Wheeler Ridge The Slow Way
4S5A to 30E302 to 30E301
Today was crawlbox test day. The real test day. The long hard lots of rocks test day.
I choose to head up what many think is the most difficult trail in Bishop. There wrong but it's still plenty hard. I've run this trail twice. Once with open diffs and once after I got locked. I know it pretty well and it's never an easy day.
You pick up 4S5A out of Swall Meadows off of Sky Meadow Rd. After about a mile of easy dirt you hook a left onto 30E302. Then it's another 7 miles or so of easy to moderate wheeling to pick up 30E301. Then it''s 3 miles of game on.
After you get up 30E301 you drop back to the front side of the Wheeler Crest. The whole of the Owens Valley is spread out before you from your 11,000' perch.
The road continues for another 2 miles to an old mine site. If you choose to take that please be careful. It's a loose sandy off camber narrow shelf road that is signed warning against vehicle traffic. At least one person I know of has died from rolling off it. With that said drive smart and it's a cool albeit scary section.
The route follows the valley at lower right before turning hard left on the back side of Wheeler Crest. You eventually come out on the upper left side of this photo.
Got rocks?
One of the easier sections to navigate.
I really need to clean my windshield one year.
This is on the way to the mine. Lots of smoke from numerous fires across Cali.
That's all for the photo's . I'll let you guys get a look for yourselves instead of spoiling it.
Now onto the dual case performance.
First thing I need to do is get a proper oil slinger for the crawlbox shifter. At my first stop I noticed some gear oil on my skid. After I quick check I verified all seals where good and it was coming from the crawlbox shifter. They vent through the shifter and there's an oil slinger you can put in to prevent the oil from venting as well. I didn't order one so I get to pull the center console again.
I was in low for at least 6 miles and in lo/lo for about a mile. Both shifters stayed put and never popped out. Maybe they just needed time to break in. There was no noise or banging from the duals. All in all they worked great.
Now, if you haven't wheeled with duals I'll let you in on a little secret. It's cheating. It's also a game changer like everyone who runs them will tell you. Let me explain.
If you wheel a lot you understand that picking a line and keeping contact patch is what separates a success from a failure. I've run this stretch enough to know the lines. With open/open it would take multiple attempts to get it perfect. When I got locked it still took at least two tries to find that perfect line.
With the duals in lo/lo and the rear locked I walked up the hard sections. I never once had to readjust my rig . It all goes so slow with so much torque you can correct as you go.
At one point I picked a pure shit line just for fun. The rig hit two large steps placed a perfect distance apart. The front was at the step just as the rear was at another step. For a second my rig slowly spun the rears. I hit the front locker and was up and over with zero corrections. Like I said, game changer(or cheating?).
To say I'm happy that I dual cased my rig would be an understatement. I just hope they last so I can continue to play the game.
