Today was a really great time out on Willow Springs. This run was only Wes and myself, me in my FJ and Wes in his crazy awesome new buggy!

We'd only been to Willow Springs once before and that was with a large group. With the big group we had to turn around at a certain point after a full day to get back before dark. With only 2 rigs today though, Wes and I were able to get that far into the trail in about 30 minutes - leaving much of the day open to push on into the unknown.

Here's some pics!


Wes breaking over the 'gigantic rock kinda in the middle of the trail' obstacle...



Me squeezing by a tight section...



This picture was taken from this side to show off my super cool wheels (haven't painted the others yet )



Wes in the crazy thing...



Another good spot...



oops! now we're having too much fun!



Rockin the spacer...



Made it up this spot with no real problems... really wasn't expecting that!





For anyone who wonders about the stupid bumper mod... it does have a purpose!



This will go down in the record books as the closest I'll ever come to damaging the body without in fact damaging the body... probably 1/8" from the boulder while tipped over at 30-degrees.



Woohoo! Good to see you Wes and Angie, till next time!

I wanted to be there...BAD....but the arm was killing me...

Wes...way to lay it on the side on it's maidon voyage!!!

Mike....sway bar or no sway bar.....better or not???

I kept looking for pictures of the rumored burrito warmer…. Nice run guys. Mike, you might be the poster child for FJ capability.

WOW, defensibly something WAY over my wheeling!!! But looks like a good time...

Thanks! It was a ton of fun... Wes in a buggy is really scary!

I forgot to take a picture of the burrito warmer!!! It is the coolest feature ever, and needs to be put on the FJ....

nice pictures! Looks like you guys had a good time for sure!

It looks like an interesting linkage system seen on that flop shot.

Are the lower links closer together and the uppers are triangulated?

That trail looks like fun. I think I'll ride shotgun with someone one day as opposed to taking the fj out there tho, holy crap!

SpeshulEd wrote:

That trail looks like fun. I think I'll ride shotgun with someone one day as opposed to taking the fj out there tho, holy crap!

I'll second that!

tibaal89 offered to take me out on some trails down here in Tucson, but I'm rethinking that offer. I've only made 2 payments so far. LOL

BellyDoc wrote:

It looks like an interesting linkage system seen on that flop shot. Are the lower links closer together and the uppers are triangulated?

Uppers and lowers are both triangulated, with the lowers having more space between the mounts on the axle and frame. Does that answer your question?

Kurt I backed out of that spot twice while feeling like I was flopped, does that still count? Missed ya buddy! Thanks for the laptop!! I owe ya...

If Tibaal89 offers to take you out you should definitely take him up on the offer. He will not have you run anything that you aren't comfortable with, don't be scared.

Ed: optional lines, optional lines...

What about the sway bar disconnect mike? good bad or weird? Nice buggy wes!

----never mind just noticed the thread

The pics Angie took.

here

Nice pics, Angie!!

I especially like this one...



but holy crap where is my hair going?!?! I'm too young!!!

This is pretty cool, you can see the trail really well on Google Earth.. in fact you can make out a few of the rock obstacles.

Here's the last few miles of the trail before the Lake...


And here's a closeup where it gets to Saguaro Lake... can't tell if you can get to or see the lake from the trail, I guess we'll have to go see for ourselves!

nice photo mike. It looks like your arm goes into the tire.
NICE!!