Rock crawling trails have defeated many types of vehicles. The Rubicon trail near Lake Tahoe, California is no exception. Dotted with thick pine forests surrounded by huge granite bowls, jetting outcroppings of rock and fresh water lakes the Rubicon attracts all who love to enjoy the outdoors. For me it was the perfect venue to test our Project Rhino's trail ability...
Our group consisted of well 7 equipped Jeeps, one narrowed Chevy full-size buggy and our Project Mega Titan -a decent sized group for a 3-day escape from civilization and the daily grind of work.
Our Project Rhino was built for sand dunes, Baja prerunning and pit support. I never intended to take the rig over a serious rock crawling trail. As such, it was equipped with a Fabtech long-travel suspension, Warn winch and front bumper, Mastercraft seats and a Rigid Industries radius roll cage. The idea of piloting the rig through the Rubicon came to me as my hopes of getting the Teal Brute finished in time went out the window with an unexpected drive train issue. I'll get into that another time. So the Rhino was kinda my fill-in ride for a trip where I'd rather not be a passenger. Looking back, I wish I'd ridden in my friends TJ instead.
The Rhino has a CVT or Constant Velocity Transmission. Essentially this consists of a drive belt that runs between two sheaves or pulleys that can change size to alter the drive ratio. The ratio changes infinitely up to a specific speed. Kind of like a mountain bike with an automatic gear selector instead of a derailer and a belt instead of a chain. The belt is much like one you would find on a motorcycle. While this type of drive system works well for high speed performance, (or low speeds without large boulders in the way) it doesn't work well for situations where belt slippage is necessary for forward momentum. About 1/4 of the way into the trail I realized the belt on my Rhino was likely getting a serious workout as I piloted the little side x side over large rock obstacles at low speed. It didn't take long for me to change my driving habits to preserve the drive belt. I found that if I picked a line through the terrain, committed to it and hit it with a little momentum, I could keep the belt-slippage to a minimum. This sprint through the tough sections was very hard on other parts of the Rhino, especially the steering.
Once at Buck Island lake, I pulled the cover from the steering wheel to inquire about some slop that was slowly developing in the steering. Yamaha obviously never intended for Rhino's to go rock crawling, especially with a long-travel suspension system. The wider suspension system intensifies required steering input due to the changes in steering geometry. Rhino's do not have power steering, so my arms got a real work out all day. When I remove the inspection/access cover of the steering wheel I found the plastic hub of the steering wheel was starting to crack apart. Not good...
To fix this we welded a socket to the steering column and the metal hub that connects the plastic to the splined hub. Then we added a section of flat strap that could be bolted to the steering wheel where the inspection/access cover snapped in.
Leaving the Con proved to be the toughest on the little Rhino. The granite slabs with large ledges and off-camber climbs required hard throttle application and no hesitation. by the time I made it to the top, one rear inboard CV joint had let loose. So now I was three legged. Driving in three wheel drive over some of the gnarliest terrain on earth takes a little creativity. Some ledges required that I turn the vehicle around and back up to maintain momentum.
At a certain point I decided to cut my losses and simply hook up a strap to the Mega Titan so that I wouldn't further damage the machine.
Once through the area around Little Sluice, I disconnected the tow strap and continued my trudge towards Loon Lake. I made it all the way to gate keeper, less than 5-minuets from the trailer when the left front steering tie-rod let go. Out came the welder again.
At the end of the day I decided this was the last time I would attempt the Rubicon in a vehicle with only 6-inches of ground clearance and 26-inch tall tires.
At least our Project Rhino mad it to Rubicon Springs, a feat we're pretty sure most side x sides cannot claim.