Winter Wheelin': Our Recap of Winter 4x4 Jamboree

Wednesday

Aaron Mercer kicked off Winter 4x4 with a full run of "The Maze" in our Silver Bobbed Bed Gladiator build dubbed Valyrian. There was a modest group size, mostly consisting of mildly built vehicles and some Sand Hollow first timers. It was sink or swim for the rookies as everyone encouraged each other to take the harder lines including optional obstacles like "Flipper" and "You Gotta Be Nuts." Valyrian conquered You Gotta Be Nuts with ease thanks to the superior traction that the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss 40" tires provided. The steep inclines and drop offs also proved to be no match for the bobbed bed as it effortlessly cruised through those obstacles. However, the factory bed JTs in our group had their work cut out for them as they dragged and bumped their way through the entirety of The Maze.

After The Maze had been handled, Aaron high tailed it out through the dunes, soaking up the whoops and blasting over the sand dunes to pick up Bobby and our Jeep Hut friend Josh from the Airport. Thankfully the Dynatrac shocks smoothed out the ride back to the staging area. This made for a fast, yet enjoyable ride back.

Thursday

Bobby arrived fashionably late Thursday morning at the fairgrounds for line up itching to take a crack at the obstacles waiting for them on the trail. The trail leader, Chuck Converse, gave them a run down of the trails and obstacles ahead and then led them through Double Sammy. While most of Double Sammy is not much more than a warm-up, every trail has optional lines that know how to put on the pressure.

One of their trail companions in a Green JT was feeling bold and attempted a challenging optional line. The attempt was impressive but the execution left a little to be desired. In his attempt he lost his balance and rolled onto his side, wedged between a rock and a hard place. It took two Jeeps and a bit of winching, but we managed to get the Gladiator back on its tires and through the trail.

Deciding that Double Sammy wasn't enough of a challenge, they took their chances with the Chute; a nearly vertical wall that's at least twenty feet high. Despite its height and slope, the Chute surprisingly offers a lot of traction. "The Chute feels like riding in a roller coaster that's climbing to the top of the track, but our group didn't experience any roll overs." Bobby reported.

Still wanting more, they broke off into a smaller group and hit the Fallen, a memorial trail for fallen soldiers of American conflicts that rates a 9.

At the start of the Fallen you drive through two high and narrow rock walls. With Jeeps in front and behind them, there was no escape from the obstacles ahead. Despite the difficulty of the trail, they didn't run into many issues until the end.

The last obstacle is V shaped ledge with alternating steps that can cause your Jeep to get off-camber and, depending on your line, it could flop you on your side. Luckily the group managed to keep things upright as they navigated through the last of the obstacles this trail had to offer.

Having conquered many obstacles, Bobby and Aaron headed back to the fairgrounds to check out the influencer show. It's an event that gives fans a chance to meet their favorite industry influencers, like Matt's off road recovery, Jem and the Misfit and many others. The event also had a memorial set up to honor the memory of Josh and Christina Gilson, owners of Rubistina and good friends of ours that we lost in a tragic accident. Sharing memories and catching up with frinds was a great way to end the day.

Friday

Friday morning brought cold, windy weather to Sand Hollow State Park. the Motobilt crew braved the cold and the wind for an early morning line up for some off-roading at Fawlty Towers, a large area with a diverse variety of obstacles littering the landscape. It's basically a playground for Jeeps and other 4x4’s. They began their run at Johnny's Hot Tub Playground, which consisted of some steep vertical climbs and sharp break overs.

At the end of the trail the group had fun climbing the Wall of Doom, an extremely steep and tall ledge. The Motobilt Bobbed Bed Gladiators took the chance to show off as the 137.8” wheel base allows the front tires to reach the top easily while the bobbed bed kept clear of the ground. It was more of a struggle for the shorter wheelbase Jeeps, but they were also able to clear the Wall of Doom with a bit of a bump-in. Once we all made it to the top, we took a moment to honor the memory of Josh and Christina.

Saturday

On Saturday, Aaron and his wife Marci headed out on the ladies run where they hit the Resurrection trail in their stretched LJ while Bobby and his friend Josh from JeepHut went with Chuck Converse and his crew to hit Razor Back and Mine Threat.

Razor back consisted of riding a ridge line that zig zagged back and forth with some beautiful overlooks. They finished this trail pretty quickly and moved onto Mine Threat. Bobby attempted an optional line to the left towards the beginning of Mine Threat that was a steep double ledge with holes that could easily swallow 40" tires. Bobby first tried to crawl the obstacle but Valerian kept sliding into the holes, so Bobby tried again and gave her a little more throttle, lifting the front driver’s tire up in the air a bit and the Jeep bounced off into that same tire swallowing hole. Not wanting to break anything he backed off and joined the group on the main trail.

The Gladiator performed extremely well on the rest of these obstacles as the wheelbase allowed it to climb effortlessly and the bobbed bed provided the clearance Bobby needed to navigate tight spaces and sharp inclines.

The next obstacle did cause a bit of anxiety, it consisted of a steep drop that was off-camber, but the tricky part was at the bottom. As soon as the front end of the Jeep reached the bottom you had to turn to the drivers side sharply and start to climb back up. While the extra wheel base really helps with stability for steep climbs, it did make this one a bit unnerving as the rear driver’s tire was still on the downward portion of the drop as the passenger front tire started climbing.

This created a teeter totter effect as the front driver’s side tire started to lift several feet in the air. With some terrific spotting from Chuck, Bobby was able to slowly pull up and over until the Jeep leveled out and he went on his way. Most of Mine Threat's obstacles were similar to this where you would drop down and then right back up.

On the way back we stopped at Johnny's Hot Tub Playground again. On the second obstacle Bobby attempted to climb up and over a steep ledge with a big break over but the front passenger U-Joint decided it had enough and sheared off. We were able to limp the Jeep off of the trails and back to Aaron’s house. We found a new U-joint but the shaft had twisted the ears so we put the front end back together and called it a day. Bobby didn't have to fly out until Monday so they took the Jeep over to 23 Diesel where they had all of the necessary parts to get the Gladiator back up and running again! Huge shout out to the 23 Diesel crew for the help.