Gopher Dunes Fall Mudfest (Sep 11, 2016 )

1375 Views 6 Replies 2 Participants Last post by dmaker, Sep 12, 2016

dmaker

Discussion Starter · Aug 24, 2016

Anyone plan on going to this, or happen to be familiar with the event? I have watched videos of the mud pits on youtube and it looks like a lot of fun to watch. But that is more for the seriously modified vehicles, not our THs. However, I just spoke to them, and they water down the dirt bike/ATV trails and open them up to 4x4 vehicles for the day--no dirt bikes or ATVs. The girl said the mud trails are aimed at all vehicles and skill levels. She was quite confident that any stock Jeep would be fine in the mud trails.

Sounds like a fun day. Run some trails, take a break while eating a hot dog or something watching crazy modified vehicles trying to get through the mud pits. I know this area very well. It's about 15 - 20 mins from Long Point, where I spend every weekend in the summer. If anyone wanted to meet somewhere on the way, like Norwhich, Tillsonburg or something, that would be great. I believe it is $30 per truck and all non driving passengers are free.

I think I am going to give it a whirl.

http://www.gopherdunes.com/mud-fest/

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dmaker

Discussion Starter · #2 · Sep 12, 2016

Mudfest was a blast. I saw one other Trailhawk there, but didn't get a chance to chat. The trail was not too bad really. It has been a very dry summer, so the trail was not mud from one end to the other, but there were some deep parts that got pretty rutted by the end of the day. I almost got stuck and centered in one giant rut, but I managed to back up a bit and try to get one wheel above the lowest rut and then powered out.

The downside is that I now have a high speed wobble. I am pretty confident that it is from mud on the wheels. I am going to spend some time today trying to remove as much mud as I can from both sides of the tires. It could also possibly be a wheel weight popped off. At least, that is what I am very much hoping

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dmaker

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 12, 2016

Good news: after an hour under my Jeep with a power washer, the wobble is gone. That was a serious amount of mud! The under carriage was unrecognizable as a vehicle. It looked like a giant piece of mud flatbread. I made the mistake at the very end of the day of sloshing around in the mud pit over flow area. That was fun, but probably not a great idea. That stuff is slushy. Plus it's Norfolk county, so it's got a lot of sand in it too.

I still have a funky kind of burnt odor now and then. I am hoping it is just baking mud still trapped between the skid plate and the engine. Otherwise, it could be clutch related.

I did the Tough Mudder race in Mount St.Louis-Moonstone on Saturday and I think I had more mud on me today after getting under my Jeep, than I did after that race.

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dmaker

Discussion Starter · #4 · Sep 12, 2016 (Edited)

It was a fun event, but I was met with a mild amount of the usual 4x4 snobbery. I have been on runs and stuff before, so I totally expected this before I arrived. I even warned my passenger on the way to the event that we'd likely get some scoffing. And we did, of course. There was the usual cat calls like "Hey, this isn't a car show, you know", or the blank look on the faces when registering as if to say, " You're registering THIS vehicle?" There was one cat caller who exclaimed that I must be a drug dealer to take a vehicle like this into the event. Not quite sure what his line of thinking was on that one. But as usual, I get the satisfaction of passing vehicles stuck in the mud, or me taking the more difficult option while others in JKs veer off to the easier fork.

All in all, I am once again not let down by the capabilities of our Trailhawks. They may have some car DNA, but they are made tough. There was one fork where I decided to take the harder option and it ended up being some seriously dug in ruts. They were about 2 feet deep and about 2 feet spaced apart. Around maybe 8 of them in a row. Sort of like a mini dirt roller coaster. I went into the first one and landed on my skid plate and my front wheels just spun. I backed up a bit, took a different line and throttled out with relative ease. It was a bumpy ride to be sure, probably the worst thing my TH has seen to date as far a suspension workout goes, but I made it out and later saw several other vehicles stuck in the same spot and needing help. That always makes me feel good for some reason.

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dmaker

Discussion Starter · #5 · Sep 12, 2016

I don't have any action pics of my TH to share, but I have a couple of pics other wise.

TH in the line waiting to go:

TH after the event

And major kudos to the Norfolk Ontario Provincial Police for getting into the spirit and taking a stab at the first mud pit run of the day in their Suburban. Sadly, they only made it that far.

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dmaker

Discussion Starter · #7 · Sep 12, 2016

LOL, yeah I was happy to be behind that beat up Tracker for the first trail run. I figured any route he takes, I can waltz through. He got stuck on the first run through the trail. I'm not sure if he was rescued out or managed to get out of his stuck spot.

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