- 7 weeks ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00the build for off-road adventure rolls on and this week we trade big bears lush forests for
00:11the brutal desert and rocks of Johnson Valley California home to King of the Hammers these
00:19legendary trails are a proving ground giant boulders violent climbs and non-stop punishment
00:26after conquering some of the toughest terrain on earth we'll kick back and recharge in our desert
00:34oasis enough talking let's ride it's day two of the build for off-road adventure ride now so far
00:45we have conquered the hard trails here in big bear California we went ran John Bowl and Gold Mountain
00:51and had a great time doing it today we are headed to one of my favorite places to go off-roading on
00:58the west coast Johnson Valley California and the Hammers trails now with us we have Brad Lovell now
01:05Brad Lovell is rock sports royalty he is king of rock crawling king of ultra four and he knows the
01:12desert like nobody's business so it's going to be awesome to see him and his son out there conquering
01:16some trails so our plan right now is to get all the vehicles loaded up on trailers we're going to
01:21leave big bear head right down to Johnson Valley California get on the lake bed and we're going to
01:28laser town where we're going to set up a home base and then we're going to hit some really hard trails all
01:34day long now first day it was a blast kind of a warm-up now we did what Golden Mountain Trail John Bowl
01:42uh was the name of trail we did and it was fun I had a few obstacles on it that's where I found
01:47out that that 14 bolt axle tube who slipped right inside the differential so we got that repaired but
01:53overall man I'd say that was some great wheelings the fascination I have is just the maker type
01:59personality that all of you bring to your rigs every rig's a little bit different and to see all those
02:05different rigs actually all be able to make it up the obstacles in their own unique way dude it was it was
02:10amazing a learning experience for me as well rock crawling is like death at two miles an hour but
02:15it is so fun man so fun and it really exposes the complete waste of tax dollars and paid roads
02:21this was probably the first time I've gone jeeping or rock crawling a lot of off-camber stuff that we
02:29don't normally experience out in the desert so new experience that John Bowl seemed a little bit more
02:33tame um Gold Mountain had a little bit more tight technical obstacles after day one it's been great
02:39really looking forward to getting down to Johnson Valley I'm more familiar with and going and seeing
02:43those trails obviously have seen King of the Hammer so familiar with those trails but to actually go out
02:47and experience them really looking forward to that pulling into laser town you are immediately immersed
02:54into the crazy brain that is Cody Wagner laser-cut cactus line the entrance and dinosaurs peek out from
03:03behind the scrub brush hammocks to the only palm tree you'll find in this desert this is our home base
03:10for Johnson Valley later tonight when we're done wheeling it'll become our Dometic Oasis but for now
03:17there's rocks to climb over we're gonna go up sledge possibly down Jack we're gonna go over maybe do a
03:23little bit of Bender Alley the whole goal will be to finish out at Chocolate Thunder and then come back here at the
03:27the end of the night because I got a super cool taco truck coming here and feeding everybody yay tacos
03:32and we're off out of laser town through the metal gates and into the open desert we'll regroup at the
03:41base of sledgehammer our main trail for the day Onyx Maps rates this trail a 9 out of 10 so it doesn't get
03:50much tougher than this the goal is to climb sledgehammer all the way to the iconic mailbox that sits at over
03:573,000 feet of elevation sledgehammer officially became a trail in the early 90s and it was the
04:04very first hammers style trail in Johnson Valley we enter the Rock Canyon amazed that it took millions
04:12of years to carve this route but mother nature changes it every time you show up
04:22it's a technical rock crawl from start to finish and it's a good thing that the carbon off-road guys
04:27brought their winch because there's going to be plenty of winching today through tight squeezes
04:32and off-camber ledges and it didn't take long for our first break oh looks like the front might be
04:42u-bolt so it's probably a 9 16 or a half man I made up that a cool little obstacle and that over-extended
04:49the front end so the drive shaft slip yoke which goes here right it just over-extended and it came
04:56out so now we're trying to line it up stick it back in stick the rejoint back in and we're good to go
05:01it's a minor issue problem just small delays we like to say you always want to bring spare drive
05:09shafts when you're on the trail but I think Willie might be able to actually fix his slip yoke issue
05:15with this Carlisle tool bag having the right tools out here is essential because when you break in
05:21Johnson Valley there's no limping it back to camp that's why we rely on strong dependable Carlisle
05:27tools and if you happen to break a tool on the trail just take it to any Napa store they'll swap
05:32it out for a new one free of charge but you have to get there first I didn't have my tools with this
05:42but I rode with the Carlisle tool person and he had the perfect set of tools for us so every time we
05:47would break fail or something would come unglued he was there with the tools and the necessities to
05:54get us back on the road Carlisle came equipped and that's what saved this and kept us you know kept
05:59wheeling all week it's such a cool deal to get out here it's been a while since we've been trail
06:18wheeling and seeing other rigs that are functioning differently working differently different design
06:24ideas and watching where each one excels and different driving styles I'm laughing a little
06:29bit because we're driving around with helmets and Ian's got headset on other people having closed
06:35cabs so it's been a fun trip I've built multiple different rigs this one I built to be good at one
06:46thing and that is slow crawling up giant rocks it's not fast it's not like comfortable particularly but
06:51it's awesome for finding big boulders and going over the top it really does I mean I was I was kind
06:55of like on the rock I was about three or four feet away from you and you just it's like everything's
07:00just flexing and crawling it looked like an insect yeah yeah and I mean that as a compliment
07:04just the first of many obstacles we'll face on sledgehammer here in Johnson Valley next we'll keep
07:13running this trail and then we'll take a look at some of the cool stuff that Dometic brought out
07:18to make our desert a true oasis
07:21it's slow going on sledgehammer out here in Johnson Valley for this year's build for off-road adventure
07:41ride we've got a great group with us Brad and Adam Lovell in their AMSOIL race car Pierre
07:48piloting the Duplicolor tube buggy and Nate Pickle in his Suzuki Samurai rocking those power stop
07:56brakes Nate's going to be leaning hard on those brakes as he navigates the rock ledges and off-camber
08:03squeezes along this iconic trail so Nate you're out here repping power stop brakes this week which is
08:12cool I know we've been working with them for over 10 years I think how long has your relationship been
08:16uh it's been about six it's been phenomenal and now I get to do cool stuff like this so I have to
08:20imagine you know looking at the mountains and whatnot that a good braking system is extremely
08:24important yes and not just in the way of having to stop from going down big mountains but also if
08:30you're just like a anchor for somebody else you know someone's trying to winch to you and go up you
08:35need crazy good clamping force so they don't drag you down to their problems I was gonna say like if
08:39somebody doesn't have that it has to be very apparent right you're like oh he does not have
08:45good brakes as he comes bouncing down it's not just in the performance but in their stressful face yes
08:50it never fails on sledgehammer at some point everyone ends up winching it was pretty interesting
09:01watching the different techniques each driver used to work their way through the rock canyon
09:06you could possibly do like up this crap and up but it's gonna get super tippy
09:12let me look at this other side for a second Willie B used a strategically placed boulder and his
09:21carbon off-road snatch strap after a few attempts in their Cherokee but Dan from carbon off-road used
09:29that same snatch strap to pull himself through the obstacle with Brad Lovell spotting and guiding
09:35them through the rocks the winching that we saw this week was a really great example of what having
09:43a winch on your vehicle can actually provide in terms of capability when you're out here you're super
09:49remote you can get into some pretty tricky situations that you might not foresee improves a
09:54couple things I always take cable rig always take somebody that can winch you out of scenarios and
10:00situations like that and all the gear that you need the peak rig made it up without the winch and got a
10:08nice round of applause but Johnny and the pedal commander truck had to pull a cable let's check out this
10:18iconic full-bodied Dodge pickup when I came in and I love all the trucks that are here the jeeps they
10:25all they're great dude you're the only pickup truck right the only real truck so gladiators don't count
10:30with with my with my trucks gone wild background obviously I gravitate towards the truck if people
10:37don't know better they look and they go what's that truck doing out here so when I first started
10:41rock crawling this truck obviously it wasn't like this but it's always been pretty capable 119 inch
10:47wheelbase and it does weigh quite a bit so and its current farm at 7800 mounts loaded up like this not for
10:54like a week-long trip I'm heavier you know it's funny it weighs a lot but it helps it actually it
11:00helps greatly with traction the wheelbase doesn't hurt me at all actually 100 at 119 it actually helps
11:07me more than anything well I know all day yesterday dude I mean because I was riding with you for the
11:11most part but I like to get out and watch and you were just you were just right up and over everything
11:15I don't even I don't think I saw you hit reverse once yesterday this truck even have reverse I don't even know
11:20this is the point on sledgehammer where the ride shifted from winching to braking first Willie snapped
11:29his drive shaft while he was working his way along the trail luckily that's why we always pack spare
11:35parts and good thing we did because right after that I broke my drive shaft as well while trying to
11:44winch off a rock I've gotten high centered on fortunately it was a quick fix we pulled out a few
11:49tools from the Carlisle kit made the trail side repair and got back on the rocks for more punishment
11:56so I kind of got into a mess that I should never been in I should have been over there but I was over
12:00here on this rock and then I tagged the drive shaft and broke it so luckily I had spares so put some
12:06things in there and now I'm gonna try and back out of this mess and drive over there where I should have
12:10been in the first place how do you like this rock crawling stuff brother you know this is cool dude
12:20I you know what I'm the one that's out of place out here yeah though because you know I'm the mud guy
12:26right right this is I see why people like this it's addicting huh it is dude and it's beautiful it's cool
12:32but like I said everybody's been cool to me I'm like the the hot chick that starts at a new school
12:37you know you get a lot of attention why are you at white why do you think you're in my ring
12:41so that's what's so addicting about it because you look at something go there's no way I'm gonna
12:49get over that but at the same time a little finesse some articulation obviously and it's a game of
12:55inches you'll hit a trail and you won't make it and you'll move over to the right three inches and
12:59you'll make it
13:00boy we got hammered yes we did get hammered and I gotta tell you man sledgehammer I had a wash out
13:10recently a lot of rain so new boulder placement uh big holes massive rocks it was uh it was a pretty
13:16epic day of wheeling a few breaks but man nothing we couldn't handle with the equipment we had that's
13:21right all in all is epic really amazing some of those boulders are larger than the trucks yeah
13:26with all the winching and breakage behind us we're finally closing in on the end of sledgehammer
13:32from here we'll head up to the iconic mailbox and decide whether to push on to jack or make our way
13:41back to camp all right so we made it the top of sledge the top of sledge is the mailbox it's kind
13:45of iconic Willie how would you do today it's pretty good man all for well you broke some of this broke a
13:50little part man figure that added to the pile add it to the pile right there boom there we go so
13:55after a day like today spending all day in the desert conquering one trail in about six hours
13:59which is kind of what I thought we'd do now it's time to go to the Dometic Oasis and enjoy a nice
14:05relaxing time here under the sun
14:07after a full day of wheeling in Johnson Valley nothing feels better than rolling into a little
14:28comfort in the middle of nowhere our home base is laser town but with help from our friends at Dometic
14:34this small cluster of palm trees got transformed into a true oasis we've got an air-conditioned van
14:42charging stations for all our gear a taco truck and plenty of comfortable seating what more could
14:48you ask for let's check out these awesome rigs so we're fresh off the trail with minimal breakage
14:55everybody's just exhausted and we are so happy to come back here to the oasis at laser town this place
15:01is awesome when I talk about the oasis it's the palm trees it's the only trees that you can see for
15:07miles right Jimmy you know what I mean but here we are dude and now we are camped up and you guys have
15:12got everything that we need we are all campers at heart as front runner we wanted to provide solutions
15:17for people that are either weekenders or overland expeditioners we're miles from town you know we
15:23don't have power so we need to charge things and you guys have solutions for that absolutely we have
15:28battery systems we have solar panels to charge your batteries we have more inverter setups and
15:33different sort of power configuration depending on what you need another problem is we're miles from
15:37hotels sometimes people don't want to drive all the way back into town and we've got solutions for that
15:41you have a tent it's ten feet above the ground so you don't have any of the little critters that may
15:46bug you at night and disturb your sleep bothering you so I'm from the East Coast right so I you guys have
15:51scorpions and stuff out here right those are bad really bad yeah but back here we got the coolers grills
15:57everything we have our KDAC grilling system here and it's actually you know if you don't want to
16:01grill over fire there's a pan there for you if you really are just looking for something quick on your
16:07way in grab a oven ready pizza out of the freezer at the grocery store throw on the pizza stone cook
16:12it in here it's almost like you guys called me and said what are the things Matt Steel would need when
16:17he is out here so you know years ago you might say ah I don't know if I want to stay out there for
16:20three days but with the products that you guys have you can absolutely nice job man it's great to have
16:26you guys out here you making our lives easier the cool thing is you don't have one vehicle here you've
16:31got another one and I know this is set up to be like a chase vehicle for trucks that run these type
16:36of competitions out here so it's a little bit different so tell me about that yeah so we've
16:40got the Ranger Raptor here one of our favorite trucks this one specifically you know we have a
16:45pro bed rack system like we have an f-150 yeah beautiful system offers so much flexibility for the
16:51Ranger though we really wanted something that was more purpose-built we're not hauling you know
16:55four-wheelers or appliances in the back of this truck it's not for utilitarian things around town
17:00I mean this is specific built so now we got room back here room up there room on the roof and we can
17:06do that and you can be a chase vehicle exactly we've already looked at some trucks I've already eaten some
17:16tacos and I got my friend Owen here with the coolest thing that I think here is because this is like an
17:22Oasis all by itself right exactly this van is completely solar powered battery powered no need
17:27for generator no need to be plugged in so out here like in the desert this thing is going to give you
17:32all the comforts at home completely self-supported because other vans I mean like you look at some of
17:37the Sprinter vans out there like yeah it's got AC and it's got kind of stuff but it's still none of
17:41that stuff is designed to run off a battery no but this has got AC running off a battery correct so talk
17:47me through that process so our fresh jet air conditioner 48 volt air conditioner completely
17:52battery-powered max draw 35 amps so it's gonna be super efficient on your power system so if someone
17:58has a van that has that 110 AC can they ditch that and replace it with this 48 volt yes and is that a
18:04simple swap or is that a whole new refit or how does that work so the swap into the hole where the air
18:09condition go that's pretty easy with our power board that we have it's completely pre-wired you install
18:14that and there is a little bit of wiring between the two and then that's all you need but no new
18:18holes in the roof right no new holes in the roof you said how many hours of battery life has this
18:22one got it depends on what you're running off it but if I was running that air conditioner at max
18:25I'd be getting over you know five six plus hours depends on how much sun's coming back in obviously
18:30if it's sunny we're bringing power in and as we're using power out and then but when and then when
18:34you drive to your next spot the van is recharging that power wall as well right yep if you're plugged
18:39into your alternate your van will just charge the system back up as well yeah so when you move from space to
18:42pace when you stop there you're once again 100 self-sufficient correct that's awesome love it
18:47so if you're looking for an oasis in the desert get you one of those Dometic band packages
18:51it's amazing how comfortable you can be in the middle of nowhere with the right Dometic gear
18:58they even had a couple of extra Dometic cfx coolers that we strapped onto our rigs for tomorrow
19:04and we're definitely gonna need them because tomorrow we're headed back into johnson valley
19:10for an even tougher trail backdoor
19:13it's day three of the adventure ride and we are still based out of laser town where we camped
19:32overnight in our Dometic tents after a solid night and our little oasis were refreshed and ready for
19:38another day on the trail our rigs are prepped and topped off with the proper amsoil fluids we always
19:44pack extra blister packs of synthetic gear lube perfect for trail repairs with little to no mess
19:49when you need to top up your fluids in the desert with a tough obstacle like backdoor ahead of us
19:54gear temperatures can climb fast so using the right lube is crucial and speaking of someone who knows
20:00about both amsoil and the johnson valley trails hall of fame off-roader brad lovell is here to give us
20:06some tips on tackling the ever-changing backdoor waterfall you do understand this as well don't
20:12you yeah absolutely we've gone up in the race we've come down in the race and there's always
20:16drama are you driving or is your son driving well i think i'm gonna give my son adam a shot at it this
20:20year and see what he can do the good news is is there's like two feet of sand in the hole that's
20:24normally here yeah i think the bad news is it gets dug out pretty quick with your 42s i will i'll try not
20:29to i promised everybody i'm gonna try not to dig it out too hard so since you've been on it so often
20:34what's what's the level line well the level line during the race is winch it but when we're out here
20:40having fun i think the idea is get your driver's side tire kind of in the crack skirt around this
20:44boulder here and crawl the front up slap the rear end and then you know if it starts coming around
20:49to the left get off the throttle back down before bad things happen try it again because we don't want
20:53to be this way we want to be this way right all right yeah if we if we go over here you know it's not
20:57that bad maybe you can back off but it's pretty much a one shot slap the rear end and go yeah it's
21:02going to be a one shot make it or don't make it yeah that's my plan at least things are just getting
21:09started here on one of the toughest obstacles in the country on the next build for off-road adventure
21:16ride we'll show you who makes it up back door and who doesn't plus we'll check out the route 66
21:23museum in kingman arizona where a car show breaks out in the parking lot
21:27and take a trek to a hidden moss-covered mansion in the mountains
21:36and take a look at the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to the entrance to
Comments