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Golden Mountain Dixie Run 2017

2K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  paulevans76 
#1 ·
Sooo last week Andrew and I made it out to the Southern Four Wheel Drive annual Dixie Run.
This is the 31st annual event and it was held at Golden Mountain offroad park just north of Sparta TN.
This place had clubs from all over the South and probably a thousand or more hardcore wheelers in attendance.
The club I'm in, probably the oldest in the Southeast, the Carolina Trailblazers, was probably the largest crowd next to Jeeps and Wrenches from TN.

There was some good wheelin on the slippery *** limestone rock they have there and food trucks, rc crawling and a HUGE raffle.
Wanted to share the pics and video I got from the few days.
If anyone is interested in catching up next year and going, holler at me.

I've been planning on this for weeks and even washed the truck for the haul.

Managed to make a few large magnets the same as the planet skull sticker and slapped them on the Dodge for the 6 hour haul.

Caught with a few friends and caravaned the rest of the way in. Even had a blowout on 40 just past Knoxville.



Got unloaded, went through tech inspection, set up camp and headed out on unknown trails. Ended up going straight through the a trail called the Jungle.
THese guys were having a blast trying to get the Yota up the slippery rock.
We followed them up and around and then up the ladder. Had to winch up because someone forgot to lock the passenger hub. :roll:



Took a few medium/yellow trails around and the rode around to catch up with a few long time friends.
Who eventually talked me into going up Copperhead road.

oh and here is a badass buggy my friend Chris built. I'm talking some badass buggies were here.

So we head out at night behind some big *** V8 buggies up a really really tough trail. I've gotten up stuff like this before but this rock is different. There is no control and its slippery as **** with no grip. Ended up getting winched down. The guy who was helping me with his snatchblock ended up rolling sideways. No joke.
Check out these rocks. Now I've done Mason Jar in Harlan so I know how to wheel up **** like this but the slippery limestone here is no joke.

trees trees everywhere they jump out of nowhere LOL


Decided to call it a night after heading back down and go tear apart the truck to see what we broke.
Check out these rigs. Beauties.


Here is a full float FZJ80 snapped rear axle shaft and NO it ain't supposed to be in my hand!

Yes I have spares but I never though I'd break one of these!
I ended up driving to KY to get one from a yard I found on car-part.com and I had a few friends that were driving up on Friday get me my spares from my shed.
Nice to have good wheeling buds, I tell ya.
Broke a dowel pin too. Hardened steel dammit.


chipped a damn spider gear inside the ARB too!

Headed out to KY.

Twisted the spline a bit too!

Can't take all the pics while driving.
THe inside field used to be a dirt track.

Headed to KY:

Only good part about the shape of TN, is that you can be in a few states in an hour either direction if you North or South but Hell no not East or West. hahahha


I kid you not, we got it all back together and headed out on some evening runs and night runs. Had a freakin blast!

Even found some mud!


Day 3 here we come. Now mind how clean the truck still is here. It rained during the raffle and oh boy were the trails fun that night.

These guys did some racing on Saturday. Got video I'll post up here soon.

Had an airleak, the rear wouldn't hold. I think we busted a seal somewhere. I reran the line but oh well. Kept on wheeling. At least I have a front locker.


(spoken in a David Attenborough voice...) "Here you can see the isuzu in its natural habitat."

Found some good trails.

They ended up closing a trail because of a hole near the top. Man I tell you could fall in there and end up in China.
 
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#2 ·
Part 2...





Here is the top of the Moon Trail where the buggies were doing not a "race" but a "timed event". :)


This guy caught fire when his hydraulic steering line busted. Least he was safe and it went out quickly.

CHeck out the tube work.
Badass.

I have video I'm going to post soon. BUt here are a few shots of the race.


This guy broke his studs at the knuckle.

Lots of HP and bouncing. I'm betting those studs were already on their way out.

I switched sides to get a better angle.

This guy got all the way to top, finished then broke his steering arm. Probably had the biggest damn tires out there.


Parking for the raffle before the storm hits.

I didn't win anything but all our money goes to SFWD and they work on conserving places for us to wheel. Especially after that Tellico crap, we need all the places on South East we can get.
Our money in SFWD goes to things like the Daniel Boone Back Country Highway. So if you can get involved in SFWD or United Four Wheel Drive, or Tread Lightly, please do.
We sat up front, but there was a thousand people sitting behind us.

And now for some sloppy *** night wheeling!




And now the aftermath. We towed it back and still haven't cleaned it.


Such a great drive back to NC!





More adventures to follow y'all.
I'll post the videos here soon.
And hope to catch some of ya at the Uwharrie Halloween event.
If I can get the rear ARB fixed by then!
 
#3 ·
Love it man, maybe I can have my pile together and ready for next year.
 
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