Gavin talks about the RCrocs of 2011
RCrocs EVENT NUMBER 1
The 2011 rock crawling season opened up with a bang Saturday May 7th at Rausch Creek Offroad Park. We headed into event 1 with high hopes for the season and confidence in our offseason vehicle upgrades. Barry at Truck Stuff and More had secured us a new set of leaf springs and shocks from Rough Country and all our trials with the suspension showed us great results, thanks Barry.
We compete in class one, which is basically a street stock class. What started as a basic class which a lot of people have looked over has turned into the hottest class in RcRocs! With the most drivers and some of the tightest scores, the class is drawing more and more attention. As well, the majority of vehicles in class one are running "off the shelf" suspension modifications which anyone could bolt onto their own vehicles and ride down the road, trail ride, or compete with. If you have not checked class one out yet, you should!
We headed into our first course knowing there were a couple potential hang up areas which could bite us. We lined up and shot the bonus with ease and negotiated the rest of the course without issue, only taking two backups and no cones, ending with a -13. We were happy to say the least.
Greed bit us hard on course two. We watched several rigs run and felt there was a better line to get us through a boulder section and save us a couple precious back up points. We ran the first section well and tried the different line we had looked at. Unfortunately we were not 100% where we wanted to be and became badly high centered. We worked hard trying to get ourselves out but sadly time expired and we had a DNF on the course.
Knowing points would be tight with how strong a class we are in we knew the prior DNF hurt us badly. We knew we needed a flawless run and needed to shave a few backups to fight our way into the shoot out. Hind sight is always 20/20they say. We attempted to short cut a corner to line ourselves up for a bonus better, in our opinion, then other teams were lining up. Sadly, we became high centered again and burned much of our time getting out of our self inflicted snafu. We were able to break loose with about 2 minutes remaining and a lot of course left to run. We ran through the bonus and dropped into a pit looking at the exit a mere 10 yards straight ahead. The jeep slammed the front frame rails into some of Rausch Creek’s concrete. Thinking I could power the rails up the concrete face I backed up and pounded the jeep forward. Sadly, the rails hit too low on the wall and the force bent our passenger frame rail of the jeep in the factory crumple zone as time expired.
Had we finished our last course we still would not have made the shoot out for the event. The other competitors who made the shoot out all finished their three courses; anyone with one DNF did not qualify for the shoot out sadly which included us. I was happy though to see long time friend and fellow Truck Stuff driver Lori Lind pull down the class win for the first event. The Linds are a fantastic family and great for our sport and I was happy and proud to see Lori get her first win. She has been competing in class one for a few years now and showed up with a new jeep and new spotter and showed us she will be a force to be reckoned with all season!
We have had our jeep’s frame straitened at a frame shop and is not back home waiting for the frame rails to be plated before the next event. There are a couple other modifications we intend to accomplish prior to event two, which is father’s day weekend. If you would like to see more about what we intend to change, you will just have to show up at event two and check them out for yourself. As well, do yourself a favor and stop by Barry’s tent at the event and check out some of the items he will have for sale!
GAVIN REFLECTS ON EVENT NUMBER 2
Well, what can I say about RcRocs event number 2 other then it tested our team to the fullest. We arrived in the morning looking for a strong showing. Round 1 left us greatly disappointed in not finishing two courses and heavily damaging the jeep (jeep needed to have its frame straitened and re-enforced prior to event 2). In walking the courses, we were hopeful for a strong performance as we felt the courses were geared towards our style of wheeling with two almost completely on concrete and only one on natural terrain.
We began course one crawling into s short rock section before coming to the first climb. Clearly as we hit the first set of rocks something with the jeep was not right as the jeep would not make any power, it was bogging under any kind of load. We were able to finesse our way through the first rock section and forced the jeep up and over the first two climbs. At the top of the second climb we could not get the transmission to grab and instead of destroying the jeep, we opted for a tow back to the pits.
We were expecting to find the transmission short on fluid since we were not getting power to the wheels. What we found baffled us, the transmission was full. We looked the jeep over completely and could not find anything wrong, we started the jeep up and it ran and shifted fine. At this point, we were already on break down time and knew we needed to get to our second course ASAP. Thankfully, we had brought two additional team mates with us to help pitting on the jeep.
We pulled up to course two, which had an entrance that went strait up, nothing that concerned us but we knew it would test the jeep. Well, we tried to crawl the climb which causes our problem of the transmission starving the motor for power to re-surface. We opted to back out and hit the climb at full throttle in order to get to the top. We did, carrying the front end high in the air and continued to power our way through the course. With the transmission acting up, we were not able to be as methodical as we would have liked and ended up causing us to high center the jeep and need the crane to pull us off, another disappointing defeat.
We pulled up to course three knowing the jeep was not 100%, for that matter it was barely 50% and this course had some severe off-cambers which we would potentially need to power out of. We opted to take the first cone in order to get to the remainder of the course. Now knowing how the transmission was acting, we were able to better plan our routes to get through the cones, not the paths we would have liked to have taken, but we were able to get through the remainder of the course with only a couple backs.
Sadly, our final efforts were not enough to once again get us into the shootout. Truly a disappointing season thus far!
So, where are we now? The jeep is currently sitting on the lift in the shop with the transmission out. Trans was dropped for a full re-build and new torque convertor for the last event of 2012. As well, we are going through all the jeep’s wiring and trying to change as much as possible. The jeep is a complete smorgasbord of wiring mixing 22 year old factory wiring with many additions over that 22 year period. To simplify diagnosis of issues, all wiring is being removed and replaced for the last event. As well, we are making some changes to the suspension which will hopefully gain us some ground clearance. When we built this jeep, our goal was a low center of gravity; well I think we went a bit too low and are trying to gain some clearance. Come check us out at event 3, the final event for the 2011 RcRocs crawling series, and of course, check out the Truck Stuff and More tent for some amazing specials. I picked up an additional jerry can last event at a steal, and that was only one of the deals to be had. Winches, wheels, and other parts were out on the tables at rock bottom prices. If you come out, expect to walk away with something as the deals were almost too good to be true!
The 2011 rock crawling season opened up with a bang Saturday May 7th at Rausch Creek Offroad Park. We headed into event 1 with high hopes for the season and confidence in our offseason vehicle upgrades. Barry at Truck Stuff and More had secured us a new set of leaf springs and shocks from Rough Country and all our trials with the suspension showed us great results, thanks Barry.
We compete in class one, which is basically a street stock class. What started as a basic class which a lot of people have looked over has turned into the hottest class in RcRocs! With the most drivers and some of the tightest scores, the class is drawing more and more attention. As well, the majority of vehicles in class one are running "off the shelf" suspension modifications which anyone could bolt onto their own vehicles and ride down the road, trail ride, or compete with. If you have not checked class one out yet, you should!
We headed into our first course knowing there were a couple potential hang up areas which could bite us. We lined up and shot the bonus with ease and negotiated the rest of the course without issue, only taking two backups and no cones, ending with a -13. We were happy to say the least.
Greed bit us hard on course two. We watched several rigs run and felt there was a better line to get us through a boulder section and save us a couple precious back up points. We ran the first section well and tried the different line we had looked at. Unfortunately we were not 100% where we wanted to be and became badly high centered. We worked hard trying to get ourselves out but sadly time expired and we had a DNF on the course.
Knowing points would be tight with how strong a class we are in we knew the prior DNF hurt us badly. We knew we needed a flawless run and needed to shave a few backups to fight our way into the shoot out. Hind sight is always 20/20they say. We attempted to short cut a corner to line ourselves up for a bonus better, in our opinion, then other teams were lining up. Sadly, we became high centered again and burned much of our time getting out of our self inflicted snafu. We were able to break loose with about 2 minutes remaining and a lot of course left to run. We ran through the bonus and dropped into a pit looking at the exit a mere 10 yards straight ahead. The jeep slammed the front frame rails into some of Rausch Creek’s concrete. Thinking I could power the rails up the concrete face I backed up and pounded the jeep forward. Sadly, the rails hit too low on the wall and the force bent our passenger frame rail of the jeep in the factory crumple zone as time expired.
Had we finished our last course we still would not have made the shoot out for the event. The other competitors who made the shoot out all finished their three courses; anyone with one DNF did not qualify for the shoot out sadly which included us. I was happy though to see long time friend and fellow Truck Stuff driver Lori Lind pull down the class win for the first event. The Linds are a fantastic family and great for our sport and I was happy and proud to see Lori get her first win. She has been competing in class one for a few years now and showed up with a new jeep and new spotter and showed us she will be a force to be reckoned with all season!
We have had our jeep’s frame straitened at a frame shop and is not back home waiting for the frame rails to be plated before the next event. There are a couple other modifications we intend to accomplish prior to event two, which is father’s day weekend. If you would like to see more about what we intend to change, you will just have to show up at event two and check them out for yourself. As well, do yourself a favor and stop by Barry’s tent at the event and check out some of the items he will have for sale!
GAVIN REFLECTS ON EVENT NUMBER 2
Well, what can I say about RcRocs event number 2 other then it tested our team to the fullest. We arrived in the morning looking for a strong showing. Round 1 left us greatly disappointed in not finishing two courses and heavily damaging the jeep (jeep needed to have its frame straitened and re-enforced prior to event 2). In walking the courses, we were hopeful for a strong performance as we felt the courses were geared towards our style of wheeling with two almost completely on concrete and only one on natural terrain.
We began course one crawling into s short rock section before coming to the first climb. Clearly as we hit the first set of rocks something with the jeep was not right as the jeep would not make any power, it was bogging under any kind of load. We were able to finesse our way through the first rock section and forced the jeep up and over the first two climbs. At the top of the second climb we could not get the transmission to grab and instead of destroying the jeep, we opted for a tow back to the pits.
We were expecting to find the transmission short on fluid since we were not getting power to the wheels. What we found baffled us, the transmission was full. We looked the jeep over completely and could not find anything wrong, we started the jeep up and it ran and shifted fine. At this point, we were already on break down time and knew we needed to get to our second course ASAP. Thankfully, we had brought two additional team mates with us to help pitting on the jeep.
We pulled up to course two, which had an entrance that went strait up, nothing that concerned us but we knew it would test the jeep. Well, we tried to crawl the climb which causes our problem of the transmission starving the motor for power to re-surface. We opted to back out and hit the climb at full throttle in order to get to the top. We did, carrying the front end high in the air and continued to power our way through the course. With the transmission acting up, we were not able to be as methodical as we would have liked and ended up causing us to high center the jeep and need the crane to pull us off, another disappointing defeat.
We pulled up to course three knowing the jeep was not 100%, for that matter it was barely 50% and this course had some severe off-cambers which we would potentially need to power out of. We opted to take the first cone in order to get to the remainder of the course. Now knowing how the transmission was acting, we were able to better plan our routes to get through the cones, not the paths we would have liked to have taken, but we were able to get through the remainder of the course with only a couple backs.
Sadly, our final efforts were not enough to once again get us into the shootout. Truly a disappointing season thus far!
So, where are we now? The jeep is currently sitting on the lift in the shop with the transmission out. Trans was dropped for a full re-build and new torque convertor for the last event of 2012. As well, we are going through all the jeep’s wiring and trying to change as much as possible. The jeep is a complete smorgasbord of wiring mixing 22 year old factory wiring with many additions over that 22 year period. To simplify diagnosis of issues, all wiring is being removed and replaced for the last event. As well, we are making some changes to the suspension which will hopefully gain us some ground clearance. When we built this jeep, our goal was a low center of gravity; well I think we went a bit too low and are trying to gain some clearance. Come check us out at event 3, the final event for the 2011 RcRocs crawling series, and of course, check out the Truck Stuff and More tent for some amazing specials. I picked up an additional jerry can last event at a steal, and that was only one of the deals to be had. Winches, wheels, and other parts were out on the tables at rock bottom prices. If you come out, expect to walk away with something as the deals were almost too good to be true!