Road Bull's 2002 SR-5 timeline.

[Road Bull]

You gotta love this time of year. I got home from running some pre-Northwest Overland Rally errands, picking up odds and ends, at about 8:10 pm. I was able to knock out an oil change and give the vehicle a once over before I lost usable outside light at about 9:30 pm.

I am pre-chilling my cooler and have plenty of tasty beer to fill it with. I suppose I should try to pack some real food in there as well...:beer: I mean, I have chips and beef jerky... I will fill in the gaps tomorrow.

I also picked up my new Noco Genius Boost GB40 today from an Amazon locker. Glad it finally got here so I could charge it up and bring it along. I had been meaning to pick one up for a while. I will be stepping off tomorrow to meet up with some friends from 4Runners of Washington to do a short trail ride and a night of camping ahead of the official rally. This will be my first rally and I am looking forward to some trail rides, hanging with cool people and gawking at some cool rigs. I will try to take plenty of pics. Hopefully the new phone is an improvement in the picture department over my older fuzzy pixelated impressionist photos. LOL.

 

[BrianSD_42]

Loving these trip pics.

Btw what were you doing in Kawait for a year. Security forces / reserves deployment?

 

[Road Bull]

Loving these trip pics.

Btw what were you doing in Kawait for a year. Security forces / reserves deployment?

Thanks Brian. I went over with the WA. National Guard. I was there from 2004-2005, or what they started calling OIF2. We were an armored cavalry unit. Our unit got into Kuwait a few weeks ahead of the Brigade, which is what we are supposed to do. But, as luck would have it, because we didn't have some bit of training that we missed to be there early, it kept us in place until someone realized that we were a combat arms force without a job. The Army unit that was responsible for the, Quick Reaction / Area Reaction Force for Kuwait realized that we were their ticket home. So that's where we stayed for the most part. Hahaha.

 

[theesotericone]

I suppose I should try to pack some real food in there as well...:beer: I mean, I have chips and beef jerky... I will fill in the gaps tomorrow.

What gaps? Beers 95% water, beef jerky is almost all protein and chips have tons of carbs. Dude, your set. lol

 

[Unner]

What gaps? Beers 95% water, beef jerky is almost all protein and chips have tons of carbs. Dude, your set. lol

This math checks out. It's got my stamp of approval.

 

[bandit4runner]

I kind of side stepped this issue. I got an aftermarket alarm.

My truck has a factory alarm switch, but I didn't get any fobs when I purchased the vehicle from the PO. I sometimes have to park in some sketchy areas. I have learned the hard way years ago that alarms can save you money in the long run. I came to the realization that although I hate alarms and carrying extra crap on a key chain, I hate replacing locks, door handles, and or glass more.

I just sucked it up and had an aftermarket Clifford 3806X alarm installed. Its much nicer than my previous alarms and has a great range, ~1000ft or so. It unlocks and locks the doors and has a bright blue LED light in the top corner of the windshield. Someone told me once that in the criminal world, red LED security alarms means factory and is less of a bother than blue LED security alarms can be more trouble than its worth. Of course, no security alarm will protect you from smash and grab dirtbags, so don't leave anything too tempting in sight.

If you get an aftermarket alarm, get the insurance that covers the key fob. If you have to replace those things, you will make your money back and then some.

How have you like the Clifford alarm?

 

[Road Bull]

What gaps? Beers 95% water, beef jerky is almost all protein and chips have tons of carbs. Dude, your set. lol

Right?!? Besides, if you have beer, you can barter for anything else you need!

This math checks out. It's got my stamp of approval.

Great minds think alike!

How have you like the Clifford alarm?

It has been good to me so far. It seems fo east a fair amount of key fob batteries. The keyless entry is very nice.

 

[Road Bull]

Northwest Overland Rally 2018! Part #1

Okay, this has been a bunch of fun. The rally went from Thursday till tomorrow, Sunday. We camped a night early near Stampede Pass then rolled into the rally on Thursday. Tons of cool dogs and equally cool people. I went to a few cool classes and learned quite a bit too.

 

[Road Bull]

Northwest Overland Rally 2018! Part #2

After breaking camp Thursday morning, we headed back down the trail to meet up with some other friends heading to the rally. We planned to do a short trail ride before we checked into the rally. So we lost a 4th gen but added another 3rd gen, a 4th gen, a sweet 2016 Land Cruiser, a couple Lexus GX470's, and a GX460. We got a nearby rail off Ruby Creek road and ran a trail I have dubbed, "Pig-Pen", (like the Peanut's character.), because the dust was crazy and everywhere we drove, there was a cloud around us. We stopped at a viewpoint along the trail that was quite stunning. And that was the highlight of the ride. We stopped there, had lunch, and cooked out a bit kidding around with each other.

The rest of our planned trail ride was cut short due to a pesky closed gate. No worries. We headed into Plain, WA. to gass up and pick up a few more friends. We rolled into the rally in style with nine rigs, taking up a healthy piece of realestate. We set up Camp for checking out the vendors as they were setting up for the next day. We came back to camp to cook some dinner and BS before heading to bed.

 

[Road Bull]

Northwest Overland Rally 2018! Part #3

Okay, still more pics. There were an incredible amount of cool vehicles at the rally. I was really digging all the cool Toyota Land Cruisers. Some even had a Cummins engine swap. The amount of money sitting parked in that field was pretty mind blowing.

We put together our own trail ride to Sugarloaf Peak fire lookout. I have fo say that this is some of the coolest scenery that I have seen so far in Washington. We took two 4th gens, two 3rd gens an FJ, and a Taco. OH! And we also had a Ford E-350 4x4 Sportmobile on 35's!

 

[Road Bull]

Northwest Overland Rally 2018! Part #4

But wait, there's more!

 

[Road Bull]

Northwest Overland Rally 2018! Part #5

Okay, this should be it. My 4Runner handled everything the weekend threw at it just fine. I can't say that it was super happy trying to maintain highway speeds going through all the passes. But, it was rock solid. The BFG KO2's also handled all the loose gravel and rocky trails just fine too.

 

[theesotericone]

I can't say that it was super happy trying to maintain highway speeds going through all the passes.

cough: 5.29's :cough

 

[Road Bull]

cough: 5.29's :cough

Hahaha. My friend with the charcoal 4th gen just got a locker and 4.88 gears. He was thinking that when he picked it up that he would notice a lot more umph. He said he did not. LOL. But, he thinks he needs a bigger tire to take advantage of the new gearing. I think he is running something between a 32 and 33" tire. A fair amount of people are starting to talk about a 285/75/17, that is closer to a 34" tire. For my needs, I don't see going bigger than 33's. Still, I wouldn't mind gears though. Nitro Gears was there offering $400 off their gears and free install, (I believe) for one of the raffle prizes. Well... I didn't win that one. :cry2:

 

[Hopeless Diamond]

Yeah, the rally was a blast. Didn't get to do any of the classes though, lead the 2 (semi) organized runs up to Sugarloaf on Friday, then more people were trying to sign up for a run so we lead an impromptu run up Swakane Canyon, up to the top of Chumstick, some extracurricular exploring (i.e. a wrong turn), then got back just before 5. Then it was free beer, raffle, and campfire hopping... Didn't even get to watch anybody run through the technical course.

 

[Road Bull]

Yeah, the rally was a blast. Didn't get to do any of the classes though, lead the 2 (semi) organized runs up to Sugarloaf on Friday, then more people were trying to sign up for a run so we lead an impromptu run up Swakane Canyon, up to the top of Chumstick, some extracurricular exploring (i.e. a wrong turn), then got back just before 5. Then it was free beer, raffle, and campfire hopping... Didn't even get to watch anybody run through the technical course.

Well, good on you for leading a few trail runs that weekend. I am sure you made the highlights for quite a few people this weekend. There's always next year. I learned a fair amount from the winch and winchless recovery classes. But it was fun to hang, eat and drink, as well as talk about all the cool vehicles that were there.

 

[1biker]

Nice meeting and chatting with you at the rally. Our conversation about racks, tires and sliders has inspired me to finally pull the trigger on a rack (Rocky Mountain Racks Antero Ext-can't wait!) and now I'm thinking even harder about sliders. Are you a "bad" influence on all new people you meet? Haha.

 

[Road Bull]

Nice meeting and chatting with you at the rally. Our conversation about racks, tires and sliders has inspired me to finally pull the trigger on a rack (Rocky Mountain Racks Antero Ext-can't wait!) and now I'm thinking even harder about sliders. Are you a "bad" influence on all new people you meet? Haha.

Good to meet you too Justin. Ooooooh... I am jealous. I love those racks! I will order one some lucky day. And I think some sliders are a good idea. Sliders are some of the best bang for your buck in the modification department. And this WHOLE FORUM is a "bad" influence as far as discretionary spending vs. financial stability are concerned. LOL. It sounds like you two had a good time at the rally. I am glad we had a chance to run into one another.

 

[Road Bull]

Shoot out to Victor at Master Pull.

I sent my original 100 feet of 5/16th Master Pull Superline which line fo be reduced to 75 feet of winch line and the rest an extension. Victor got it done and sent back the day after it got there. I got it back the within the same week. Great service! Now I have a little room to work with when I am respooling.

Too busy with work this summer. In absence of an actual free weekend, beer breaks are about as good as it gets for now.

Now.... I must get back to my 28 day work week. 0330 is hot on my heels.

 

[sschaefer3]

I have been using Master Pull since 2001. Nothing but what you described.