Colorado Land Cruisers is a four-wheel drive club based out of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and sanctioned by Toyota Land Cruisers Association. We are organized to bring together Toyota owning families and individuals interested in exploring Colorado four-wheel drive trails.
Coming off of a 12 hour shift of snow plowing one morning, cruisin’ down I-25, I found myself looking at the beautiful snow covered mountains, wishing I could be up there enjoying the silence of the fresh snow fall. The song on the radio came saying, “Take the Long way home”. This really added to my longing to just turn left and go! Well since the next CLC run was only a couple of days away, I decided to go home and start getting things ready for then instead. It seemed like a month passed in those couple of days, and finally we were there! Only a small group, but we didn’t care, we were all there to play in the snow! There was a couple of new faces and 1 I hadn’t seen in at least 2 years! (Good to see ya Ken) This gave me a good feeling about the coming year for CLC. With new faces comes new excitement and with old friends comes experience and together comes good times!
CLC has a great trail schedule for this year. We are looking into doing another swap meet later this summer, And we are looking for ideas for on other things we as a club can do. I am excited to be the new president of CLC. I think it’s going to be a great year. I am looking forward another great year of wheelin’ with family and friends. See ya at the next meeting. Until then,
“Remember we’re all in this together, I’m pullin’ for ya!”
Pres.
Andy Minisrule Johnson
President – Andy Johnson
Vice President – Mike Taylor
Treasurer – David Hayes
Secretary – Mike Stevens
TLCA Rep – Troy Carlson
And that rounds out the CLC’s slate of officers for 2004. Now comes the fun part: Mold your ideas into Reality!!!
Trip Report: Schubarth
Trail – February 21st
First time in a long time FJ40’s out numbered all other rigs, but on this day, they (we) did. We had 3 FJ40’s and 2 minis on the run to enjoy the day and play in the snow. Ken, Dallas and Darryl drove classic FJ40’s while John and Andy drove minis. As I had noted last month, Schubarth would have snow, so while others aired down, I chained all 4 on my FJ40 – after all, I hadn’t had the joy of doing that for several years and needed the practice. Andy had the rear wheels chained on his MiniToy, and the 37” Super Swampers looked all business. We took off, with Andy in the lead, John in a mini, Ken in his Mopar powered FJ40, visitor Dallas Maddox in a new (to him) FJ40, and me bringing up the rear, with chains rattling. The snow, on the North slopes had the texture of coarse sand when it was cold in the morning. When you run tail gunner, you have no idea what the trail looks like to the lead driver. By the time I got there, 4 rigs had passed over, and the trail looked used. Andy had fun blazing trail as the 1st vehicle on the trail. Its always fun to be 1st, and go on snow which has no tracks! The snow depth varied from a few inches on southern slopes to 12” to 18” on the North slopes. And as always, going down the slopes is easy and fun. We wound our way down to the Schubarth turn off, and right at the point where the trail has its 1st obstacle (other than the snow) there was this little fiberglass post in the middle of the trail, saying “No Motor Vehicles”. Bummer!
The closure may have been only that part of the trail, and there may be an open road around this area, but with a foot of snow it was impossible to tell. Sometime this summer we’ll need to check this section again to see it is it really closed. We turned around, gave Dallas a little assistance up the hill, and had lunch. Andy brought a grill, so we had the aroma of brats in the crisp air. After lunch we headed out – always interesting how much up hill there is coming out of Schubarth. We had to give Dallas an occasional tug to help him up the hill – and he gave his winch a work out too. All in all, we had a good time, and the day went by quickly, as they always do out on a run. Its always fun to go with a group and get to know new comers as well as renew friend ships of friends not seen for a long time. New comers help bring back memories of past runs, past times and stories not remembered well (and maybe some which should totally be forgotten). Newcomers see things done easily, and we see things, which can now be done easily, and remember that hasn’t always been the case.
Trip Report: Slaughter House Gulch – Mar 20th
Your trip report here. Make the difference in your club.
What’s the best change
to make to your Rig?
On the Schubarth run, we settled into our favorite discussion, during lunch, on what’s the best single modification you can make to your rig to make it more trail worthy. While there are many items, it is generally agreed that a good set of tires will make the greatest difference. I don’t think that overall, any one tire is better than others of the same type of tread pattern. Tread design is the key. The best tire for the snow conditions we encountered on Schubarth would be a deep lug, open tread pattern. Any tread pattern like TSL Super Swampers, BFG M/T’s, Baja Claws, and yes, even Geolanders. (John had fun with his Taco with Geolanders, and they performed exceptionally well.) When determining which type of tire will help your rig, consider what type of trails and how you will be using your truck. While 44” open lug, throw-mud-and-rocks a mile tires look good, and everyone on the street will be impressed by your macho (or machoette) machine – or you – try driving it back and forth to work every day, with vibration, noise and soft, fast wearing tread. After you wear out the 1st set of tires in a short time, try to convince your spouse, or (?), that you need $2K for another set of tires - again. My point here is that tires on a daily use rig are going to be a compromise. If 80% of the miles are rolling down the interstate, then factor that into your decision. Mud and snow encountered on the trail are incredible obstacles at times, and at times no tire tread pattern is going to work, short of 8’ diameter tractor tires. Along with this remember chains. In snow and ice, there is nothing like the bite provided by cold hard steel. Behold! The Power of Chains! There are many tire and tread designs out there. Shop for the ones that will match your rig to your driving style and trail use. And if you have a rig that you trailer, and don’t drive on the streets, go nuts! Hmmm, 96” traction lugs, hmmm…
Rubber side down is Best,
Darryl
Next
CLC Meeting ~ March 16, 2004 7:00PM
Mark your calendar for CLC’s next meeting, Liberty Toyota, North. Bring your ideas as we chart CLC’s direction in 2004, and beyond. See you there!
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