Luke's Ranch, May 26, 2001

On Saturday May 26, James, Dan and I went down to Luke's place in Los Gatos to hang out, put corner protection on my pig and have fun. They brought their dogs. Luke's friend K.C. was already there, and there were plenty of dogs too. We bull-shitted for a little bit, then went for a brief, fun wheeling run on Luke's property. As you can see, I did something stupid and put my 55 on its side. No harm, no foul! Luke's wife Christine came out to say hi with their 2-year-old son Wolfie. Wolfie surveyed the damage and pronounced my turn signal Broken, very solemnly. He and Luke did a little fixing on the turn signal, then Luke, K.C. and I set into doing the rear corner protection. Luke did most of the work, I tried to help. We took a couple breaks, James & Dan took off, Luke, Christine, K.C., Wolfie and I ate a great dinner and near midnight we finished the protection enough to call it good and say goodbye.

Thanks, Luke! Thanks Christine, Wolfie and K.C. Thanks, Dan & James. It was a really fun day, and now I've fixed the one remaining problem area on my 55, just in time for Rubithon!

Wheeling in the redwoods. We were just cruising around Luke's little canyon. It was fun, beautiful and crazy.

More wheeling. That's James & K.C. in the back of the Spider. Oops. We'd just climbed a bank onto the "driveway", and there was a hard left after the climb.

I should have made it a two- or three-point turn, but instead I tried - like a dork - to climb the inside overhang to make the turn. Ajax, K.C. & Luke

Luke & Spider The roll was very slow, in fact I thought it might stop on the nerf, but it just kept going onto its side in s l o w motion.

Mr. Camel Trophy himself. Watch out for that poison oak, Dan! James and the Giant Peach. You can see Dan up the hill. Luke anchoring Dan's jeep and my left rear corner. Dan ran a winch line up to a snatch block connected to a tree saver around a tree, which was above and rearward of my truck, then ran the winch line down to the right side nerf bar. (Thanks, Butch!)

Going up...

...and up. At this point, the jeep was creeping foward, and the Spider's wheels were starting to roll foward too, as my 55 came over. We'd reached stasis, where the anchor and winch lines were both taut. Luke got in, put it in reverse and used the starter to put it on all fours. The left rear tire was squirming at 35psi, I thought it might pop a bead.

Touchdown! Recovered on the first try. Oil was leaking out, but we couldn't tell where it was from. The engine was dry. I think it was gear oil coming out of the shifter hole of the SM465.

Damage was amazingly little. You can see a little depression on the rear roofline. No broken glass. I think I can pull that out. Upper and lower fenders are a little munched. I think I can pound it out. Pig bled a bit, but it started right up and drove away fine. Dan in his Jeep. Luke in the Spider.

No worries. Squirming tire tracks Measuring for the corner panel cut. Cutting a hole with the plasma cutter to place a second clamp.

Plasma cutters rock! I got to do the other side. It's like butta, baby.

More corner panel trimming.

Luke beating the dented panel back into shape. He's good! Timeout for target and skeet shooting. This was fun.

Pull! Panel cut and ready for the 2x4 square tube. K.C. and Ajax on the long skateboard with off-road wheels. That was fun! I've got to get me one of those.

Two more shots of the corner panel ready for the 2x4. The protection tacked in. Note the curve in the rear corner. Luke and K.C. came up with a nice design using a bent 2" OD tube "frenched" (wc?) into the 2x4 tube. Filling the gap between the sheet metal and the curve was a little tricky.

More tacks Here's the finished outside bead. Luke was able to use thicker wire at a low setting on the welder and make a really pretty bead with no holes. It's about 11:30PM in this picture, both outside beads are done, there are tacks on the fronts and backs, and we agree to finish the welds at a later date, since it is late already.

Here are some daylight pics of the rear corners. These will look better once we've finished the welding and I've got some paint on them. Lots more clearance!

Thanks, Luke! That was a great day, a load of fun, and amazing rocker protection done in something like seven hours. Luke does great work, and his place is a lot of fun.

Morgan Fletcher <morgan@off-road.com>
Last modified: Tue May 29 14:23:27 PDT 2001

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Wheeling in the redwoods. We were just cruising around Luke's little canyon. It was fun, beautiful and crazy.

More wheeling. That's James & K.C. in the back of the Spider.			Oops. We'd just climbed a bank onto the "driveway", and there was a hard left after the climb.

I should have made it a two- or three-point turn, but instead I tried - like a dork - to climb the inside overhang to make the turn.			Ajax, K.C. & Luke

Luke & Spider	The roll was very slow, in fact I thought it might stop on the nerf, but it just kept going onto its side in s l o w motion.

Mr. Camel Trophy himself. Watch out for that poison oak, Dan!	James and the Giant Peach. You can see Dan up the hill.	Luke anchoring Dan's jeep and my left rear corner.	Dan ran a winch line up to a snatch block connected to a tree saver around a tree, which was above and rearward of my truck, then ran the winch line down to the right side nerf bar. (Thanks, Butch!)

Going up...

...and up. At this point, the jeep was creeping foward, and the Spider's wheels were starting to roll foward too, as my 55 came over.		We'd reached stasis, where the anchor and winch lines were both taut. Luke got in, put it in reverse and used the starter to put it on all fours. The left rear tire was squirming at 35psi, I thought it might pop a bead.

Touchdown! Recovered on the first try.	Oil was leaking out, but we couldn't tell where it was from. The engine was dry. I think it was gear oil coming out of the shifter hole of the SM465.

Damage was amazingly little. You can see a little depression on the rear roofline. No broken glass. I think I can pull that out.	Upper and lower fenders are a little munched. I think I can pound it out. Pig bled a bit, but it started right up and drove away fine.	Dan in his Jeep.	Luke in the Spider.

No worries.	Squirming tire tracks	Measuring for the corner panel cut.	Cutting a hole with the plasma cutter to place a second clamp.

Plasma cutters rock! I got to do the other side. It's like butta, baby.

More corner panel trimming.

Luke beating the dented panel back into shape. He's good!	Timeout for target and skeet shooting. This was fun.

Pull!	Panel cut and ready for the 2x4 square tube.		K.C. and Ajax on the long skateboard with off-road wheels. That was fun! I've got to get me one of those.

Two more shots of the corner panel ready for the 2x4.		The protection tacked in. Note the curve in the rear corner. Luke and K.C. came up with a nice design using a bent 2" OD tube "frenched" (wc?) into the 2x4 tube. Filling the gap between the sheet metal and the curve was a little tricky.

More tacks	Here's the finished outside bead. Luke was able to use thicker wire at a low setting on the welder and make a really pretty bead with no holes. It's about 11:30PM in this picture, both outside beads are done, there are tacks on the fronts and backs, and we agree to finish the welds at a later date, since it is late already.

Here are some daylight pics of the rear corners. These will look better once we've finished the welding and I've got some paint on them. Lots more clearance!