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I went to 4x4 school!
I signed up for and attended day one and two of Badlands Adventures 4x4 training. The instructor Tom Severin is a certified professional 4WD Trainer by the International 4-Wheel Drive Trainers Association, there are only about 15 of these guys on the planet as far as I can tell. He is also a Wilderness First Responder which means he has special first aid training. Also as far as I know he has a black belt in 4x4 awesomeness and Jedi mind powers that make you follow him through some crazy terrain. Honestly, and I have said this before, I am a total newb to the sport but I think after two days of training with Tom I feel much more confident in my driving and my vehicle.
Advice is worth what you pay for it and I would rather learn from someone who has years of experience than my own mistakes or random people on a run with their own time interests in mind and not my own.
Day 1 we spent half the day in class learning about gearing, tire pressure, suspension, recovery gear, terrain types, hi-lifts and lots of factoids and working examples. We spent the second half of the day using the Hungry Valley practice area getting a feel for climbs, descents, climbing rocks, trying to get stuck and unstuck and other fun 4x4 things. We had 2 FJ's, 1 stock, and 2 pickups in the class. Tom and his other instructor use Jeeps. After the practice area we went out to do a trail run, we hit a wash, some big ruts, a few climbs etc. Part way through the run we found out some guy had dumped his quad off a steep hill. The quad driver was OK but we decided to divert to help him recover his ride. I got to use my winch to and other recovery gear I brought to haul this thing up about 20 feet up a hill side. We finished the day with some steep hill climbs.
Day 2 we spent doing a few exercises at the practice area then running trails for about 6 hours. I got to hit a lot of things in the park. I lost track of how many trails we did but Tom always took the time to explain anything I did right or wrong.
I got to ding up my rear bumper slightly, I got some good pin stripes now and I smacked my rock rails a few times. The FJ did awesome though and I am loving it more and more.
Things I learned (personal not course wise, I want you all to see Tom for the good info)
1) Get tire deflaters
2) Look into CO2, I am too lazy to stand around waiting for my compressor
3) Lock everything down, I had most things tied down but anything that wasn't went flying a few times
4) Wear more sun screen, even in the cab it's not hard to get some sun
5) Hitting rocks sounds worse than it usually is (i expect this to change as I hit sharper rocks)
6) Getting wheels in the air makes for cool pictures but bad control
Anyway, if you have not gone I recommend Tom's class. I am going to look into signing up for some more to supplement all my other outings.
This is where I found it... http://www.4x4training.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Pics follow a few posts down. The yellow FJ below is someone from this forum and I don't remember his forum name but it was nice to meet and ride with you!
), but we would definitely appreciate your posting the info on this site as well for a few reasons:
