Completed: Rausch Creek Park run 7-17-10

[bobbyblaze]

Hey now, Had a great time last weekend. One recovery and front end carnage for me. The quarry is pretty cool. Got to run on the new side too. Mostly greens and blue trails with a little bit of red. Not nearly as big as the main park but there are some cool areas and the terrain varies as you go from one area to another. For everybody that loves mud, They have a decent size area dedicated for that. Section 'R' on the outer limits is really cool. Tight in some spots. Hilly and rocky too.
There's two water pits you can traverse (called "PIT" and "Pit Jr") and a Hill climb with two trails up that has a very small landing at the top before you come back down. You can go back around to the front and do it again if you want. When I was coming back around for the first time, I hit the double whoopty a little too fast without getting out to check it first and smashed in my front end pretty good. I managed to destroy my impact bar and front skid plate, bent my crossmember behind the skid, bent both ends of the frame rails and also bent my lower radiator support. WOoT ! Not going back to stock. I have other plans for my front end.

Well enough talk, Time for the pix and video. I still have more vid to edit.

[bobbyblaze]

Mo pix. .

Here's the hill on the new side with my carnage and vid

[bobbyblaze]

Bent the frame ends up and in. Also bent my rad support, skid plate and the frame rail that the skid is bolted to.

Here's the first vid with my GoPro. I am going to build my new front skid plate bigger, stronger and lighter. I am going to use HDPE polythylene plastic with a steel frame this time. If it works like I think it will, I'll be replacing all my steel plates with it. That should shave at least 150 lbs off the weight of my truck.

[irishboy02]

Great vid! ..still waitn on that first one from wharton :cough:

Not to bad at least, could been much worse, still sucks that it happend though yanno. At least you made it home!

[TB_KSV68]

And Datsun PU carnage relates to a 360 platform........How ??

[SteveTB03]

:slap:

And Datsun PU carnage relates to a 360 platform........How ??

He used to own a TB IDK what happened to it but he still posts up here to stay in touch ya know.

[bobbyblaze]

:slap:

And Datsun PU carnage relates to a 360 platform........How ??

Datsun

SteveTB03 He used to own a TB IDK what happened to it but he still posts up here to stay in touch ya know.

Thank you. My TB was too problematic. Had to cut my losses. I still wheel with some of the guys here. Givin trail reports when no one can get out from ORTB.

Speaking of getting out, You guys have to get up to RCP. Quality wheeling and the new side is cool too. Didn't see one truck over there besides ourselves.

irishboy02 Great vid! ..still waitn on that first one from wharton :cough:

You ready to roll yet ?

[MrSmithsTB]

Sorry for your carnage . I'll make it up there one of these trips. Lining up some things at the moment, so that maybe I won't have to worry about suffering the same fate as your front ear.

[bobbyblaze]

Sorry for your carnage . I'll make it up there one of these trips. Lining up some things at the moment, so that maybe I won't have to worry about suffering the same fate as your front ear.

What I did was a rookie mistake . It shouldn't have happened. I should have got out to look first. I'm glad this happened in a sick sorta way. I'm gonna' beef up my new front skid plate to include my radiator now.


I'm headed up to my bro-in-laws shop in a min to put it on the frame straightening machine to take some measurements.

[Zero]

I want to know more about this molecular plastic and steel frame idea you have. Sorry to see the damage, as a fellow car love...it always hurts to see a damaged ride....no matter how bad.

[Trail X]

Looks like a good trip Bob. Where's the new section? I haven't heard of or seen that area yet.

My only problem with RC is that you wheel all day, but don't really get anywhere... good proving ground though!

I want to know more about this molecular plastic and steel frame idea you have.

All plastic is molecular... the stuff Bob is talking about has very long polymeric chains. Makes it very resistant to impact.

UHMWPE - just a fancy way of saying the same thing as a cutting board in your kitchen.

You've probably heard the roadie talking about the trail-lex... they used UHMWPE for their front skid:

http://www.fourwheeler.com/projectbuild ... index.html

[HARDTRAILZ]

That is the stuff i want to make a huge underbody skid with. from engine to rear suspension. Cover the gas tank, but I dont think it would be something to run all the time, maybe just stuff like this. We use stuff like it on the RC Crawlers all the time.

Nice to hear about the new area. I understand the twisted goodness of bashing the front so you HAVE to fix it and upgrade.

[johnburgelin]

This UHMWPE stuff sounds pretty interesting, it'd be great if someone on here found a line to a manufacturer so we could be our hand's on some stuff at a great price.

[Trail X]

This UHMWPE stuff sounds pretty interesting, it'd be great if someone on here found a line to a manufacturer so we could be our hand's on some stuff at a great price.

www.mcmaster.com sells large sheets of it.

For large 8' x 4' x 1/2" sheets, you're looking at $100-$300.

[Zero]

How come more people arent using this stuff already? Does barton have any interest in using this stuff for our platform?

[Philberto]

I honestly haven't thought about using the UHMWPE before, but it is a brilliant idea, particularly for somebody like me with little/no access to welding/cutting tools/skills. I could very easily use a rotozip to cut something out and use a heat gun to help bend it. Hmmm.... I need a project with a $20 budget to do, and that may just do it.

[The Roadie]

I looked into it years ago because the 4Wheeler project vehicle TrailLex (Lexus version of the Land Cruiser) used some. I found good size sheets in various kitchen stores as the white plastic cutting boards, if you only want a 24" wide piece. Unless backedup with metal, you can't put the weight of the truck on it, so it lost my interest pretty soon. The high end rock crawlers use it, which was where 4Wheeler got the idea.

[bobbyblaze]

JD, The new area "Northeast" entrance is directly across the street from the main entrance off Molleystown Rd. You have to pay an extra $10 to go over to the other side after the normal entrance fee. I just checked RCP's web site. Thought they would have the new map posted. I will scan the new map and post it here. I have a paper copy. Let me know if you would rather me post it elsewhere.

Not alot of hardcore stuff over there. Just some fun new terrain. I got over there late so I didn't explore the whole area but it was nice to seemingly be the only people out there.

After doing some comparitive pricing between UHMW (ultra high molecular weight) and HDPE (High density polyethylene) , I decided to do my testing with the cheaper HDPE. I can keep replacing my steel plates for the cost of the UHMW so the only benefit would be less weight to add lost MPG's back. I found a place that I can pick up a 4x8 sheet of black HDPE for $150. The natural white is $140. I have read alot of positive trail reports (with pix) of guys on an xterra site that are using the HDPE with good results. Of course it will wear faster than steel but it does flex, so it will absorb smaller impacts where my steel has dented already. It will have to be braced with steel in some areas like the TB gas tank skid plate a couple of guys have here. When buying a 4x8 sheet it will cost less than steel. I am picking up a 20ft piece of 2" tube for a project I am undertaking soon. The HDPE manufacturer is 10 min away from there so I will be puting down a deposit for the plastic. Takes about a week. More to come.

[Philberto]

JD, The new area "Northeast" entrance is directly across the street from the main entrance off Molleystown Rd. You have to pay an extra $10 to go over to the other side after the normal entrance fee. I just checked RCP's web site. Thought they would have the new map posted. I will scan the new map and post it here. I have a paper copy. Let me know if you would rather me post it elsewhere.

Not alot of hardcore stuff over there. Just some fun new terrain. I got over there late so I didn't explore the whole area but it was nice to seemingly be the only people out there.

After doing some comparitive pricing between UHMW (ultra high molecular weight) and HDPE (High density polyethylene) , I decided to do my testing with the cheaper HDPE. I can keep replacing my steel plates for the cost of the UHMW so the only benefit would be less weight to add lost MPG's back. I found a place that I can pick up a 4x8 sheet of black HDPE for $150. The natural white is $140. I have read alot of positive trail reports (with pix) of guys on an xterra site that are using the HDPE with good results. Of course it will wear faster than steel but it does flex, so it will absorb smaller impacts where my steel has dented already. It will have to be braced with steel in some areas like the TB gas tank skid plate a couple of guys have here. When buying a 4x8 sheet it will cost less than steel. I am picking up a 20ft piece of 2" tube for a project I am undertaking soon. The HDPE manufacturer is 10 min away from there so I will be puting down a deposit for the plastic. Takes about a week. More to come.

Links to the xterra site article with pix? I'd search, but you are already active there, I gather.

[bobbyblaze]

I don't post on the Xterra site. Found it through my frontier site. The front end of each of the frames are very similar. Here's some good trial and error reading with a guy that did a 1 piece full skid. Heat fron the exhaust was the only real problem but that seemed to have been corrected by cutting out the section by the exhaust crossover making it a 2 piece. I'm not gonna' do a full piece and not covering any part of the exhaust if I can help it. Front plate first then off to RCP proving grounds for a little bumpity bump http://www.clubxterra.org/forums/showth ... post139626
A couple of other threads on the subject and same skid before and after pix with heat damage being the main concern and correction. I guess it comes down to personal opinion and the terrain you navigate.

BTW, that lexus skid dosen't appear to have support on the sides of it. My front skid will be boxed with angle iron and one possibly down the center. I'm not going to try to bend it either. That stuff isn't very flexible. Especially in shorter sections. My front piece is only going to be roughly 28-30" wide by 27" front to back.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthre ... light=hdpe
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthre ... light=UHMW