My birthday is March 26th and was wondering if anyone would like to go to the badlands for some wheeling on Saturday the 27th. The little guy and I are planning on going.

How far is the Badlands from us? What time would we leave? We could meet at Matts in Crystal Lake! I am DEFINATELY interested. I still haven't tested out my 31X10.5 Procomp Mud Terrains! I also may be able to get a truck or two to come with!

BTW... I need your email address! I have some cool pics of your truck from the Lake Geneva outing!!

OH and BTW....HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

It's about 2hrs from TinleyPark, you guys are about 45mins. north of me so, about 2and3/4 to 3 hrs.

I'd be up for that run,... Maybe I'll even have the rear locker installed by then.

You got that winch yet Joe?!?

Hawk, why don't we meet at Country Dounuts the morning of for coffee and of course dounuts.

Pinoy, Is trailsX and the other guys from Midewestxplorers come in on the 27th because the 29th is a monday?

hey fellow X owners.

just wanted to give you guys a heads up on an event coming up on April 24th.

Chicago4x4 is having it's Open House run @ the Badlands in Attica, IN.

Chicago4x4 is a non-vehicle specific club. (So Zuki's, Xterra's, Jeeps, etc. are ALL welcome)

check it out...
Chicago4x4 Open House Trail Run

Hawk if you are still in we can meet up at 6:00 am at Country Doughnuts. Is anyone else in on this run?

Sounds like a plan to me....I can't seem to get any of the guys that normally go to the Badlands to come with. They may tag along shotgun, but I'm not sure if I can get them to bring their rigs....One guy is the Jeep guy I wanted to bring to Geneva...His Jeep makes the Jeeps at Geneva look like matchbox cars. We could have possibly used his winching abilities.

I gotta find someone to ride shotgun with me though because I have to bartend Friday night. I usually don't get home till around 3:30 am Sat. morning....

I'm sure they will chime in if they plan on going. Last I heard they all had some kind of damage (tie rods and centerlinks)

I should beable to make it, unless something dredfully wrong goes on with the install, electrical and pluming the air lines are all done. Only thing left is switching out the 3rd member, setting backlash and gear mesh, and drilling the hole in the casing for the bulkhead fittings. Got that planned for thursday. I'll let you know then for sure.

If you guys are planning on taking 394 to 41 out there, we could meet up at the Shell Station on 394 and Steger rd. and convoy out. This is where the people around the chicagoland area usually meet to convoy out. It's about 15 mins south of I-80, there is a Shell Station, McDonalds, and Harley Davidson dealership at this point.

BTW they (badlands) requires you to put an orange flag on your truck before entering the trails. You could pick one up at your local Walmart for like $3 or buy one at the park for about $10.

If I was still in Geneva, I would be there in a heartbeat. Have fun! BroncoX....do you have those pics yet?

Sway bar on or off? and which Country Donuts are we meeting at? The one in Crystal Lake? And then one more question...Which route are we taking? Should we try to meet up with Joe at that Shell/McDonalds?

I would like to come along, but I don't want to break anything so far from home. Maybe I will come along and take it easy..... :rolleyes:

Hawk, we can meet at crystal lake Country Donuts.
then meet up with Pinoy at the shell station. I'm thinking he ment 294 not 394. Rear sway bar off. Red flag on.

How many trucks do we have coming at this point?
At last count it was Pinoy, Hawk, rfritz and myself.

Roofgoat. are you in?

Is that donut place in Indiana or Illinois? I will be in the back lot behind the main building. Does anyone have a ETA on their arrival? Thanks -

Oh yeah - channel 9 on the Citizens Band.

I may have problems......MIGHT not be able to make it.

I went wheelin last night (ok....it was this morning at 2 AM) in the field behind Countryside Nursery in Crystal Lake with the owner of Countryside. He had a brand new Z71, and ended up getting it stuck on an incline in a pile of mud. He didn't take off his step rails, and burried them in the hill he was trying to climb. He burried them so far, the mud came up to the doors. He was lucky he gould get his doors open. On my way off the top of the mound (I went up a different way) to pull him out, I got stuck as well. :rolleyes: Burried my frame in the mud!

We tried digging it out, but had no luck. Luckily, one of the people riding with us has a Blazer ZR-2. They went and got it, but were clueless as to how to pull out a stuck truck. I ended up pulling my X off the hill. The Blazer didn't have the balls to get the Z71 out though(even though it has a stronger engine), so I used the X, took three hard yanks, and SOMEHOW, pulled him out(when I say hard, I mean bone jarring hard! I'm surprised I didn't break the stock tow hook!).

He ended up messing up his front bumper, cracking a huge chunk of his driver side rear fender, and somehow got a barbed wire fence wrapped around his rear axle and shreded his brake line!

I went and started my X this morning, and had no problem starting it, but it sounded like I may have seperated, or put a hole somewhere in my exhaust. It was also riding MUCH more roughly than normal. When the engine heated up, the rough sounding muffler sounded normal again, but the ride still didn't feel right.

I'm hoping it's just a case of caked on mud, but I won't know until tomorrow if I can make it. I'm going to wash it tonight and try to get all the mud off the frame and out of all the crevaces on the X, and pray to God that thats all it is.

I'll keep you posted.... :rolleyes:

As for the Doughnut shop it is in Northern Illinois. Hawk let me know if you are in or out asap. Pinoy, are you still in or not? My little guy is out but I may stil be in if everyone is still going.

As of now I am in - let me know if there are any changes.

Its looking like I'm out My exhaust is fine, but I think I may have done something to either my drivetrain or my transmission. The ride right now is almost unbearably rough. I'm not sure if I should put more strain on it until I know exactly whats wrong with it....

Everything looks good for me on this end. Just finished the install. So far the truck runs good.

Are we still on for this run?

Broncox post up if you are 100% sure, would hate to drive 2hrs down there and find out I'm the only one there. Let me know if you want to caravan out and we could meet along the way.

I guess we'll meet in the upper parking lot right behind the check in building (not the lower lot by the place everybody eats at), is that correct Randy?... I'll be tuned into channel 9 on the cb and/or frs.

That works for me - what time though? Are we all shooting for right at opening? They open at 9am.

How about 10am Attica, IN. time. You guys don't honor daylight savings so you are 1 hour ahead of us this time of year. This way the guys up in crystal lake don't have to leave 5 in the morning.

It's gonna be crazy muddy there tomorrow! It has been pouring all day WOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!