Johnson Valley is my favorite!  The wheeling in the rocks out there is the best.  But it isn't for everyone.  You must be willing to do body damage and break things as the rocks out there are not forgiving.  We spent a weekend out there in November, 2000, with six vehicles.  Five of them suffered some sort of problem.  The toll for the weekend was:

• One sidewall punctured - Dion in the CJ
• One broken rear FJ40 axel - Phil in the Cruiser
• Three Toyota Burfields (one had to be changed in the field) - Peter (2) and Steve (1)
• One twisted off rear drive shaft - Eric in the Flattie
• One snapped rear pinion shaft - John with his Cruiser

Peter was the first to feel the hit.  We were not very far into the trail when his left front Burfield let go.  Having spare parts, air tools and a lot of experience within the crew, we had a new axel and Burfield in place in about an hour.

Dion felt the wrath of the rocks next with a punctured tire.  The left rear let go with a hole in the sidewall.  However, we were able to plug it and using the on-board air, we were moving again in about ten minutes.

I (Phil) was the next victim.  While attempting to climb one of the water falls, I snapped the left rear axel.  Even though I didn't think I used too much gas, the Marlin Crawler gears, V-8 with automatic transmission and Detroit locked 4:88 gears put too much pressure on the wheel.  Snap!!  Scratch one axel.  I had a spare and after about another hour and a half, we were again on the trail.

Eric was the next victim.  We were nearing the end of the trail when he twisted the rear drive shaft of the flattie.  Using some scrap angle iron and the onboard Premier welders, we put it back together again and were on the way.  Fix time about one hour.

By now it was dark and we were doing a night run.  John was the last one to feel the wrath of the Outer Limits.  As we neared the end he snapped a pinion shaft.  (We later discovered the reason was that the traction bar had broken earlier in the day.)  This was serious, as the design of the Cruiser differential will not allow the vehicle to move forward with a broken pinion shaft.  John was in the middle of the trail and we had to move his rig before the rest of us could get by.  The alternative was to go back down the trail.  We opted not to do that.  Instead we winched John's Cruiser off to the side using Scott's Warn 9000i and a couple of  Hi-Lift jacks.  We lifted the Cruiser from the side and winched it sideways until it had turned 90 degrees, moving it  far enough off the trail to allow the rest of us to clear.  John would come back the next day with a new third member.  (He has since installed a full floating third member from a newer FJ60.)

This was a fantastic day even with the problems.  It once again confirmed my love for the rocks, and in particular those in the Johnson Valley OHV area.  I can't wait to go back to do more carnage.