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Rausch Creek Nov 6

John in the Woods

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Back in Ithaca. Trails all day, then 175 highway miles home. You’ve gotta love these rigs.

Thanks to all for a great day and some great company, with special nods to @AmishMike and @Kindafearless for the daylong lesson in how to Jeep the trails. Above and beyond, my friends.
 

JoseQ_80

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Great pics!

For those who did RC and AOAA, how do they compare? I have never been to AOAA I had heard/read it was easier.
 

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Great pics!

For those who did RC and AOAA, how do they compare? I have never been to AOAA I had heard/read it was easier.
Ive been wheeling both (in my 74 bronco) for years, looking forward to getting the JT built up to handle more trails....

To me RC always feels more compact, in that its not as far to drive to get to the trails I want to run (blue/black). AOAA caters to side by sides and dirtbikes, so there is a load of terrain that they can run as well, and getting to the better trails for full size rigs can be a little drive. RC has a lot of bypasses to get around tougher obstacles, so it opens the door for pushing your rig a little, then bailing and going around if needed.
All we need is the old Paragon to open back up too and we will have insane wheeling options.

Lift and armor going on in the next few weeks, have to join the next group in the jeep vs the beater trail rig.
 

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Kindafearless

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From the last 4 days, I'd say AOAA is almost a full difficulty level higher for trails "on average". The last couple days were doing mostly blues and blacks, and the blues at AOAA are very similar to the Blacks at RC. There are a lot more bypasses at RC as Dlish said, but AOAA just seems more technical.

Also, I saw an AOAA red and compared that to Crawl Daddy.... No comparison. I'm pretty sure you can't drive a normal vehicle through that AOAA red.
 

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From the last 4 days, I'd say AOAA is almost a full difficulty level higher for trails "on average". The last couple days were doing mostly blues and blacks, and the blues at AOAA are very similar to the Blacks at RC. There are a lot more bypasses at RC as Dlish said, but AOAA just seems more technical.

Also, I saw an AOAA red and compared that to Crawl Daddy.... No comparison. I'm pretty sure you can't drive a normal vehicle through that AOAA red.
keep in mind Crawl Daddy is a badge of honor trail and gets loads of traffic. (a lot of traffic that really shouldnt be on a true red trail) Affliction and Crucible and other reds at RC I think are closer to what you saw at AOAA. Normal vehicles do not apply.
 

John in the Woods

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One final gift from a great trail weekend ... surprise death wobble at 60 mph on a quiet Tuesday. The lesson, always inspect the rig post wheeling (I didn't until after Mr. Wobble came to visit) and definitely consider a steering stabilizer relocation. I know I've got mine on the build sheet now.

Jeep Gladiator Rausch Creek Nov 6 IMG_0668
 

Kindafearless

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One final gift from a great trail weekend ... surprise death wobble at 60 mph on a quiet Tuesday. The lesson, always inspect the rig post wheeling (I didn't until after Mr. Wobble came to visit) and definitely consider a steering stabilizer relocation. I know I've got mine on the build sheet now.

Jeep Gladiator Rausch Creek Nov 6 IMG_0668
Oh crap :( Sorry, that was probably one of those blue trails :/

I moved mine so it sits on top of the tie rod. I don’t recommend the Yeti ATX bracket btw. Comes loose a lot, even with locktite and several different attempts at re-engineering it.
 

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It may just be the camera angle, but the tie rod looks bent too towards the end???
 

John in the Woods

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It may just be the camera angle, but the tie rod looks bent too towards the end???
Good eye. It looked solid up on the lift, and the alignment checked out, so I didn't swap it out. I will be keeping an eye on it. I did 1,000 miles in trips this week and the steering felt solid, so, knock wood, I'm hoping we can call this a lesson learned.
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