12/6/2016
I ran out to Ocotillo Sunday afternoon for a little shakedown run with a buddy since I knew this would probably be the only weekend I'd have a chance to get out before the holidays. Stoked with how the truck ran. The rear shocks could use a little tuning, and a couple new bypass adjusters (more on that later), but the spring under felt great, and I was really happy with the new gear ratio in the rear axle. So glad I went to 5.14's.
Snagged a quick shot as we were trying to figure out why my buddy's rig decided to shut down. Not sure what it was, but we fiddled with the inertia switch and then she fired right back up, so off we went again.
Then we ran out towards the railroad tracks and blasted along that road for awhile. I love that section...so fast and nice and buttery.
Then we hooked left over towards Superstition. Stopped for a hydration break:
Then we headed up the base of Superstition, but ended up stopping after an unforeseen drop off caught us by surprise. After a quick safety meeting, I parked my rig and hopped in my buddy's Bronco to head to the top and eat some lunch.
Pics of said unforeseen drop-off:
That's my truck down there somewhere. Kind of a funny little where's Waldo shot.
After grabbing a bite, we headed back down, grabbed my truck and headed back towards the railroad bridge/wash. Grabbed a couple glamour shots there.
I'm kinda laughing since I noticed the graffiti once I loaded the pics onto my computer. Oh well...I guess i won't frame this one after all.
All in all a great little half day shakedown run, got in about 50-60 dirt miles. The truck ran almost flawlessly...the only carnage on my rig was a couple bypass adjusters that ended up being a little too long. When Richer cycled the rearend it was with 3.0 smooth bodies on there, and we swapped these on after the fact. We suspected that they might hit, and sadly they did. Not sure how I'm gonna address this since I really want to keep these shocks on the truck. I may look into converting them to remote resi instead of piggyback, and then flipping them around so that the bypass tubes are hanging off the front of the shocks instead. No idea if that's possible, but worth a shot.
And here's a little readout of our run...kinda cool to see it all on the map.
