Here's one link, climbing to an asphalt helipad used for fire-fighting:
http://www.roadie.org/espinosa1.mov (warning 5MB - not for dialup)
Up a piece of slickrock:
http://www.roadie.org/espinosa2.mov
Down the slickrock:
http://www.roadie.org/espinosa3.mov
Trail stuff:
Tightest rock squeeze - not even tight enough to require putting in the mirrors. :raspberry
Steepest, rockiest part - just at the limit for my lift and tires. Stock vehicles - no hope.
Very careful choice of drive lines necessary.
Over the worst humps
Off camber
Almost through.
Clear sailing ahead? Not! Another two miles of this sort of crud.:hissy:
In one of the videos was probably the hardest hit I took all day, and it was a tow loop next to the front skid shield. I think I scraped the frame lightly on rocks 3-4 times, the gas tank skid plate took one minor hit, the front receiver skid shield twice, and the front receiver tow loops took the most damage. Not bad for a trail with 4 miles of 10-20" rocks, 2-foot deep ruts, about 20 dry stream bed crossings (down, across, and out the other side).
The Curt 31055 front receiver has these tow loops welded to it, and at this point they're the item that harms my approach angle the most, so I consider them sacrificial (meaning I don't care if I break them off.) It's actually useful to hit them on flat rock because they can't do anything but bend upwards, and that will save me a few sledge hammer hits later on before I finally get rid of them. After I cut them off, I'll add back in the proper kind of tow hooks in a place that doesn't hang down.
I already have two of these hooks, which aren't even available on Envoys like they are on TBs. When I originally installed them, I foolishly put them on the skid shield underneath the radiator, which was an insanely wimpy place, and when one of them hit a rock in Borrego, the radiator pushed the fan shroud back into the fan and jammed it. Until I got my jeep buddy to give it a strap tug, I had to drive into the wind to make sure it didn't overheat. Yet another embarassing episode in my trail driving training. :duh: All I had to do was pull it forward 1/2", but there were absolutely no trees around for miles, and it was easier to use him as a tug point than get out my sledge hammer. Everybody *does* carry a sledge hammer for those minor on-trail repairs, don't they?:crazy:
Mostly, what happens in the desert *stays* in the desert, but you guys are my buddies so I can tell you the embarassing stuff. :p
The front receiver skid shield doesn't take a lot of hits because I almost never take a high rock (>11") straight down the centerline, because it will hit the differential and rear sway bar later. So I tend to drive over those size rocks or ledges in line with the frame rails, which can take the stress, and the frame rails are just outboard from the tow loops. So the tow loops are an early warning noisemaker. If they take a really hard hit if I misjudged a rock, I'm always going slowly enough to stop before harming the expensive undercarriage parts. (meaning the ones I need to get home.)
Here's the virgin Curt 31055 being installed. Note the loops look nicey-nice:
Here's what they look like today. Note very little damage on the skid shield in the center:
Anyway, I also took some videos from the roof of the Envoy. I got this suction cup mount from RAM-mounts, where I got my tablet PC mounting arm, and stuck it to the roof.
Thought you might get seasick viewing a video from the vehicle, but maybe not. Enjoy:
http://www.roadie.org/espinosa4.mov
http://www.roadie.org/espinosa5.mov
Maybe there's a market for a DVD of Envoy rock-crawling? I know a lot of folks would love to see me get stuck in mud. :hissy:
