The Race of Gentlemen
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Cagey
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Ugh. Sand. Rough stuff. Gets in everything.
I remember the wife and I took our monster truck out to the sand dunes on lake Michigan one summer. Lotta prep and anticipation. Get there, and can't even get much past the entrance before we're bogged down, can't move. This is a truck with big block 8, about a million horsies, enough torque to twist god's head off, huge 42" monster mudder tires, 4 wheel drive, and we can't move? WTF? Only thing I can figure is we're too heavy.
She's so disappointed she starts crying. I don't know what to do. Can't even get off the entrance now, let alone on the dunes. Walk back to the park ranger's shack to see if there's such a thing as a tow. Ranger looks out at the truck and asks "didja let the air outa the tires?"
I said "Well, no! Of course not! Why would I do that?" idiot.
"Because you don't wanna pull on the sand. You wanna lay on it. Like a tractor tread. Otherwise, you're just gonna dig holes."
"No kiddin?"
"No kiddin. Take 'em down to about 5 pounds. You'll be fine."
So, that's what I did. And it worked like magic. Then all that power and 4 wheel drive was worth something. Even dune buggies couldn't go where we could go. Only problem was after we got off the dunes and refilled the tires, but we didn't find out about it until the next day. After sitting all night, none of the tires had any air in them. Sand got in the beads between the tires and the wheels, so they wouldn't seal any more. Had to have all 4 pulled off, unseated, cleaned, sealed and reseated before we could go anywhere. Unexpected and pricey pain in the ass.
But, it was sorta expected by that point. Every time we took that truck out, it ended up costing us somehow. You can't go rampaging around off-road in the woods and countryside without doing some damage. Even tanks had to carry spare parts.
Still, it was great fun :laughing7:
I remember the wife and I took our monster truck out to the sand dunes on lake Michigan one summer. Lotta prep and anticipation. Get there, and can't even get much past the entrance before we're bogged down, can't move. This is a truck with big block 8, about a million horsies, enough torque to twist god's head off, huge 42" monster mudder tires, 4 wheel drive, and we can't move? WTF? Only thing I can figure is we're too heavy.
She's so disappointed she starts crying. I don't know what to do. Can't even get off the entrance now, let alone on the dunes. Walk back to the park ranger's shack to see if there's such a thing as a tow. Ranger looks out at the truck and asks "didja let the air outa the tires?"
I said "Well, no! Of course not! Why would I do that?" idiot.
"Because you don't wanna pull on the sand. You wanna lay on it. Like a tractor tread. Otherwise, you're just gonna dig holes."
"No kiddin?"
"No kiddin. Take 'em down to about 5 pounds. You'll be fine."
So, that's what I did. And it worked like magic. Then all that power and 4 wheel drive was worth something. Even dune buggies couldn't go where we could go. Only problem was after we got off the dunes and refilled the tires, but we didn't find out about it until the next day. After sitting all night, none of the tires had any air in them. Sand got in the beads between the tires and the wheels, so they wouldn't seal any more. Had to have all 4 pulled off, unseated, cleaned, sealed and reseated before we could go anywhere. Unexpected and pricey pain in the ass.
But, it was sorta expected by that point. Every time we took that truck out, it ended up costing us somehow. You can't go rampaging around off-road in the woods and countryside without doing some damage. Even tanks had to carry spare parts.
Still, it was great fun :laughing7:
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