Robbie's (308turbo) Bachelors Party Harlan, KY

#1
A small group of us went to Harlan this weekend for Robbie's visitation...I mean Bachelor's Party.

Me, Jay, Robbie, Ryan, Dean, Todd, Jimbo, Samuel, Marcus, Reynolds, Kenny, Rob, George, Big Kenny, Daniel and his wife, Jeb, Heath, Dam Jared andwife. 9 rigs total I believe.

Most of us left out Thursday morning around 7AM and got there just after lunch. The main group stayed in Mike's cabins up on the hill Which were great by the way. I will probably be there again.

Thursday we had the best weather of the weekend. It had rained that morning so the trails were wet but not a mud bog. We ran waterfall and rail-bed. Rail bed has gotten pretty dug out at the end and several guys had to exit early. It was also very muddy up top and slickkkkk. The waterfall is also about head tall now on the right side. Daniel broke the adapter between his 203/205 on the waterfall. Then we went to killin time. The top of it is getting much better also. Then went and did Lower Damnation. Me and todd were itching to try pony hill as it looked to be in really good shape surprisingly but being the first day we kept going (mistake). Lower was fun, we were the last rig through and had to give it some throttle after all the mud got down but most everyone crawled it.

Thursday breakage: Daniel's t-case adapter

Friday morning after about a case of cold Pepsi's and going to bed at 2AM I was woken up around 7:30 to "Matt, it's bout to pour rain you need to cover up the buggy". ****!! Great! So, we waited out the rain till close to lunch (prob 10:30 or 11) and went to the mud bog. We chose to hit Whitetail since we figured that side would have the least mud. We get to the lower section and it's marked "trail closed". AWESOME! Get to the top and it's not roped off or anything. So, we proceed down. Everyone ran it pretty easily although it was quite wet. There were some rocks moved around since OSCAR and it was a lot more fun. We got to the topand there were some guys working with the trail system and indeed Whitetail is CLOSED, he told someone in the group (suposeofly) that if we had been cought by the land owner that it could have been bad. Apparently they don't enforce it because they don't care. It was marked the same way at OSCAR and the women at the trail head told me it was open???. We went from there to pappy's pass to get to Middle Fork Play Area to pay our respects and eat lunch. Won't do that again. Long winding waste of gas. I had some technical issues with the ram rod. Throttle kept hanging (rain and mud) and the steering ends on the ram came loose. Me, Jay, and Robbie played on the big hills at middle fork and hit the rev limmiter a few dozen times and the headed over to Middle Rock Garden. Me and Jay ran Big Perm with success. I winched the final part because my junk ran hot beating on it for so long. Once I got up there it was 250 and climbing and when I stopped it was basically over I thought. Untill Jay showed me the line.....it made me wanna back down but good thing I didn't b/c I was running out of fuel. OOPS. While we were the re Marcus ripped the rear lower off on Grapevine. We fixed that then everyone ran GrapeVine. In the meanwhile we let Jimmybo go unsupervised. He busted a shock on middle rock garden up near the top and had suspension issues. Then it was getting dark so we left. Jimbob in front and he gets bored again and lets the spring fall out causing it to break the sway bar and let the axle fall. No big deal. Back to camp....

Friday Damage: Marucs' link mount and Jimbo's shock

Saturady 10% chance of rain...right. We left out early around 9AM and got to the camp ground only for it to pour rain. It basically rained all day. We went straight to Mason Jar. I think I collected 200lbs of mud on the way. The first guys to hit the first ledge made it pretty easily. By the time it was my turn...it was a throttle fest. I had to turn around on my first attempt. Then Jay showed me the line when I was outside looking down. Had to melt down the tires and it walked right up. The entire trail was a slosh fest. I was the last rig in our group and one of the big hills about half way up I had to winch. We rounded the turn and as soon as we started up the hill the buggy was on the rev limiter going backwards. The guys from GA (only one to make it) also had that issue. Did I mention it was muddy? From there a few guys went to Lion's Den. Robbie, Kenny, and Jeb. They ran it with no issues. We waited on them because Jay had a Krawler going flat. It would last about 10 minutes of riding. As we were heading back down the mountain Jays tire called it quits so I went back to camp to get the spare. My pillow block bearing decied to take a dump at some point in this trip (2 rides on it WTF??). Got Jay fixed up and headed to fish fossil. The hill climb there is fun when it's wet. Marcus, Robbie, Jay, and me all hit it and had some fun. There was a big crowd there all winching up so we wanted to show them what the SC guys do. lol. Daniel also walked it before we left and showed his buggy some rev limiter I believe. Then we went to the waterfall, some for repeats and some for redemption. A couple guys played on cream puff but as wet as it was it was a get back and grab it kinda day. I was done as I didn't want to explode the bearing/driveshaft and sling it though Todd's lef.

We didn't get back with Jimbo and Marcus till late in the day. Apparently Jimbo exploded some Jeep parts as he expected. He said he holds the record for the u-joint chunking for distance contest. Competitor's come prepared.

Saturday Breakage: Jay cut Krawler and bent wheel, Matt bearing in front d-shaft, Jimbob square pants D-30 u-joint.

Overall it was a blast. Now, off to hook up the pressure washer for about 10 hrs.

Oh, and not to leave out Zach Tyson our stray dog buddy that hung out with us around the fire every night. Very cool dog. He is headed to a farm in Indianna tomorrow I hope.

I have very few pics but will post what I do have and also have some gopro of mason jar, big perm, white tail, and maybe a few more. Jay also has some video on his camera that deano took. We will post that asap.
 
#12
Thanks for Jay for setting up the cabins, they were awesome.. Rain yeahhh it did that alot.. I cant wait to go back there after winter and give some hell back to the mountain.. I have not laughed that hard in a long time tho i can def say that...i think jay got some decent video
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#14
It was about a good as it could be with the weather totally going south. Jersey Boys made it interesting for sure. Ill deff never buy an electric blue vehicle that's a fact.
 
#17
Ramrod needs a spare now cause that looks sick.
Yeah, I was kinda diggin that look myself. But no spot for a cooler then. And, not sure if it was totally the tire or the ten million gallons of mud I had caked up but it needed a stiffer spring in the rear to hold that tire. I still think I need to re-valve the rear shocks as well.
 
#20
Found a few issues in mine today. The drivers front spindle nuts worked thereselves a little loose and it had some slop. The spindle is slightly worn from that but im not so sure it hadn't already happened and thats why they were loose. Anyway, it tightened up good so i'll have to put it together and put a little time on it and see whats up there. All of the bearings were perfect. The driveshaft pillow block bearing took a little grease but not much. It's almost like it just went bad. It appears to be letting it wobble some which I guess could have been my noise. I got it about half way apart before I had to call it quits for the day. Oh, and I spent about two hours washing it and theres still more mud. YAY!
 
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