Dumont, April 30- May 2 by Jim Kastle I received a call from John just as I left Barstow and found he was just a few minutes behind me. We met in Baker and purchased our Dumont passes. We then headed up the road to Dumont. None of our pass money seems to have gone toward grading the road. It is now graveled, but not very smooth. We arrived at camp to find Walt, Chuck with Doug Becker in the Grossman’s new motorhome, Steve Porter, and Dean Carver. They reported there had been a lot of wind Friday. It was rather calm by then, so we hoped for good weather for the weekend. We sat around the campfire, and about 10:30 heard Scott and P.J. on the radio talking about the water crossing. They were soon in camp, with Sandy being the lone female in camp for the weekend. We went to sleep in ideal temperatures. Saturday morning Steve Sturm arrived in time for the morning ride. There was a light wind, and the sand was (Continued on page 2)
charged V6 up and running in Dumont went great, and once again Walt’s yellow frame using P.J.’s old the temperatures were nice and not Megasand trans. He’s really looktoo hot. It was a great end of season ing forward to next season. trip, but not the last trip for club members since Dave Medlin and Dale Downsworth is working on his Walt went to Glamis a few weeks new car, which has an LS1 and later. Read all about it on page 5. Mendeola in a Desert Dynamics frame. He should have it ready for Speaking of Dave Medlin, he has the desert next season. Jeff Oliver’s old 3.8 liter super-
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June 9th: Club Meeting at the Denny’s in Redlands, 7PM July 11th-15th: Some members will be spending time in Mesquite on the way to Coral Pink. July 15th-24th: We’ll be in the part at Coral Pink from Thursday through the following Saturday. July 24th-25th: We’ll spend one more night in Mesquite on the way home.
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very smooth. We covered a lot of ground on a pretty fast paced ride. We picked up a group of tag-a-longs, and on a break found they were from Henderson, and had been featured in a Sand Sports article about retrofitting a VW buggy with water cooled engines. What a concept! They used Subarus instead of Shortstars. We continued the ride until Chuck’s car stopped running. Chuck admitted he had forgotten to fuel the car before the ride, and was out of gas. At least he immediately diagnosed the problem. A few of us made a quick run to camp for some gas, and we were soon back on a good ride. We returned to camp without further incident. After lunch, we went for another ride on the smooth sand. After a long ride, P.J. called on the radio that he was sorry to stop the ride over a little problem, but he had no brakes. When he coasted to a stop it was clear that a weld in the rear suspension had broken, causing the wheel to tilt, binding up the brakes. We drove slowly to camp, where in about an hour and a half we had the car apart, welded, and reassembled. The heat from rubbing on the wheel damaged his caliper, however, lessening the effectiveness of the brakes. Scott, John, Dean, P.J. and I went for a night ride. I was bound and determined to get full value from the $30.00 weekly pass. On the ride we had a few mechanical issues, John losing a steering shaft bolt for the second year in a row at Dumont, Scott breaking a rod end, and John a minor electrical problem, but both were taken care of quickly. Sunday morning, I was awakened around 4:00 AM by the sound of rocks hitting my trailer. The wind was REALLY blowing, and continued until well past 9 AM. Seriously, at times we couldn’t see Chuck’s motorhome, across camp from us. Some of us sat in trailers, while Walt and Steve Sturm figured it was time to head home. Finally around 11:00 AM, the wind lessened enough for John, P.J., and me to take a ride. On the ride I realized poor Allison doesn’t have a chance. The entire male half of her gene pool was out on a ride dodging flying sand and hidden holes, AND LOVING IT! We had a good fast ride, but at times the flying sand was painful. We returned to camp and, thanks to a lot of help, we quickly packed up. Steve Porter, and Chuck and Doug stayed behind for another day while John, Scott, Sandy, Dan, P.J., and I caravanned to the Mad Greek for the traditional lunch. We continued traveling together to Peggy Sue’s where I said good bye and the others continued on towards John’s. It’s hard to believe another sand season has come and gone, and in just 10 weeks we’ll be on our way to Coral Pink! I can’t wait. Let’s go dunin’. -Jim
The Rooster
Spring Break started early for us, we went out Thursday for back to back weekends. On the first ride it was out to Patton Valley through the dunes. This was a great ride until we were on the road on the way back to camp and Scott passed me so I shifted into 4th gear and stepped on the gas. It was smooth sailing until it happened…. I broke the unbreakable, sunk the Titanic... I was able to drive the car back to camp, where I made a call to my tech support line (P.J.) and with a couple clicks of the mouse he was able to determine that I had broken the weld on fourth gear and should be able to run for the rest of the weekend in third gear. That worked well, but a few times I needed fourth gear on the Buttercup side. As most of you have heard, the rides were fast and fun both weekends. On the way home my thoughts were “How do I fix this so I can go to Dumont in three weeks”, and as I was deep in thought Bang I lost a tire on the buggy box just past the Arco on 86. Matt and Brianna were following me in the motorhome, so it didn’t take long to fix with Matt’s help. Tuesday morning I loaded the buggy on a flatbed trailer and took it to work and unloaded it in the shop. The Tuesday night crowd helped me remove the trans then egged me on to tear it apart. “We can fix it, it’s not our buggy…” Once it was disassembled we were able to determine that the tech guy (P.J.) was right. I broke the weld on fourth gear and I needed to replace the pinion bearing and mainshaft bearing. Adding this up we thought it would cost about $600 in parts for the gear and bearings. On Wednesday morning, I called Weddle and explained what I found. To my surprise he said that fourth gear was under waranty and shouldn’t have broken. I ordered the bearings from them and they only cost $160. Now not having a Mendeola jig Jim allowed Brandy to take his VW jig and (Continued on page 4)
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rework it to work with a Mendeola. By Tuesday we had all the parts and the jig ready to reassemble the gear stacks. We put it in the jig which was perfect and set up the shift forks. On Thursday night, Jim, P.J. and myself finished putting the gears in the case and finished assembling the trans. On the following Tuesday night we all completed putting the trans back in the car for Dumont. At Dumont I was able to start early Friday at work so I was able to get off early and I met up with Jim in Baker. We were able to get to the dunes before dark where Dean, Walt, Chuck, and Steve Porter were already set up. Scott and P.J. pulled in later that night and Steve Sturm pulled in Saturday morning. We were able to get three rides in on Saturday. One ride was so long that someone ran out of gas‌ On Saturday night the wind blew hard and it was still blowing on Sunday morning, but after waiting until 10:00 it calmed down some so Jim, P.J., and myself went out for another ride. The trans worked flawlessly. We had some great trips, and I want to say thanks to Buggy Night for all the help on the trans. -John
The Dumont trip went well, and the trans worked great!
The Rooster
Jeremy Hagen 6/3 Karissa Hagen 6/3 Angela Stutte 6/4 Terri Baker 6/10
David Schellinger 6/16 Linda Hagen 6/20 Matt Becker 6/21 Steve Porter 6/25
Test & Tune 5/22/10 It wasn’t Memorial Day weekend yet, so Dave Medlin and I took advantage of the cooler temps and light breezes, and went to Glamis so he could make a few rides in his new buggy. It was real strange rounding the corner at Gecko Rd. and seeing no venders, or any vehicles at the Ranger Station. And to find that there where no venders on the Flats was really strange too. There was only 5 groups of camps there on the flats, and they were just sitting around their camps, with the most in a group was 3 quads. On one ride, we went down the wash road, so Dave could see the new fence and road to the wash camp sites, only to find only one camper, under the trees at wash 6, so we headed for the dunes again. On the first trip out, we were putting around in the sweeping bowls behind Osborn Overlook, when we spotted 3 buggies just tearing it up, so we joined in for the fun. We had the first of only a couple adjustment stops, where Dave asked, “how do I get this thing out of 2nd gear”?(Dave thought it might be running a little hot, as he was keeping up with us in 2nd, I was in 4th) After an adjustment on the shifter linkage, we were off, but lost the other buggies, so went through the big bowls to Olds. It was wicked scary. We were all over out there, and there was nobody, anywhere. The sand was untouched smooth, after what appeared to have been a wind storm, and by 12 noon we couldn’t see to dune, so that turned into lunch time. After tuning on the shocks, we headed back to dunned. As we had gotten up at 4:00 am, at @ 3:30 we headed for home, to find a hard head wind most of the way. This was a fun little trip for me, Thanx Dave, for suggesting this. * Note= one year, Jim, PJ, Dale and Rebecca and I went to Dumont, Dale and Rebecca test their tranny, and went home to get the boat out, Jim, PJ and I stayed when it was @125 degrees. We decided we wouldn’t do that again!!
The Rooster
P.J. and Melissa have a Yamaha Golf Cart For Sale: 1996 G14 Gas golf cart with lift. Floor sits 24 inches above the ground. Stock motor, runs well. $2000 obo Contact P.J. Kastle: (951) 285-8459 pkastle@msn.com
Don and Shirley have their Fiberglass Dune Buggy For Sale: 1600cc dual port engine, street legal, beautiful paint job, must see to appreciate. $6500 Contact Don or Shirley Ford: (928) 680-0657 Home (928) 846-2304 Cell
Two child’s helmets for sale: Both were purchased at Chaparral, 3 years ago. Both are full face with visors. Exterior is in good shape, minor scratches. Inside is in perfect shape, foam intact, no tears. Black one is a child Small and the Yellow one is a child Medium. $50 each Contact Pete Hagen at: (760) 451-0845
This month we would like to thank Jim Kastle, John Cole (and Melissa, his typist), and Walt Fisher for sending in newsletter content. Next month might be real slim on content, so send in whatever stories you might have. We can’t believe that we’re only a month and a half from Coral Pink, and we can’t wait. Hopefully we’ll see lots of you there, and the rest soon. - P.J. and Melissa Kastle
Inland Empire Offroad Association P.O. Box 132411 Big Bear Lake, CA 92315
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Business Phone: __________________________ As with any organization there are guidelines we operate within. Please read and abide by the following: 1. NO FIREWORKS ALLOWED WITHIN CAMP BOUNDRIES 2. DOGS MUST BE KEPT UNDER CONTROL AT ALL TIMES (BLM law) 3. ON A RIDE, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE VEHICLE AHEAD OF YOU AND THE VEHICLE BEHIND YOU. If they stop, you stop and wait for the group to return to you. This prevents separation and in this manner we never leave a member in the dunes. Remember, it’s easier to find you if you stay still: “a moving target is harder to hit” 4. PLEASE OBSERVE THE “RIDE RATINGS” ON THE CLUB BOARD AND SELECT THOSE RIDES YOU WISH TO PARTICIPATE IN. If you wish to lead a ride, put the time and type of ride you want to lead on the board and then stick to that time. No passing on rides (except #6 rides). You can always change your place in line at a break or if you are waved on by the driver ahead of you. 5. REMEMBER, WE ARE A GROUP OF FRIENDS who share a common interest in riding in the desert. Always keep in mind how your actions affect the other members.
SIGNATURE:_________________________________________DATE:____________________ How did you hear about the club?___________________________________________________ Annual dues are $35 per family. Each 12 month membership includes a monthly newsletter. Send your check or money order to: Inland Empire Offroad Association P.O. Box 132411 Big Bear Lake, CA 92315