I have finally ran the whole trail! I have no body damage, but did manage to damage my oil pan.
We never planned on doing the whole thing, are plans were to go in as far as we could and then hike to the Little Sluese. We got to Loon Lake late Friday and went in to the slabs to camp by the lake. Saturday we got a late start,but still couldn't believe how empty the trail was. It only took us 4 hours to get to the Little Sluise(5 miles). The truck ran great so we continued on to Spider lake and set up camp. That night we decided to try and go the whole trail and hit the casinos. Sunday we got a great lightning storm with a little rain (which had me worried til it cleared up). Paddled around Spider lake then headed back down the trail past Buck island and down to the Rubicon River to camp one last time. Still the truck ran great. The last stretch, Cadillac Hill. Were about half way up and see some trucks coming down. I move off to the side on a wide section of trail and bs with them. As I swing my front end back onto the trail I drive right onto the only rock in that area. Not knowing I'm on my oil pan, I grind it around a little then look
.
We borrow some oil to make sure we would make it out and went gambling
Now that's how to celebrate Labor Day

Congrats!

A to you for making it. Do you have any photos from your trip?

What kind of tires/suspension are you running on your rig?

Sweeeet!
I've been waiting for a post like this for a long time...possibly the 1st Xterra to complete the trail???
I know driver skill is most important...but what is your setup on your truck (lift?, diff drop?, tire size?, crawler gears???, etc....)?
Amazing, no broken CV joints....
Also, are you the person I read somewhere has some sort of air shock setup? If, so, I'm interested in learning what the setup is like (front/rear, cross-linked?); I've got onboard air & am looking to put it to good use...would really like some forced articulation in the front end.

Thanks & congratulations!
Oh yah, on last thing: please say you've got pictures...!

Thanx, I have AC lift with a 2" bodylift. I'm running 33"x10.5" BFG Muds (20 psi front,17 psi rear). I also have the crawlergears (it's a manual)an ARB with winch and manual hubs. My rear suspension and the lack of swaybars is a big part of making it, I only have the stock lsd.
The rear consists of a 12-leaf pack, revolver shackles, air shocks and all home fabbed brackets (everything is still bolt-on). For the leafsprings I used a squared u-bolt that comes up from the bottom with a mounting plate on top (u-bolt nuts on top of the rear). The airshocks didn't give the type of lift I was hoping for but can lift it 2 to 4 inches. And also gives it added stability on severe sidehills. I'm using a center limiting strap to prevent unloading of the revolvers.
Finesse and crawlergears are what kept me from breaking anything
I've got some video that I might need Huey or someone else near Concord can put up.

Right on, Marty!

Can't wait to see the pics and video. Hurry up!

Great job! Five xterras to you. When are you going to put together an xcursion to take the rest of us up?

Congrats on the Rubicon.
Cant wait to see pix..

I'd also like to see some pix of the U-bolt flip. that's something I've been meaning to do.

L8r

You've got all these mods to get you over the Rubicon and no skid plate to protect your oil pan?????

Excellent! Now, hurry up for pics, Huey!

Uh, what's a skidplate?
Just haven't had the time for them yet.
I would like to run it one more time this year, so let's throw around some dates.

Cool! Strong work! Sounds like you've made some improvements to your X since I saw you in Tahoe a while back. Sorry about waking you from yer nap!

Very nice.

Did you start at GateKeeper or Walker Hill?

How did you go off the top of Big Sluice?
Straight off the left or angle to the left off the center ledge or ??

I'm amazed you didn't get some body damage. Your rock sliders must have done a great job for you.

Toy Man

Toy- I went around gatekeeper toward the creek. Only one hard spot that way, but we still did that using lights. Not sure which spot is the Big sluise. But rocksliders definitely did there job. I did have a few spots I was less than a half inch from major door damage . But isn't that part of the rush .
Evan- all I can say is "33's and crawlergears, WOW!"

Congrats...quite a feat!

You mention "we"....was there another xterra or vehicle? Were there any other vehicles with you?

Here's a picture that Marty asked me to host for him. Not sure exactly where on the Rubicon this was taken at...



Marty send me the rest!

Looks kinda like "Soup Kitchen", but that's just a guess.

Let's see more!!

Here's the rest of Marty's pics. Not sure if they are in order though...

Cool pictures...I'm diggin' the rear articulation in that last photo.
Looks like the sliders came in definite handy.
I sure am curious about the u-bolt flip brackets, you can make out a bit of the shock mount in one of the photos.

Thanks a lot Huey. And yes that is the order I took it off the video.
Xterrabull- I put in the picture that has my plates for you. It is the best picture I have at the moment that shows the u-bolt flip. I am also using the swaybar mounting holes to reinforce the new lower shock mount.

Awesome Marty! I ran Wentworth Springs last Sunday, almost to Ellis Creek. I want to get together for a Rubicon run sometime! Especially since you've run it through already!!!

MickB

even more impressive is the fact that he had kayaks on top!!!

Thanks, I hope you're coming in October to run the Rubicon....heard you got a lil rear-end damage get used to it I was hoping for the 24th-26th....I need to do a few repairs as well.