Cruzer vs The Rubicon Trail

Pretty amazing Cruz. Loving the adventure chapter by chapter. Keep it flowing.

 

So I've been asked a few times now "what do you recommend for another Tundra to do the Rubicon?"

My opinion is based on several different factors.
(1) The Rubicon Trail is greatly revered by many people and groups. The money and time spent on the upkeep of the Rubicon, compared to other trails, is ridiculous. Port-a-potties are provided all along the trail and are regularly maintained. HAM repeater stations have been installed so that it's possible to contact for help because there is no mobile reception out there - except for this one tiny spot on the trail that they call Cell Phone Tree, which is a little after Walker Hill. Also, as I've mentioned before they HELICOPTER in rocks - I know that's not cheap. All this means that they don't want you thrashing/trashing the trail.
(2) It is an extremely popular trail with tons of people, which means the flow of traffic needs to keep moving. If you've gotten to this point of the thread you know it takes a long time just to go a couple miles and that's without people in front or behind us.
(3) Damage control. Nobody wants to damage their rigs so it's important that your rig is properly protected.

So with that said I think a Tundra with the following can safely and efficiently navigate the Rubicon Trail:
(Full undercarriage armor)
- Engine skid
- TC skid
- Tran skid
- Gas skid (sorry but IMHO a gas skid other than the Vicotry4x4 skid will get you in trouble out there)
- Rear diff skid
- Sliders that protrude away from the body
- High clearance front and rear bumpers
- Lockers front AND rear
- Winch
- 37" tires
- Good off-road driving skills (need to know how to pivot, understand how to slide off of something to position yourself properly, double footing for control, a good understanding of how to descend/ascend steep obstacles, etc)
- Good spotters

How about lift? Well, I can't comment on that as I am bias cuz I would just say go tall. But the Gladiator made it with its 3.5" lift. It has a longer wheelbase than the 2 other Jeeps but obviously shorter than a Tundra. Even though it was able to slide across a lot of the rocks it sustained damage to its control arms, steering rods, trailing arms, rear bumper, and one of the shocks. The height of my truck and the 40s allowed me to go over a lot of rocks and scale waterfalls where the Gladiator couldn't or had to get winched up it.

Not gonna lie... the Rubicon Trail will make you feel the pain your truck is going to feel.

 

Well put. So best to come with one of these…

 

How soon are you ready to go back? Asking for a friend

 

Need to find a new job first then I can start planning new trips.

 

Make sure no one at work is on here...lol

 

Page 8

I like Buck Island Lake. It's so pristine. The views are spectacular. Where else can you "go" and have a view?


Anyways...I'm feeling a little groggy on this morning from last night's but we're taking it easy today. The first day on the trail we didn't take enough breaks for cold refreshments so day 2 is going to be quicker, which meant we could take longer breaks.

Less than 50' from our campsite we are right back at it. I decide to let my buddy who's been filming drive my truck since he himself owns a Tundra.


After going up and down on some large granite slabs we get to these stair steps. That tree, dead center in the picture, is chewed up for a reason. In trying to avoid rocks you have to make a very sharp passenger turn hugging that tree in order to get the best line up the steps. It was even tight for the small jeeps because of that big rock on the driver side that would push you into the trees.


As you can see here the line tries to avoid that fist big step and go straight to the second, then cut across in an angle.


After stacking 5,237 rocks we threw in the towel and had to winch the Gladiator up. My arms are still sore and it's been a week later.


Getting the Tundra to line up for the steps was a bitch! Stupid tree and stupid rock! Our best effort got us line up right on the first step.


After Austin Powering we were making our way towards the passenger side


We finally got onto the second ledge but were pointing in the wrong direction


time

to be continued...

 

Do you ever have power steering issues when Austin powering or just me? Tire pressure definitely plays a role but I wonder if your lift and 40’s change the dynamics of the steering angle enough to overcome or compound the issue.

 

No issues for me. Just as long as the truck is moving, even the slightest, you should be able to turn. Don’t want to fight the steering wheel when it’s in 4wd and has a lot of traction. My drop bracket lift realigns my steering rod angles and CV angles back to stock levels.

 

Yeah, I try and keep it moving when I’m turning but still was having issues. Not anymore though

 

Page 9

With a little bit of rock rearrangements we were able to get traction off the third ledge


Here's where that long wheelbase is actually good at as we were able to rotate into position


Well almost into position. The water was deep enough that we couldn't get traction so did the Austin Powers move to get further angled driver


With a bump we got over. We spent nearly 2 hours to cover 1/4 mile at this point. With 1.75 miles to go to get to Rubicon Springs, the short day we thought we were gonna have was not looking so good.


After this was a cool little rocky ledge


I got some footage underneath to see how the Alcan springs and the Orbit Eyes were doing. Here you can see the shackles are perpendicular with the side of the frame and the bolt going through the Orbit Eye is parallel to the bottom of the frame but the leaf spring is angled differently, giving me some additional flex.


My friend gets another lesson on how to bump


Shortly after is another squeezy and ledge




What awaits me after a few more ledges and rocks?


But wait there's more


So earlier I mentioned we were a 1/4 on the trail... I was wrong.. this is the 1/4 mile point, which is the entrance to Big Sluice, and 4:15 have already gone by
As soon as you pass this mile marker you start to descend and make a sharp passenger turn, which is actually quite smooth (the calm before the storm ). Forgot to mention that I had less than 1/2 tank of fuel when we got to camp so I dumped 5 gallons of my spare in to make me feel better and to offset the weight from the top of the rack to the bottom of the truck. EDIT: The trail is 15 miles long, which is why I was very worried about fuel at the rate we were going.


Before the hairpin turn someone is eager to greet you


After the squeeze you go into the hairpin turn where there is a large granite slab on the inside of the turn that would've gave me a lot of trouble but there were a lot of maintenance rocks that had filled it in.


I would've been all up on this sucker


After the hairpin there were 2 big ass logs. Driving over a log is a bad thing as they can kick up and a catch a brake line, drive shaft, or ABS wiring. I got out and moved them out of the way.
EDIT: You can also see that my Trasharoo is pretty packed. I highly recommend having each vehicle carry some sort of trash bag, or at least 1 out of every 2 vehicles would be good, because I was carrying trash for 4 vehicles.


At this point I'm gonna stitch a video...

...to be continued

 

My favourite chapter so far! These pics show the obstacles from a perspective that makes sense, and it’s fun to see what your truck is *doing*.

 

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I move the logs and proceed down the hill to the Big Sluice obstacle called V Rock, the tightest and most prone to damage squeezy on the trail.
After V Rock I thought it would be smooth sailing all the way to Rubicon Springs, but of course that's not how the Rubicon rolls. Through the magic of editing and some missing parts we get through Big Sluice and get to Rubicon Springs in just 25 minutes Another presumption I had was that once we were on the Rubicon Springs property that it would flatten out - wrong again. There were several obstacles that we had to navigate just to get to camp.

Make sure to watch the video as there is a special something that happens

https://youtu.be/OWf_Zb45o4k

Here's the truck on the Green Bridge going over the Rubicon River


Finally, it flattens out


There's a grassy area


One of the guys pitches a tent next to the river


I'm posted up near the firering


There was a ton of firewood so we helped ourselves


It took us 8 hours to cover 2 miles and that’s with a 30 minute break thrown in there.

...to be continued

 

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Rubicon Springs is a great place to camp. The property is huge. We camped on the main area where there are actual building structures (blue dot) but after hiking down the river we found much better spots (orange outline) and easier/safer access to the water.
EDIT: You have to pay a $20/night fee for each vehicle



There's a large beautiful granite slab beach that gently slopes into the water


When you're on the granite slab beach this is what drops down into it


Bet it would be awesome to just sit in the water during the summer


Clear water


We see 3 Jeeps drive through so my buddy and I decide to follow them up Cadillac Hill. It was a little over a mile from the campsite and very steep. I found the Cadillac the hill was named after


The lead Jeep kept stalling, which is how we were able to catch up with them. Turned out his negative battery terminal was just slightly loose. Had him tighten it and they were gone


Thus far the weather had been great all week. At night it was in the 40s and it was nice during the day. However, on this day we knew the weather was turning as the winds picked up and it was chilling us to the bone. It was so windy that night that my truck, since I was sleeping in it, was moving around and it woke me up. I had mosquito netting over the rear windows and had the windows down, in order to offset the heat generated by the Little Buddy Heater, and it was getting cold with the wind blowing the heat right out of the truck. Had to turn on the truck to roll up the windows a bit.



It was in the low 30s in the morning but the wind made it feel a lot colder. We quickly got packed and were on our way. Back on the trail but still on the Rubicon Springs property we had to navigate rocky structures. It's kinda sad, in a way, because there are so many tricky areas or rocky areas that would be outright named obstacles on any other trail but here on the Rubicon they are just more of the same and you just get used to it.





As you make a switchback turn to go up Cadillac Hill you approach the one big rock that you have to watch out for


It is slippery and wet up here. Just some careful spotting and was able to get through without any issues


Here's a better view of the rock. As long as you go high on the driver side it won't be a problem


Cadillac Hill is actually quite a long climb up before you get to the Observation Point where you can see the valley below




Once again an assumption goes wrong. After Observation Point I thought it was going to be smooth sailing. Should've learned. It continued to be rocky as we climbed to the very top and crested over to the Lake Tahoe side. Once we reached the Barker Meadow trail I knew it was time to switch over to 4Hi. There was actually a lot of snow on this side of the mountain.



There was snow and water crossings galore


Doesn't look like much but I had difficulty getting through here with the weight of my truck. I ended up having to swing wide on the passenger to create my own tracks instead of getting stuck in the existing ones.


Then there was this icy rut that I could not get through and had to get winched out. Of all the things that I unintentionally get stuck on at the Rubicon... ice/snow is what get's me At least I wasn't the only one that got stuck here, the Gladiator was right behind me. The 2 door Jeeps decided to go around.


We finally get to the Rubicon Exit/Staging area and begin to air up. It felt sooooooo good to feel smooth pavement again. One of my friends actually kissed the pavement




We were fortunate to reach the exit when we did because there was a large group of Jeeps that were getting ready to head out. One of them asked where we came from. I said we started off on the Loon Lake side several days ago and that there was nobody behind us so it should be clear for them. He was like...wait... you just did it in that? (we're both looking at my truck)... Yup



That wraps up my Rubicon Trail report. Hope you enjoyed. Unfortunately, I skipped hella stuff otherwise this would've been a lot longer.

Damage Report:
- Broke my tail light, bent my rear diff skid, one of the leaf spring rebound clamps bent, the door, gas skid was already fucked up but it's even more fucked - gonna have to take it off and bend it straight or even buy a new one
- Gladiator: steering is fucked, one of his shocks are fucked - it's binding somehow (bent?), trailing arms are bent
- Jeep JK - rear bumper got pushed up so he was unable to open his rear door but a lot of pounding and loosening of screws he was ok, steering is way off
- Jeep TJ - cracked a skid plate, steering is way off
At least my truck's steering was fine Total Chaos LCA are one of the best purchases I've made for the truck - get you some!

 

Great stuff @Cruzer , great write-up...thank you for sharing. It shows something that we are all passionate about (Tundras) in an extreme situation that most of us love the thought of doing but in reality will never build our trucks up to the point of being able to handle it. So thank you for posting all of this! Now, have a couple of people I know discussing doing the Rubicon on dirt bikes. Who knows, maybe I'll consider that.

 

Great write up Cruz. If I may, I've got some suggestions for future write ups, trails that I don't think LT trucks can/should do.
Dusy/Esrhim
Mirror lake, Strawberry lake
Coyote lake
maybe Brewer lake and Swamp lake.
They're all in roughly the same area outside of the cultural mecca known as Fresno.

 

Excellent recap of your trip. Made it feel like I was almost there. I was supposed to be working these last 2 hours, but this has been much more rewarding. Thanks,

 

The Dusy Ershim is also on my bucket list but I already know that our long ass Tundras will not be able to squeeze through the trees. However, when I do the RCSB conversion I'm going for it. Swamp Lake is also too narrow. But all of the others are on my to do list

 

Awesome trip reports Cruz. I could imagine being in your passenger seat.

!^5

 

nice work, @Cruzer !

 

Beast mode! Thanks for the trip report. I’ll get there one day….

 

Good wrap up. I’m surprised your steering made it out so well lol

 

The stiffer poly bushings on those TC LCAs are

 

Great write up Cruzer. Amazing, were are we going next?

 

Got some friends talking about doing a day trip out to Hell Hole Reservoir or Slick Rock.... but my AC blend doors are not working so I think I should fix that first before I

 

Since it's cool this week ( high 60s-70s), maybe we can go to the dessert?

 

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2007-toyota-tundra-10/#comments

@Cruzer There you go.......

 

Any cool job opportunities to go with that?