MCR 6 Sep.14-16-2007

                              Rubicon Trial High Sierra's California

    Marlin Czajkowski is hosting the Marlin Crawler Roundup for the sixth time. The original idea behind the event, was to gather his customers together and offer an opportunity to show his appreciation for their support.

    The attraction for me was wheeling the Rubicon, and with one of the sports biggest advocates and innovators. The guru of gear, Marlin Czajkowski.

    I've known about the Rubicon Trail for over 30 years. I came real close to it one summer in Georgetown, but never actually drove it.

   This famous trail is referred to as the grandfather of off-road trails. Jeep even named a vehicle after it.

    This event would attract over 150 registered participants. All loyal Marlin Crawler customers and 4 wheel drive Toyota owners.

    On a personal note, I haven't been able to participate in past Round-ups because of the timing. Our wedding anniversary falls on the 19th. But when Lilbuddy, from Marlin's forum, asked whether I was coming up or not, my lovely bride surprised me when she said I should go! That's all I needed to hear. Thanks, Chris.

But before the run, I had some work to do to Tuffy II. I had been putting off much needed repairs and modifications.

The sliders were cut from the frame, the frame was plated to re-inforce the mounting point, and sliders welded back up with gusseting.

The rock lights blew a fuse and needed to be repaired, with a relay in line this time. The rear diff never had protection, so a diff guard was fabricated and welded to the housing. After all that I still had the 35" MTR's with countless plugs in the sidewalls of two tires.

TII still had two good, albiet trail worn, MTR's along with the two plugged ones and one brand new spare with no wear.

So this was the thought process...I could get away fairly cheap if I replace the two plugged tires with two new ones. Then I'd have two new and two trail worn. But, if I  utilize the spare I'll have three new 35" MTR's. So if I bought one more, I'd have a new set of 35" MTR's with two good trail worn tires.

The only problem being, I'd have a new set of 35" tires. You see, most of the last trail run, as I was getting hung up or dragging the driveline,  all I heard was, "So Al, when are you getting some 37's?" See?

Why would I spend money replacing the worn 35" tires, when what I really needed was a set of 37's? And since I popped a bead a few times in the rough stuff, beadlock wheels were in order. You see what's coming? Yep, a new set of 37" tires mounted on beadlock wheels.

For this combo, I discussed my dilemma with Dave, the manager of my local Discount Tire, who is also an avid 4-wheeler. I always ran BFG's before that last set of MTR's. I saw an ad for the new BFG Mud Terrain with the Crawler tread pattern and inquired about them. They hadn't been released yet, but I liked the looks of 'em and trusted the technology behind the Crawlers.

So, I decided to pop for a new set of 37x12.50x17 BFG M/T KM2's. We mounted 'em up on Allied's 17" x 9" beadlock wheels.

With the repairs and modifications complete and a new set of sneakers for T II, we're ready to tackle the 'con! Here we are stopped in Castaic Lake for a break.

After about 12 hours of Freeway driving, we took Ice House Road until we made it to Loon Lake campground. It wasn't our destination, it's just where we wound up! This is Friday, the morning of the run. We still need to find the spillway.

One of the first things we saw at the spillway, was a repair being made by Marlin, while Louis assists. He was replacing some Chinese manufactured wheel bearings with quality OEM parts.

After the drivers meeting, we headed out from the spillway.

Louis had some trouble here.

This is the first time I've ever been here. The history and magnitude of this part of the country can't be properly represented with pictures. Here the first part of our group ascends the granite slab.

With Loon Lake in the background, Marlin holds up on the slab to give the other rigs a chance to catch up. I didn't see Marlin after that. He said he was on a mission to make it to Rubicon Springs.

R&D vehicle no doubt.

One of the rigs attending. Look for this one in a future issue of 4WD ToyotaOwner magazine.

Here we start to head into the rest of the trail from the slab.

David's FJ80 Land Cruiser was there.

With sheer determination, this guy made it up Soup Bowl.

4WD Toyota Owner Dave in his FJ 80 series Land Cruiser.

Some guys just like showing off. Ralph and Evan's rig is almost on it's side, on it's maiden off road excursion.

Herb's IFS 4-Runner with open diffs made it through the entire trail. A testament to his ability and his rigs preparation.

Some guy brought the family SUV on the trail. Just kidding, it looks pretty capable. I took this picture to show my wife what her Jeep could look like and where it could go.

Oooh, I like this one even better. Winch, rack, 37's maybe?, nice ground clearance, probably pretty flexy. He was following us. Nice one, I like it. Look Honey!

Right at that spot, Hootman pinched a sidewall and then prepares to stuff the hole with some plugs. Eventually we wound up mounting the spare.

We made it as far as Buck Island on the first day. We started on the trail at the spillway at 9:30. By 4:30 we were ready to pitch camp, chow down and settle in for the night. Here you can see the spare mounted on Herb's Runner.

Some rigs passed through toward the Springs.

Out of Buck Island on Saturday morning, heading for Rubicon Springs, Herb flexes the Runners suspension.

This is the scene right out of our camping area.

Those Pro Comps were aired down to about 11 lbs. That soft sidewall conforms over obstacles, but also punctures easily.

Hootman's 4-Runner looks pretty good on the trail. There are lockers and maybe a SAS in it's future. Bitten by the bug!

There are still some gnarly sections to traverse. Hootman is at the top, ready to tackle what I think is Big Sluice. This brings you to Rubicon Springs.

I noticed this rig as we were passing through the first camping area you come upon when entering the springs. It almost looks like it should be chained to the tree. It's mean looking!

Less intimidating, yet no less worthy is this FJ Cruiser with a Solid Axle Swap.

Here's what Herb is shooting for. Solid Axle, Winch bumper with a synthetic strung winch. With, what looks like,  37" MTR's.

Good clearance, tall tires, exo-cage. This Runner is trail ready.

Passing through camp at the Springs, this is where the tri-tip steak dinner is being prepared for the participants.

After we claimed a spot to camp, it was time to head down for some dinner and a raffle.

Walking back toward the springs from our camp, we saw a wide array of trail rigs  gathering for the evenings festivities.

These guys are serious about this stuff!

I heard someone say this thing passed 'em going about 30 mph. That's excessive speed. I wonder if there's a class for rock crawlers in S.C.T.A. I'd like to see this thing set a new world land speed record for truggies!

Bobby got pwned.

Those are either really small wheels or really big tires.

Pure Beef! Dana 60.

Is that a...what is that? It looks like a Land Cruiser?

This rig was parked up towards our camp. Nice coil-linked suspension with beadlocks, a flat bed and exo-cage. Notice the tucked in exhaust.

I had to put this guy in here. He was wearing a skull mask. Hey, it is Halloween soon.

I heard "Dinner Served" and before I could get out of my chair a long line of hungry wheelers had already formed. Look close, about mid-picture, Marlin shook every ones hand and thanked them for coming.

Umm, umm. The cooks did an excellent job.

While I was waiting to eat, this guy pulls up in a Kia or Metro or something. No way!

 I did hear one of the wheelers in the group say he was gonna' go out Monday to buy one!

After dinner, Marlin got the raffle under way. He thanked every one for coming and said we flattered him by being there.

The next morning, with still 1/3 of the trail left before we hit pavement, we headed toward Lake Tahoe.

Right out of the Dirty Dozen area, the procession came to a halt. It seems two rigs at the front broke axles or drivelines, and were being towed out. 30 rigs behind them waited to move, while these three rigs limped along in front of our group.

The first rig was attached to the orange rig...

...that was pulling the rig in back. I guess the guy hydro-ed his motor. He threw a rod out of the side of the block.

Eventually we all started moving. We started out of the Springs around 10:30 and hit pavement around 4:30, twice the time it should have taken. Once I reached Tahoe, I headed back to the spillway, where the tow rig was.

I ran the whole trail with no carnage and little incident. Not bad for the first time on the Rubicon. I'm glad I did it. Hootman conquered the 'Con and vows never to wheel again till he has lockers! Atta' boy.

                                              Trail Runs