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Jack/Sledge Trail Run, 2004
By: Mike Bautista
Los Angeles, CA - 09/27/2004
A LOT OF KNOWLEDGE GAINED REAL QUICK. BRONCO = 0 SLEDGE = 1 My friend Adler and I signed up for the Jack/Sledge run with only a few reservations. I convinced myself my rig was ready (EFI 351, rear locker, front traclock,35''s, 411''s, 8274 warn) and went for it. Met with the trail leader who checked out my rig, shrugged and said "its your call, I think you might make it but it''ll be tough and you''ll beat the heck out of a pretty nice rig". I should of stopped right there. Drove out to the trail head and aired down. Admired a few of the big dog rigs and hit the rocks. The trail leader, Jim Creel of Wild Horses, JR coots of Cold Duck and a couple other dual case equipped rigs immediately began blazing up the run not even looking back.
I was following a pretty clean rig from New Mexico (tiger striped) that seemed to be geared down pretty well and was very aggressivelycharging up the canyon. Behind me was Lonnie of Tom''s Bronco in a nice just finished turquoise rig, and behind him was Adler (Defender Blue) and Rob in his clean orange EB.First rough section I was being spotted by Joe Monroe. Mid way overthe section I blew the right front tire off the bead. Turns out 10 psi was a bit low on this ride. We whipped out the high lift, fired up theon board air and with the help of Jeff Monroe, the guy from New Mexicoand my passenger Tony, we were on our way. One bad thing Joe pointedout was that my front posi wasn''t working as well as it should be.Lonnie, Adler and Rob drove over the obstacle like pro''s.
Rolled through another 400 yards of some serious rocks without much effort. Damn I could use some lower gears, the homemade rock ski''s worked great though!. The next rough section was about mid way up the canyon where my front differential really showed to not be functional. After several attempts and almost grabbing the perfect line, I was pretty much running in three wheel drive. The spotter told me we could probably charge it and make it up, but there were plenty more rough sections to come. Rather than hold up the entire pack behind me, I swallowed my pride and pulled off the trail to let everyone pass.
Next was Lonnie Bright. He approached the v-shaped wall with extreme caution and couldn''t help but crunch the passenger side rocker pretty good. At the top of this section, an extreme right turn needs to be accomplished. Once in line, Lonnie approached and after a few shots at it, made it to the top then spewed tranny fluid all over. He then pulled off the trail to let his ride cool down. With the help of a great spotter, Adler and Rob once again cruised over both tough spots. Adler did however test the custom rock skids made up for him. Rob gained a bit a of rock rash in the rocker area. Anyway, they all continued on while Lonnie and I faced the challenge of turning around and running the first half of the trail in reverse.
After a hundred point turn Lonnie was facing down hill as was I. We made our way down without much trouble and followed each other back to camp with the help of a really nice Bronco guy spotting us on the way down (I cant recall his name but he is from So.Cal and had a nice rig at the bottom of the run). If you''re reading this... thanks!
We all ended up talking back at camp. Lonnie turned out to be one of the coolest Bronco vendors I''ve met and will give him any business I have. He thanked us for helping him out and even gave us some Tom''s shirts.Thanks Lonnie! Adler arrived back at camp with the others a few hours later with unbelievably minimal body damage. Way to go Adler, thanks for representing us right! Next year, a front locker, lower gears and I''ll be back!
Thanks to the EBR for putting on such a great event, you guys areawesome. The event was well planned, the raffle had plenty of great prizes,the food was fantastic and I believe everyone there had a good time.
Thanks again, enjoy the photos!
Click here to view all the pictures from the trip in the photo album
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