Rubicon tested….

[Xtoolbox]

Took the group ~ 2 ½ days to complete the ~ 15miles of this world famous trail from Loon Lake to Lake Tahoe. The first day was the most demanding leg from Loon to Buck Island Lake as we spent ~ 8 hrs on the trail of which we wheeled about 5hrs worth until we reached Buck Island Lake and setup camp before dark. The second day we reached Rubicon springs ~ 1pm and setup camp before playing around in the heckle hill area for another couple hours before a refreshing dip in the springs. The Big Sluice was one of the highlights of day #2 and one of my favorites of the trail. On the third day we wheeled for ~ 3 hrs to reach the Wentworth staging area, the highlights of this day where Cadillac hills and the beautiful observation point on top IMO.

We all had a great time thanks to our gracious host CALMINI on their annual customer appreciation run

The trail & scenery really lived up to all the expectations, basically a 12+mile rock pile with one challenges after another; up, down, around hills, creeks, between trees, boulder squeezes, and off ledges with some granite slabs to navigate Moab style minus the slick rock. Really tight in most places and better suited for the smaller wheel base vehicles with tighter turning radius IMO, how wider bodies like hummers make it through without more body damage is a mystery to me considering the current conditions. Compared to last year the conditions were rougher this time because of some recently boulder movement, heavy usage, and water streaming down Cadillac hill for example according to those in our group.

You really have to push the limits of a modified Xterra to make it and be very precise at all times to avoid getting hung or damaged. We were constantly using the rock sliders to pivot, push, support around the obstacles. A couple of times the IFS trucks got hung or used a strap/winch to get out of jams/avoid damage but overall did really great IMO. I heard mostly positive comments/praise from fellow wheeler; everybody seemed to dig the SAS Hardbody and were surprised that the Xterra looked so unscathed after each day. The Hardbody was awesome climbing all the rocks and really shined/showed what a well built SAS Nissan is is capable of. The handful of zuks in the group where cool although a couple of them broke stuff. Other than that everybody else we came across was driving built rigs to one degree or the other was some tube bugs thrown into the mix.

None of three Nissans; SAS Hardbody, Frontier, or Xterra broke any parts or looked different in the end. The frontier banged the undercarriage the most partly because of the 31’s while the taller and tipper Xterra really had to be very careful around the doors and rear quarter panel between all the rock squeezes, trees, roots, etc. The Frontier blew a front tire after the granite bowl, and only really misfortune for the whole journey for the Nissan’s was on the highway on the way when the auto tranny on my 90’ SAS Pathy all of sudden stopped working @ ~ 125k+ without any warning near Coalinga and had to be towed.

Overall a total blast and maybe by favorite trip all year even though I only drove one day on the trail, the experience was priceless and I’m looking forward to returning and making at least an annual trip. Cary (LAX) did a great of job driving his X through the ‘Con. All participates where really cool and I enjoyed their company, sprits, jokes a bunch, thanks to everyone for the great time :-) and especially CALMINI for all the support, encouragement, etc.

For those that want to try the ‘Con my best advice would be; plan, prep, test, re-check, use team work/go with a small group that’s has an experienced trail boss. For a xterra at a minimum I would recommend rock sliders, 33” tires, full underbelly skids + a rear diff one, front & rear traction devices (such as lockers or modified LSD’s like I run), a passenger or spotter for each 1st time driver, and as much recent rock crawling experience as you can. 5 speed drivers really should have the CALMINI 3:92 low crawler gears and it’s a wise move even for the auto tranny since you will have much better low speed control. We all worked our front steel bumpers at different times but I guess you could get away with a stock bumper although chances are it would get some damage. Taking spare axle shafts, u-joints, rear drive shaft, spare steering components along with the rest of standard stuff is something we did and a good practice for this type of trail IMO.

Enjoy these small sample pixs from day #1; we have 4+ hrs of video & thinking about making a DVD with the edited footage along with all the full size pictures if people are interested? let me know

[Schludwiller]

Cool post. So who's Xterra was it?

[Xtoolbox]

Yeah that’s LAX (Cary’s) Solar yellow and JW (Jim’s) Frontier.

For those interested there is a group of Nissan’s planning on going sometime mid October most likely 10/10-12 around the Columbus day weekend if the weather holds. If not next year there will mostly likely be a larger gathering Mid Aug 04.

Some more pixs from where I left off & day #2: