Big Dogs 4/28,29 & Rausch Creek 4/30-5/1

[Wingman]

WHAT: Big Dogs / Rausch Creek trip
WHEN: April 28 - May 1
WHERE: The Cove, Winchester, VA & Rausch Creek Offroad Park, Tremont, PA
MEETING TIME: when you get there
MEETING PLACE: at the park
CB CHANNEL: FRS radio
RESTRICTIONS: none
COST: Big Dogs $25/day : Rausch Creek $40/veh & driver, $7/passenger (+$15 membership)
CAMPING: Big Dogs on-site campground $15 : Rausch Creek on-site primitive free

Info: http://www.bigdogsoffroad.com/index.html  http://www.rauschcreekoffroadpark.org/

The plan is to arrive at Big Dogs Wednesday night, wheel Thursday and Friday, head to RC Friday night, wheel Saturday and part of Sunday.

The List:

sMike
Matt
Jeff +1 (RC)
Gif +1 (RC)
Harry/Hannah (RC)
Mark (RC)
MikeMike (RC wknd only)
Erik/Cora (RC/LM race)
Reid/Mollie (RC wknd only)
Tom (RC wknd only)

[s0l0ithz]

Im a strong maybe to both i put a request for time off now to work on the details and make sure the heep I mean Jeep is ready.

[smichaelR22]

left voice mail for campground to establish VA costs will update when i get back with them. 

[s0l0ithz]

thanks Mike for reaching out to the cove.

[Wingman]

Wed 27th - Friday 29th ok

Adult camping fee 17$ per adult per day
Adult land use fee and truck driver 25$ per day
Adult passenger land use fee 17$ per day
Kids under 12 free

[s0l0ithz]

I will not make big dogs, I will be leaving Friday morning for rc

[Wingman]

Plans are a-changing.  It appears that most have opted to just go to RC instead of BD, mainly due to weather.  sMike and Matt are still going to BD though.

So, if anyone is a last minute decision, you have two options now!

[s0l0ithz]

I'm still heading out Friday morning

[MrMindless]

Great to hear you'll be able to make it, Tom!

[s0l0ithz]

I just ask that if I need my epi pens one of you will stab me

[Wingman]

"Whatever" let me down today.  20 minutes into the trail this morning, out on Cemetery, the transfer case decided low range was no longer an option.  Winched to a bail-out and Hannah pulled me up to the main trail where I could 2H back to the trailer.  Motivation to finish the Willys, I guess.

TJ for sale, needs t-case repair.  Anyone?

[s0l0ithz]

Ever get a feeling you shouldn't go do something? That tingle in the the pit of your stomach? I should have listened to it. The Sunday before this trip I had an allergic reaction to "something" that was bad enough to send me to the hospital due to my throat swelling closed. Came home Monday and still could not see well through Tuesday. Wake up Wednesday and Hunter had a fever and was sick thru Friday. Thursday night after dinner I'm finally able to go grab the borrowed trailer. I get it home and had to air up the tires from 40 to the max 50psi, no biggies it sits most of the time. I find that it has both tail lights are out and the brake light only works on the passanger side. Get the jeep loaded and tied down and then I hear the hiss from a trailer tire. It's now 830 at night get online and see tractor supply sells a tire with rim. Good they open at 8 am the next day. Wake up Friday  and run to TS ,buy a tire for the borrowed trailer and get home to change it. Following the GPS down to rc I take an a/b exit wrong and end up the wrong way by about 20 miles. Get to Rc around 3 and unload. Pay for the park and off wheeling I go with Harrison ,Hannah, Reid,and Mollie. All very nice people. Harry is in the lead we start to run some trails things are going ok and I notice my front tires lifting more than normal, opps forgot to undo the front sway bar. Ok get out and do that. Start to try climbing some boulders up hill and Harry reminds me I'm not aired down. Put in my Air down valve xaps and try again. It's slick and greasy. Get to the top and they are now down to 10.5psi from 35psi. Check let's make these 35 really break in. Onto the next trail; Crawler Ridge. I like this one because they have a nice blue line and some good black lines to choose from. I decided to follow Harry line and soon realize he has 39s now not 37s....opps. after a valiant effort Reid got out and was seeing what was causing all my trouble not moving forward or backwards. And I hear him say your all done. I can hear something running out from under the jeep,get out in time  to see the last of the oil pouring out of the pan in three spots. Tried to winch my self up but was not having much luck with the jeep not running, Harry winches me to the top and then hooked the strap to drag me back down the hill and back to camp. Loaded up and had a quick dinner. Saw Gif and his wife, Jeff and his wife. Went and saw Cora,Erik,SMike,Matt,Joe at the race pits. Woke up at 7 and was on the road by 8. Sorry I didn't say goodbyes to everyone there but wanted to make the most out of the weekend I had left.

[MrMindless]

Well this was not exactly the race we were looking for...
We here at Last Minute Motorsports have been seriously backed up for the last month or two with projects on the homefront. True to name, parts for the car had been piling up. Pretty much the entire to-do list was centered around suspension improvements: moving engine accessories for uptravel clearance. Installing new shocks. Adding rear bumpstops and a swaybar. Almost every outing last year saw a shock failure. We were ready to step it up to the next level.
After thrashing on the car the weekend before the race, there was still a long road ahead. 4 days of vacation time and 2 all-nighters were yet to come. Goat Built LS accessory mounts moved the power steering pump up out of harm's way. Industrial Metal Sales provided aluminum and RuffStuff Specialties provided joints and misaligment spacers for new front links, and swaybar links. Fluids and consumables from Hahn Automotive Warehouse rounded out the easy stuff.
The cream of the crop was the FAST turnaround from ADS Racing Shocks! A very long wait on shocks had me thinking the race was a wash a week out - but ADS turned around an order in TWO DAYS! Some minor mount adjustments were needed, and new resi mounts needed to be fabbed, but everything worked out as planned and pretty much everything was done by about 4am Saturday.
At that time, the car still needed oil, and a few zip ties. I had to run home and back for camping gear and family. Tow rig and car both needed fuel. Everything needed a once-over, with 5 hours until registration closed and a 4 hour drive. This was not going to happen.
We finally rolled out at about 7am. By 8am, at 48 straight hours awake and pushing on this thing I couldn't keep my eyes open and handed driving duties over to my Kim. It was her first time towing anything that big, and I think the second time even driving my truck, and absolutely aced it! I crashed out for about 2 hours, we didn't end up in the ditch because of it (since I wasn't trying to nap and mind the wheel at the same time...) and we made it to Rausch around 1pm.
The last of the racers were starting around 2, and the first starters were just finishing, so we got to catch up with some friends and hear some race stories. Driving around pits the car felt great. We ran up to the upper lot to check in on some non-racing friends to see if we could catch a group to go wheel for a few hours Saturday late in the day. Only Harrison H. Hendricks was still ready & raring, and he was out on a racer recovery.
An hour later, we were all set to head out, and we took a bit of a harder line up the hill to registration. A bump up a ledge and landing under power was apparently too much for the front gearset. Failure mode isn't yet confirmed but I'm confident it's missing two teeth on the ring gear. Backlash was a bit looser than it should have been, but I actually had looked at that gearset at about 2am, since it had a slightly loose pinion nut and I wanted to be sure all the teeth weren't chipped.
So: Saturday to Saturday about 90 hours of work went into the car. Everything on the A-list got checked off except installing the new Aluminum lower front links. 2 hills got climbed and no shakedown got to happen. At least the list is a LOT shorter for next time, and we don't need to wash it.

[smichaelR22]

928 and 572 wheeled hard all day in VA bigdogs trails then headed to PA to prerun the race course friday night, then raced saturday.   


great course no issues, we placed 11 and 12 out of 121 cars on course. 

[MrMindless]

11/12 overall? Damn! I didn't know you did that well, that's awesome.