Trip Report Winter 4X4 Jamboree 2020

Subarudude54

Member
Location
Sandy, UT
Day 1 was Wayne's World. This trail seemed rather tame for a 6 rated trail, was a good warm up for the next two days. We were done by 2 pm after eating lunch early. Here is a link to a bunch of pictures of it: https://www.lenstrek.com/winter-4-x-4-jamboree-january-16-2020

Day 2 Fault Line. This is a 6 rating, but much more challenging than Wayne's World. I heard someone say it makes Golden Spike look tame. The early off-camber section after the first steep long hill climb, was reported to be 25 degrees. Not comfortable in the seat. I was following a rig that will eventually release a Youtube Video, Trail Benders Overland. But I was too freaked out to take much myself. I did take all the obstacles. There's an obstacle with a sign "Merlo's Choice" (I may have the name wrong), it has a hole about 3/4 the way up which sucks in the left rear tire, I hit the skinny pedal as I felt my tire fall into it and crested the hill with all four tires bouncing and spinning. This kind of driving can break a U-joint, but I didn't thankfully. Later I got a little overconfident and picked a more difficult line on an obstacle than the spotter was directing me. I had to back up and follow the line he was telling me, to get up the obstacle. Link to video of that obstacle here:
Another obstacle I did, kind of a pinch:
At lunch time a rig on the West Rim group got wedged in, see these two views:
,
We got off the trail back at the water tank at about 4 pm. A long heart-thumping day.

Day 3 Double Sammy. Same photographer as on Wayne's World was along, here's the link: https://www.lenstrek.com/winter-4-x-4-jamboree-january-18-2020. Two vehicles behind me was a Range Rover with 33" tires. I heard others snicker as I did that they may have trouble. They were from New Brunswick in Canada and spoke French. Even though the Range Rover was running rough and not making power at low rpm, they had no trouble at all. Talking with the driver, he's been doing this for 20 years and he knew what he was doing. I was impressed. After the stress on me from Fault Line I took the easy obstacles this day, which are not always so easy. But this one I did fine on with the exception of tweaking my left fender a bit. Note I climbed it after the vehicle shown here:
then they got up it: https://youtu.be/vKkU6dDLos0 Then I did get a video of me going up The Chute: https://youtu.be/nSlWSrFAQl8 We were done at 12:30, a lot shorter day than Fault line. I really am coming to love Sand Hollow.
 

Jinx

when in doubt, upgrade!
Location
So Jordan, Utah
Thursday I was tailgunning on Triple 7. We were lucky enough to have the Agility Customs Team and a bunch of guys from the Just4Fun shop on the trail with us.

I started to worrying about it being a long day when the 4-5th rig (a pretty clean CJ7) on the first obstacle decided to put things wheels up. I am hoping someone took pictures because I didn't get a chance too... I just ran from the back to the front and started to arrange getting a rig in place to do the recovery. After we got the driver out and his rig winched over it was pretty awesome to have everyone jump in to get him rolling. We had a crew on each side marking and pulling plugs (thanks again Ryan and Curtis), cleaning up any spillage, and getting the older gentleman back in the drivers seat.

Meanwhile since we had enough people helping, the trail crew was able to take the crew on up the trail while I helped get the now running rig of the trail.

I think when all was said and done we finished the trail with a roll, a broken stub shaft, and broken rear driveline and diff yoke.
0E973C83-65C1-4AD2-8293-9E82119278C3.jpeg

Friday I was just a participant on Risky Biz. It was nice to just be there and not worried about anything in relation to the trailcrew. Bill, Jim, and Ryan? did a great job of keeping us moving and spotting through the technical stuff. Fun trail, not super scarey or technical, just a nice way to spend a morning/early afternoon. I think you can get a little calous after hanging out in Sand Hallow, normally tough obstacles/trails seem pretty mild after a while. Not a lot of damage or carnage, but had a great time with some great people.
7FC78B4E-4617-43C2-B286-405ADA69F48C.jpegE9B1BBF6-0D35-4B96-925D-AC28AEC05DB4.jpeg

Saturday, it was back on the trail crew for 8am Plan B. Such a fun trail. We had a lot of good rigs and drivers. A little carnage in the first 500 yards. Broken stub shaft on a yota and a rear driveline u-joint on a YJ. We ended up putting a catch strap on the back of CJ5 for the first waterfall drops just to make the driver feel more comfortable.

We got through the whole trail with only needing to run a couple of winch lines and rubbing a little paint nothing bad, until we got to the drive out. The little CJ5 some how blew up his rear driveline in the sand on the way back to top of the world, so with a little help pulled the driveline and sent him back to the watertanks in front only. Only to find out that when rallying it in front wheel drive with a recently done shackle reversal and no front driveline modificaitons the first major bump you hit will break a dana 300 in half. (Luckily the driver had his two sons with him and on a borrowed strap they were able to pull him back to the tanks and go get a trailer for the rescue.
65A5FAB4-16C6-411E-A6A3-2D6FB7D9E9C8.jpeg9FBFF35F-5801-4F41-B277-85CF99F80E02.jpeg

Fun trip, can't say enough good things about the Desert Rats and how well they run this event.
 
Last edited:

mbryson

.......a few dollars more
Supporting Member
Excellent pics!!!

....We got through the whole trail with only needing to run a couple of winch lines and rubbing a little paint nothing bad, until we got to the drive out. The little CJ5 some how blew up his rear driveline in the sand on the way back to top of the world, so with a little help pulled the driveline and sent him back to the watertanks in front only. Only to find out that when rallying it in front wheel drive with a recently done shackle reversal and no front driveline modificaitons the first major bump you hit will break a dana 300 in half. (Luckily the driver had his two sons with him and on a borrowed strap they were able to pull him back to the tanks and go get a trailer for the rescue.
View attachment 124637



View attachment 124638

Fun trip, can't say enough good things about the Desert Rats and how well they run this event.


D300.... Been there done that. Still have the D300. Probably wouldn't build a rig with one again.
 

smfulle

Active Member
Location
Plain City, UT
Went on the Friday night run with Tim Saunders on Double Sammy. Pretty fun and different running in the dark.
had a breakdown a few good climbs from the top. Bolts holding spindle to the steering knuckle pulled out and the tire/hub/spindle assembly fell off tearing the brake line off in the process. Fun trail fix with lots of people helping. Pinched off the brake line and rolled out.
If this video is too long to watch, jump ahead to 21:30 to see the carnage.


After the 2nd breakdown we moved the Jeep off the trail and called my hero Kevin Boren who brought his amazing XJ and some gear to attempt an extraction. We used a strap to the D-ring on Kevin’s bumper and ran it down to the axle to keep it off the ground. Then we hung an old tire between the rigs to try and mitigate damage from their kissing each other.
Here’s the video.

 
Last edited:

kmboren

Recovering XJ owner anonymous
Location
Southern Utah
I lead 3 trails. As a trail leader you really need to have a driver so you can spot so my 13 year old daughter drove all 3 days. Milts mile on Friday. Had a pretty good group including 2 new JTs. Carnage was a JK front Ujoint and a clamp on steering hydro assist bolt that sheared off. Lots of spotting and hiking which I felt the results of the next day.

Friday I was leading Plan B. Another great group with capable rigs and drivers. I was nervous as we had a late comer that was a basically stock JK on 20 inch rims on 33s with no lockers. He suprising did pretty good with some great spotting by myself and tail/mod gunner. Again I hiked a lot but it was a fun day because I took people on different parts that I guess other trailers miss entirely so that's always fun to repeat a trail and find new stuff. No broken parts just a couple of fender scrapes.

Friday night I got the call from Stan so I picked him and Jeff up and ran double sammy to his jeep then ran the second half of it with him attached. That was interesting and took a bit but we got him out. Glad I was able to help but got home around 330am and had to he back at the fair grounds @ 7am.

Saturday woke up had a monster energy drink and went to work leading John's trail with Katelynn driving again. Had 2 buggies at the tail end of our group. They stepped down into a obstacle named datsun falls and the first guy to attempt rolled because he had no spotter (not part of the offical trail run)Got it turned over and spotted him and the next one up easily. I guess he broke on the next obstacle so they turned around. Darn. Rest of the day went smooth and we were done by 1230. So I came home and took a 3 hour nap before the dinner.

I forgot how much work it is to spot 20+ rigs per day over every obstacle. After 3 days It was nice to run a couple trails with friends Tim, Al, Brian and Jeff on the Maze. Then do a little Sand sledding behind Tims Jeep. Monday was fun to hang with Bart and his crew on Triple 7 with the new section.
 

N8RB8R

Well-Known Member
Location
Elk Ridge
I lead 3 trails. As a trail leader you really need to have a driver so you can spot so my 13 year old daughter drove all 3 days. Milts mile on Friday. Had a pretty good group including 2 new JTs. Carnage was a JK front Ujoint and a clamp on steering hydro assist bolt that sheared off. Lots of spotting and hiking which I felt the results of the next day.

Friday I was leading Plan B. Another great group with capable rigs and drivers. I was nervous as we had a late comer that was a basically stock JK on 20 inch rims on 33s with no lockers. He suprising did pretty good with some great spotting by myself and tail/mod gunner. Again I hiked a lot but it was a fun day because I took people on different parts that I guess other trailers miss entirely so that's always fun to repeat a trail and find new stuff. No broken parts just a couple of fender scrapes.

Friday night I got the call from Stan so I picked him and Jeff up and ran double sammy to his jeep then ran the second half of it with him attached. That was interesting and took a bit but we got him out. Glad I was able to help but got home around 330am and had to he back at the fair grounds @ 7am.

Saturday woke up had a monster energy drink and went to work leading John's trail with Katelynn driving again. Had 2 buggies at the tail end of our group. They stepped down into a obstacle named datsun falls and the first guy to attempt rolled because he had no spotter (not part of the offical trail run)Got it turned over and spotted him and the next one up easily. I guess he broke on the next obstacle so they turned around. Darn. Rest of the day went smooth and we were done by 1230. So I came home and took a 3 hour nap before the dinner.

I forgot how much work it is to spot 20+ rigs per day over every obstacle. After 3 days It was nice to run a couple trails with friends Tim, Al, Brian and Jeff on the Maze. Then do a little Sand sledding behind Tims Jeep. Monday was fun to hang with Bart and his crew on Triple 7 with the new section.


It was tons of fun running the trail and was nice to meet you, we are looking forward to next year.

1DACCC48-E72B-47EE-8E00-4FBD7CF11FB2.jpegE1BBD112-9A9B-4326-8FC5-C924744358EB.jpeg
 

N8RB8R

Well-Known Member
Location
Elk Ridge
How did the Gladiator fair down there?
Actually did extremely well, we did drag the belly and bumper quite a bit. Took some different driving than I was used to.

We ran Milts Mile, Johns Trail and Double Sammy. Double Sammy was a bit of a challenge with the length. My friend with the other Gladiator is on 6.5” evo lift with 40’s and didn’t rub nearly as bad as I did. I am sitting about 3” lift on 39’s.

I love the Gladiator and have no regrets.

E15AA6D6-E86A-4A5D-B401-5A01E213BAB5.jpegFBE22B5A-7CBE-4C0C-A5FD-BB479A5F69F9.jpeg65CDB973-6299-48B7-87EC-14CC0B51B7B9.jpegA192A1F8-5CB5-4205-9C63-7DEBE5E8C325.jpeg5C565E34-6F67-445D-BB45-57CD446FE9E4.jpeg39811E4B-4567-4251-8824-089A29EEB924.jpeg
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Actually did extremely well, we did drag the belly and bumper quite a bit. Took some different driving than I was used to.

We ran Milts Mile, Johns Trail and Double Sammy. Double Sammy was a bit of a challenge with the length. My friend with the other Gladiator is on 6.5” evo lift with 40’s and didn’t rub nearly as bad as I did. I am sitting about 3” lift on 39’s.

I love the Gladiator and have no regrets.

View attachment 124682View attachment 124683View attachment 124684View attachment 124685View attachment 124686View attachment 124687

Awesome, good to hear!
 

LJTim

Active Member
Location
Herriman, UT
Not to beat a dead gladiator horse, but I lead 4 trails (including the night run of sammy) AJ Swenson (of Northridge) was with me 2 of the days, and he did quite well with his. He has 38" Milestars on it. It isn't lifted much, so this was a real test for him. He did Fawlty Towers and Risky Biz with me, and he did most the obstacles. There were a few break over areas he had to bypass, but he did most the trails, and did a great job at it.

Other than that, I had a great time. Best weather yet at a jamboree!!!
 

LJTim

Active Member
Location
Herriman, UT
For reference. That second to last picture where the white jeep is in the hole in front of that red jeep is where I recovered Stan from. All those climbs where with him attached.
Yeah man, that was a legit recovery. I just figured he'd call Rory Irish or Steve Maxfield. I'm so impressed with what you guys did. ??
 
Top