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Your first REAL wheeling experiance

My first hardcore serious mudding adventure was in a buddies 72 Ford Highboy with a built 390, we would try to get it stuck every weekend, at a place we called the race track. That thing was a tank! I remember bouncing beer bottles of his mirror and it wouldn't break. The truck was that tough.

We would wheel all weekend long in that truck also, especially with almost a 100 gallon fuel tank in the bed!
 
I grew up hunting and fishing with my dad and grandpa in lots of places that required 4wd. That was all in the 71 Chevy my grandpa bought new (and I now finally own). I think that started the addiction.

I bought the FJ40 bone stock in 1997 with insurance claim money, and I was still in school and newly married, so had basically no money to do anything else with it. I drove it for a year or so, experimenting in any muddy spots I found (522 @ Echo Lake Road, Pipeline off 51st just above Lowell-Larimer).

I think my first real wheeling trip was with a bunch of 4x4nw people on highrider in 98 or 99. I still really miss that trail. My stock 40 on 31" BFG mall-terrains walked right up the wall after watching a locked YJ on 33s fail and get strapped up. At the time, I thought that was about as hardcore as wheeling could get. And I loved it. :cool:
 
I wanna say that my first time wheeling was riding with crash down at evans in the snow, my first time wheelin my own rig, I was on my way to find crash at reiter, wound up stuck and had to call crash, who sent Dan to my rescue, I proceeded to get tugged through some areas till I could get out on my own, been hooked since, just dont get to go as often as I would like, but hopefully now that I have a daily driver again, I can go a little more frequently
 
I used to take my old mans 2x datsun all over the place before i got my license. :D
:haha: :redneck: Them old datsuns do great don't they? I used to beat the piss out of my dads 74 610 Wagon, flattened the gastank and ripped the exhaust off out in cumberland one time, but that thing just kept tickin.
 
I couldn't even come close to remembering the first time wheeling for me, like most others on here. My dad had a fully loaded '79 Toyota (even had cruise...) , then traded it for a brand-new, bone-friggin' stock '84. I watched it come off the trailer at the dealership. In all, there was around a dozen newer Toyotas in our little "wheeling" group. They weren't very hardcore at all, but thinking back to it, I guess it was cool they were wheeling brand-new rigs all over the country, especially the snow! My first memory of wheeling with the folks was going up to Bobby's cabin, past the DNR cabin at the end of Spada Lake, by several miles.

My own wheeling experiences came when I turned 18 and traded my '74 Corolla in for an '87 Toyota pickup. I was mostly running muddy roads, but hey. Then, I sold that for a '91 Toyota p/u, just before realizing what IFS really meant... I have since solved that problem. My first real trail I tried was Shaw Lake trail. I was denied at the first real obstacle. Then came Highrider, of which I easily climbed the wall to my utter suprise. I, like several on here, miss that trail alot. BTW, I love nighttime snow wheeling!

Oh, and I too, like your story about Moab, Karl.
 
My first experiance was in 2001, around when I first got my license and had just got handed down my parents 93 2wd ranger from my sister, didnt really know anything about wheelin. Just cruised the logging roads. I came up to huge puddle down a narrow road. The puddle slightly wider than the road and about 25ft long. I got out and was throwing rock in the puddle and poked a stick in it to see how deep it was, It was pretty deep with a small layre of mud on the bottom, but pretty solid. I decided not to try it and go back. right when I got in to back up a big lifted ford came up the road behind me. No way to turn around and I didnt want to make the guy back up, so I went for it. I nosed in to the puddle a ways and then pinned it, befor i knew it water over the hood and a wave of water up on the windshild. I kept the pedal down and if crawled out of the hole. Went down the road a ways more and found a whole bunch of mud holes one with a burried "JEEP" which the lifted "FORD" was going to pull out. then I figured out i had to go out the same way I came in...
 
My first wheeling experience was in a 1972 chev 3/4t 4x4 that was one week old. My grandfather was a route driver for the mail to a little town called Lester, Way up in the mountains. We had to go through a locked gate into forest service property and there was about 18" of snow up there on top and we were running with chains on all 4 tires, all by ourselves.

There were no tracks in front of us and the mountain lakes and such were so beautifull, I fell in love with it from that moment on.
 
My brother in law took me out wheeling about 6 years ago in his reg cab '86 Yota and I had a good time. Went out with him a few other times and just couldn't wait to be able to have my own truck.

Granted it wasn't much of a run, considering the rig was stock, but after seeing what you could do to them.... well, I just wanted to get out there and try it myself and I've been hooked ever since!
 
First experience was back in the mid 80s in my uncles 4x4 subi wagon dubbed the ghetto beater the only glass in it was the windshield, the body was beat and it even had bullet holes. he took me and my bro fishing and camping along the missouri river in nebraska. we followed the horse trails trails back into a nice spot to camp next to the river. got woke up in the middle of the night by some boat cops wondering how the hell a car got back in there. :haha:

When I moved up here in 1990 my stepdad took me on the kaner trail and others in his CJ7 and I nearly **** my pants. that was my first "real" wheeling experience. :awesomework:
 
First wheeling was in my Dad's 73 CJ-5 when I was 1-2 in a car seat at the mud bogs I think. Maybe just cruising around at a Jeep jambo. A little older when my dad asked me if I wanted to drive.

MY first wheeling in a car not ATV would have to be my 67 Chevy 2x4 which was my first truck. Snow bank wheelin in Easton. Got stuck in the snow and blew the tranny rockin it back in forth with 33" wide climbers on the back and skinnys in the front. Then got the 76 f-100 4x4 with no front driveline which I bombed down the powerlines with highschool girls and buddies loaded up. Sideways on every corner.

Then came the 75 Chevy Big block truck with........ OH wait I forgot my first Reiter trip maybe Sultan with the Chevy luv.. Hedder and Flowmaster.. Oh yea that was fun..

REAL wheelin was puttin the long box chev through Belfair without a scratch then it cathin fire at the fire road and burning to the ground while my friends watched me cry and tryed to put the fire out. It was all over when the line x and 5 gallon gas can caught on.

I bought my 84 Toyota after that at a junkyard in Renton for $150 from a girl that didn't know any better and built it up myself. That was the funnest truck yet and I could drive it everywherre with 35" boggers. Only got pulled over twice for no mud flaps and never got a ticket but had a bunch of fun and one time my gf.... NEVERMIND..:D
 
Nope- Lester, Wa

access through Ravensdale, or roundabout off of Stampede pass. Way up in the mountains on Scott Paper co. land.

Now a certified ghost town.
 
1995. I was a sophmore at Tumwater high school and I used to take my 2wd F-100 out "Muddin" at LnI. (vacant lot next to the L&I building in Tumwater)
When I was 16 my friend Ben got a '92 Chevy 4x4 from his brother, and we used to take it out to his 40 acres and to Capitol Forrest. It started stock, with some 265/85/16 mud treads, 4.3 V6, 5 speed, and 3.08 gears.

03-21-2008095244AM.jpg


Later we put a 3" body lift and a torsion crank on that truck and ran some 33x12.50s... still with 3.08 gears.. it was such a slug.. :haha:

He sold it back to his brother and got a '94 chevy 4x4. This one had a 350/700R4 and 4.10 gears with a grenade lock. About that same time (2001) I got my BII and the first time I took it off road was a snow run at Capitol Forrest.

patsbII3.jpg


The white chevy later got a 6" procomp lift and 35s, then a 3" body and 39s. Then he rolled it and hasn't had a wheeler since.

My first real wheeling trip in the Bronco was Tahuya in 2003 with a group from therangerstation.com.

tahuyaflex.jpg
 
I've had to think about this for a while.
I started Jeeping with my Grandfather in his CJ5. Use to take me up in the mountains in central Calif to go camping. And then would take me to Pismo Beach before all the dunes got closed down. So that is how I got the BUG.

I wanted a 4x4 SOOOOOO bad when I was a kid. I tried to buy a CJ5 when I was 16 but couldn't afford it. So looking back at it my first real 4x4 was a 1984 Toyota P/U that I bought new. I was stationed at Ft Lewis at the time and went out a few times with the Good, Bad, & Ugly 4x4 club. But came down on orders to go back to Germany so I sold the truck.

Then when I was in Germany this time I bought a Suzuki SJ410-Had a 830cc engine in it. Wheeled that thing all over Germany and a few other countries. Wheeling in Europe is a lot different than here. But it was still fun. Owned a 4x4 ever since in one form or another.
 
Way back in 1999 I had a 1973 Yellow VW Thing with a killer posi (I think). I was 17.

Took it across the lake from where my folks live in Bremerton and ended up getting it stuck on a stump going up a pretty decent sized hill.

I didnt have a highlift jack to get it off, so I stacked a couple rocks and put the scissor jack under the passenger side and started jacking away (eww). I realized that as soon as it got un-stuck, it would go flying down the hill.

Of course it didn't have a functioning e-brake, as most 25+ year old vehicles probably didn't. I came up with some genious idea that I'd take the back door off and lay it on the back seat, that way, once it started moving, I could quickly jump in and up to the front seat and step on the brakes.

Perfect. I put my plan into action and it worked like a charm.....except, when I went to push on the brakes, the seat hadn't been locked into place and jolted to the furthest back setting and me and my stubby legs now couldn't press hard enough on the non-power-assist brakes enough to get it to stop...but kept it slow enough to keep me from bouncing out.

It finally stopped once I got to a more level spot. I hiked back up the hill to fetch my jack and returned to put the door back on and return home.

On the way home, I stopped to clean most of the dirt/grass/blackberry bushes from the Thing so there wasn't any evidence.


Got home and no one was the wiser......except a few hours later when my dad asked where the blackberry vine came from that was trailing behind me. :mad:

I finally fessed up to this last year when the statute of limitations on punishment was far past! :D
 
I can't remember my first wheeling experience. I pretty much grew up wheeling. My bro (JThompson) would go out with friends and I'd ride along or ride with some friends. I blame him for this expensive hobby that I am now addicted to!:D

My first time wheeling with my own rig was last summer. I was 15 at the time and had my permit and a '69 half cab Bronco. My bro rode along with me and we went up the sand chasm. Nothing hardcore or anything. Then I got my license and went snow wheeling this winter. Went about 10 times or so, it did good for only having a rear spool and all terrains. :awesomework:
 
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I owned a 91 S-10 4door blazer with a 4.3 vortec..
got that in 2004.

use to take that pile o chit to the Beaver ponds off of 176th n meridian also known as sunrise to play on some of the small trails and mud holes out there..

after that I bought my first Xj a 89 2 door that is now a tuna can somewere.
bought this in 05 for $200.00

Never really had a rig that would do what that XJ would do.. took it to Evans Creek a few times and had a blast..Also a place off of Mnt Hwy called "the power lines" to play in the mudd and on some hillclimbs out behind a friends place..

took it down many logging roads out behind alder lake and out in Randle.. It was a pile of **** also after awhile..

now I have my Red Xj that Iam trying to budget build as much as I can..

I have taken it to Elbe a couple of times and Rieter once and a few places out in Yakima area that some friends goto..

I also own a 87 B2 that I have wheeled up at Rieter only.. It does pretty well..but would rather sale it so I can buy more parts for my XJ...

:corn:
 

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