video doesn't do it justice no he almost
rolled it if it wasn't for the steel rear and
then launched out of the rut almost straight
into a tree yeah yeah It kind of reminded me,
when I was at Marblehead in that last little
bit, I decided to just go at it, but it was,
like, way sketchier than that. It was way sketchier,
dude. It was so bad. It's interesting, because
I feel like all my close calls are the opposite.
Like, I'm in the moment, and I'm like, oh, god,
that was cool. Surprised I made it through that,
and then I watched the video back, and it looks
like nothing happened. Yeah, no. I'm like, oh,
that was... That's a good problem to have, though,
you know, like if it's a sketchy end. The video
does not do it any justice. So the problem with
videotaping obstacles are they make everything
flat. So it makes every obstacle look easy, even
if it's really hard. Yeah. I know. I don't know
what the fix is to that. I tried zooming in,
and that kind of helped put it in perspective
a little bit. I don't know that there really
is a fix for it. It's just kind of the nature
of the beast. The only thing I've found that
really kind of highlights difficulty of obstacles
is doing a fender mount with a GoPro so that
it's at the wheel because then you see all the
up and down travel. But then again, on a GoPro,
it's still self -stabilizing. You can be banging
yourself around, and it looks like a mildly bumpy
dirt road. That's not even how my iPhone worked.
I just had it in my little phone holder and pointed
out the edge. Yeah, I was watching something
back with Alex, and I was like, man, this felt
way beyond bumper and plus the rest of the video.
So I didn't even know that was a thing. Little
squirrel thought here. Does Duncan sound okay
to everyone? Because he's kind of really quiet
to me. Yeah, I've got good audio on. Okay, I
just want to make sure because I don't want the
recording to be a bunch of Duncan just being
quiet. Might not be the worst thing. I can hold
the microphone in front of me too like this.
Oh, you know, it also really helps if I turn
your volume up on my video call. I was about
to say. Ah, there you go. There you go. Yeah,
I'm charging my phone so I can't use my regular
gaming headset. Gotcha. Darn modern tech and
taking away our headphone jack. I guess they're
supposedly generations trying to bring it all
back again. Mark, we use Zunes every day. I heard
someone that they're, I can't remember which
group, but they're buying VHS tapes and everything
because they can tire the streaming services.
While they're idiots, they just need to set up
a server in their basement and steal it all.
It's way more affordable. Or just get DVDs. It'd
be easier to find a DVD player. Especially since
VHS is nearing the end of life and starting to,
like, degrade and not be good anymore. 100%.
I feel like that should be the next camping buy
is we get a mini projector set up. We can watch
it and have movie nights out there. I definitely
have a mini projector. that i bought in korea
in 2015 so you know that it's really good quality
honestly we all just huddle around whoever has
the biggest phone we get to huddle around we'll
just squint yeah my uh my projector was my main
tv for like three years my entire time in the
army I would get it up to 120 inches and 720p.
So, like, it's not terrible. Oh, it worked well
enough. I remember we had one at the Beta Theta
Phi fraternity house at Michigan State University.
That was the entirety of everything that we watched
on TV. So everything was just horribly white.
Yeah, not a good time and yeah, I mean I got
the bit somebody banged against the wall to obviously
split off You know you make do and it's the experience
to you know, it's the fun of being camping watching
movie God knows. Yeah, it can't be too nice.
Yeah. Yeah Yeah, no one's thinking we have fun
of these camping because then miserable stuff
breaks we spend all the time thick so Yeah, we
should. I guess we can start at the beginning
a little. So me, Duncan, and Mark convoyed up
on Friday to Everett, Michigan. Yep. We got started
a little late. I don't think we left till like
1. Yeah. Like 1, 1 .30. We were on 1 -ish. But
I know we... We're pretty much set up by four.
Duncan went into town at four to see if there
were anybody who showed up to the event. And
because y 'all hate us, nobody showed up to the
event. No. I'll tell you though, I was sitting
there in the parking lot and I saw like a couple
of people and I was like, oh, somebody didn't
like knock at the memos. I was like, I'm going
to have to turn them away. But no, they just
drove out again. No such luck. So we, uh, We
had a pretty good setup. I would say it's probably
one of my favorite campsite setups we've ever
had. The setup was awesome. Those light fighter
tents are legit for solo camping. They're amazing
for solo camping. Solo camping unless you brought
two dogs with you. Honest? Okay. Both dogs slept.
Foreshadowing. Foreshadowing. Yeah, okay, foreshadowing.
We'll get to that. We'll get to that. Yeah. So,
yeah, the light fighter tents were sick. And
even your guys' tents, I don't know if you looked
at the picture, but they kind of match. Yeah.
Not intentional, but I'll take it. I'll say it
was intentional. It looks really professional.
Two red and white tents on either side, and then
just a perfect uniform row of light fighters.
I mean, it was beautiful. And then... Kitchen
Gazebo came in real clutch with the rain. Oh,
that Gazebo is such a goodbye. That's what VEVER
makes that? Yeah, it was like VEVER or something
like that. VEVER six -sided octagonal awning.
Quick setup. I mean, it takes us like five minutes
to set up and tear down. It's nothing. What's
up? As long as we're not lollygagging about it.
Well, I mean, actual work time is like five minutes.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But, yeah, we just pop it up
like you would a deer blind and stake it down,
and she's ready to go. Is it the 12 1⁄2 by 12
1⁄2 one? Yeah, that one's 12 by 12. It is? Yeah,
so if you go into the website, B -E -B -O -R.
182 block. Yeah. And I think we'd all agree that.
fantastic but it's like because the biggest thing
for me was when it was colder and i was i wasn't
too worried about it but i was semi worried about
it that we were going to get out there we're
going to be cooking hanging out it was going
to be like 50 degrees and no one's going to want
to hang out and have a conversation with each
other but just being able to get out of that
thing you know it blocked the wind really well
when we were cooking it held the heat and like
we were even able to get the uh you know the
fire pit that we had was the entrance to the
door and um yeah i mean it was fantastic kept
everything dry kept everyone warm not too noisy
didn't fall over and the hard panels are nice
because you can put the hard panels up and block
the wind and everything and then if you need
some more air you just let the top half of it
droop down and boom there's airflow yeah fantastic
yeah so we got all set up that first night We
didn't really do anything. We just waited around
for Shane to show up. Because he lollygags. I
didn't hit the road until about 5 o 'clock, 5
.30. Because I had to get the boys out of school.
And they finished the last few things packing
up. So I got out there, I think around 7 .30
at night. Quick setup. trailer pulled really
well for dedicated camping weekend that's definitely
the route to go yeah and they on the way out
there i thought because i passed a tacoma pretty
similar to yours mark and i thought they might
have been heading out that way because they had
indie plates and i was like oh man i they they
left the gas station before i got a chance to
They see what they were doing. I'm like, if you're
wheeling, head out to Everett. Yeah, I know.
I think the plan is to advertise a little better.
Yeah, for sure. I like that it's just our core
group, but it would be cool to see a couple other
rigs, or if Brian ever actually followed through.
Like, yeah, I'll be there for sure this time.
No, you won't. That was this time. Brian, you're
a liar. He was for sure going to be there this
time, and he bailed on us. Yep. He was working.
I forget exactly what project he was working
on. He was working on a... Yeah, he was saying
someone paid him to do their serpentine belt,
and I think breaks. So he's like, as easy as
it was, I couldn't say no. I don't even want
to hear the B word. I have to do this flop. You
know, I was looking around, and I've spoken to
several people. I upgraded to a GM one -ton master
cylinder on my third gen. And all the examples
I saw, the reservoir split, big one from the
back, and a firewall, the little one, just split
reservoir. And everyone said, you know, you have
front brakes, just go to the back. Same as with
the stock setup. But mine is flipped, so I'm
almost certain I have it backwards, which means
we're going to need to do the whole brake lead
debacle. And my stall is not ready. I brought
that up. Well, everyone I spoke to said that
it goes that way, you know. And, you know, what
I was thinking was that the master cylinder passes
that port first, so it has the most pressure.
But I don't know if that's fully how master cylinders
work. And I spoke to the Trail Gear guys, and
they said, yeah, it should be the other way.
But, yeah, so me and Brakes. Pop a leak? Didn't
slam into the back of the Discovery at any point?
Went downhill? Well, okay. I came pretty close
a couple times, but I managed to get the brake
on. And when Mark and I took the bypass at a
later point, I was going down that hill way too
fast. Oh, I'm sorry. And I was going backwards.
And we folded one of the mirrors in. But that's
a story for later in the book. Yeah. I don't
want to talk about mirrors being folded in quite
yet. I know, gosh, yeah. Well, I mean, hey, you've
only got one folding mirror. Well, yeah, that
means we all folded a mirror in at some point
over the weekend. Yeah. Do they have electric
folding mirrors with OJ? No. Well, if you're
listening, anyone, you want to design one. Make
one. Yeah, three good buyers, right? Yeah, we'll
pay for it. I want holographic mirrors that don't
actually exist but still show me what's behind
me. I was about to say, just have it work programs
knowing there's an obstacle that's going to take
it out. I was saying, when we rented one of the
brand new discoveries, it must have been like
2018. That thing had cameras on all four wheels.
Mind you, I was just driving down Dunn Road.
It was a fantasy vacation. You could see all
four wheels the whole time you were driving.
It was pretty cool. Yeah. But you also couldn't
pull down the seats manually. You had to press
a button. So it was way too... Yeah, so we...
Shane finally showed up, and we kind of hung
out by the fire with the... Well, under the awning
by the fire, because it was raining pretty good
by this point. Yep. Yeah, I got set up just before
the rain hit hard. Yeah, we drank quite a bit
of beer that night. I think we drank more beer
Friday night than Saturday night. Yeah. Trying
to take the edge off the fact that we might break
stuff. Yeah, yeah. Like I said, like... You don't
understand, like, when I was doing that brake
swap, like, we, like, bleed the brakes, and,
you know, you get good, and you're like, that
was a pretty good pedal feel, and then something
would just start leaking out of, but no reason.
No reason. You're like, oh, it's leaking. You'd
be like, no, it's, like, why would it start leaking
out? And then you tighten it up, bleed them again,
oh, that's good pedal pressure, and you're like,
oh, that's leaking. I was, I was, I was going
to break. Absolutely suck. And then, you know,
we had the experience last year with the mud
and water and everything. It felt like that was
all. Oh, yeah. I was expecting a lot deeper mud
and water this year with the storms we've had
come through. It hasn't gotten hot yet because
we were late summer last year and it was significantly
wetter. Yeah, I was about to say. I think the
mud was gnarly at Poker Run than it was this
time. It was way gnarlier at Poker Run. Yeah,
I was really impressed with how dry ever it was.
It made, especially that last mud puddle that
we all went through, that one scares me, and
that was really dry. Yeah. Yeah, and we were
all talking about how undramatic everyone's looked
until mine went through and stuck right at it.
Yeah, yours made it look like it should. We all
go through and it's just like a little sploosh.
And then you go through and it's like, you're
at your hood. Yeah. Yeah. It's pushing a big
bowel wake. Yeah. Cause it's unstuck, right?
I, and, um, you know, what, what plan to fix
that before we do our leatherwood trip? But yeah,
but right now, yeah, it has the added benefit
of making everything look incredibly dramatic.
The problem though, is that it also feels dramatic
from inside the cab down to the worry wall. So
I was paying attention. Yeah. And to add insult
to injury, the little scan gauge I have, I have
voltage set up on that. So I remember, I think
I said this last year, you know, when Shane went
through and found out his alternator in a big
puddle, they just got soaked with mud and water.
I went through the bypass and, you know, it was
deep, but not as deep. But yeah, water came up
over the hood and I got through and I was reading
good voltage and I was like, oh, great. And then
out of nowhere, 12 volt. That's just like 11
volts. I was like, oh no, no, no, no, and then
jump back up to 15 Wow So like it's a good thing
to have but I also feel like I just worried myself
about it Yeah, it's just the fact that you can
see it and just that's not going the direction
it should Benefits having a lead foot like Alex.
Yeah, you kind of just everything just seems
automatic. You just fly through it I was trying
so hard to go slow enough for you, but to me,
I don't feel it. You know, I can drive down the
road and barely feel the road, and you're like,
bro, I can't keep up. I was like, oh, I need
to slow down. I'm going to get thrown all over
the place. Yeah, me and Mark, and I'm like, man,
I feel so bad because Mark was grunting every
single time he went to a bump, and I was like,
he is not going to want to ride with me again.
No, you're good. I had Joseph always ride with
you. Yeah, I was about to say, I don't usually
ride passengers, so it's been a good bit since
I've done that. I definitely remember whatever
it feels like stock ride hikes. I drove the black
truck with stock front shocks through there,
and I thought I was going to die. Like, it was
the worst experience of my life. Well, they're
also, like, 25 years old, 26 years old in my
vehicle. Okay, yeah, the black trucks are brand
new, so. Yeah, so the 80 definitely doesn't help,
but we plan to fix it. Yeah, and then, man, we
kind of jumped way ahead. I don't even remember
what the first obstacle we did was. Oh, it was
the first obstacle was that hill climb. Yeah,
the small hill climb. A 90 at the top. The baby
Everett hill climb because the big Everett hill
climb got shut down because they hate us. Yep.
Yeah, well, I think we were all pretty convinced
there was an accident there at some point, right?
I don't know when. There had to have been an
accident at some point. Yeah. Yeah, so I think
we all got through that hill climb without any,
like, real dramatics. Do we even have videos
from that hill climb? No, I don't think so. I've
got... I'll have to look back. I might have a
video of you going up. Did Alan record? Dude,
I know you dropped them off. I know there's a
video of mine going up, but this year it was
a lot more packed than it has been in the past.
Like, last third gen weekend, that was loose.
Yeah. Like, you had to take two, three goes at
it, and we tried traction boards on it. But...
That was before we knew how to lock his center
diff. It was, yeah. Bucks have known how those
center diffs work, and there's a forum thread
on T4R for anyone else who has... What is it,
multi -mode? Is that the transfer case they have
or something like that? Sounds like a J -shift
case. Yeah, there's a forum thread on T4R .com.
And they explain what each of the different modes
do. So if you have one of those, I'd recommend
reading through it, getting very familiar with
what you can do. Because, you know, like Shane
alluded to last year, I didn't really know what
I was doing. And I think the first few attempts,
I really loosened it up. And then Alex came in.
He was like, well, you know, let's do, you know,
low four locks. Let's go into, you know, two.
And then let's try the hill. And that was probably
the best attempt I had. In this go -around, I
had that thought first time, and I went straight
up. Yeah. So to my surprise, I couldn't believe
it. I was like, oh, here we go again. Yeah. Duncan's
getting stuck in the post obstacle, but made
it all the way through. Couldn't believe it.
But then I had to deal with the downhill section,
which is almost scary. The downhill on that one
now is actually more challenging than the uphill.
If you hit it the other way. The big rock has
kind of gotten washed around. So you've got more
clearance off that rock on driver's side now.
Now, if you do it the other way, it's almost
more fun because you're supposed to do it the
other way. We always do it backwards. Oh, well,
they told me. But, I mean, either way, the obstacle's
fun either direction. It's gotten pretty well
washed out and worn on both sides that it's about.
Excuse me, I'm sorry. It's pretty on par with
each other either direction, so. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, and I really... After that, we just kind
of rode... Oh, after that, I accidentally took
us on a hiking trail. Yeah. I don't have much
video of that, but that trail was really fun.
Yes. That was a really good trail. Yeah, it's
just... It's a little bit wider than the truck,
a little bit shorter than the truck, and... Lots
of off -camber and loose leaves. It's just a
good trail. Everything about it is fun. It is.
It was. And credits to the third gens, too. That's
one of the nice things is that they are so narrow.
I've said it so many times on the weekend. I
can't bat him going through that. Or a disco.
How did he get through that with the disco? Plus,
is the Disco as narrow as the Dungeons? It's
definitely wider. A little bit wider, but the
height is the big setback on the Disco. Especially
with that Safari rack, it's so tall. It is. What
is it? It's a first -generation Discovery, right?
That one's a 2. Oh, it's a Disco 2. Yep. What
year is it? 04. So the last of the second gens.
So one more year and we would have had all third
gens for the wheeling portion. Yeah, then we
got to that mud hole that we were talking about
that was drier than we expected. And, I mean,
usually we take the vagina trail there. That's
literally there used to be a sign on a tree that
says vagina trail. So usually we take that, but
this time around I decided to just go for it
because it was dry enough, and I don't think
anyone even struggled a little bit on that. No,
really, the only part to be technical on it was
angling in on the approach because there's that
big washout section with a drop down, but once
you were in it, I mean... We all walked that
pretty easily. But yeah, Vagina Trail, the Alternator
Killer, whatever you want to call that trail,
because that's the one that hosted mine last
year. Because it washed well over my hood. Yeah.
So then we got to... Oh, next was the wading
section. I want to call it a water crossing,
but it's not really a water crossing. Yeah, it's
just a trench. So it's a good, what do you say,
maybe like 30, 50 yard wading pass. It's pretty
long. It's not crazy deep, I'd say. No. But,
I mean, it's cool. You get some cool videos from
it. And if you didn't want to do Connor's solo,
it's a good one to do. Yep, for sure. And yeah,
I can post the videos of all of us going through
that waiting section to both the Instagram and
Facebook page if anyone's curious about any of
these trails. I think I already have videos of
this on Instagram. We've got a lot of them up
there that have been slowly coming in. I've been
waiting on the full video dump until... after
your release episode. I've been doing like two
reels a day has been my number. That way I can
stretch out the content for a little while. Yeah,
I won't hold content until Leatherwood. Yeah,
yeah. So, yeah, that was a pretty cool event
or a pretty cool obstacle. And then not long
after that, we come up to the best thing ever
has to offer. So... How would you even describe
that washed out mess? It's probably a good 300
yards of gnarly off camber. And just through
the main portion of it, the off camber itself
is challenging enough. If you have sway bars
connected, because there's significant travel.
And then the rut at the end of that, would you
say that's probably, what, three foot deep? Oh,
it's deeper than that. Four, almost like four
or five. I'd say almost five foot, because when
I dropped my tire in there, I mean, it doesn't
help that I laid the truck on its side right
there. So, yeah, I had two wheels in the rut
and two wheels in the air. It was great. I loved
it. I loved every minute of it. It was great
for the truck. It bent my mirror backwards, and
that was about all it did, really. Because I
was mostly resting on my bumpers, and those both
were sanded to raw metal, for sure. But, you
know. Yeah, I think I've got a picture of you
while you were on your side. And I was waiting
for you to get out of that to see how bad the
door panels were. I'm like, they're just going
to be corn up. But props to the bumpers. They
caught the weight of it. And you don't even have
any bending or denting on the bumper. It just
sanded it down to raw metal. Yep. Yeah. Yeah.
And I mean, credit where it's due though. Alex
does spend a lot of time on its side. Yeah. I
mean, that's, that's the only way to get through
skin ill. Like you need to say the thing inside
the crawler. Um, and you know, for me, never
having done it, that was nerve wracking. I was
like, I can tip this thing over, but take it,
you know, they really do. You know, you might
sacrifice a mirror here or that, but you didn't
have a locker either. Did you Alex? No, I don't
have my locker yet. I'm still running no locker.
If I had a locker, I would have made it through
that rut instead of bypassing it, but... I kind
of wish my suspension didn't need adjustments.
I would love to tackle that hill after New Year's.
Dude, it's so much worse than it was at New Year's.
New Year's, it was... Condition -wise, I'd say
tougher just because it was wet and... It was
sloppy. But yeah, there's probably a good extra
foot of depth on that rut compared to New Year's.
Because I know Busted to Built went through there,
maybe following us. And then that Power Wagon
on 40s went back through there. And like you
said, every time we go back to that trail, it's
just beat up harder and harder. I still don't
understand why the video you got of me going
through that, it uploaded in 360 and won't let
me watch it in any other quality. The one I uploaded?
Yeah. I'll see if I can upconvert and send it
to you direct instead of going through the SharePoint.
Yeah, Google just, actually both the videos you
sent are 360. okay i'll take a look because yeah
if i can up convert that for you that was a once
i edited down it was a really good video yeah
there's i mean hey despite all the videography
issues we had on arguably the best trail to get
videos on oh my god Hey, man, I'm going to put
you in the middle. Take a video of me. Okay.
Gets a picture. A picture. At the start of the
trail. Yeah. He tried. It was funny. It was.
And I mean, for those not looking for the adventure
of the main trail, I'll, I can vouch for the
fact that even the bypass stuff, you'll definitely
want to do it with full wheel drive already engaged,
which I didn't do. And I got off the trail and
realized, oh, I probably need full wheel drive.
um because there is a bypass um if you go left
from the entry to that you kind of go down a
hill into like a tiny little meadow and then
start climbing up the same direction that trail
and about halfway you come to a tree root that
you'll definitely need a four -wheel drive to
climb when i hope uh yeah like i said not something
i realized until i hit the tree root and it's
all i was like well i can't get out of this i'm
going to back down the hill and yeah mark had
to pull the mirror into going to lose it And,
you know, all the, you know, I have a rear disc
conversion, so all the rotors are covered in,
you know, sand and mud and water at that point.
So it was just me controlling, well, some level
of control just falling back down a hill. Yes.
And trying to guess where the middle of the trail
was and taking off the branches. Yeah, and then,
yeah, the disc goes to the bottom, and he was
like, you couldn't even get it on the bypass?
And I was like, no, no. So. I don't think he
fully understood that, like, your truck is very
early days of build. It hasn't really made it
that far into a build yet. No. It's got all the
roots of an awesome build, though. Here soon,
that build's going to be insane. Yes. Yep. Yeah,
we just need to build both the lockers. You know,
obviously, Alec burned out, right? You know,
the $70 to get Toyota's, whatever the heck, body
gel, stupid, like, dielectric -based. Insane.
It was not a cheaper option. Well, there's one
from China, and they wanted, like, $12 for all
the shipping. So you're just going to have to
cough it up to the dealership if you want to
rebuild your real locker. But it looks like you
can get about four or five rebuilds out of the
dielectric -based they give you. So, yeah, once
we do that, we throw the suspension from the
puller on. It'd be good to go. And then I just
got the F -150 fueled. Oh, did you sick? So we
stopped locking that up. Oh, nice. Yeah, I'm
sure the Amazon driver was thrilled with letting
that tonight. So, yeah. See, after that trail,
we went back to camp. You and I went up and down
that trail. Right. Yeah, we went up and down.
The disco took the bypass. Yeah. I'm surprised
the disco fit down that bypass. I was looking
at it. The stats are in. The disco is 74 .5 inches
wide and the Toyota 4Runner is 70 .5. Yeah, so
it's a little bit wider. Barely. Barely. Hey.
You can do a lot with four inches. Just ask my
wife. You can. Amen. That is something that we
stand on in this podcast. Yeah, so then we went
back to camp, and I kind of took a nap and found
three ticks in like five minutes. That was fun.
There were a lot of ticks this weekend. yeah
thankfully we managed to stay clear yeah yeah
i didn't have any of me since we got back i haven't
found any but while we were there i found a lot
um yeah we took a little bit of a nap and then
we went to the um what would you even call that
hill climb area scramble area yeah just a scramble
area they've got like a center mud pool and five
six different hill climb areas there's so many
yeah like if you go up each route i'm counting
like doing the full loop up and down as one but
there's that long one that's all loose sand they
both up and down and that one's pretty tight
because it's Just a narrow chute. And the downhill
is trickier there because you've got really loose
sand. They're just trying to sled down and trying
to keep off the walls. With a turn that Joe Yamber
definitely broke his mirror off on. Yeah. Yeah.
Let's clarify what vehicle that was. It was a
Sequoia. A big ass hippo. But yeah, that area
is pretty cool because it's pretty much a choose
your own adventure. I could spend a few hours
just hanging out there. We could honestly bring
a little grill and just make our food there one
day. play on the rocks i mean because that's
the other thing is it's not just sand there's
a couple that are kind of rockier hill climbs
yeah there's those two hill climbs on i think
north side that are pretty rocky yeah and going
up or down in either direction on those ones
is a lot of fun i i had william in my lap steering
for those like mostly steering i've I did a couple
corrections here and there, but... The one that
I... Go ahead. I was going to say that's pretty
doable as well. Like, it's not technical. It's
just kind of taking time. It goes slamming through
the rocks, but, like, you know, even though I'm
stuck. Yeah. My favorite that I still want to
tackle is that one coming in and out that's super
washed out with rocks. Oh, the rocks. I mean,
I did the bottom part of that rock garden on
the way out this time. I just, with not having
a locker, I knew I couldn't get through the rest
of it, so I kind of held back. It's a really
gnarly little climb. I can't wait to do it for
real. Yeah, with lockers set up, that'd be a
really fun one to do. I think that's a good one
for the bucket list this year. If we get back
out there, I think we will probably. A few more
that we've got off the leatherwood. It'd be cool
to see if we can get through that. Yeah. Yeah,
and then after that, we went back to camp and
had our little potluck, which... With just us,
it wasn't that much of a potluck. Not much of
a potluck, but the walking tacos were a clutch.
Those saved me with how long mine takes to cook.
That thing that you made was amazing. It was
amazing. Dude, that is, like I said in our previous
episode, that is my absolute go -to because it's...
It takes a while, but it's so easy. Because I
just set it directly in the fire pit, and I can
hang out, have a drink, run around, shoot the
shit, and half hour, 40 minutes later, it's ready
to go. Yeah, that was good. Yeah, so we kind
of bullshitted for a little while and then went
to bed. See, how far are we? Do we want to drag
these stories out a little more? No, we're at
45 minutes, so we're good. Because I had to dip
out. I left probably around 9 o 'clock Saturday
night. Yeah. And then we got up and tore camp
down. Well, we tore most of camp down Saturday
night. Yeah, we took care of the campy. And then
we got up and tore down the rest of it Sunday
morning. loaded up and we left for rigs and coffee
at what like 10 30 10 o 'clock 10 30 somewhere
in there 10 10 10 30 it was somewhere around
there um drove to wesco uh got some gas and then
got on the expressway and i realized that Anything
over 65, it felt like my truck was going to rattle
itself to pieces. And I just assumed it was mud.
So I kept going and we got to Grand Rapids and
there's like this, it's not the S curves, but
they're like small S curves, you know, kind of.
Oh, the ones north of town? The curves by the
zoo. Yeah, by the zoo. So as I was making those
turns, my truck was dancing across the lanes.
And I thought that was pretty bad. So then we
get to rigs and coffee, and I just kind of chalk
it up to my wheels are full of mud. Yeah, so
rigs and coffee was great. It was. Yeah, it was
a good turnout. And not just... In numbers, but
the people that were there were good. I mean,
there are a lot of people that are just good
people to talk to and fun people to make plans
with. Yeah, I'm trying to think of what all even
happened. That whole day is kind of a blur to
me. Oh, we literally talked about the trailer
and everything. We were very conversational that
Sunday. Yeah, everyone seems to like the trailer.
I guess we did a good job building a... An off
-road trailer. I mean, it worked well this weekend.
It hauled all the gear. It bounced around. Yeah,
I think the pack -out kitchen was definitely
a point of conversation. A lot of people came
through and checked out the kitchen and everything,
the pack -out setup you got on that. Yeah, it's
a little more on the expensive side, but what
it does for just being so modular, being able
to pull it apart, pack it the way you want. It
did a fantastic job. It really did. A lot of
people like to check it out. Yeah, I really hate
Milwaukee, but they're the only ones that make
a product that does what I want. Yeah. Yeah,
I walked around Home Depot for a little while,
and yeah, Rigid makes something similar, and
maybe they have husky ones, but they're just...
I mean, it's basically just a series of tubs,
not sliding drawers or nothing locked into place.
and if they do lock closest one that hits close
to what i'm looking for but we've touched on
this the locking feature and mounting is nowhere
near as good the dewalt one that has either a
deep chest pull out or dual drawer pull out but
i mean just it's not as sturdy yeah So, yeah,
the DeWalt one, and the way they lock together,
they've got these two flips that come up on either
side and just kind of lock in. And one of the
things that makes the packout so special is you
can buy plates that you can mount right to your
truck or trailer, and there's no strapping involved.
It just clicks in. You can't do that with anybody
else. But, I mean... Whatever. I'll cough up
the money for their super expensive boxes. And
it worked well. Everything stayed firm on the
highway, even towing that trailer, you know,
like it probably probably like an hour, hour
and 15 minutes to get up there from your place,
Alex, and then probably an hour and a half to
two hours back down and nothing. Well, no. Okay.
One of the, one of the answers. It was not secured.
It was not no and that was of all the things
you could have lost. I think that was But it
held fun. Yeah, nothing really shut loose. Nothing
came off You don't have to pull over the side
of the highway and rock last three lanes of traffic
picking up tools and sockets and things like
that. So Yeah, you pack up the outside of a trailer
it works I felt really bad for those side -by
-sides that were in the scramble area. We just
walk up, skunk hat, matching Hawaiian shirts
that are gaudy as hell. Like, we had to have
looked like the biggest fucking goobers, dude.
Oh, yeah. And our campsite. That one side -by
-side, though, that little mini quad one. Yeah,
that thing's cool. Awesome. Yeah. It was a wild
-looking thing. It was almost like a single -seated
quad with almost like a hand built onto it. It's
almost like if you took just a regular four -wheeler
and just ducked it side -by -side. It had pedals
and a steering wheel. Yeah. It did. It probably
had a lot of get -up -and -go. I saw him trying
to turn around on the hill, and it was a pretty
undramatic series of events. I don't know what
the top speed in that thing was, but it was like
a mobility skid. It was cool, either way. Let's
see. Yeah, I don't know, man. My truck's still
broken, so I can't go over 35. Anyone else have
anything fun come up since then? Well, mine isn't
from this excursion, but... We did find out that
I'm missing a bushing. Yeah. Core support bushing
is just gone. Yeah. No bolt, nothing. No bolt.
Bushing's just hanging out there. Like whoever
installed it did not finish it. No. It's like
they popped the bushing into place. and said,
nah, it's time to go to bed. I'll do that tomorrow.
And then went on to the next. And your bumper
is only bolted on one side with one bolt. Yeah.
No front pulls for Shane, guys. No front pulls
for Shane. Well, just on the outer wings of it,
it's missing. The core of the bumper is solidly
mounted, but the outer mounts, only one's there.
Yeah, we definitely got a... So center pulls
only. Well, and the thing is that the bolts that's
missing on your passenger side, that goes through
to the frame. That bolts the core of your bumper
to the frame. Yeah. So... Yeah, it's that whole
situation. We got to rectify it. That's not cool.
Yeah, that's going to be a Friday project for
sure. Yeah, I mean, other than that, I have a
lower control arm here. It came today. So this
weekend I'll be fixing that, and hopefully that
fixes my shaking. I'll be putting my new rear
bumper on. My little brother's going to do his
breaks on his Tacoma at my house this weekend.
And Duncan has all sorts of stuff to do. It's
going to be a busy weekend. I'll put the brake
lines around, start mucking up the fuel tank.
I want to sound dead in the passenger compartment.
I'm taking the GC8 down to visit the first spring
opener for the Subaru season in Lansing. So I'm
gonna go check that out Saturday. So yeah, I'm
not gonna be doing any off -road obstacles or
anything like that. So I'm not gonna let that
break anything. Yeah. I think we already established
that the hottest vehicle we faced last weekend
was a US 131. Yeah. Definitely gave us a run
for our money. Died in traffic. Yep. It was the
daily driving aspect. Yeah. I'll tell you, turning
that corner and my truck just dancing across
two lanes, I was like, oh, God. Driving back
to reality. It's not normally like that, so I
know something's wrong. It's fixable, though.
You should be able to figure it out. I'm at the
point now where it's either lower control arm
bushings. That's really all I think can cause
the problem I'm having, so I'm hoping that that
fixes it. But, yeah, that was our third gen weekend.
We'll do another one next year, probably. I liked
doing it in April. I think that was way better
than August. Yeah. I think it was, too. For the
camping aspect, it was a lot more enjoyable because
we weren't just killing ourselves in the heat.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I like camping in the summer
too, but it was really nice camping in April.
Yeah, like the campsite wasn't overgrown at all.
Yeah, I brought weed whacker and whatnot so we
could clear up if we needed, but yeah, we didn't
have a single issue. No. No, we worked out well
for the third gen too. The best time to take
them wheeling is when you're early in the season
and they haven't actually been out yet. Had a
chance to break. So you leave it to the end of
the summer and you do a bunch of trails beforehand
and then hang it on by a thread that you start
to break stuff. Yeah. Do it before the main trip
for the year. I know. Yeah, we'll be crossing
fingers and toes when we go down to Leatherwood.
Yeah, because, I mean, it's eight or nine hours
to get there and eight or nine bags to go on
the breaded highway again. I don't know if you
guys saw, but they started following botches
off -road on... Instagram today. Oh, did they?
Yeah. So that was kind of cool. They want to
figure out what kind of recovery you had to have
on site, and we showed up. Yeah, make sure the
skid steer's ready. You're going to need a winch.
The helicopter. Yeah. Oh, should we call the
off -road wrecker? Yeah, get the paramedics on
standby. Yeah, one of these idiots is going to
roll it over and cop with the way that drones
do this thing. They're definitely going to get
into an accident. I think the drone's probably
trying to get their lawyers involved, too, making
sure they've got enough insurance on the place,
too. You know, looking at the list of people
going, I think that we're the only ones with
third -gen forerunners, me and you, Duncan. Man,
well, when does sign -up officially close for
that, or does it kind of open up until the very
end? I have no idea. I kind of feel like they
should have closed it by now. I think he said
something about send the email in, if you haven't
already. Yeah, I know. I saw it this week. He
pushed, like, the last blast on it. If you haven't,
get it to me now because it should be closed
down soon here. Yeah, so if you have a third
-gen 4Runner and you'd like to come along to
Leatherwood and join the crew and maybe break
a vehicle, then sign up. Get involved. We can
send you the info on Instagram or wherever else
you might be able to find us. Yeah, it'll be
fun. I'm really excited for that trip. I am too.
Yeah, I'm bummed I can't do that one. Yeah. The
darn Navy. I was going to say the Army, but in
your case, it's not the Army. No, it's still
the green weenie, though. It always wins. If
there's one thing I've seen in Mr. Crestle, the
military branches, it's their ability to screw
you. Wouldn't yours be the blue weenie? No, we
don't wear blue anymore. Really? Like, when you're
on a ship, you wear... I mean, we've got dress
blues. Yeah, coveralls, but... I was going to
say, when you're on a ship, you wear green? That's
weird. What's the Navy uniform even look like?
Type 3s. NWU Type 3s. That's pretty similar to
MARPAT, but color is different. Wow, that is
really ugly. I mean, look at me. You know, I...
Yeah, you can't talk with your ACUs back in your
day. I say, we don't wear ACUs anymore. We wear
OCP ACUs, and they're beautiful. No, I really
liked the blue uniforms you guys had, though.
Oh, the blueberries? When did they phase those
out? We had those when I started. We phased those
out probably... 19? 18, 19 would have been when
I transitioned over to the Type 3s. That was
a bad choice. That was like an iconic uniform.
Well, it made absolutely no sense because the
only place it would make sense would be on ship,
and we don't wear those on ship. That and being
a welder, they're non -flame retardant. Right.
So anytime I wanted a new set of uniforms, I
would just... I'm like, all right, it's time
to do some, like, porch cutting and put my legs
underneath. What? Just bark the hell out of them
and be like, oh, I can't wear this uniform anymore.
They made us by our own, so. Give me new ones.
But. On that note, before we turn into the Every
Military Uniform Sucks podcast. Yeah, the Stalty
Veterans podcast. I would dip out. So, well,
I hope you guys enjoyed this kind of chaotic
little episode. I'm sorry that we didn't give
you a Friday wrap, but I hope this Tuesday wrap
makes up for it. So we'll catch you guys later.
Later. On to the next one. We're going with doors
open Flying down the west coast drive She said
I can't focus Taught her you could take it tough