Author Topic: Grind Theory  (Read 994 times)

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chrisfranklin

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Grind Theory
« on: June 10, 2006, 03:58:46 PM »
If you are running a rig with small tires, 29s, and then two decent autolockers and a winch, what's to keep you from buying rockers and serious underbody armour and basically pull-grinding your way (kind of skateboard style) over rocky trail terrain that you can't clear? Obviously with the low clearance afforded by the 29s, you underbody is going to hit everything, you won't be able to take big stair steps without dragging on your rockers for about 5 feet until your rear tires finally get some traction.  

Know that sounds insane and a breakdown waiting to happen .  And, I am waiting for experience (Jeffy, SMC) to say "Chris, you might be able to get away with that a couple of time before you get stranded and are riding back in somebody elses rig..."

Here's the thing -- my rig has 29s and sure, I could go for some bigger tires, 33s or 35s, who wouldn't?  But, the cost of doing it right, the tires and wheels, 4-6 inch suspension lift, larger front/rear axles, 4W disc big brakes all around, poly bushings, driver activated locker upgrade, drive-train upgrades, and reGearing, maybe even engine swap and upgrades and synching all that new gear up properly .... heck, for the price of all that I could pick up a new BMW K1200LT bike or maybe two.  I guess you could delete some of those items, do the install work yourself, etc to save some cash.  

Guess you could probably do the pull-grind thing, but you'd be doing more than the average amount of damage to OHV trails, there may not be any place to fix your winch cable around, etc.  Makes me think that they should come out with a new rocker design in which each rocker supports 50 or so 1-inch diameter alloy wheels on bearings that essentially allow you to roll slide your Jeep's body up stair steps, despite body contact.  
4Bangers should patent this, if something like it hasn't hit the market already   :D  Course, the rockers are not the lowest point of a Jeep in the center of the vehicle, etc.

Offline Jeffy

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Grind Theory
« Reply #1 on: June 10, 2006, 04:32:04 PM »
What's to keep you from doing it?  Nothing.  Jeep used to set up YJ's with 31's and lots of skidplating on their Jeeps to the JJ.  The only real downside is that  you'll be making a lot more work for yourself if you're expecting to drag your Jeep across a trail.  Not to mention those who might be waiting behind you with no room to pass.  Keep in mind that the tires are only 29" when aired up.  When aired down you're even lower, while someone with 31's can be aired down and still have about the same amount of clearance.  Honestly, with 31's and some skidplating, you would be pretty well setup to do 85-90% of the trails out there.
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SMC4WD

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Grind Theory
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2006, 09:47:25 PM »
I'll pipe in too...  

I've done this!  Probably most of us have done this.  The things mentioned by you (Chris) and you (Jeffy) are obvious stuff.  Huge investment in addition to 'just taller tires'.  And the point Jeffy made about 'others waiting on you' and factors to consider while out there.  Another thought I had was...  You cannot protect everything.  The amount of money invested in protecting as much as you can, could have also been spent on gaining height.

I've been drug through a trail that I should not have been on.  And the deeper I got into the trail, the more upset the people I was with were getting.  The guy who invited me felt pretty bad about it, but once your in, your in.  We had to switch off who was going to drag me through the trail because the guy in front of me didn't want to damage his rig.  This story allows me to say "I've been drug through some of the best trails Washington has to offer"

Back to sliders...  I want to invent those same type of teflon sliders that the skateboards use.  The ones that are really, really hard compound.  Make them replaceable too.  Wax those puppies up and WEEE away you go.