Baby Krawler a.k.a. BK - First Trip

[J.C.]

I took BK out for a first trip test run to URE this weekend. Took my 16 year old friend, Josh, with a new learner's permit, and hooked up with 89wrangler, BigRedB2, BugNut1228 and Rubicon700.

Steve's NTH Commando had starting issues on the trailer at the Outpost. A shot of starting ether got it going but it continued to cut off and he was forced to turn around on Dickey Bell trail and head home. The rest of us continued on and rode several trails until around 1 p.m. when we all headed over to DPG for the B.S. fest.

The BK is set up right now with a 2" spacer lift, 33x13.50 LTBs, front fenders trimmed to the flare crease, welded D35 rear and LockRite D30 front.

Josh drove the whole day and did pretty good for his first time! He got the first body damage when he took the hard right line on Budwiser and dinged a rocker panel. But he made up for it when he put a matching ding in the other side on Kodak Nothing major, just a scratch.

The BK did good, running street pressure on the LTB's it made it through some pretty good mud holes with no problems and hooked up good on the rock climbs. With some rocker sliders Josh would have made it up the middle line a Kodak but I wasn't wil to put that much BD on it right now so he backed back down and took a different line.

The engine is tired with low compression on #1 cylinder, and had some power issues on the hard pulls but some of that could be gearing too, stock 3.54s. I'll tinker with it a bit and consider the SBC I have on a stand for a swap this winter.

Jerry, Rubicon700, did great in his long arm Rubi with 35" ProComp MTs. He had no problems on any of the trails/obstacles going wherever he wanted. Good rig, good driver!

Reed and Holly, BigRedB2 and BugNut, made it up everything with a little spotting and skinny pedal in their open diff cruiser.

All in all a good day, good to put some names to faces, BK needs some work. You CAN run 33" tires on a 2" spacer lift with minor trimming but you're going to get some front fender self clearancing and a 12.50 tire or less backspaced wheel would help stop the rubbing at full lock but for what it was it did fine and we had fun!

 

[snappy]

Good to meet you at the Playground. You should be very proud of Josh and thanks for bringing in a young person at teaching him to be a responible(sp) wheeler.

 

[89wrangler]

Good to see you guys. It was a very short day. Flooding issue on the carb and by the time I got back to the trailer, I got to watch all the antifeeze remove itself from the engine via the waterpump. Nice.
While I was loading the Jeepster up, it was interesting watchin a group of Rover folks removing the running boards and mud flaps from a, what looked to be, brand new Rover in order to gain more ground clearance (6" to 8") so they could handle the harder obsticles and wheel for the first time without damaging the running boards. Oh and they(running boards) fit in the back seat with a little bit of help from 6 other "friends" To each their own, but I found this a little amusing. At least they got to wheel, more than I can say.

 

[marvilusone]

You really shouldn't have any power issues with 3.55's and 33's. It's obviously not ideal gearing but it works. I ran mine like that the whole time I had it. Never drove it on the street but it did just fine on the trails. Papa Jon on here also runs his on the same setup and drives his on the street from time to time and I've driven it on the street as well and is seems to do fine. FWIW mine had 245K and IIRC his has 220K. I ran 33/14/15 Boggers and he used to run 33/12.5/15 TSL's but now he runs my old Boggers.

 

[BugNut1228]

Reid and Holly, BigRedB2 and BugNut, made it up everything with a little spotting and skinny pedal in their open diff cruiser.
All in all a good day, good to put some names to faces.

It was nice to meet you, thanks for letting us tag along!

 

[chromerunner]

You really shouldn't have any power issues with 3.55's and 33's. It's obviously not ideal gearing but it works. I ran mine like that the whole time I had it. Never drove it on the street but it did just fine on the trails. Papa Jon on here also runs his on the same setup and drives his on the street from time to time and I've driven it on the street as well and is seems to do fine. FWIW mine had 245K and IIRC his has 220K. I ran 33/14/15 Boggers and he used to run 33/12.5/15 TSL's but now he runs my old Boggers.

to each his own i guess....Way back in the day i rode a couple times with 285's and stock gears...NEVER again. the power issues are so terrible. I felt i was putting so much strain on everything. It was managable on the road but the load it put on it offroad was way to much.

 

[Reid]

John, way to take a new driver out and show him the right way to wheel! much better than that vid of the guy in the green JK! Too bad the engine crapped out on ya.

That rubicon was pretty nice. im not a big fan of jeeps but they sure can build a capable truck. i didnt see you guys have on bit of trouble out there, you pretty muched walked up everything!

it was good to meet everyone.

oh...and thanks to john for helping me get over some stuff. he is a great spotter.

 

[J.C.]

Too bad the engine crapped out on ya.

Yeah, I think it's get up and go has got up and went Seemed to do OK after we got back on pavement. Just dosen't seem to like it when a load is applied like up hill or climbing rocks. Ran fine after I got it home and off the trailer. I'll tinker with it some and and see what happens.

 

[jcl]

i wish i could have joined up with yall. i did make it out today. we will have to hit the trails sometime togeather though. thanks again for your help the other day. wouldnt ya know it i didnt even have to use the bump starter today. i do have som linkage issues to deal with now though.