Past Trail Rides of 2-Big Broncos 4x4 Club

Participants
• Shawn Clemons with Cydney Duncan - '90 Bronco, 35's
• Paul Daniels with Gavin the Bronco Dog – '95 Bronco, 35's
• T.J. and K. Marie Hodge – '85 Bronco, 32's

My first trip to Tellico was in October for the ECBR's Fall Crawl.  We spent the weekend with a great bunch of folks and had a blast Saturday on the trails.  I decided there was no way I could wait until the June "Spring Round-Up" before returning.  I wanted to go back. Soon.  Spring Break seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I spent a lot of time in the weeks leading up to the trip performing various repairs and modifications to my rig.  I was determined not to let any mechanical problems interfere with my weekend.  It's a good thing, too.  The week before the event, while disassembling the front axle to replace u-joints, I found that the driver's bearing retainer nut had broken -- a minor problem that could become a major trailside repair.  I managed to save the bearings, but the spindle wasn't so lucky.  Several trips to the junkyard and the dealership (along with several days of worrying over whether or not the trip could go on), and the Bronco was ready to go.

Open road

Paul leading the way

I met up with Paul Friday morning.  We made a brief pit stop to pick up a couple of pieces of firewood and hit the road.  Unlike the previous trip, we made it to Murphy without any problems.  We set up camp and, after briefly considering a little Friday night trail pre-run, hit the local Wal-Mart for some supplies.

The weather was slightly chilly that night, but not nearly what you might expect for March, especially in the mountains.  We stayed up late into the night, b-sing around the campfire, before retiring to our tents and dreams of wheeling the next day.

I planned on getting up in time to shower, eat, and be waiting at the Wal-Mart at 0830 in case any late-comers decided to show.  Needless to say, I didn't wake up until after 8, and we were a little late hitting the trail.  T.J. and K. Marie met up with us at the campground, and after a brief stop at Burger King for breakfast, we were ready for some fun.

Mist on the trail

valley shot

The weather forecast was for scattered showers throughout the day.  That basically translated into "rain, all day, heavy at times."  In stark contrast to the dry, dusty trails of the fall trip, everything on Saturday was covered in no less than 3" of thick, gooey mud.  Especially interesting, considering my back tires are a little... shall we say, "tread deficient."

We decided to follow Trail 1 from the South Pay Post, to the North entrance to Trail 6.  We would follow 6 to Trail 4, around the entire loop of Trail 8 back to 4.  Depending on how we felt after all that, we could either go down Trail 5 to Difficult Crossing, or South on Trail 4 back to the pay post.  We aired down, took a couple of minutes to check out a few hybrids, and hit the trail.

We stopped a short way up the trail so that Paul could check on a mysterious clunking noise (he suspected that the same rock that broke my rear sway bar on the last trip had claimed his as well).  We took a couple of pictures, briefly admired our rigs, and continued on.

A chance to admire our rigs

Oops - Anyone know where I can get a new tail light?

While working up a deep ravine, T.J. hopped sideways and hit his right rear quarter on the bank, breaking out the tail lamp and leaving a small dent.  I came incredibly close to doing the same thing, but escaped unscathed.

Next was a short series of rocks to navigate.  Paul made it up after renegotiating his line.  T.J. slid sideways here and scarred up the passenger rocker panel on a tall rock.  Thankfully, Andy's rocker sliders saved the Bronco from further damage.

Almost there...

Shawn picking his line

I was next, and made it up with a little coaching and some healthy wheel spin.

Another group of wheelers caught up to us while negotiating this obstacle, so we tried to make some time on the clear sections of trail.

Trail 8 should be a pretty easy, scenic trail in decent weather.  It starts out with a series of short, muddy hill climbs which proved quite difficult for my aging tires.  The last hill caught me only inches from the top, baaarely moooooving.  The speedometer claimed I was doing 30mph, but I would have to disagree.  A couple of blips of the throttle were enough to clean the tire treads and pull me over the top.

Next up was a long uphill section of rock.  Paul made it through with a little spotting, next up was T.J.  He negotiated the first section without any trouble, but crabbed sideways on some large muddy rock faces and wound up high-centered on a Volkswagen sized boulder.  I walked up to investigate, but before I could get there, T.J. threw the Bronco into reverse and gassed it backwards.  Rather than pulling the Bronco free, it dragged the boulder backwards almost two feet.

T.J. climbing on up

Paul making it through the first section anything happens

Up and over

Shawn crawling up

Stacking rocks

Paul's 60" Hi-Lift was able to lift the front axle free of the boulder, and we carefully stacked rocks to act as a ramp to back the truck free.  I was next, and decided to show the boulder who was boss.  I followed a similar line to Paul's, but didn't take into account the huge hole that now existed where the boulder once was.  I slid down the rocker slider without a problem, but then CRUNCH scarred up the rear quarter panel when the back tire dropped off the rock. Oops.

About to do some body damage

Waiting for my turn

Paul continuing on

We stopped mid-way around Trail 8 for lunch.  I pulled the Bronco up next to a couple of trees so we could string out a tarp and keep out of the rain.

I was out of the truck watching T.J. navigate over some large rocks when BANG CRAAAACK CLACK CLACK CLACK something broke loose and he lost front wheel drive.  T.J. told us that he thought the transfer case was going out.  He had problems previously shifting into 4lo. Now, it would engage 4hi, but kept popping out of gear.

T.J. working up a large boulder

One of the many stream crossings

Posing for the camera

Approaching the end of Trail 8, there is a hard hairpin right turn at the intersection with the ATV trail.  There is a sharp drop-off into the river off the left side of the truck, and several huge boulders on the inside of the turn.  I couldn't see the boulders at all from where I sat, but the view to the river below was plenty intimidating.  Cydney spotted me over the rocks, putting the Bronco more and more off-camber as we made our way over the obstacle.  I don't know what I ran over, but it was certainly big.

Waiting for Paul to negotiate the turn

We made it back down to Trail 4, but it was becoming increasingly apparent that T.J's transfer case was no longer up to the task of navigating any big obstacles.  Nearly every climb was greeted with clashing gears and spinning rear tires.  We decided it was probably best not to try the steep ledges of Trail 5, and instead opted to drive out on Trail 4.  This way would be longer, but probably less difficult.

However, the best was yet to come.  After crossing Fain's Ford on Trail 4, we came on a long, muddy section.  By far the thickest and gooiest we had seen that day, this stuff was impossible to even walk in.  Paul made it through, but hit his rear diff hard while crossing a deep section.  We figured there was no way that T.J. could run the same line, so he tried to claw farther to the left (and uphill) of the hole.  This meant a lot of slopping around on foot as we attempted to spot him, then eventually pull his truck through.

I tried to run the same high line, and nearly did.  I managed (with the wheels turned left to lock and a heavy right foot) to crab sideways up the hill to T.J.'s line, but got a little anxious at the last minute and tapped the brake.  This sent me sliding back into the same ruts that Paul took.  I went ahead with this line, but didn't hit where he did.  I guess he pounded the rock down for me.

On reaching the intersection of 4 and 5, we were surprised to find a pair of import pickups coming down the hill from 4.  The first truck was a Toyota, and was marginally equipped for any kind of off-road use.  It sported a shiny chrome light bar and a few other 'dress-up' items, but its tires were pitifully small and its drivers seemed barely capable of navigating the turn onto 5.  The second truck was a Nissan.  I'm not even sure it was 4wd.  This rig was well-equipped with some small whitewall street tires, but still managed to get two of them in the air while trying to turn onto 5.  The driver and navigator in the first rig were kind enough to climb into the back of the Nissan and weigh down the rear axle.  This proved to be the trick, as the rig pulled itself free.  I can't imagine the fun that was had when they encountered the 2' ledges farther along on Trail 5.

Paul continuing on Trail 4, and the two pickups heading down 5

The trip out on 4 was quite easy for those of us with 4wd. T.J. had a difficult time, but proved his driving skill by navigating the entire trail without so much as a spot or a tug.  There were more than a few times when I would have thrown in the towel, but he persisted, rocking and bumping his Bronco up and over some sizeable ledges.  So for those of you that want to know: Trail 4 can be done with 32's, 2wd, and both sway bars in 3" of sloppy mud.  I've seen it, and know it's possible.

We limped back to the campsite, took hot showers, and had dinner at the Sirloin Steakhouse (quickly becoming a Tellico tradition).

All in all, it was a great time. I think T.J. was a little worried about holding up Paul and I on the trail, but his exceptional driving as demonstrated on Trail 4 certainly proved he could hold his own.

The only major problem of the weekend arose when Paul lost his transmission on the way home.  Thankfully, we were able to get a free tow courtesy of AAA, and Paul will soon have a rebuilt transmission thanks to his extended warranty coverage.