My wife won't drive her Jeep anymore...

[mgroeger]

Would you mind sharing your intel with me as well? I'm always looking for new places to take my wife and girls.

PM'ing you now

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[Tar Heel Wrangler]

Thanks! I know that area real well. Try to get up there for day hikes or overnight hikes every month from March - October. I spent a day at Julian Price last year and it was great.

Do you know of any trails up there? Sorry to take this off-topic but I am trying to figure out what there is up there that I would need a lift for!

I know that area well too. I grew up trout fishing the lake and streams back when they actually stocked them by hand, not a dump truck. Camped a lot there too. It's beautiful and seems to be popular with the ASU students. Need to figure out where to take the family jeeping this weekend.

 

[mgroeger]

Brown Mountain
Richland Rd
Hurricane Creeek Trail
Curtis Creek Road
Parsons Branch Road
Patriot Mountain Offroad Park

I'd stay off the Richland Rd Trail. It is a well known locals trail but it borders a lot of private property. I hear the locals that own that property... i.e. their back yards, are sick of the noise and drunkenness. On another forum one guy had a local come out and get in his face and it wasn't until he slid his shirt open to reveal his pistol that the guy shut up and backed off.

 

[kkuntz01]

... well sort of.

The other weekend she gets home from a trip to the mountains with her daughters. The first words out of her mouth weren't "Hi" or "Hello" they were "I'm not driving this Jeep anymore until you lift it!!! I looked like a sissy in the mountains with all those lifted Jeeps!"
Well I must say on the inside I was quite the proud husband, "What a cool wife" I thought. But what came out of my mouth was "Good grief woman, I'm going to get to it soon!"

I bought a Rubicon suspension which I knew would lift the Sahara a little bit but that ain't gonna cut it now. I said how about a 2.5" Rough Country body lift so you can keep your same comfort of the Sahara suspension but will get a solid 2 - 2.5" of lift. She said that's what she wants. Since this is her daily commuter and we off road a little bit this was the best of both worlds. OK problem solved, now to find the time among all the other projects.

Don't you hate it when that happens? My wife was the same with her Ram 2500 CC.

 

[Saejin]

Lucky you...had to fight tooth and nail with the wife to get her to allow me to add a winch to my Rubicon. Haven't even tried to bring up the topic of new wheels and 35" tires. I'll do that when the current ones wear out.

Well, first is the lift, then the tires will look too small, so then it's 35's. It never stops and you've got a supportive wife. Awesome.

 

[kogar]

I'm shooting to make the weekly highlight email... lol. The last email about my wife made it in

Ironically, or perhaps not, that’s exactly what happened

 

[Courier]

When I go on a 'trip to the mountains', I generally would rather not sacrifice lateral grip (on-road) and stability (off-road) in exchange for better approach/departure angles+articulation (effectively all a lift buys you).

But at least your wife admits it's purely about vanity, not function. Who knew 'mountain' people could be so judgmental about other folks' rides?

We're not, most friendly people in America a place where people still wave to each other. I live in Bryson City, NC. If your broke down people will actually stop to render assistance.

 

[Rural Applachia]

Ok she wants the lifts now What about 35s?

 

[mgroeger]

SO...

I was joking about making the weekly email but it is funny that I did... lol
I want to be where that Dodge Ram is right now.
Mountain people very friendly and the Jeeps know to wave. Half the people around the Raleigh area are oblivious to that act of comradery.
I'm worried about 33's looking too small but I sure as heck ain't dropping over $1200 on 35" tires when I only have 3k miles on the 33" ones. When the time comes I'm thinking of keeping Rubi rims and going with 35"... maybe.

 

[Biscuit]

Allow me to clarify, it's not just about vanity, a lift does help off road. If it didn't then why are all the guys who seriously off road using one?

Because they don't want to look like sissies?

 

[FulThrotl]

... well sort of.

"I'm not driving this Jeep anymore until you lift it!!! I looked like a sissy in the mountains with all those lifted Jeeps!"

ok. you drive it. she can work it out in therapy.

if her life is a black void, here is the fix.

mel at offroad evolution in fullerton has coilovers.

3" of lift, and 16" of travel. both ends.

now, you need beadlocks. a dual beadlock is the minimum
acceptable.... set of rock monsters. nobody else on the block
is likely to have them.

some 37's on that will fix things.

now, the axles... you don't want to snap something off with
those big heavy tires, do you?

dynatrac will do. you'll need a pro rock 60 on the front,
and a pro rock 80 on the back. arb lockers.

a winch, and some lighting, a spod bantam, and you are good to go.

$57K. we can pause there till she catches her breath,
and wants a blown V8.

now, my spouse said.... " it HAS rims and tires. wear those
out first."

3 months in @ 15k miles. i'm working on it. they don't wear down
as fast as the CTS-V does. 15k on that, and it's done.

 

[mgroeger]

Update on the Hurricane Creek trail I spoke of earlier. This trail is located right outside of Waynesville NC past exit 15 on I40 West. I can give more details for those interested.

I showed up at the trail and three FJs and two Tacomas. They asked if I wanted to join and I did. Super nice guys, SATT on facebook. The trail was freaking great, couple of creek crossings, some rock crawls, wash out ditches etc. Lots of fun and the guys really liked the Jeep. Highly recommend the trail.

The Jeep handled everything effortlessly.

 

[SeekRest]

Update on the Hurricane Creek trail I spoke of earlier. This trail is located right outside of Waynesville NC past exit 15 on I40 West. I can give more details for those interested.

I showed up at the trail and three FJs and two Tacomas. They asked if I wanted to join and I did. Super nice guys, SATT on facebook. The trail was freaking great, couple of creek crossings, some rock crawls, wash out ditches etc. Lots of fun and the guys really liked the Jeep. Highly recommend the trail.

The Jeep handled everything effortlessly.

Definitely interested in knowing more details on Western NC trails. My wife’s family still lives in her hometown waaaaaay west, and I’d like to find some trails to make the trips to and from more interesting, even (maybe especially) if it wasn’t on the way.

 

[mgroeger]

Hurricane Creek:
On I40 West go past exit 15, in a couple of miles you will see a rest stop on your right. Go past it and soon you will see the highway splits and the oncoming east bound side is a little lower than you, this is because they are going through a tunnel that you won't. As you round the bend you will see the east bound side coming back up to meet the west bound side. PAY ATTENTION to the guard rail on your right. Right before the east and west bound lanes come back together AT THE END OF THE GUARD RAIL is a very small pull off. Turn right into here, this is the Hurricane Creek trail head. When you are watching the guard rail, as soon as you can see the end of it I'd put your turn signal on give the cars behind you plenty of notice. This isn't like a well groomed off ramp... it's a redneck pull off.
The trail is meant to be driven from this point in, not the other way around, so if you encounter someone coming the other way you pretty much have the right to ask them to back up. The locals know the direction to run it.
I've seen a stock Toyota Tacoma run it by taking his time so any stock Jeep should be fine. As you go down the trail you will hit a clearing and it looks like you want to continue to go up to the left. Don't, that's a gated road, in that clearing turn to your right. You will ultimately come to a T, take a left. At the end of the trail you will see a "main" dirt road. This is Max Patch Rd. if you make a right you will go down off the mountain and can ultimately follow the signs back to I40. If you go left you will go up the mountain to Max Patch, which if you've never been to I highly recommend. From the top of the bald you can see 360 degree mountain views and that's all you can see.

Richland Rd is in Boone, I was told as you get ready to enter it there is a bridge, that bridge is private. Don't use it, take the trail around the bridge to come back up onto the road the bridge would have put you on. The second bridge is not private and can be used. Sometimes the locals whose land abuts the trail can get cranky, just a heads up.

 

[SeekRest]

Hurricane Creek:
On I40 West go past exit 15, in a couple of miles you will see a rest stop on your right. Go past it and soon you will see the highway splits and the oncoming east bound side is a little lower than you, this is because they are going through a tunnel that you won't. As you round the bend you will see the east bound side coming back up to meet the west bound side. PAY ATTENTION to the guard rail on your right. Right before the east and west bound lanes come back together AT THE END OF THE GUARD RAIL is a very small pull off. Turn right into here, this is the Hurricane Creek trail head. When you are watching the guard rail, as soon as you can see the end of it I'd put your turn signal on give the cars behind you plenty of notice. This isn't like a well groomed off ramp... it's a redneck pull off.
The trail is meant to be driven from this point in, not the other way around, so if you encounter someone coming the other way you pretty much have the right to ask them to back up. The locals know the direction to run it.
I've seen a stock Toyota Tacoma run it by taking his time so any stock Jeep should be fine. As you go down the trail you will hit a clearing and it looks like you want to continue to go up to the left. Don't, that's a gated road, in that clearing turn to your right. You will ultimately come to a T, take a left. At the end of the trail you will see a "main" dirt road. This is Max Patch Rd. if you make a right you will go down off the mountain and can ultimately follow the signs back to I40. If you go left you will go up the mountain to Max Patch, which if you've never been to I highly recommend. From the top of the bald you can see 360 degree mountain views and that's all you can see.

Richland Rd is in Boone, I was told as you get ready to enter it there is a bridge, that bridge is private. Don't use it, take the trail around the bridge to come back up onto the road the bridge would have put you on. The second bridge is not private and can be used. Sometimes the locals whose land abuts the trail can get cranky, just a heads up.

Thanks!

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