Awesome to know NC people are still around. Can't do Uwharrie that close to my other scheduled trip out there, and still get the fence done. Wish I could, but my NCTTORA was scheduled first.

I wish I could join you but gotta get some fields planted for this coming up hunting season. Hope yall have fun and hope to joy yall next time.

next trip is the 22nd tHen te 30th y'all have zero excuses now come have fun!!

NCTTORA is going July 6-8, so will be attending that run. Have some stuff to get done before the summer scortching sets in, plus Beowulf is my DD. I want to check it over thoroughly before torturing it out there. It sat for over 3yrs and has been mine for maybe 7 months tops. I have open diffs and add with auto hubs. This is going to be its trial by fire run, and I want it to survive. A catastrophic failure out there would be ... well... Catastrophic.

You shouldnt have to many worries I've ran uhwarrie the past three years in a row multiple trips with open center diffs. the first year i was all stock asside from some A/T's lol. second year had the lift and bigger mud tires. this year i've gain a little more travel. Theres "easy" ways around all the obsticles so if you approach something for say you dont want to pass theres typically a by pass trail. to add Me and My two good buddies have a 6-bay shop about 15minutes from the park. stocked with tools and two lifts to fix any problem that may arrise as well we have two deisel trucks with car haulers ready to pull anyone out there with us where ever they need to go. The parks not but a hop, skip, and a jump away from albemarle which has an oreily's, autozone, and advance auto. I've yet to damage anything other than cracking my driver side mirror on a tree (driver error lol) and a few flat tires plugged and aired back up within a half hour. we usually run the trails in groups so between the guys already out there an the guys with us theres never to big of a problem to overcome out there. I've rebuilt axles on the trail, re welded axle control arm mounts, pan hard bar mounts. the welding wasnt on the trail but in the parking lot generally someone has a generator welder ready to help someone out. My truck is also a daily driver, and as a proud testiment to my truck I've towed many friends non-street legal jeeps to the trail on car haulers with the 4runner, uncoupled the trailor, followed them through all the trails, yanked them out of nasty situations, dragged them out when they've broken down, whinch loaded them back on the car hauler, and hauled them back to the shop to fix them only to be back on the trail within a few hours.

With open diff's front and rear, auto trans, auto hubs, and these tires... you think it will do ok?
On a different forum I got razzed for my dual exhaust saying they would get ripped off, or crushed, but they are tucked snug against the hitch...your thoughts being a Uwharrie veteran?
Notice angle of incline, background, and how weight is transferred to hind quarters.

The tires should def. be good. We always air down a little to allow for the rocks to mold into the tires instead of poping the tires. A fellow T4R member Superman.. ran the trail with me recently he's runngin 20" rims with A/t's your size tire and he had no issues at all. He's running a 2.5" spacer lift on stock susspension. Also another 4th gen is gonna be out there this weekend with street tires stock size with a 3" icon front coilovers OW 2.5 rear extended travel. If i were to make a recommendation; however, i would get some lift springs for the rear it seems your rear springs are just warn out a little from age and not supporting the rear weight properlly durring that incline you should still have the same clearance in front and rear wheel wells for the tires. I still think you would be fine out there you'll probably steer around the most difficult passes but you'll def. get some experience and a good idea of any ways you may want to improve your ride.

as for the exhaust, if you get your rear ground clearance up a little you shouldnt have any issues. those pipes may find a rock or two here and there but i would imagine you can use driver intellegence to avoid damaging anything or just take the tips off while on the trail. the mud flaps can find rocks as well alot of off-roaders tend to take these off as well. Its all preference and driver experience I'll take you out there any time buddy and show you what that truck of yours is made of for sure!!

kind of off topic guys but what do you think of the Winston-Salem area? i just got a job offer out there with B/E areospace and i'm getting sick of the Washington state rain, what's life like around there?

You wont totally escape the rain, but it is significantly less than you see now. Nice mix of country living and growing city with a couple of colleges supplying some nice eye candy. Btw, still on topic as its about NC.

For my 'runr, tips are welded on there, duly noted on the mudflaps and tire pressures. It normally sits level due to spring spacers as seen here... the hill it is on is steeper than it looks, a 10-12% grade. But yeah, after 20 years the springs are a little tired.

winston salem's kinda in the middle of northcarolina so your pretty close to anything northcarolina has to offer. I believe theres some areas of winston salem as in every town that are "not good areas" so to say. I would imagine if your getting a job for an aerospace company steriotypicaly speaking ofcourse your probably not headed for one of those areas. I'm not certain what the actual town of winston salem has to offer. I know near by theres a place whats called old salem which is a historic town (one of the first settlements) thats pretty cool and worth checking out. winston salem is also rather close to charlotte NC which has a ton of night life to offer as well as day adventures or activities to check out we have the national white water center right near charlotte as well (closer to south carolina). Also your close to raliegh which is a pretty hopin place itself. All in all i think you'll injoy it here we have extremely mild winters and some mild some not so mild summers we rarely see huricanes or tornados all in all i cant think of any other place id rather live that North Carolina!!

I think you'll be good yo, maybe just replace the stock springs to get a little stiffness back I wouldnt think they should be to hard or to expensive to come by. like i said your pipes my catch a rock or to as most off-roaders cut there exhaust off just over the rear axel; however, with proper driving you can avoid any damage.
edit: another option would be to extend your rear bump stops to prevent the rear from getting to low to the ground just a thought not sure of all the effects..

I can simply go up some with the lift shackles, its an easy adjustment to do. Eventually going to OME coils & BJ spacers, but been primarily focused on engine and drivetrain. It sat for a few years before coming into my ownership. Have plans for it, bit dont wanna be on a ramen noodle an candlelight budget for the build so doing it slow and methodical. I do alot of my own fab work so my mental picture and goal should be interesting.

Do you know how far the Uwarrie trails are from Asheboro?

4021 North Carolina 109, Troy, NC 27371

it's about 2.5 hours from Raleigh the address above is the location of the gas station located right in front of the trail head called the elderado outpost it's typically were everyone meets before trail rides hope this helps, let me know if and when you want to check it out. I live about 45 minutes from the trail

Im right outside Raleigh in Morrisville.