Mojave Expedition 2010

[WhiteChevelle]

hhh friday morning...

we met up at Robert's work Findlay toyota in henderson at a promt 8am with about 8 trucks present but no robert to be found

i have no picture of the dealership, just the sky above!

after robert showed up i followed him to the parts department to pick up some goodies:
a new 2009 silver grill and 2 headlight garnishes (im gonna give the runner a face lift)

shortly after we all headed down to the avi and joined the rest of the group, which took alot longer than usual (you can blame me!) then we proceeded to the airdown spot

after a bit on the trail we stopped at the first scenic spot

my copilots were ready for the trip with Beer Coozies in hand

then a tad later we stopped for lunch, we were sharing the lunch spot with some slightly cranky old men driving some samurais, anywho hot links!!!

some of us had to catch some shade

packin for three

then we headed to the crest for another vista

then we got some canyon action

 

[WhiteChevelle]

some poser shots

then off to the school bus, which i could never get sick of seeing

bus driver joel

lil midtravel action

Texan Todd's Fj

Robert N Dogs

 

[WhiteChevelle]

Fj With The RTT

josh n woody

todd again

charlie and the taco factory

with radlflos, it feels like butter

giving woody some help

imma run you over

 

[WhiteChevelle]

filmin the action in HD

view from the campsite friday night

so we pulled into a larger campground on friday rather than the usual because of the amount of trucks, we were all quite spread out but all came together shortly after we all setup, all the food was amazing and we stayed up into the wee hours talking about some random ass things while robert tried to talk people into to drinking his jager!! hahah


saturday morning

woody and i were getting impatient waiting so we went up into the canyon...

Caruther Canyon Was A breeze until that fateful moment...

When i started hearing a knocking sound!!

it appeared to be the driveshaft rubbing against the budbuilt gas skid, the was some severe wearing so i cut away...

crawled a bit more and the sound was gone, then it started again...

 

[WhiteChevelle]

we couldnt figure where it was coming from....

then i knew it was the axle, so i hopped out and removed the driveshaft in like 5 mins, and started again....

the truck was crawling then the rear axle was knocking and the wheels locking up!!! so i knew at that moment we went gonna make it outta the canyon on our own power until i removed the ring

then woody came to the rescue and towed us out at a slow pace of 5mph and a consistant knock coming from the axle

so we made it back down where the other were and explain the situation, we agreed that they would continue on and we would stay behind and get to work

so we bust out the bbq and got started!

it was a bear to do, mainly because we only had a hilift and a small ass floor jack!

now i know why they call hilift's widowmakers, those things are scary and i know first hand how crappy they really are, next time i will be bringing my 6ton floor jack, if we would have had that, we could of saved 2 hours easy- the hi lift is impossible to work with, especially if your balancing the truck while you have to remove two tires!

 

[WhiteChevelle]

after the a close call of the hiliift slipping and dropping the truck we finally suceeded!

the mojave trophy

after the Highlander mod was complete, we headed out to camp

the violet hour...

a long road of whoops ahead...

 

[WhiteChevelle]

sunday morning, breakfast time!

food for days!!! i was happy to try out my new 20" lumberjack skillet


next up: we needed to kill sometime, while robert was taking his...

mines!

then the walk to the frog garden

another mid travel shot

2WD!!!

then we went to the caves!!!

heres robert looking for the right exposure

twin beams

 

[WhiteChevelle]

me for the soda lake!

and thats where woody lost his mudflaps and power steering

nothing in front of me...

everyone taking there turn

tasting the soda... joke

line it up

 

[WhiteChevelle]

trail carnage

mike lendin a hand while we all drank some brews

under the bridge

the last of the water crossings, i wish i had pics of me powering through in 2wheel drive!!!

and the last picture...

 

[Pure 98]

Wow nice pic's man. welcome back. It looked like so much fun, are you making a video?

 

[jrocket]

cool pics - thanks for posting.

 

[2000Black]

Those pics look soo awesome when your lined up. the lightforces look crazyyyy.

 

[techno]

Awesome write-up. Looks like a pretty cool trip. I liked the 'Highlander mod'.

 

[brian2sun]

Cool pics, looks like a great place to go. Some really nice rigs too.

 

[G.I.G.]

AWESOME pics! Thanks for sharing those!

I've always wanted to do an expedition style trail run. That is making me very jealous! Also goes to show that a lot can go wrong when you are out in the middle of nowhere. Glad you guys made it out without incendance.

Care to tell more about the "Highlander Mod"? LOL Did you have an extra gear ring with you or were you in front wheel drive only for the rest of the trip?

 

[WhiteChevelle]

AWESOME pics! Thanks for sharing those!

I've always wanted to do an expedition style trail run. That is making me very jealous! Also goes to show that a lot can go wrong when you are out in the middle of nowhere. Glad you guys made it out without incendance.

Care to tell more about the "Highlander Mod"? LOL Did you have an extra gear ring with you or were you in front wheel drive only for the rest of the trip?

thanks!!

yeah i think a expedition is really a great way to get to know your truck and what it can handle


well the highlander mod is the joke because i converted the truck into front wheel drive for the rest of the trip, i removed the drive shaft, removed the broken ring gear, put back together the third member and then locks the center diff so i can drive in front wheel drive, the truck still was a beast the rest of the trip but it was like learning to drive it all over again

 

[Ryan_S]

Awesome pics! What camera/lens do you use?

 

[proudrunner]

Nice pics! Looks like a fun place to explore.

 

[WhiteChevelle]

Awesome pics! What camera/lens do you use?

thanks!!

i was using a nikon d5000 with 3 lens:nikkor 50mm f1.4, nikkor vr 70-200mm, nikkor 18-135mm

 

[nmsail]

The violet zone shots are Nice! well .. they are all pretty bad ass!