There's a good chance I'll be up in Ladysmith this weekend with my girl and we're always looking for a new place to check out. I've never been to Crofton Lake before but I have heard of it and it looks pretty cool on Google Earth and the two YouTube videos I could find about it and I am hoping to check it out. I'm not sure if you can basically drive right up to it or if we'd have to wheel our way in through an ATV trail like you have to up at Rat Lake/Oliphant Lake. Looking at the most recent orthophotos of the area, I can see one pretty obvious place to get in and take our chances on the trails not being trapped anywhere along the way. It looks like it has a couple service roads that are regularly traveled so was wondering if it's already seeing a lot of 4x4 traffic and not likely to be an issue to have a street rig back there on a weekend just to have a check it out. Has anyone here ever been? Did you walk/hike, ATV or 4x in? I'd love to hear about it! :-)
Was up there lots as a kid but i am sure that old trail is long grown over i believe access is restricted do to the fact it's a water shed for Cofton
Yeah if it's actually a watershed area I'll probably stay clear of it then; having seen what ends up happening in other places I can respect that. Maybe a bit later in the year I can convince my girl to put on some sensible shoes and go for a hike up there with me.
We actually went to Mt Sicker instead and had a pretty good day, nice and quiet, barely anyone was out there.
I just put on my super slider rails so I've been itching to try them out. I noticed the rails stiffened up the body a bit, reducing the flex noticeably and even eliminated an annoying body squeak it had so yeah bonus there!
It's been a long time since I've been out to the mine trails and of course I ended up getting lost and side tracked a bit on the way but it was all good. I'm still feeling out the limits of my off road capabilities but so far I've been really impressed what I've been able to do with a modest 2" suspension lift and and 1" more height over stock with the 29" AT's. I get a bit more brave with it each time I go out and I don't really like to push my luck without a winch by myself out there and so far it's been eating up all the stuff i used to get nervous about driving stock. I have been sailing over shelves and rocks and roots I would have bottomed out on for sure before so that's a nice feeling not having to cringe in anticipation of those obstacles anymore. The quality of this OME suspension is what impresses me the most though and I always sound like a commercial for ARB when I talk about it but yeah, it was totally worth the money. The stock suspension was still in it and nearly shot when I bought it though so maybe that's partly why the new hardware has made such a difference in the ride. I thought it was a risky and pricey move to spend that kind of cash on a street rig that isn't really worth that much to sell but I plan on keeping it long after it's DD days are over so I'm glad I let myself get talked in to it because I am now convinced it was money well spent based on the improved ride and off road performance. I definitely plan to do a lot more offroading this summer now.
Well My tracker or my sidekick will both go any were i want to go there both basically stock 2 inch suspension 2 inch body sidekick has 30;s tracker runs 235 both have front bumpers made by Karnage be for he went out of business ............. both have 8000 lb winches the tracker will be going through a big change this year A-arms move front wheel forward trailing arms move rear wheels back going to 31's and most like a rear air locker ............One thing i found on ether one get the front sway bar out will make the front end work much better way more flex i noticed a big diff rents ..........Like to see pic of your sliders that next on my tracker how did you mount yours ??
Nice. I got turned on to the Trackers/Sidekicks back in the 90's. They are always lots of fun to drive in the bush. I was having issues popping front swaybar links and was bummed when I realized I couldn't just disconnect it because there still isn't enough ground clearance to swing the bar back and fasten it out of the way. Instead, I went with Moog links which are a bit longer and beefier. I just don't tighten them all the way down and add a cinch nut on top to keep it from loosening off on it's own and so far I am noticing a bit more flex on the front end and not popping the links anymore. I'm going back up island again today but when I get back I'll post a pic of the rail install. I went with the Rocky Road Super Sliders, expensive but tough and well designed.
I got my super slider rails from Rocky Road Outfitters. 45lbs each and made of welded hitch steel.
http://www.rocky-road.com/rock-sliders.html
I had some issues getting them in because the loops under the rocker panels were all bent out of alignment from the previous owner beating it up and using the seams to jack it up. That cracked the paint and let the rust rot in so it was now or never before those panels finish rotting out. I spent an hour on each side fudging the flanges and loops into position so the bolts would all go through. The frame mounting was also troublesome since I didn't have any steel cutting bits to drill the pilot holes with and the power drill was too long to drill a hole straight in the frame and the compact cordless that did fit was pretty gutless. I tried staging the holes with progressively larger bits and I blew through two cheaper bits on the first three holes and then carefully finished the last ones with my one good remaining 5/16" bit and lot's of 3-in-1 oil. I also had to cut some of the ZR2 exclusive plastic flair away in order to fit the rails. While I was in there I trimmed away some more foofoo that was getting chafed in the front wheel well due to the wider tires and 1" wheel spacers making the arc wider and all. I had to use 1" wheel spacers because the inner side lug treads were licking the frame when the wheels got to full turning angle, the spacers took care of that but the gremlin just moved to the front side in the opposite direction which is fine since you can cut plastic out of the way but not the frame. I think where I have everything right now is feeling pretty happy. I went for a shakedown run through the tailings and a few jeep trails on Mt Sicker & had no issues whatsoever so all the bugs seem to be fully worked out now. It doesn't really look like it but there's actually 11" of clearance from level ground to the bottom of the 2" hitch rail which is the lowest point. It hangs almost perfectly level with the ladder frame.
My neck of the woods! Crofton lake is hike only now. The gates are shut unless the municipality is using the area.