Turkey Bay OHV Clean-up Day 2013
April 13, 2013
Hopefully this was a good enough reason to miss TECORE.
The trip began with a group breakfast at Chick-fil-a in Paducah, KY and the convoy left for the 52 mile trip to Turkey Bay OHV Area in LBL.
We arrived about 9:00 and unloaded the trailered XJUGGY and RUBIJON rigs. 
This was the XJUGGY’s maiden voyage after a 5:30 in the morning startup.
At 9:30 we pulled together at the gate house for a safety meeting and distribution of duties for the day. Forever Forgiven decided to take on the task of painting the boundary trees since we had the largest number of people and they wanted at least ten. We painted from the main shack all the way to Section F in the camping area. Then returned to the gate house and headed North around the boundary road. We painted until noon, walked what felt like a thousand miles carrying a gallon paint pail and a four inch brush in poorly chosen shoes for a hike. 
Then broke for lunch and hit the trail.We headed out to ‘Rocky Top’ an open place where we would be able to try out different obstacles and test the limits of our vehicles.
For me and the two other newbies on the trip, the trek to get there was plenty of excitement. Here’s some of the Vehicles on the trip. 
Up the hill we went...
I had already deleted my rear swaybar before the trip and disconnected the passenger front but couldn’t get the driver front disconnected. I wussed out on taking a sawzall to it before the trip but it will happen now! Flexibility was definitely a requirement! My first tug was the result of just enough flex, no lockers, and a little slick muddy rut.
During this hill climb, we lost one jeeps clutch and had to make the decent back to camp to regroup and make a plan to get him home. Decided that he would fit on the trailer with RUBIJON on the way home, we attended a raffle for the volunteers at 3:00. I won a free three day pass back to Turkey Bay! One jeep headed back to the house, and the rest of us hit the trail again to test out the XJUGGY.
Everything worked on the XJUGGY as we all hoped minus a failed starter early in the day.
I needed a little better approach angle for this ditch...some of those logs ended up in the ditch and I crossed over fine. Once we passed through this ditch, I had the opportunity to test out the winch.
No pictures, we got too excited. I started a hill climb and the Duratracs just caked up with mud a little too easy, I wasn’t able to get enough wheel spin to keep them clean and continued to slide off the hill. I made one last attempt to get up the hill and dug deep enough to be able to put the truck in neutral and not slide back down. The XJUGGY decided to try to give me a tug up the hill but couldn’t get enough run to make a difference. At the top of the hill was a hard right along the ridge. My spotters decided the winch was the best option. They had me hold the truck on the hill while they retrieved the winch from the back of the TB and rigged it up. I was a little nervous as I hadn’t tried out the ‘farm welding’ 2” receiver my father helped me with on the bumper. We loaded up the winch and I assisted with minimal wheel spin. IT WORKED! No deflection in my winch setup. It pulled probably a good six feet with wheel assist then while breaking over the hill I felt the front suspension load up. My spotters were excellent at guiding this newb through the extraction process. Once I broke over the hill, they were watching for unload and preparing me to let off the gas. As soon as it happened, I relieved tension on the winch and was able to maneuver on up the ridge. We didn’t make it to the GAUNTLET to test the XJUGGY due to my two delays, but the group had a good time working together and I had a GREAT TIME!
Everyone commented on the trailblazer’s abilities in a good way. It really impressed me as well and I was able to do some things I never dreamed possible with my current setup.
I’ve got some trail cam footage that I’ll post this week showing more of the terrain.
So, what’s needed for a better run next time?
IMMEDIATE – following wife approval
- MDB front bumper for better approach angle
- Radiator skid for protection
NEXT YEAR
- Re-gear to 4:10 with lockers front and rear
- 2” Body Lift
- 35’s
I thought I had the BUG before...
