Bronco SS,First trail run, Holopawlooza!

[Revelation]

Day Started great, Finally met Franko, all I can say about him is, no matter where you live, you need to meet Franko, it will be worth the trip. Then Drivers meeting, decide which run to go on, chose the easy run due to tires and being the first trail run.
After the drivers meeting we headed to the powerlines for a "clean" group photo, then we split.

Trail was sugar sand, followed by some mud, nothing bad, but Florida Mud. For about the first 45 min. all was well, hit one spot I stopped slid her into 4L, and crawled right thru. That was the last time I used 4L all day, Found out the 300 with the 435's granny gear was more than sufficient.

Trail started to get a little wetter, and deeper, No issues, looking good, feeling good, came to another water crossing, little deeper, crawled right thru, Wait what is that noise? Pulled over and found the noise, 1 blade on the flex fan (Yea guess what I am replacing) had bent in the water and destroyed the radiator. Well what to do, the guys then said there is a 4 core on the for sale trailer, Off to get it went Darren. He returned about 20 min later with the 4 core, a little "surgery" to the upper mounts (3 core Mounts) the radiator was in. What a cooling difference, with the 3 core I ran about 160, the 4 core ran 125 all day, No I do not have a thermostat.

After the carnage that was the radiator I was a little more observant to deep water. We all met for lunch about an hour later and group photo.

Then off we went to finish the run and back to the camp, found alot of mud, and I am very pleased with how Chipper performed. The 300 was flawless, never missed a beat, and 4H was all I used thanks to the 435. In one spot I saw the water was deeper than I wanted to try and took an alternate trail thru some trees, got a few scratches on the fenders, a little polish should take care of them, and scratches are alot cheaper than a second radiator for the day.

After we went back to camp, watched Franko replace a blown hub it was time to head home, P/S felt funny, but it is just a loose belt, and the brakes feel a little different, it is 4 Wheel disc, so I will check it out in the morning, A quick bath, and hosed off under, she was ready to go back in the garage. A great day on the trail, even with the minor carnage, she performed as I had imagined as I was building her.
Things I found out about Chipper.
1. the 12:50 wide tires keep alot of mud off the truck, but it does find it's way in the passenger area.

2. A little bit bigger, more aggressive, tires, and an electric fan I should be more than capable of any run here in Florida, even with the Open diffs and near bald 33's, I had little issue with the mud.

3. No doors = Mud will find you.

I think someone got a picture of Chipper in action, but will have to wait and see if it gets posted.

 

[SDlivin]

Looks like a fun time. Glad to hear that thing worked out and a spare radiator was close enough to salvage the day.

So... You telling me that water alone bent the flex fan?
How deep were these puddles?

 

[Revelation]

The one that killed the flex fan was about 3 foot deep. Flex fans are notorious for "Flexing" into radiators when water is involved.

 

[Revelation]

Well after a night in the garage, I pulled Chipper out to give it a once over. No leaks, found one small dent on the oil pan where the front diff tapped it. Other than that no issues. Very happy with how the 300 performed yesterday. Only thing I have found is I need to tighten the P/S belt.
Things I will be giving attention to.
1. Fan, the Flex will be going goodbye! I am thinking Electric if I can find one that will fit, it is tight in there, I had 1½ inches of clearance, with the 4 core I only have about an inch.
2. I am thinking of a custom oil pan, if I would have hit a larger hole could have been major, just looking out for the future.
3. Tires are still high on the list.

As a whole, the trip was awesome, got to see how the 300 would perform, most of the day was spent in the 500-1500 RPM range, with only a few higher, just to check out the throttle response.