Sparky-Watts
Banned
RE: Polar Bears
I happened to catch a TV show yesterday called "4-Wheel America" or something like it. On the show, they were given a brand new Jeep Unlimited and a seemingly endless budget to fix it up for the Rubicon Trail. They put on a 3" lift, swapped to a Dana 44, 37" tires, ARB lockers, and a few other smaller add-ons. The best part of the show, however, was all the footage they ran of the 52nd annual Jeep Jamboree at the Rubicon! Oh, man.....before I die, I WILL drive the Rubicon!!
The longer wheelbase Jeep gave them a couple of problems they weren't ready for or used to. The guys that did the mods and driving had driven the Rubicon before, but always in a SWB Jeep. They lost an airline on the ARB pretty much right off the bat, so were "limping along" in 3wd the rest of the way. They said the worst of it was that since the Unlimited is so new, they couldn't find any skid plates or other protective armor for it, and as such, ended up with some severely damaged rocker panels. Aside from that, they were quite impressed with the Unlimited's performance.
One of the funnier parts of the show was a guy that had never off-roaded before trying to drive a YJ. Given that he is a rookie, I can understand some of the problems. However, he was with a veteran navigator, and she was giving him pointers all the way. Several times they showed him "crawling" over some boulders along the trail, but to me it appeared as though he was in 4-hi, not 4-lo, as he seemed to be driving over them at some pretty excessive speeds, bouncing and banging the Jeep all over the place. You'd think she could have instructed him to take them a bit slower, but she never did, at least not on camera.
Anyway, it was a great show, and I wondered if anyone else had seen it. Yeah....I was born to run the Rubicon, I know it now in my heart of hearts.....and some day, I will do it, mark my words!
I happened to catch a TV show yesterday called "4-Wheel America" or something like it. On the show, they were given a brand new Jeep Unlimited and a seemingly endless budget to fix it up for the Rubicon Trail. They put on a 3" lift, swapped to a Dana 44, 37" tires, ARB lockers, and a few other smaller add-ons. The best part of the show, however, was all the footage they ran of the 52nd annual Jeep Jamboree at the Rubicon! Oh, man.....before I die, I WILL drive the Rubicon!!
The longer wheelbase Jeep gave them a couple of problems they weren't ready for or used to. The guys that did the mods and driving had driven the Rubicon before, but always in a SWB Jeep. They lost an airline on the ARB pretty much right off the bat, so were "limping along" in 3wd the rest of the way. They said the worst of it was that since the Unlimited is so new, they couldn't find any skid plates or other protective armor for it, and as such, ended up with some severely damaged rocker panels. Aside from that, they were quite impressed with the Unlimited's performance.
One of the funnier parts of the show was a guy that had never off-roaded before trying to drive a YJ. Given that he is a rookie, I can understand some of the problems. However, he was with a veteran navigator, and she was giving him pointers all the way. Several times they showed him "crawling" over some boulders along the trail, but to me it appeared as though he was in 4-hi, not 4-lo, as he seemed to be driving over them at some pretty excessive speeds, bouncing and banging the Jeep all over the place. You'd think she could have instructed him to take them a bit slower, but she never did, at least not on camera.
Anyway, it was a great show, and I wondered if anyone else had seen it. Yeah....I was born to run the Rubicon, I know it now in my heart of hearts.....and some day, I will do it, mark my words!
