My birthday is March 26th and was wondering if anyone would like to go to the badlands for some wheeling on Saturday the 27th. The little guy and I are planning on going.

How far is the Badlands from us? What time would we leave? We could meet at Matts in Crystal Lake! I am DEFINATELY interested. I still haven't tested out my 31X10.5 Procomp Mud Terrains! I also may be able to get a truck or two to come with!

BTW... I need your email address! I have some cool pics of your truck from the Lake Geneva outing!!

OH and BTW....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

It's about 2hrs from TinleyPark, you guys are about 45mins. north of me so, about 2and3/4 to 3 hrs.

I'd be up for that run,... Maybe I'll even have the rear locker installed by then.

You got that winch yet Joe?!?

Hawk, why don't we meet at Country Dounuts the morning of for coffee and of course dounuts.

Pinoy, Is trailsX and the other guys from Midewestxplorers come in on the 27th because the 29th is a monday?

hey fellow X owners.

just wanted to give you guys a heads up on an event coming up on April 24th.

Chicago4x4 is having it's Open House run @ the Badlands in Attica, IN.

Chicago4x4 is a non-vehicle specific club. (So Zuki's, Xterra's, Jeeps, etc. are ALL welcome)

check it out...
Chicago4x4 Open House Trail Run

Hawk if you are still in we can meet up at 6:00 am at Country Doughnuts. Is anyone else in on this run?

Sounds like a plan to me....I can't seem to get any of the guys that normally go to the Badlands to come with. They may tag along shotgun, but I'm not sure if I can get them to bring their rigs....One guy is the Jeep guy I wanted to bring to Geneva...His Jeep makes the Jeeps at Geneva look like matchbox cars. We could have possibly used his winching abilities.

I gotta find someone to ride shotgun with me though because I have to bartend Friday night. I usually don't get home till around 3:30 am Sat. morning....

I'm sure they will chime in if they plan on going. Last I heard they all had some kind of damage (tie rods and centerlinks)

I should beable to make it, unless something dredfully wrong goes on with the install, electrical and pluming the air lines are all done. Only thing left is switching out the 3rd member, setting backlash and gear mesh, and drilling the hole in the casing for the bulkhead fittings. Got that planned for thursday. I'll let you know then for sure.

If you guys are planning on taking 394 to 41 out there, we could meet up at the Shell Station on 394 and Steger rd. and convoy out. This is where the people around the chicagoland area usually meet to convoy out. It's about 15 mins south of I-80, there is a Shell Station, McDonalds, and Harley Davidson dealership at this point.

BTW they (badlands) requires you to put an orange flag on your truck before entering the trails. You could pick one up at your local Walmart for like $3 or buy one at the park for about $10.

If I was still in Geneva, I would be there in a heartbeat. Have fun! BroncoX....do you have those pics yet?

Sway bar on or off? and which Country Donuts are we meeting at? The one in Crystal Lake? And then one more question...Which route are we taking? Should we try to meet up with Joe at that Shell/McDonalds?

I would like to come along, but I don't want to break anything so far from home. Maybe I will come along and take it easy..... :rolleyes:

Hawk, we can meet at crystal lake Country Donuts.
then meet up with Pinoy at the shell station. I'm thinking he ment 294 not 394. Rear sway bar off. Red flag on.

How many trucks do we have coming at this point?
At last count it was Pinoy, Hawk, rfritz and myself.

Roofgoat. are you in?

Is that donut place in Indiana or Illinois? I will be in the back lot behind the main building. Does anyone have a ETA on their arrival? Thanks -

Oh yeah - channel 9 on the Citizens Band.

I may have problems......MIGHT not be able to make it.

I went wheelin last night (ok....it was this morning at 2 AM) in the field behind Countryside Nursery in Crystal Lake with the owner of Countryside. He had a brand new Z71, and ended up getting it stuck on an incline in a pile of mud. He didn't take off his step rails, and burried them in the hill he was trying to climb. He burried them so far, the mud came up to the doors. He was lucky he gould get his doors open. On my way off the top of the mound (I went up a different way) to pull him out, I got stuck as well. :rolleyes: Burried my frame in the mud!

We tried digging it out, but had no luck. Luckily, one of the people riding with us has a Blazer ZR-2. They went and got it, but were clueless as to how to pull out a stuck truck. I ended up pulling my X off the hill. The Blazer didn't have the balls to get the Z71 out though(even though it has a stronger engine), so I used the X, took three hard yanks, and SOMEHOW, pulled him out(when I say hard, I mean bone jarring hard! I'm surprised I didn't break the stock tow hook!).

He ended up messing up his front bumper, cracking a huge chunk of his driver side rear fender, and somehow got a barbed wire fence wrapped around his rear axle and shreded his brake line!

I went and started my X this morning, and had no problem starting it, but it sounded like I may have seperated, or put a hole somewhere in my exhaust. It was also riding MUCH more roughly than normal. When the engine heated up, the rough sounding muffler sounded normal again, but the ride still didn't feel right.

I'm hoping it's just a case of caked on mud, but I won't know until tomorrow if I can make it. I'm going to wash it tonight and try to get all the mud off the frame and out of all the crevaces on the X, and pray to God that thats all it is.

I'll keep you posted.... :rolleyes:

As for the Doughnut shop it is in Northern Illinois. Hawk let me know if you are in or out asap. Pinoy, are you still in or not? My little guy is out but I may stil be in if everyone is still going.

As of now I am in - let me know if there are any changes.

Its looking like I'm out My exhaust is fine, but I think I may have done something to either my drivetrain or my transmission. The ride right now is almost unbearably rough. I'm not sure if I should put more strain on it until I know exactly whats wrong with it....

Everything looks good for me on this end. Just finished the install. So far the truck runs good.

Are we still on for this run?

Broncox post up if you are 100% sure, would hate to drive 2hrs down there and find out I'm the only one there. Let me know if you want to caravan out and we could meet along the way.

I guess we'll meet in the upper parking lot right behind the check in building (not the lower lot by the place everybody eats at), is that correct Randy?... I'll be tuned into channel 9 on the cb and/or frs.

That works for me - what time though? Are we all shooting for right at opening? They open at 9am.

How about 10am Attica, IN. time. You guys don't honor daylight savings so you are 1 hour ahead of us this time of year. This way the guys up in crystal lake don't have to leave 5 in the morning.

It's gonna be crazy muddy there tomorrow! It has been pouring all day WOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I'm sorry I will not be able to make it. I need to stay home with my little guy and my wife who are sick. My little guy got sick middle of this past week and now my wife is sick. I would feel like crap if I went wheeling while they are suffering at home. Sorry if I let you guys down, since I'm the one that had this Idea in the first place. Please forgive me but family has to come first.
Hope you guys have a great time in the mud. Let us know how it goes.
best regards
BroncoX

And then there was 2

Why is everybody so afraid of the Badland (just kidding) seems 90% of the runs there are always being canceled last minute for one reason or another.

rfritz let me know if yuo still plan on going, guess it'll only be two of us. If not I guess we'll plan on a run next time when more trucks can make it.

Hey Pinoy, I'm not afraid! Hell, you are one of the 4 Xterra owners that I have met that should know I will try ANYTHING once. Lake Geneva proved that one!

Two things contributed to me not going

1. I couldn't find someone to ride shotgun with me. I have to bartend tonight, and I wouldn't get home till around 3:30 tomorrow morning. Not a good idea to drive that far on so little sleep.

2. I messed something up on my truck Wed night/Thurs morn. Not sure exactly what it is, but it is only loud and rides rough when in gear. I'm thinking its driveline or tranny issues. I got most of the mud off today, and it helped a little, so it MAY be there is still mud and rocks trapped up near the driveline somewhere...I have no clue. I bought a 3 1/2 ton floor jack with jackstands last night, so I will be spending most of tomorrow under my X trying to figure out what the hell did.....if I can't figure it out, at least I'll clean the undercarriage

Sorry guys. Next run to the Badlands, I would like to get in it. lets give a little more advanced notice next time too if possible. My fiance would like to be able to come with sometimes too.

Oh and BTW....HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRONCOX!!!

What did you install?

Hawk, sorry to hear what happened....another chapter in the story of General Grabber. He will be back to fight another day!

BroncoX, do you have any status on the pics from Lake Geneva?

When you guys see people around with X's, make sure to direct them to the MXG website. We want to make this a big event. We are in the process of getting some pretty big sponsors.

Linconnellie, just put on a rear locker. Everything went smooth, except for working outside in the rain all day but I guess it was better than when I was installing the roof lights out in minus 20* weather. BTW, did you get the pics I sent you from the Geneva run?

Hawk, what exactly did you do to cause the noise? Does it happen only when in 4x4 gear or when the tranny is in gear? Hope it's not too expensive and you get it fixed before the midwet gathering

It's with the tranny in any gear. It sounds like I seperated parts of the exhaust, but it is not as loud as I remember last time I needed an exhaust on one of my cars. Also, when at idle, the exhaust sounds fine, so I know it's not the exhaust. I high-centered it on a mud pile I was trying to descend(it was a 6 foot height difference from where I was to where I was going with a steep drop off in my path.....it high-centered on its way down).

We tried to get it free by jumping on the rear bumper to try to get some leverage. It was vibrating wildly, but I thought it was only because the tires were skipping, and not grabbing completely. My X had to be forcefully yanked off of the pile at an angle. It couldn't be done straight on, or from the back....frame was dug into the mud. I think I may have jarred something loose when tugging.

If anyone has any ideas of what it might be, it would GREATLY help and give me a starting point on where to look, and what to look for.

ALSO, I need everyone's email addresses so I can send the pics of Lake Geneva I took as well.

I got the pics...thanks man. Rear locker! Nice!

You have mine, right?

lincolnnellie[remove]@charter.net

Lincolnnellie, whats the [remove] for?

Pinoy, did you end up going to the Badlands? How was it?

I found out what the problem was.....I jacked up my car with the new 3 1/2 ton Craftsman Professional floor jack I bought The transfer case was COMPLETLY encased in mud. I couldn't see ANY of it. There was mud EVERYWHERE. I ended up pulling out a pile about 4 feet in diameter and 8 inches high of solid dirt!! She runs like a champ again!! WOO HOO!!!

The remove is in there so I don't get spam...

First off I asked if anyone wanted to go. Second I am not afraid of the badlands. My wife and son are sick my son has a fever my wife has no voice so it would have benn a little selfish to go and leave them at home I would love to go and I will go. However I will not leave my family high and dry so I can go wheeling. The whole reason I asked was so I could take my little guy. I love him and mom more than life itself.

Pete glad you found the problem, sounds like you had mud tightly packed in there.

It wasn't my intension to step on anybodys toes about the "afraid of the Badlands" comment. I was just in a giddy mood at the time. I'm sure we'll have a run there in the future. Sorry if it came across the wrong way, I was just joking.

Just because you have a rear locker now, doesn't mean that you can be an ass to everyone!

Hey everyone! Pinoy - my computer is at work and I left early on Friday, PM me so we can get #'s exchanged for next time. Anyway I went and instead of being greeted by Nissans, I was kind of welcomed by a parking lot full of the Chicago/Midwest Land Rover Club or something like that. At first I got the stink eye attitude as I cruised by the group, but I stopped to talk and ended up going with them to the quarry. A couple of them had "built" new and old school defenders. One guy had some kind of Uni-mog thingy, but most were stock Land and Range Rovers complete with "street" tires. One girl gave me shit about the X being "modeled" after the Land Rover. Whatever - fix your rust. A couple from Detroit and a few others were cool - cheers if you are reading this! Long story short, they stop TOO MUCH. We started a blue (easy) trail and after about five hills I said "see you guys later! I can't f&%K around and get out of the car after every hill. Anyway, I like the drive to and from Attica, so it was nice to get out of the house. I am going next weekend with the midwest xplorer people. Anyone in on this one? Here are 4 photos I took - By the way - the defender photos are of the Detroit couple, that thing was bad ass with everything you could imagine inside and out - my next vehicle for sure.

Nice pics! I wish I would have gone My noise ended up being nothing more than about 6 inches of solid mud caked on underneath the chassis. Completely enshrouded the transfer case causing rubbing and the nasty vibration. With enough notice, I will GLADLY go on the next outing.

I know the Jeep guy and the Dodge guy that were supposed to go to LG with us go to the Badlands all the time, and the three of us are planning a couple of runs this Summer. I'll post when I have more info!

Damm, I PMed you but must have been to late. I'll PM you my # for future runs. Would have made the trip out if I new you were going for sure (more strenght in #'s to represent our junk) ... Can't make it out this weekend got to work.

I'm shooting for Saturday, April 24. Chicago4x4 seems to be planning on headng out that weekend.

Linconnelie, now before you flame me (I'm just kidding) but . It's a locked, mall cruiser.

Holy shit dude - I clean the under carriage after every wheelin trip!

Pinoy, Sorry if I took your satement the wrong way. I was a little pist that I could not go. I was really looking forward to the badlands. Please forgive me guys I ment no harm. Looks like you guys had a great time. If anyone is up for a weekday run let me know. From here on out the next weekend I have off is not until August.

I leave for a week and all hell breaks loose! Just Kidding...

Go figure, I miss another run! DOH! Someday I'll make it to the Badlands!

Ya, me too.

Where are the pics of the Unimog? Those things are sweet!

I don't know if it was one or not - I didn't get a photo of it, but I bet I will see it around since it has an Indianapolis plate on it. It also looked like an old land cruiser with a stake bed.