- Joined
- Mar 10, 2005
Rock Corps 4X4 LLC is local to Marion, NC, and beyond. This group of four wheeling enthusiasts have a leased piece of property developed for the enjoyment of four wheeling. Club membership and access to "The Flats" is by invite only. There are several open invites a year allowing the public to come in and ride.
This is a guest post from Chip Price, a member of Rock Corps 4x4.
I honestly don't remember the last time I have had such a great weekend wheeling!
What made this a great weekend was:
Minimal carnage
GREAT group of guys to wheel with
capable rigs, all similar in build
beautiful weather
lack of trail congestion
Improvements in the trails, for the most part clean, and new trail markers!
We had 10 rigs in our group, usually difficult to move that many around, but went pretty dang smooth. On this trip we had David Minton (3dKrawler) and wife Beth, Steve Brush (89wrangler) and wife Carol, Josh Price (yodakid) and wife Jules, Josh Beck (torquewild), Jason Floyd (jaybird1ton) and son Brandon, Jason (jeepn-jason), Matt Cutler (mcutler), Chris Willis, Brandon in the maroon YJ, not sure of his name, and me, Chip Price (upnover) and wife Leslie. Also had Drew, Mike, and some others but not sure of names.
We hit Mason Jar, Lower Damnation, Lower Rock Garden, Killin' Time, Dominator, Grape Vine, Middle Rock Garden, upper Rock Garden, Whitetail Crawl, Pony Hill, Lions Den and some others.
Carnage consisted of:
Chris Willis, broken axle (fixed)
Collen, broke axle
Numerous scrapes and dents to many
Me, well my list is longer, but none too bad..Winch controller cable, CB hot wire, Crushed corner on cowl, and two broken bolts on the passenger side spring mount on my Dana 60 (more about that in a moment), all of this fixed or didn't need to!
Steve, bad belts, changed them out
Jason F broke High Steer and hub housing (strange, didn't break the axle or lock out, but the housing that the lock out splines into!)
I also noted while there that there were several builders represented. Toymaker and Playing_dirty had done repairs on my frame, No broke frame, or frame repair issues (I don't think anyway, need to clean). Was great to NOT have this issue again. It still leans, but that will be replaced soon I hope. Toymaker and Playing_dirty also did a LOT of work on yodakids toy, as did Alex at Carolina Truggies, and others. This little Toyota on 38 boggers really impressed me! firetoy, redid the suspension on jaybird1tons Cherokee, I never saw it go so well, or have so much control. 89wrangler did all his own, everything worked great, mcutler did all his own, awesome Jeep, last but certainly not least was Brandon at Rides who did a whole redesign of 3dkrawler's Jeep. Worked great! David was all smiles all weekend (read comment on his build thread).
Now about those broken bolts. I rode all day Friday only to come back to the campground to find these bolts broke off. It's happened before but I didn't have what I needed with me to fix it myself and, to be honest, I am glad I didn't! There has forever been a sign on the campground for welding service. David and I come up with an idea that if we could get him to take a nickle rod, and weld the studs into the housing and build up around it, it would get me through the weekend. NOT! I loaded it up on the hauler and took it to his house, which was very close and convenient BTW. I took it off the hauler and drove it up to a small shop, which was very neat, and clean, all the back area of his house was black top, and he had steel plates in front of his shop to drive up on! He looked at it and thought for a while and said before I do what you want, I'd like to try and get the broke studs out. So with nothing to loose, I said go for it. Now some back ground on this guy... His name is Larry, I think he said he was 63 years old, worked at the coal mine for 43 years, repairing and keeping up mining equipment.
We took off my high lift and raised the Jeep up to give him more room to work. HE took a torch and heated up the area and blew it a few times to clean it out. Perfect, he could see what should be there minus rust, and mud. Heck of a way to clean it! HE then took his welder and a small rod and welded through the hole. The studs(grade 9) had broke off about a 1/2 inch below the surface. His welder was a VERY old Lincoln. It had to be at least 50 years old but was massive! He went at each hole three times. Welding straight in and the chipping the slag off, till he had it near the top of the housing. He then placed a washer, and welded it to his previous weld, then he welded a nut to the top of that. He poured water on it to shrink it, and began to work it back and forth till they both were out! David and I were absolutely amazed with this mans ability. His welding was so smooth. Very little sparks flying, absolute control of what he was doing. Now I know some shops would bend you over with a holiday Friday night repair like this, but not Larry. HE charged me $30! I gave him a little more, but the demonstration and the taking us to school, was worth much more! Oh and I forgot to mention, he even supplied us with bolts and washers to put it all back together! So if you are up there, and are in need of minor or major welding, Larry is THE man to call!
On the way back home, after the first time ever actually riding on a Sunday, I had a vibration in the hauler, soon to be followed by another blow out! This time I had a spare, and with the help of Steve (89wrangler) we got it changed and back on the road. I still have a vibration that shows up around 55mph, so I took it pretty easy the rest of the way home. I was tired, but it was the best kinda tired.
A great weekend for the memory book!
Videos and more photos can be found in the Past Events thread for this trip.
This is a guest post from Chip Price, a member of Rock Corps 4x4.
I honestly don't remember the last time I have had such a great weekend wheeling!
What made this a great weekend was:
Minimal carnage
GREAT group of guys to wheel with
capable rigs, all similar in build
beautiful weather
lack of trail congestion
Improvements in the trails, for the most part clean, and new trail markers!
We had 10 rigs in our group, usually difficult to move that many around, but went pretty dang smooth. On this trip we had David Minton (3dKrawler) and wife Beth, Steve Brush (89wrangler) and wife Carol, Josh Price (yodakid) and wife Jules, Josh Beck (torquewild), Jason Floyd (jaybird1ton) and son Brandon, Jason (jeepn-jason), Matt Cutler (mcutler), Chris Willis, Brandon in the maroon YJ, not sure of his name, and me, Chip Price (upnover) and wife Leslie. Also had Drew, Mike, and some others but not sure of names.
We hit Mason Jar, Lower Damnation, Lower Rock Garden, Killin' Time, Dominator, Grape Vine, Middle Rock Garden, upper Rock Garden, Whitetail Crawl, Pony Hill, Lions Den and some others.
Carnage consisted of:
Chris Willis, broken axle (fixed)
Collen, broke axle
Numerous scrapes and dents to many
Me, well my list is longer, but none too bad..Winch controller cable, CB hot wire, Crushed corner on cowl, and two broken bolts on the passenger side spring mount on my Dana 60 (more about that in a moment), all of this fixed or didn't need to!
Steve, bad belts, changed them out
Jason F broke High Steer and hub housing (strange, didn't break the axle or lock out, but the housing that the lock out splines into!)
I also noted while there that there were several builders represented. Toymaker and Playing_dirty had done repairs on my frame, No broke frame, or frame repair issues (I don't think anyway, need to clean). Was great to NOT have this issue again. It still leans, but that will be replaced soon I hope. Toymaker and Playing_dirty also did a LOT of work on yodakids toy, as did Alex at Carolina Truggies, and others. This little Toyota on 38 boggers really impressed me! firetoy, redid the suspension on jaybird1tons Cherokee, I never saw it go so well, or have so much control. 89wrangler did all his own, everything worked great, mcutler did all his own, awesome Jeep, last but certainly not least was Brandon at Rides who did a whole redesign of 3dkrawler's Jeep. Worked great! David was all smiles all weekend (read comment on his build thread).
Now about those broken bolts. I rode all day Friday only to come back to the campground to find these bolts broke off. It's happened before but I didn't have what I needed with me to fix it myself and, to be honest, I am glad I didn't! There has forever been a sign on the campground for welding service. David and I come up with an idea that if we could get him to take a nickle rod, and weld the studs into the housing and build up around it, it would get me through the weekend. NOT! I loaded it up on the hauler and took it to his house, which was very close and convenient BTW. I took it off the hauler and drove it up to a small shop, which was very neat, and clean, all the back area of his house was black top, and he had steel plates in front of his shop to drive up on! He looked at it and thought for a while and said before I do what you want, I'd like to try and get the broke studs out. So with nothing to loose, I said go for it. Now some back ground on this guy... His name is Larry, I think he said he was 63 years old, worked at the coal mine for 43 years, repairing and keeping up mining equipment.
We took off my high lift and raised the Jeep up to give him more room to work. HE took a torch and heated up the area and blew it a few times to clean it out. Perfect, he could see what should be there minus rust, and mud. Heck of a way to clean it! HE then took his welder and a small rod and welded through the hole. The studs(grade 9) had broke off about a 1/2 inch below the surface. His welder was a VERY old Lincoln. It had to be at least 50 years old but was massive! He went at each hole three times. Welding straight in and the chipping the slag off, till he had it near the top of the housing. He then placed a washer, and welded it to his previous weld, then he welded a nut to the top of that. He poured water on it to shrink it, and began to work it back and forth till they both were out! David and I were absolutely amazed with this mans ability. His welding was so smooth. Very little sparks flying, absolute control of what he was doing. Now I know some shops would bend you over with a holiday Friday night repair like this, but not Larry. HE charged me $30! I gave him a little more, but the demonstration and the taking us to school, was worth much more! Oh and I forgot to mention, he even supplied us with bolts and washers to put it all back together! So if you are up there, and are in need of minor or major welding, Larry is THE man to call!
On the way back home, after the first time ever actually riding on a Sunday, I had a vibration in the hauler, soon to be followed by another blow out! This time I had a spare, and with the help of Steve (89wrangler) we got it changed and back on the road. I still have a vibration that shows up around 55mph, so I took it pretty easy the rest of the way home. I was tired, but it was the best kinda tired.
A great weekend for the memory book!
Videos and more photos can be found in the Past Events thread for this trip.