Angelo
Member
Reading threads like this are what makes sifting through the other BS totally worthwhile. Thanks for posting and the pics.
Rubicon Trip Report - AND Minimalist Rear Bumper Protection (Bolt On)
- Thread starter Jetboy
- Start date
Reading threads like this are what makes sifting through the other BS totally worthwhile. Thanks for posting and the pics.
Cymon
New member
Jetboy
New member
The rubicon is more remote than you might think. No cell service at all. There is one location at the top of a tree on the way in that you might get service. After that it's HAM radio only. So I've been super busy at work since I got back.
I went with the TLCA on its annual Rubithon run. The Land Cruiser association puts on a number of annual events that are open to any TLCA member - regardless of vehicle you drive. All toyota 4x4s are welcome - so are jeeps and fords. But as you can imagine it's basically all Toyota. I would guess 50% Land Cruiser, 50% mini-trucks is the rough breakdown.
I joined the wagon run - as I'm driving a wagon. The minimum requirements to join is a 2.5" lift, 33" tires, front and rear lockers, and a winch. I would suggest that at a minimum for a 4runner you also have transmission and transfer case skids and rock sliders. You should also expect major rear bumper damage if you have not added some type of protection.
I was way behind in preparing due to other obligations. So I basically packed on Monday night in a few hours, worked most of Tuesday with my car packed and headed straight for Tahoe. As far as packing and prep - obviously the first part of this thread is about the rear bumper protection. I also added transmission skid, had a transfer case one, and added a thicker gas tank skid. Pretty much ever inch of the underside was tested. I'm glad I had all of it.
I also run P285 tires. I do not like the Toyo AT2's because they wear fast and have terrible balance. I have a 2nd set of wheels for daily driver duty. Worse than any radial MT I've owned. Like 10 ounces of tape weight stacked two levels deep kinda imbalance. And I've had 6 tires - all of them were badly balanced. They do however work pretty damn good off road for an all terrain. The soft sticky rubber really shines in the rocks. Being P rated tires - I decided to carry an extra spare tire. I have a matching 5th spare on an FJ Cruiser wheel I tossed in along with the OEM spare underneath.
I also took a pretty complete tool kit including things like a 20v grinder with a cutoff disk. Tow strap. tree saver. High Lift. etc. All the usual offroad tools.
I left SLC, Utah on Tuesday afternoon and drove about 11 hours to get to the trail head. The wagon run is going to be slower, so we leave early. The trailhead at Loon Lake was the starting point and tech inspection was at 7am.
With a week's worth of camping and offroad gear loaded in my 4runner I was sagging at least 2 inches from empty. I have OEM rear springs right now (I've removed the GX460 air bags for now) with poly spacers. They don't handle a lot of weight well. I knew the trail was pretty difficult and that I could use all the body clearance I could get. I was missing my air suspension's height adjustment. So I started calling a few places in Reno that I might pick up some OME medium rear springs. I figured I'd just swap them at the trailhead when I got there that night and be ready to roll in the morning. Rear springs take about an hour, so it wouldn't be a big deal.
Well... no one had any that would still be open as I came through at 7ish. But, Summit was open until 9pm and they happened to have a set of the internal helper air springs for the OEM coils. $85. So I made a detour and picked them up to put in at some point if possible.
After leaving Reno with some dinner and airbags I proceeded to Loon lake. If you ever drive Ice House Road - It's really long and windy. I got to the trailhead at around 12:30am. I was tired - so I made a flat spot on all my stuff and got some sleep. Incidentally I found a use for traction pads - making a sleeping platform. It's the only time I've ever actually had them provide any benefit. Probably should have left them home.
The next morning we hit the trail. I can't describe the entire trail in detail. What I can describe is the general idea. It's rocky - really rocky. And they're big abrasive rocks that have a layer of dust on them and can be very stick. Often the opposite of Moab's slickrock. The trail is also basically non-stop action. You never get a chance to relax. The second you quit paying attention you're going to hammer something on the bottom with a rock you didn't see or didn't think you'd hit. And unfortunately this also means very few photos. I just couldn't get out and take pictures because I was the least capable vehicle in the group and it's not cool to make everyone wait while you stop for pictures. It's a long trail and things have to keep moving.
The trail starts with the gate keeper. If you end up there, I'd rate it about a 6 out of 10 compared to what you'll see further down the trail. So if you're at the gate keeper and having second thoughts - it's probably appropriate to start thinking about going back.
From there it's lots of rock crawling as you make your way down to buck island. We camped at buck island the first night. It took about 6-7 hours on the trail to get our 15 wagons down to the island. We had a few mechanical issues along the way and some trail congestion. On an open trail with a smaller group you could probably make it in 4 hours. With a tube buggy on 40's or even probably in my FJ40 without any mechanical problems, I'm sure you could do it in 2 hours. Doing it with 15 wagons in 6ish hours was actually pretty fast.
From Buck Island to Rubicon Springs was the most difficult section. Day 2 took around 4 hours to get everyone through. A good bit of the day was idle time waiting to get everyone through the difficult obstacles. The big sluice was IMO the most difficult part of the trail for wagons. It's just big rocks, tight spaces, and requires very precise driving to make it through without major body damage.
Then we camped at Rubicon springs for the next 3 nights.
Sunday we made our way out. We left Rubicon Springs around 6:45am and had the help of a local group that were spotting up Cadillac hill. With a train of vehicles (there were 120 or so vehicles leaving Sunday) it really helps things move along to have a spotter at each obstacle so everyone is continuing at the same time. Big thanks to them. We arrived at the Tahoma side trailhead around 10:15am if I remember correctly. We really made pretty good time out considering the challenges of cadillac hill, and the mud and other obstacles on the way out.
I owe a huge thanks to the family that organizes and leads the wagon run. It's a family with an LC60 and their two sons in LC80's and another family member also in an LC80. They also brought along a couple of friends who walked almost the entire trail helping each vehicle get through obstacles by staking rocks as necessary and relaying information through the group, etc. I stacked rocks for an FJ40 with 35's and dual lockers, so even the medium built rigs needed help at places. The tube buggies with 40-52's were pretty well capable of running it without assistance. I did not see a single ATV or side by side on the trail. They all turned around at gate keeper or Cadillac hill on the other end. Even the Sheriff's leave them behind (They have a modified wrangler they take past that point).
Without the help of the group and great spotting by the group leader I'm sure I would have left with major body damage. Having someone who's both very knowledgeable about vehicle dynamics and a good spotter was invaluable for going through clean in what's basically a stock vehicle with minor mods.
Finally, I did install the rear air springs at buck island after the first day. They were very helpful to get the rear end back up to a higher ride height to keep the belly off the rocks. 2 inches of height makes a world of difference in a lot of places. I still had to winch probably 6-8 times to get through rock gardens I just couldn't clear. Often it was just a matter of being completely turtled with all 4 tires off the ground in a spot that I had no room to take any other line. And relying on a belly pan as a sled.
SO... after a long winded trip report, here's some pictures. I'll add some video as well when I get it uploaded to youtube. As I explained I didn't get pictures of the toughest obstacles. So don't think that these represent what you'll run into on that trail. There are significantly more challenging spots than I have in these pictures or videos.
I went with the TLCA on its annual Rubithon run. The Land Cruiser association puts on a number of annual events that are open to any TLCA member - regardless of vehicle you drive. All toyota 4x4s are welcome - so are jeeps and fords. But as you can imagine it's basically all Toyota. I would guess 50% Land Cruiser, 50% mini-trucks is the rough breakdown.
I joined the wagon run - as I'm driving a wagon. The minimum requirements to join is a 2.5" lift, 33" tires, front and rear lockers, and a winch. I would suggest that at a minimum for a 4runner you also have transmission and transfer case skids and rock sliders. You should also expect major rear bumper damage if you have not added some type of protection.
I was way behind in preparing due to other obligations. So I basically packed on Monday night in a few hours, worked most of Tuesday with my car packed and headed straight for Tahoe. As far as packing and prep - obviously the first part of this thread is about the rear bumper protection. I also added transmission skid, had a transfer case one, and added a thicker gas tank skid. Pretty much ever inch of the underside was tested. I'm glad I had all of it.
I also run P285 tires. I do not like the Toyo AT2's because they wear fast and have terrible balance. I have a 2nd set of wheels for daily driver duty. Worse than any radial MT I've owned. Like 10 ounces of tape weight stacked two levels deep kinda imbalance. And I've had 6 tires - all of them were badly balanced. They do however work pretty damn good off road for an all terrain. The soft sticky rubber really shines in the rocks. Being P rated tires - I decided to carry an extra spare tire. I have a matching 5th spare on an FJ Cruiser wheel I tossed in along with the OEM spare underneath.
I also took a pretty complete tool kit including things like a 20v grinder with a cutoff disk. Tow strap. tree saver. High Lift. etc. All the usual offroad tools.
I left SLC, Utah on Tuesday afternoon and drove about 11 hours to get to the trail head. The wagon run is going to be slower, so we leave early. The trailhead at Loon Lake was the starting point and tech inspection was at 7am.
With a week's worth of camping and offroad gear loaded in my 4runner I was sagging at least 2 inches from empty. I have OEM rear springs right now (I've removed the GX460 air bags for now) with poly spacers. They don't handle a lot of weight well. I knew the trail was pretty difficult and that I could use all the body clearance I could get. I was missing my air suspension's height adjustment. So I started calling a few places in Reno that I might pick up some OME medium rear springs. I figured I'd just swap them at the trailhead when I got there that night and be ready to roll in the morning. Rear springs take about an hour, so it wouldn't be a big deal.
Well... no one had any that would still be open as I came through at 7ish. But, Summit was open until 9pm and they happened to have a set of the internal helper air springs for the OEM coils. $85. So I made a detour and picked them up to put in at some point if possible.
After leaving Reno with some dinner and airbags I proceeded to Loon lake. If you ever drive Ice House Road - It's really long and windy. I got to the trailhead at around 12:30am. I was tired - so I made a flat spot on all my stuff and got some sleep. Incidentally I found a use for traction pads - making a sleeping platform. It's the only time I've ever actually had them provide any benefit. Probably should have left them home.
The next morning we hit the trail. I can't describe the entire trail in detail. What I can describe is the general idea. It's rocky - really rocky. And they're big abrasive rocks that have a layer of dust on them and can be very stick. Often the opposite of Moab's slickrock. The trail is also basically non-stop action. You never get a chance to relax. The second you quit paying attention you're going to hammer something on the bottom with a rock you didn't see or didn't think you'd hit. And unfortunately this also means very few photos. I just couldn't get out and take pictures because I was the least capable vehicle in the group and it's not cool to make everyone wait while you stop for pictures. It's a long trail and things have to keep moving.
The trail starts with the gate keeper. If you end up there, I'd rate it about a 6 out of 10 compared to what you'll see further down the trail. So if you're at the gate keeper and having second thoughts - it's probably appropriate to start thinking about going back.
From there it's lots of rock crawling as you make your way down to buck island. We camped at buck island the first night. It took about 6-7 hours on the trail to get our 15 wagons down to the island. We had a few mechanical issues along the way and some trail congestion. On an open trail with a smaller group you could probably make it in 4 hours. With a tube buggy on 40's or even probably in my FJ40 without any mechanical problems, I'm sure you could do it in 2 hours. Doing it with 15 wagons in 6ish hours was actually pretty fast.
From Buck Island to Rubicon Springs was the most difficult section. Day 2 took around 4 hours to get everyone through. A good bit of the day was idle time waiting to get everyone through the difficult obstacles. The big sluice was IMO the most difficult part of the trail for wagons. It's just big rocks, tight spaces, and requires very precise driving to make it through without major body damage.
Then we camped at Rubicon springs for the next 3 nights.
Sunday we made our way out. We left Rubicon Springs around 6:45am and had the help of a local group that were spotting up Cadillac hill. With a train of vehicles (there were 120 or so vehicles leaving Sunday) it really helps things move along to have a spotter at each obstacle so everyone is continuing at the same time. Big thanks to them. We arrived at the Tahoma side trailhead around 10:15am if I remember correctly. We really made pretty good time out considering the challenges of cadillac hill, and the mud and other obstacles on the way out.
I owe a huge thanks to the family that organizes and leads the wagon run. It's a family with an LC60 and their two sons in LC80's and another family member also in an LC80. They also brought along a couple of friends who walked almost the entire trail helping each vehicle get through obstacles by staking rocks as necessary and relaying information through the group, etc. I stacked rocks for an FJ40 with 35's and dual lockers, so even the medium built rigs needed help at places. The tube buggies with 40-52's were pretty well capable of running it without assistance. I did not see a single ATV or side by side on the trail. They all turned around at gate keeper or Cadillac hill on the other end. Even the Sheriff's leave them behind (They have a modified wrangler they take past that point).
Without the help of the group and great spotting by the group leader I'm sure I would have left with major body damage. Having someone who's both very knowledgeable about vehicle dynamics and a good spotter was invaluable for going through clean in what's basically a stock vehicle with minor mods.
Finally, I did install the rear air springs at buck island after the first day. They were very helpful to get the rear end back up to a higher ride height to keep the belly off the rocks. 2 inches of height makes a world of difference in a lot of places. I still had to winch probably 6-8 times to get through rock gardens I just couldn't clear. Often it was just a matter of being completely turtled with all 4 tires off the ground in a spot that I had no room to take any other line. And relying on a belly pan as a sled.
SO... after a long winded trip report, here's some pictures. I'll add some video as well when I get it uploaded to youtube. As I explained I didn't get pictures of the toughest obstacles. So don't think that these represent what you'll run into on that trail. There are significantly more challenging spots than I have in these pictures or videos.
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Bighead2001
New member
wfo9
New member
Sounds like fun.. I bet those bags saved your butt quite a bit...
The Rear LCA mounts and gas tank are my biggest issue in extreme terrain. It's usually just 1 inch I need to clear and wish there was a way to jack the rear up just a tad on demand. I've thought about some type of air bag with in cab control for this very reason... It's more of an issue loaded down for sure. I typically move as much as I can forward.
The Rear LCA mounts and gas tank are my biggest issue in extreme terrain. It's usually just 1 inch I need to clear and wish there was a way to jack the rear up just a tad on demand. I've thought about some type of air bag with in cab control for this very reason... It's more of an issue loaded down for sure. I typically move as much as I can forward.
zidaro
New member
Nice work dragging a clean mild 5th gen thru the 'Con! I love that trail.
Hope you haven't inspired too many peeps to try this with a mildly built rig.
Con is not a mild, or even moderate trail. Its serious, be prepared and go with an experienced group if its your first time. It has consistently serious obstacles and you will not get help quickly, if at all. And... sadly there is an element of maliciousness that hangs out in that area of the Sierras- being so close to Sac and Central Valley. If you leave your rig on that trail overnight or even just in the way unattended while broken down, you will be lucky to see it in the same condition when you return from a parts run. Seen this happen a few times. Really sad.
None-the-less, the Con is my favorite trail. Always looking forward to another run.
Love the pics, post more
Hope you haven't inspired too many peeps to try this with a mildly built rig.
Con is not a mild, or even moderate trail. Its serious, be prepared and go with an experienced group if its your first time. It has consistently serious obstacles and you will not get help quickly, if at all. And... sadly there is an element of maliciousness that hangs out in that area of the Sierras- being so close to Sac and Central Valley. If you leave your rig on that trail overnight or even just in the way unattended while broken down, you will be lucky to see it in the same condition when you return from a parts run. Seen this happen a few times. Really sad.
None-the-less, the Con is my favorite trail. Always looking forward to another run.
Love the pics, post more
Jetboy
New member
Nice work dragging a clean mild 5th gen thru the 'Con! I love that trail.
Hope you haven't inspired too many peeps to try this with a mildly built rig.
Con is not a mild, or even moderate trail. Its serious, be prepared and go with an experienced group if its your first time. It has consistently serious obstacles and you will not get help quickly, if at all. And... sadly there is an element of maliciousness that hangs out in that area of the Sierras- being so close to Sac and Central Valley. If you leave your rig on that trail overnight or even just in the way unattended while broken down, you will be lucky to see it in the same condition when you return from a parts run. Seen this happen a few times. Really sad.
None-the-less, the Con is my favorite trail. Always looking forward to another run.
Love the pics, post more
I agree completely. This is not somewhere to cut your teeth on offroading. With an experienced group and an experienced driver I would still give a ballpark 50% chance of going through clean again. And major carnage could easily be the outcome. I was totally aware of the risks. Toyota caved in a door. I'm sure that it had a full team of experienced folks. And the Jeep jamboree is not a fair representation of typical conditions. If you get a crew of 100 people to stack rocks - I'm sure you can make it through easy enough. Even so - this is a more likely outcome: (keep in mind this was during the Jamboree with a full JEEP factory team for marketing trying to get through clean). Apparently this GC also experience a major rupture of one of the oil systems - either transmission or engine.
A certain element of a clean run was just luck. Luck that it was mostly sunny. Wet rocks could spell trouble. And just some luck that I didn't slip at the wrong time on many of the obstacles that are matters of inches in off camber angles. If you haven't done this type of thing before - a fun weekend can turn into a very bad experience very quickly.
To give a few examples - the SAS 4runner in our group sheered steering knuckle bolts and had to tear down the axle in camp. An LC40 in our group broke an 80 series birfield (those are much stronger than minitruck ones). A crawler with stacked cases broke an ouput shaft in the transfer case that they ended up cutting the entire low range gears out of a 2.27 output shaft with an angle grinder off to get a trail spare to work with the 4.7 gearset to get off the trail. And a rock buggy pretzeled a drive shaft and had a new length of tube brought in to fabricate a shaft on the trail. There were also numerous small things like a valve stem ripped out of a wheel in a water crossing. You had better be prepared for major repairs. If this isn't something you can do in your sleep in a shop - you don't want to learn it for the first time on the rocks. Going with a club is a great way to meet new friends and learn a lot. It also provides a safety net. In our group we had a helicopter service available along with HAM radio coms to someone with a sat phone in an emergency. If you're going out on your own - you don't have those backups in place most of the time. Nor do you have Marlin Crawler or Valley Hybrid following as a sweep to make sure everyone is safely off the trail.
Also - you need at a minimum IMO a spare front axle assembly, a u-joint, and a valve stem or two in your spare parts kit.
I had a super fun time. I might do it again next year. If I'm honest though, this is not a great trail for a stockish 5th gen. And it's a testament to Toyota that they are still building a very capable vehicle. It may be a little soft around the edges, but the 5th gen is absolutely still a legit off road platform.
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Jetboy
New member
Check page 3 of the thread. It's already done.
The key to success was having traction pads as a bridge on the tough stuff.
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Last edited:
bimrunner
New member
I agree completely. This is not somewhere to cut your teeth on offroading. With an experienced group and an experienced driver I would still give a ballpark 50% chance of going through clean again. And major carnage could easily be the outcome. I was totally aware of the risks. Toyota caved in a door. I'm sure that it had a full team of experienced folks. And the Jeep jamboree is not a fair representation of typical conditions. If you get a crew of 100 people to stack rocks - I'm sure you can make it through easy enough. Even so - this is a more likely outcome: (keep in mind this was during the Jamboree with a full JEEP factory team for marketing trying to get through clean). Apparently this GC also experience a major rupture of one of the oil systems - either transmission or engine.
A certain element of a clean run was just luck. Luck that it was mostly sunny. Wet rocks could spell trouble. And just some luck that I didn't slip at the wrong time on many of the obstacles that are matters of inches in off camber angles. If you haven't done this type of thing before - a fun weekend can turn into a very bad experience very quickly.
To give a few examples - the SAS 4runner in our group sheered steering knuckle bolts and had to tear down the axle in camp. An LC40 in our group broke an 80 series birfield (those are much stronger than minitruck ones). A crawler with stacked cases broke an ouput shaft in the transfer case that they ended up cutting the entire low range gears out of a 2.27 output shaft with an angle grinder off to get a trail spare to work with the 4.7 gearset to get off the trail. And a rock buggy pretzeled a drive shaft and had a new length of tube brought in to fabricate a shaft on the trail. There were also numerous small things like a valve stem ripped out of a wheel in a water crossing. You had better be prepared for major repairs. If this isn't something you can do in your sleep in a shop - you don't want to learn it for the first time on the rocks. Going with a club is a great way to meet new friends and learn a lot. It also provides a safety net. In our group we had a helicopter service available along with HAM radio coms to someone with a sat phone in an emergency. If you're going out on your own - you don't have those backups in place most of the time. Nor do you have Marlin Crawler or Valley Hybrid following as a sweep to make sure everyone is safely off the trail.
Also - you need at a minimum IMO a spare front axle assembly, a u-joint, and a valve stem or two in your spare parts kit.
I had a super fun time. I might do it again next year. If I'm honest though, this is not a great trail for a stockish 5th gen. And it's a testament to Toyota that they are still building a very capable vehicle. It may be a little soft around the edges, but the 5th gen is absolutely still a legit off road platform.
Not sure if you saw my question before but did Andy lead the wagon run? Super excellent leader. I've run a few trails with him.
Jetboy
New member
I missed it. It was a man named Steve who was the wagon run leader this year. He has a turbo diesel 60 series. I don't want to use his last name without permission.
bimrunner
New member
Andy, Steve or Luke and you are good to go on that run. Very good group of guys that work hard to make Rubithon a success annually.
jbstrd
New member
Congrats man, and great thread! Rubicon is on my bucket list for sure. I'd probably take my Taco though since I don't care if it gets hammered.
Just out of curiosity, were there any modded 4Runners on the trail other than the SAS'd one?
As you said, definitely a testament to Toyota, but more importantly driver skill.
Thanks for sharing!
Just out of curiosity, were there any modded 4Runners on the trail other than the SAS'd one?
As you said, definitely a testament to Toyota, but more importantly driver skill.
Thanks for sharing!
Jetboy
New member
I didn't see all of the vehicles there. As far as I know there was only one other IFS vehicle though. Mike from Marlin Crawler (Marlin's son) - had his 2016 Tacoma there. They are keeping it IFS because most newer customers will keep them IFS and they want to develop new products for the wider range of customers.
It's on 37's and will be on 40's soon. So it's still pretty big in terms of mods. It has an All Pro IIRC long travel setup. It's a very nicely built truck with relatively low COG. Probably ran the 'Con with ease. It also has dual cases. But mostly the OEM sheet metal and even cut OEM bumpers.
jbstrd
New member
Wow! To be Marlin's son. Awesome!
JSparky
New member
Check page 3 of the thread. It's already done.
The key to success was having traction pads as a bridge on the tough stuff.
Lol, I've definitely seen these on amazon.
zidaro
New member
Check page 3 of the thread. It's already done.
The key to success was having traction pads as a bridge on the tough stuff.
Is that one of those prototype water jug jacks your using in the background to lift the rear of your rig out of a hole? awesome!!
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