Nautical Blue Build Thread (Big Blue) - 60K mile review - lessons, regrets, etc.

I think it is fair to say that Big Blue is not a mall crawler anymore. We got her graduated from Moab after this trip and in another league now.

Ok, my take on Hells Gate is just take your time, throtle is your enemy on this obstable. Get in tune with the vehicle and feel the tires at all time. Listen to your spoter, don't rush anything, if you get in trouble, backup and reset. Your rig will get thru this and just take your time.


At the bottom - everybody ready.

Rear Locker on, ATRAC on. Going slow no issues.....

Right at the middle almost, I was cool and just keeping the hood level.

Going ok....

And then at the flexy section --- I got in trouble.


No problem though, I couldn't see crap at the top but knew my passenger was up. My poor wife freaked out and stop the pictures so focused on the spotting, which was the right thing to do. I have a video from the GoPro inside the 4R that I might upload later.

We corrected and went back and no issues - I wish...I really wish I had the damn swaybar disconnected , this would have been so much easier. Oh well, live and learn.

Blue got thru it, no issues.

At the of the trail, I was tired and exhausted from the long day, the heat. Blue took it in all directions on the first day . Here it is at the end of the day. The tires were beat and abused but held really well. Kudos to the Mickey Thompson Baja Boss, I can say these are better than the K02's and the Wildpeak.

 

On lessons learned - and super important to me and hope to many of you as well. SAFETY should be a priority when off-roading. Be prepared, overly prepared if you can. The idea is to have fun but being responsible and with the skills and knowledge to do so. Take a class, get input from others, and just ask as many questions as possible.

In my recent Moab trip, I offroaded with a local friend/expert, and he was able to show me some of the most critical areas and give me warnings and advice. I didn't want to mess up my rig, my trip and/or comprimise my safety and the one of my boss (wife) and others so was always be super careful. I know I will get a little grief for this picture but here is the local with his Jeep - 39's all-around, ready for battle with all that suspension/axle combo. This thing crawl up Hells Gate like nothing.



I had it in my head that the last thing i wanted to do in my vacation was to winch out my rig out of nasty trail and mess up the week.


I did get some minor damage which I will post separately shortly, but nothing bad at all. But the biggest lesson is: Don't put your safety at others at risk if you don't feel confident out in the trail. Not worth it all. Skip the difficult obstacle and keep going, nobody will say anything.

 

This post is related to the "Damage Report" and Lessons Learned from my Trip to Moab. In the grand scheme of things, the damage was minor but here are the pics and the lessons.

1. The rear bumper and muffler exit - this one is really on me. Departure angle my friend. I knew better going in that both the spare tire and the exhaust tip were going to be in the way. Lesson learned - deflate the spare tire as much as you can - if you want to run the spare underneath, and get rid of any exhaust tips or be ready to pay later.
2. The hitch cover took it hard as well. This was gone in no time. I thought of my friend @Borracho Loco - if I only had his hitch on my trip, man I would have conquer those rocks.
3. Tire damage and the protections rings. This was expected - I mean, we are in the middle of hard rocks / boulders, deep ditches etc. There was one time that I got out of the vehicle and I smelled rubber really bad. I thought I was doing burnouts for a while. But look, the equipment did its job so no issues there
4. The front bumper and the winch section took it hard as well. The factor55 lead piece got dislodge as I went straight into an obsticle without going at an angle. Oh well, this was then fixed later on with no issues I also got the tag all messed up. Later I was stopped by a state trooper outside El Paso saying I had no front tag. I got out and showed him. He let me go easy - He actually gave ma compliment on the 4R! Nice fellow that day.
5. The Skid Plates - These things really did their job. I got the middle pretty good and I lost one screw on one side, and got them reposition correctly later on. This is a must if you intend to run your 4R thru rocks and difficult terrain.
6. The BMC relocate kit that installed before the rig also came lose. But this was really more on bad installation on my part. The bushings inside the BMC were stacked up incorrectly and the rubber piece was hitting the metal washer constantly, this was creating and "Cracking" type noise. I was really worried that I had messed up an engine mount or some coil in the suspension but it turned out it was a washer chewing thru the rubber and hitting the metal every time.

In conclusion, I don't think the damages were that bad. We drove from Moab down to Scottsdale for about 6hrs, no major issues, but I didn't want to drive back to Houston from AZ with noises, and squeaky things, so I found me a special shop in Mesa, AZ while there and they took care of it. I will post this in a different post.

P.S. The feeling of driving the 4R back on the HWY - like nothing happened, especially after running the hell out of the poor unit thru rocks and difficult areas, really makes this unit so wonderful and reliable IMO. Kudos to the 4R.

 

So I closed the week in Moab by hitting this trail at Monitor and Merrimac - and headed down to Scottsdale.


And as we drove down to AZ, I started looking for Offroad shops in the Scottsdale/Mesa area and to my luck I found a good one which was also recommended by a friend of mine from CO. I ended up at Arizona Toy Pros in Mesa. Both Ben and Erick were able to inspect Blue and give me their feedback as to what I had messed up during my Moab outing. I thought initially that I had messed up one of the coils or the UCA's or something, but no, the cracking noise I was hearing was from the bushings on the BMC and the washers being out of place. They also gave me a new alignment, the rear passenger shock was very low on Nitrogen and they were able to fill that up. They also re-installed the skid plates and greased the SPC's and checked everything else, Oh, they adjusted the height on the front driver side and the truck was all level up front again. I was super pleased with their service and Blue was super happy and ready to drive back to Texas!

Highly recommend AZ Toy Pros.



My only and shouldn't complaint anymore really, is that my MPG throughout was 12.6 . But you know, the 4R got me thru the trails, got me back to Texas safe and sound. This might be a forever truck for me. Haven't decided yet but thinking that way for now. What you all think?

 

What do I think? That you should have let me know that you were going to Moab. I'd have kept you company. Would be cool to see 2 Nauti Blue 4R's running together.

Video of my 1st time up Hell's Gate. SR5, no locker on 275's. Of course the magic of A-TRAC was on.

https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipM-SMtyoL1eN6Wngk-mJae_tFR8kee4TnF9G3Ic

 

Next year for sure! I really wanted to go to Top of the World but I just ran out of gas really. But for sure, if I go back, I will let you know!

 

Cool. The Mrs. retires next spring and wants to do some sight seeing. Whether she goes to Moab will be up to her. But I'm in.

 

Love those Moab trail pics . Did you ever use MTS on the trail ?

 

Thank you!

No, I didn't use any of the MTS features or the auto crawl control thing. I was at all times on 4Lo and had ATRAC on. I only used the locker when I couldn't get thru an obstacle. I'm on the old school of turning off the locker and just leaving it off as soon as the obstacle is done and just keep going thru the trail.

 

Blues' driver is learning the hard way what departure angle is all about when offroading. I got this thing so smashed up against the bumper that I got two holes in it.
I cut it
And here is where we are...

Good news is....my excuse for the rear bumper is finally getting support and traction.