Nothing Special home ('wheeling) movies

[Nothing Special]

The tires don't seem to have slowed you down or hindered the climbing ability any. If anything the climbing ability may have been better.

Both days look pretty difficult. Very steep and narrow with tight turns. And some mud. Your skills have certainly progressed over these videos.

And the boys certainly seem to like it. Are they into 'wheeling themselves? How old are they now?

I can't say if the bigger, softer tires worked better than the skinny stiff ones or not. As a team the Jeep and I were improving, but I hope some of that was me! But as I said, the ride was much better with the load range C tires.

On my Bronco I've run 33/9.50-15C, 33/10.50-15C and 33/12.50-15C tires. I don't know that there's been a lot of difference in ride between those. The 12.50s have probably been the best off-road, but I don't have much experience with them yet, and they're mud-terrains while the others were both all terrains. So not really a fair comparison.

But I'm going to run the 12.50s for a while now. I don't know what I'll do when these need replacing, but I've got a while before that will happen. Although I do know I'm staying with load range C!

My "boys" are 26 and 27 now. Both are married. My older son, Mike, lives about 10 miles away now (he was living with us through the pandemic) and my younger son, Dan, lives about 80 miles away.

Mike was starting to drive it quite a bit (you'll see that in upcoming videos), but he started seeming less interested as he went through college and hasn't been on a trip with us for a while now. Talking with him more now he sounds like he might be interested in getting back into it, but he hasn't had the opportunity recently.

Dan was getting pretty into four wheeling for a while. He'll start figuring into these videos pretty soon, first as a videographer (and color commentator!), but later as a driver. As he got better at driving it in the rocks I could spot for him and we could get ourselves in a lot more trouble than before! And as he got better yet he could do some of the spotting and I could be the one actually bending the Bronco! (I should've put rock rails on it earlier!) A couple years ago he was talking about getting a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon so he could do this sort of thing in his own vehicle, but after getting married that seems less likely as his wife isn't interested in that sort of trip. But you never know what time will do.

 

[grumpin]

Now in 2003 I had the Bronco, but it was no where near ready for a trip. So we took the Jeep back out to the Black Hills. This was again just my family (my boys were now 9 and 7). My skill level was slowly starting to progress, so we were on a little harder trails a little more of the time.

I now had 33/12.50-15C tires in place of the 235/85-16E that I'd had up to this point. Still BFG Mud-Terrains, but a little taller, a lot wider and a lot softer. They were a big improvement in ride quality on the trail!

And as I mentioned above, in an effort to make the small Jeep still work with 4 people I had built a new rear bumper and tire carrier with a Rubicon rack. That gave us a place to put lunch so everyone's feet could be on the floor!

We started on Prospector Gulch, where we finished the last trip. Without the S-10 we made it in quite a bit farther, but got to the top of a fairly steep dirt and grass hill. It was pretty wet and slippery, and with no help and no winch I decided to turn around rather than going down it and possibly getting stuck.

And at the end of this video I included a short clip showing the "train" ride with Yogi Bear that my kids loved in the campground. It also shows our camping setup at that time.

The only other video-worthy trail of this trip was back on the Calamity Canyon trail system. We meandered around, figuring out the trails a little more. But only got video on one short section.

That's it from this trip. Thanks for reading and watching!

Very cool stuff! Bet your kids remember wheelin’!

[Nothing Special]

Very cool stuff! Bet your kids remember wheelin’!

In 2010 we went on a "last family vacation". Mike was in high school and had started a job. We didn't think we'd be able to get us all together for any more family vacations. So we asked them where they wanted to go. The Black Hills was the unanimous response (although we did add Yellowstone to that trip).

Then in 2014 we went on our second "last family vacation," also to the Black Hills.

In 2015 we went on our third "last family vacation," this time fourwheeling in an OHV park in northern Minnesota.

2016 was our fourth "last family vacation," but this one was a cruise in the Baltic with my parents, siblings and their families.

2017 was our fifth "last family vacation," back to the Black Hills again. And that was our last "last family vacation" (at least so far).

But the point is, they kept coming back for family 'wheeling trips. So yes, you're right!

[Gary Lewis]

In 2010 we went on a "last family vacation". Mike was in high school and had started a job. We didn't think we'd be able to get us all together for any more family vacations. So we asked them where they wanted to go. The Black Hills was the unanimous response (although we did add Yellowstone to that trip).

Then in 2014 we went on our second "last family vacation," also to the Black Hills.

In 2015 we went on our third "last family vacation," this time fourwheeling in an OHV park in northern Minnesota.

2016 was our fourth "last family vacation," but this one was a cruise in the Baltic with my parents, siblings and their families.

2017 was our fifth "last family vacation," back to the Black Hills again. And that was our last "last family vacation" (at least so far).

But the point is, they kept coming back for family 'wheeling trips. So yes, you're right!

We've gotten our family together twice so far - Beaver Lake in June of 2017 for someone's 70th birthday. Then in 2019 for a couple's 50th wedding anniversary. And we are planning another but haven't nailed down what year, much less the month, due to COVD.

I mention that to say that I understand the special memories those kinds of trips generate. So I hope you keep having them.

[Nothing Special]

We've gotten our family together twice so far - Beaver Lake in June of 2017 for someone's 70th birthday. Then in 2019 for a couple's 50th wedding anniversary. And we are planning another but haven't nailed down what year, much less the month, due to COVD.

I mention that to say that I understand the special memories those kinds of trips generate. So I hope you keep having them.

In 2004 we were still 'wheeling the Jeep, this time around Leadville Colorado. My boys were 10 and 8 now, and my older son, Mike, started driving on some of the trails! I started the engine in gear and he steered while I worked the hand throttle. A lot of fun for us all (and maybe most fun for his younger brother!).

This first trail, South Halfmoon Creek, is one we'd done a few times before.

The next video is much more of a home movie than a 'wheeling video. The trail wasn't difficult and my son drove for all of the video. So feel free to skip this one if you don't want that. If you do watch it, around 2:55 you hear what Mike thinks of fourwheeling and what our plans were for the Jeep at that time. But after my wife and I had talked about it more we decided that a CJ-5 wasn't a good first car for a teenage boy and we couldn't justify keeping two toys, so we did sell the Jeep eventually.

We didn't get any video of most of this next trail. Most of it was in the trees, with steep sidehills and deep bogs. No danger of dying on this trail, but the possibility of getting stuck alone and without a winch was very real, which made it pretty tense for me.

Tincup Pass was the last trail we ran on this trip. I always like trails that get above treeline, and this one has the added bonus of having some rocks to crawl over.

That's it for that trip. Again, thanks for reading and watching!

[Gary Lewis]

In 2004 we were still 'wheeling the Jeep, this time around Leadville Colorado. My boys were 10 and 8 now, and my older son, Mike, started driving on some of the trails! I started the engine in gear and he steered while I worked the hand throttle. A lot of fun for us all (and maybe most fun for his younger brother!).

This first trail, South Halfmoon Creek, is one we'd done a few times before.

The next video is much more of a home movie than a 'wheeling video. The trail wasn't difficult and my son drove for all of the video. So feel free to skip this one if you don't want that. If you do watch it, around 2:55 you hear what Mike thinks of fourwheeling and what our plans were for the Jeep at that time. But after my wife and I had talked about it more we decided that a CJ-5 wasn't a good first car for a teenage boy and we couldn't justify keeping two toys, so we did sell the Jeep eventually.

We didn't get any video of most of this next trail. Most of it was in the trees, with steep sidehills and deep bogs. No danger of dying on this trail, but the possibility of getting stuck alone and without a winch was very real, which made it pretty tense for me.

Tincup Pass was the last trail we ran on this trip. I always like trails that get above treeline, and this one has the added bonus of having some rocks to crawl over.

That's it for that trip. Again, thanks for reading and watching!

Mike did well! And he appears to like 'wheeling. And the Jeep.

But I understand the worry about getting stuck while on your own and w/o a winch - with your family along no less. It is one thing for you to get in that position, but not acceptable for you to put your family in the situation.

As for Tin Cup Pass, so that's what it is like on four wheels. Janey and I went over it on my XL350 two-up back in the early 70's and I thought "Man, this would be tough with four wheels!" And, it looks like it is. With two wheels I was able to pick a line that was pretty smooth. But not so for y'all.

[Nothing Special]

Mike did well! And he appears to like 'wheeling. And the Jeep.

But I understand the worry about getting stuck while on your own and w/o a winch - with your family along no less. It is one thing for you to get in that position, but not acceptable for you to put your family in the situation.

As for Tin Cup Pass, so that's what it is like on four wheels. Janey and I went over it on my XL350 two-up back in the early 70's and I thought "Man, this would be tough with four wheels!" And, it looks like it is. With two wheels I was able to pick a line that was pretty smooth. But not so for y'all.

On New Years Day 2006 I got an opportunity to go snow 'wheeling with a few people from the Minnesota Trailriders, a local 4WD club. Lesley thought that going outside in the winter on purpose was ridiculous, so it was just me and my sons (ages 11 and 10).

This was on some private land owned by one of the club members.

Thanks for reading and watching!

[Nothing Special]

On New Years Day 2006 I got an opportunity to go snow 'wheeling with a few people from the Minnesota Trailriders, a local 4WD club. Lesley thought that going outside in the winter on purpose was ridiculous, so it was just me and my sons (ages 11 and 10).

This was on some private land owned by one of the club members.

Thanks for reading and watching!

In 2006 we went to the Iron Range OHV area in northern Minnesota for the first time (also called "Gilbert" for the name of the town it's next to). This is next to a retired open pit mine. The pit is now a lake (Lake Ore-Be-Gone, I kid you not) and the old tailing piles are a rock crawler's paradise!

Lesley and both of our sons (ages 12 and 10) were with me on this trip. And I should warn you that in addition to my younger son doing some driving on this trip for the first time, he also debuted as a videographer and color commentator! He's improved a lot since then. But seriously, there is still some good rock crawling here.

By the way, this ended up being the last trip for the Jeep. It was taking too much time, space and money that was holding up the Bronco project. With the Jeep gone I did get the Bronco out on the roads and trails the next year, but it took another 3 years before it was working well at either.

Anyway, here's this trip.

Thanks for reading and watching!

[Nothing Special]

In 2006 we went to the Iron Range OHV area in northern Minnesota for the first time (also called "Gilbert" for the name of the town it's next to). This is next to a retired open pit mine. The pit is now a lake (Lake Ore-Be-Gone, I kid you not) and the old tailing piles are a rock crawler's paradise!

Lesley and both of our sons (ages 12 and 10) were with me on this trip. And I should warn you that in addition to my younger son doing some driving on this trip for the first time, he also debuted as a videographer and color commentator! He's improved a lot since then. But seriously, there is still some good rock crawling here.

By the way, this ended up being the last trip for the Jeep. It was taking too much time, space and money that was holding up the Bronco project. With the Jeep gone I did get the Bronco out on the roads and trails the next year, but it took another 3 years before it was working well at either.

Anyway, here's this trip.

Thanks for reading and watching!

Our next trip, and our first trip with the Bronco, was in 2007 to the Black Hills. I don't have any video from that trip. At that time the Bronco had an automatic trans and electric cooling fans. That combination was not good. I had overheating problems driving on the roads in the Black Hills, and could hardly do any trail driving without sending temperatures soaring. I also had open diffs in both axles. The result of that combination was that there just wasn't any 'wheeling worth video.

Over the next few years I pulled the automatic trans out and put the stock 3 speed manual back in, and added a Detroit locker in the rear. So when we went back to the Black Hills in 2010 we were able to use the Bronco more and got some video.

This first video is a short section of Prospector Gulch. I had done this trail with the Jeep, and I found it much more difficult in the Bronco. The A/T tires (rather than M/T) might have been a factor. The Bronco might not flex as well as the Jeep did. But another big issue was the crawl ratio. Both had the same 34:1, but the Jeep engine would idle down better while the Bronco engine kept dying if I didn't go too fast. Oh well, room for improvement! Anyway, here's Prospector Gulch:

In this next video we were starting into the Horselt Gulch trails. My younger son (Dan, age 14) was filming and providing commentary while my older son (Mike, age 16) was driving. Mike wanted to stop before this mud but I told him to keep going. Getting back out on our own with only a hi-lift, a come-along and a lot of rope was a different type of challenge than I was hoping for!

Then we went back into the Calamity Canyon trails (with more 14 year old commentary). One sign here that we had turned a corner in our rockcrawling is at 1:30 in the video. I was going to take a bypass but Lesley wanted me to take the harder line so she could get better pictures!

We finished the trip back at Horselt Gulch (but skipping the mud!). We didn't get into anything too challenging here, and no one got out to film much, so most of the video is from inside the Bronco, not the greatest perspective for a video, but it's what I have. And by the way, the hill we go down at the end is the hill the S-10 and I went up in 2001.

Thanks for reading and watching!

[Gary Lewis]

On New Years Day 2006 I got an opportunity to go snow 'wheeling with a few people from the Minnesota Trailriders, a local 4WD club. Lesley thought that going outside in the winter on purpose was ridiculous, so it was just me and my sons (ages 11 and 10).

This was on some private land owned by one of the club members.

Thanks for reading and watching!

I'm amazed at where all you could go in the snow with the Jeep.

But at times it looks like a front locker would have helped. However, I'm aware that you lose steering then when they both spin, so maybe it would have been worse?