Rocksnsalt
There Can Be Only ONE
It’s cool that people dedicate time to doing that.
King of The Hammers or Bust
- Thread starter 45Kevin
- Start date
45Kevin
Well-known member
It is very windy today, and the lake bed provides for a lot of dust.
Luckily for us up here the wind is in our favor. The mountains and road are about 7 miles away.
This is the cleanest, nicest outhouse I have ever seen.
For several hours each day we can hear and see fighter jets flying around.
One flew down the canyon at a few hundred feet off the ground.
I got a couple somewhat close shots, I won't post them because they will just look like dots.
I assume they are from the China Lake Naval Air Base at Ridgecrest about 60 miles south of here.
Luckily for us up here the wind is in our favor. The mountains and road are about 7 miles away.
This is the cleanest, nicest outhouse I have ever seen.
For several hours each day we can hear and see fighter jets flying around.
One flew down the canyon at a few hundred feet off the ground.
I got a couple somewhat close shots, I won't post them because they will just look like dots.
I assume they are from the China Lake Naval Air Base at Ridgecrest about 60 miles south of here.
Thanks for the report with enough details to get a rough feel for the trip. Sounds awesome!
Rocksnsalt
There Can Be Only ONE
And/or Edwards AFB.
CaseyTibbs
Well-known member
If it doesn’t rain or snow heavily, the easier route out of there is the North Pass. It’s roughly the same distance but about an hour less of driving.
Diver160651
170 ext 3500 4x4
Dry Sump?
45Kevin
Well-known member
I'll be going out the North Pass. I've done it a few times already.
I was coming from the south so the South Pass made sense and it was new ground for me.
I have since been told it would have been faster to drive up to the North Pass. LOL
I'm heading out tomorrow. Weather should be fine.
I don't think so. Just a bunch of extra oil to keep things cooler and cleaner. It was about 13 quarts total IIRC.
45Kevin
Well-known member
Who knows.
I may try and identify the planes from the lousy pics I have.
That might determine Navy or Air Force.
Maslin
I've worked on a few vans
It's out there, also common to run an oil tank with a pressurized cell somewhere below operating oil pressure. The idea is if you lose pressure for any reason (failure or rolling over), you have a couple seconds of some oil pressure to get the engine shut down without damage.
https://www.drysump.com/index.php/home/testimonials/415-jason-scherer-king-of-the-hammers-winner
45Kevin
Well-known member
I can say that the oil tank had a heater, don't know why.
Also, all fluid containing parts had intricate vents that would not result in draining fluids in the event of a roll over.
The thing that got me was the transfer case had 250 wt. oil in it. You needed a scraper to clean that of the pit mat.
Rocksnsalt
There Can Be Only ONE
That’s damn near 00 but maybe more like 000 grease!
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45Kevin
Well-known member
Yeah, I'm not sure that is pourable at room temperature.
Diver160651
170 ext 3500 4x4
Generally extreme crawlers that go to extreme angles, will use a dry sump..
For somebody not following rather than accumulate all the oil in the oil pan at the lowest part (the sump) and hoping that the engine stays level enough to have the oil pump pick up the oil from that deeper part of the pan.. which obviously is not the case at extreme angles, or under high forces, you relocate the pump externally in a contained environment
A dry sump oiling system separates oil storage from the engine and uses multiple pumps to constantly move oil out of the crankcase and back under pressure. Instead of oil sitting in a pan under the engine (wet sump), the crankcase stays almost “dry,” and the oil lives in an external tank.
Diver160651
170 ext 3500 4x4
Yeah, it’s kind of a weird thing if somebody’s talking about a gear oil rating something like we use in a ARB might have a rating of 85 140wt / but if I remember right, that would be something similar to 50 weight motor oil.. kinda like semi warm honey..
250 gear oil is kind of like cold syrup..
Edited to add: I don’t really know much about general rock bouncing as a sport — but from the outside, Ultra4 feels like a mashup of trophy truck desert racing and the crazy Formula Offroad hill climbs you see in Iceland and the Nordic countries… just with a bunch of boulders thrown in for good measure and to see how many tires one could shred amongst all other usual suspects—
I just can’t fathom beating something so thoroughly that you’ve worked so hard on and have so much invested in at such extreme levels.
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Farfrumwork
Well-known member
Thanks for the additional info on the Springs. Very cool!
It's on my short list of places to visit (as part of a larger Death Valley trip).
It's on my short list of places to visit (as part of a larger Death Valley trip).
Diver160651
170 ext 3500 4x4
Just left Death Valley and figured I’d share a few practical notes you don’t hear talked about much:
1 — Fuel:
If you’re planning to do much off-road exploring, expect to burn more fuel than you think going 5-10 mph. Carrying a couple extra cans isn’t a bad idea. Also, contrary to what most people say, don’t skip filling up at the Furnace Creek station — it’s basically the only diesel in the central part of the park. It was $6.80 when I went, which sounds steep, but it’s only about $1.50 more than Lone Pine. If you’re adding 10 gallons, that’s maybe $15 extra — not a big deal in the grand scheme of a trip. I filled up 2x there, but I did several trails -
2 — Off-Road surfaces
There are tons of dirt roads to explore, many are not at all technical, but a surprising number of them are heavily washboarded for miles— even the long, flat stretches. I get having wash boards on transition areas where people break and spin their tires up hill a little bit, but in some of these areas it looks like people just don’t know how to drive or probably in 2WD with poor throttle control. It seems more pronounced than you’d expect. Like @45Kevin mentioned, it can get pretty rattly, even aired down.
3 — Long grades
There are some really long climbs, especially heading west toward Lone Pine. That direction is much more demanding. From Furnace Creek to Towne Pass it’s roughly 25 miles of steady climbing — it starts out mellow around 3–4%, then the last 7–8 miles kick up to around 7–8%.
By comparison, leaving out the southeast side is much easier and more gradual, mostly sticking to ~3% grades and skipping that steeper section entirely. Not a huge deal in cooler weather, but in the summer heat — especially in a heavy Sprinter — those long grades could definitely make things work a lot harder. Bad water to Dante‘s view is also a pretty good sustained climb, especially the last a few miles..
4. Pay attention to weather
I just came through as rain was forecast, and then eventually pushed back. A vast amount of the area is subject to flash flooding. And a lot of the campsites that I explored in valleys would be prime candidates for disaster if a major storm ruled through. Obviously major rain is primarily seasonal.
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Maslin
I've worked on a few vans
Rock bouncing is a whole different world. Some of the guys carry over, but they are far apart these days. The first/early KOH stuff was just guys in normal buggies seeing who could go the fastest, it was a really cool thing to see through Pirate from the East Coast as a 20 year old.
https://www.drivingline.com/articles/evolution-of-koh-how-it-has-changed-over-the-years/
This years winning KOH car (also happens to be the car Axial RC copied for the Bomber)
Tim Cameron's current bouncer
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Duncan European NH
New member
This is very fun to read and follow! Thanks for sharing!