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Will met the Isuzu crew off of 4x4wire.com in Uwharrie National Forest to drive over stuff. Here's pictures of the action.
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The Rodeo at the campground. Looking good so far!
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Lining up for the first run. (Actually this is the 2nd run of the day on Friday, but I wasn't able to make it for the early run.)
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Doug, Lisa, and their neice Stephanie in the Turtle, hitting the first big obstacle. Seconds after this shot, she high centered on the rock and had to be winched off.
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Mike the RodeoGuy showing some suspension flex.
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The Rodeo after its first successful climb, up a big rocky hill. It actually turned out to be one of the easier run, but it sure looked hard at the time...
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Our humble abode.
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Smiley turning up the heat while Lisa looks on wishing he could do the same for the charcol in the grill.
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The inside of the "house" - it was kind of cold in there.
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Lisa gets stuck on the first major obstacle of the second day's run. It's a 2 foot tall rock. She eventually had to winch off.
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Here it is without a truck on it. It's worse than the picture looks. Really...
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Here's the Rodeo making it's first of three attempts.
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Second attempt. Stuck the same place Lisa was.
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Taking the easy way around. (It still was kind of hard...)
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The honorary Isuzu of the bunch. (Ok, it was a Toyota...) The Tacuzu.
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Andre tried a little TOO hard to make it over and ended up snapping a tie rod. His tires looked sort of like this: / \ when he was done. This is a shot of the broken tie rod.
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Luckily he had a spare. Here's Doug taking a look at the damage. ("Does anyone have a hammer?!?") The guy with the sun glasses down next to him is Rubo, my driving instructor. Well, ok, my acceleration instructor.
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Here's Andre taking the "easy" way around, after completing his trail tie rod installation and front end alignment.
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Yes, I know, this looks like Andre's truck, but its really Smiley, who drove over the thing like it was a grocery store speed bump. (Locked rear differential 6" of lift will do that.)
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The Rodeo after it's first major obstacle. Notice the beginnings of some side step damage - must get stronger rock bars.
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Lisa on her way into the "rock garden". This is where the Rodeo suffered it's only body damage. The tree behind Lisa was diabolical - it took out Trooper Chris's roof rack lights, my rear drivers side door, and several other people had close calls.
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Here's Smiley doing the pose. Apparently he does this EVERY year.
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More rocks at the exit of the Rock Garden. This is how the Turtle goes over them. Notice the lack of bottom scraping.
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Plenty of clearance, lots of wheel travel, no problem. Compare to the Rodeo below...
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The approach...
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Closer, still looking good...
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Ooops... The big rock found the poor side steps again...
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Not quite the same wheel travel as the Turtle had, but still, lookin good on the exit.
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Smiley, checking out the damage on exit. Could be worse...
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Another successful rock traversal down.
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Lining up after the trail ride. Doug had to reel in the winch cable.
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Trooper Chris, his girlfriend, and Bo the trail dog. Bo had some trouble with motion sickness...
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Night #2, freezing in the tent. At least it didn't rain...
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Back at the Vaughn Ranch, the Rodeo gets ready to have the Super Swampers removed and the street tires put back on.
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The only body damage of the trip - courtesy of the evil tree in the Rock Garden. Nothing catastrophic, and honestly a little hard to see with the mud...
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Posing with the mud.
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