Took Jeep down a side-by-side trail today

[basinite]

Had a little fun today following my dad, brother and couple of uncles as they went down a side-by-side trail. Nobody thought I would be able to make it in my Jeep.

On the 1 minute mark of the video I thought I ripped off my tube step dropping off the boulder. Barely even bent the factory tube step, I was impressed.

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[multicam]

Is “side-by-side trail” code for “river” nowadays? That was awesome!

 

[Lager]

Looks like a good time! I like your attitude about bending the tube step, that's how I am with my Jeeps. If one of them gets a bit of damage on the trail...it's ok. That's what they're for and they're really good at wheeling even stock.

 

[basinite]

Is “side-by-side trail” code for “river” nowadays? That was awesome!

LOL. We take our off-roading pretty serious in Utah. I have an entire extended family always giving me sh*t about "you need to buy a side-by-side". Today I figured I'd prove my Jeep is every bit as capable as their side-by-sides.

All in fun of course.

 

[basinite]

Looks like a good time! I like your attitude about bending the tube step, that's how I am with my Jeeps. If one of them gets a bit of damage on the trail...it's ok. That's what they're for and they're really good at wheeling even stock.

I was very impressed and thought for sure I had really jacked it up.

I have the factory Mopar side steps and they lived up to the quality you would expect from Jeep. They took a beating and survived (passenger side at least).

I hit a skid plate really hard later on in the trail and it just suffered a few dings. Rather than that, you'd hardly even know I had hit it hard on a boulder.

 

[RusM]

They don't care you're driving in a stream?

 

[basinite]

They don't care you're driving in a stream?

Where you live it would be anathema to do such a thing (I used to live in Seattle for a brief period).

The Rocky Mountain states, not so much. It's not uncommon to have trails that cross rivers and even sometimes go upstream or downs stream for a bit before exiting the trail.

I think a lot of it just depends on what part of the country you live in and what is acceptable to the local culture. I lived in Texas for a spell and we used to drive on the beaches, the tourist from the East Coast couldn't understand how that was "allowed".

 

[cOtter]

Very nice!!!! Looks like fun.

 

[sourdough]

Where you live it would be anathema to do such a thing (I used to live in Seattle for a brief period).

The Rocky Mountain states, not so much. It's not uncommon to have trails that cross rivers and even sometimes go upstream or downs stream for a bit before exiting the trail.

I think a lot of it just depends on what part of the country you live in and what is acceptable to the local culture. I lived in Texas for a spell and we used to drive on the beaches, the tourist from the East Coast couldn't understand how that was "allowed".

As they say, ignorance is no excuse for not knowing the law. I've heard of folks with videos(legal as evidence) being prosecuted when breaking the law. I'm not saying you broke any laws. Looks like seasonal run off on a trail to me.
If this is year round water on Federal land however, it's most likely a protected water way and I would not post a video of me in my driving down it. haha

 

[aldo98229]

A few years ago, when I first moved here, a local guy in a YJ took a bunch of us in our JKUs into a side-by-side trail, in error. Gawd that wasn’t fun.

We were at a meet cleaning up and picking up trash on a local trail. After the free hotdog lunch, one of the old guys in a YJ offers to lead a small group of Jeeps through some fun trails.

We go up the main forest road. At some point, we leave the main road and venture into this fun looking trail. At first we proceeded fine. But the trail grew increasingly narrow. The turns grew tight and the vegetation more dense.

It was a sunny day but it was dark under the tree canopy and the terrain was muddy. It took 1 hour just to get the five Jeeps through this particularly tricky turn. The lead guy was spotting. At one point my Jeep is sliding down sideways towards the trees. Thankfully a tree stops my slide; my Sahara sidesteps hit the tree before it could damage my Jeep. The brand-new JKUR behind wasn’t so lucky; she lost her passenger side mirror and pushed her front door handle into the door sheet metal.

Once we were done with that turn, we go 50 yards and there’s another tricky turn. The YJ goes first: a tree cuts a huge gash into his soft top. The owner looks inconsolable. We all struggle through that spot as well. Next thing we know we are lost. We’ve been gone for 3 hours, we can’t go forwards or backwards, and we don’t know where we are.

One of the other Jeep owners manages to get a hold of the main party through the CB. We give out a general description of where we turned off and where we thought we were. Forty-five minutes later, we hear the party approaching...from the front! We were literally 100 yards away from the logging road but between the dense forest and the many hours of struggling in the trail, we had lost our bearings.

I took it as a valuable lesson about wheeling in the PNW. I am used to California where, while the trails can be challenging, you tend to have more space and the small bushes grant you unrestricted view in every direction. The dense PNW rain forest can make a small, narrow trail appear more imposing than it really is. Of course being on a trail unsuitable for Jeeps didn’t help.

It also taught me that that old fart in that old Jeep doesn’t always know what he is doing...

 

[Timmyjoe]

Cool video, looks like fun. Questions: do you have sway bar disconnects, if so, which ones, and were they disconnected?

Thanks,
-Tim

 

[basinite]

A few years ago, when I first moved here, a local guy in a YJ took a bunch of us in our JKUs into a side-by-side trail, in error. Gawd that wasn’t fun.

We were at a meet cleaning up and picking up trash on a local trail. After the free hotdog lunch, one of the old guys in a YJ offers to lead a small group of Jeeps through some fun trails.

We go up the main forest road. At some point, we leave the main road and venture into this fun looking trail. At first we proceeded fine. But the trail grew increasingly narrow. The turns grew tight and the vegetation more dense.

It was a sunny day but it was dark under the tree canopy and the terrain was muddy. It took 1 hour just to get the five Jeeps through this particularly tricky turn. The lead guy was spotting. At one point my Jeep is sliding down sideways towards the trees. Thankfully a tree stops my slide; my Sahara sidesteps hit the tree before it could damage my Jeep. The brand-new JKUR behind wasn’t so lucky; she lost her passenger side mirror and pushed her front door handle into the door sheet metal.

Once we were done with that turn, we go 50 yards and there’s another tricky turn. The YJ goes first: a tree cuts a huge gash into his soft top. The owner looks inconsolable. We all struggle through that spot as well. Next thing we know we are lost. We’ve been gone for 3 hours, we can’t go forwards or backwards, and we don’t know where we are.

One of the other Jeep owners manages to get a hold of the main party through the CB. We give out a general description of where we turned off and where we thought we were. Forty-five minutes later, we hear the party approaching...from the front! We were literally 100 yards away from the logging road but between the dense forest and the many hours of struggling in the trail, we had lost our bearings.

I took it as a valuable lesson about wheeling in the PNW. I am used to California where, while the trails can be challenging, you tend to have more space and the small bushes grant you unrestricted view in every direction. The dense PNW rain forest can make a small, narrow trail appear more imposing than it really is. Of course being on a trail unsuitable for Jeeps didn’t help.

It also taught me that that old fart in that old Jeep doesn’t always know what he is doing...

I bet you guys were wanting to string the "old fart" up from the nearest tree after getting out of that mess.

 

[basinite]

Cool video, looks like fun. Questions: do you have sway bar disconnects, if so, which ones, and were they disconnected?

Thanks,
-Tim

I don't have sway bar disconnects. Too be honest, I've never had them on any of my Jeeps. I'm not saying they are bad or anything like that. I believe on some of the trails in Moab they are almost a must.

I've just always managed without them and have done just fine over the years. Articulation and getting traction hasn't ever been an issue with any of my newer Jeeps. Now my dad's old YJ......, totally different story.

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