B A J A FLATS.. & BREAK DOWNS

Nomads, would some of you share your stories about flats in baja while wheeling the Peninsula.For me, Im telling you guys this Knocking in wood right know.for me it's "0" flats,and Im not lying.Here is a picture of my friend, flat.On any given trip something happens to his rigs.(1998 tacoma 4by-2001 silverado 4by)..

1-Coming down La Rumorosa grade he was it by a Ford Bronco(tacoma).
2-broken shaft in Laguna Salada+ one flat(silverado)
3-Another flat in Guadalupe canyon(silverado)
4-Flat coming down on La Rumorosa grade(toyota)
5-Missing bolts on drive shaft on Gonzaga trip.(silverado)
6-broken drive shaft in Laguna Hanson(silverado)
7-two weeks ago truck would not start and had to leave it in Laguna Hanson(silverado)


All this is from 2001-2007,what is the factor in this stories,the way the people drive? condition of the trucks,or just plain bad luck?.
For me only a bend rim from my Palomar canyon trip,rim still been used as we speak

[Edited on 2-4-2008 by BAJACAT]

PIX #2

And yes that tire is a little worn out.

Looks like one of those BFG tires, famous for its 3 ply sidewall...

I had plenty of flats in Baja... well I used to before switching to Cooper and then Toyo from the BFGs my Toyota came with... Both of my Toyotas had the BFG Rugged Trail T/As when new... lots of flats (usually after the tread was down 50% from new, however). The Cooper Discoverer STT with 3 ply sidewalls never had a flat, and now the Toyo Open Country A/T (2 ply siodewall) I have, are so far are flat free.

While riding with Amo Pescar, with brand new BFG All Terrain T/As, we got a sidewall flat... I am not impressed with them... Yet, they remain the #1 most popular Baja tire... However, Robby Gorden has switched from BFG to Toyo for his Trophy Truck... hmmmm!

Two years ago on a run from San Flippy to Gonzaga we had a flat on my sons WR 450. We found a hypodermic needle in the tire. I've alwys herd dirty needles are no good ,now I believe it

Vehicle prep is everything even when driving just on the pavement. I lay on my creeper and just slowly roll under the rig from front to back with a good light, just staring. You see things after you have looked for a minute somtimes. Keeping the chassi very clean will also alert you to new leaks or potential issues. GSB gets a squirt down with degreaser, a good brush where I can and then the pressure washer after every outing.

Flats:
BFGs = 4 total
3 after going off course to extract stuck racer in cactus garden at the 06' 1000. Class 7 left the 2 foot deep rutted course, down an untracked wash for 3/4 of a mile and drove it up onto a 6 foot round Ocatillo. 2 broken tow straps to get him off and back to the course. Talk about hitting the wall, these guys had lost it at RM125!!! Cactus garden flated 3 of my BFGs by morning, they looked like Chia pets

1 while dropping into an arroyo at about 60mph, rear end swung out a little and clipped a sharp rock. New I would have a flat before I hit the rock. Side wall done.

On Goodyear Wrangler MTRs now via a sponsorship the crew worked out. No flats so far. Super grip in the dirt, going away fast on pavement. The BFGs will go back on when these are done.

[Edited on 2-5-2008 by Gadget]

You don't have to go to all the way Baja to abuse your rig.

Sounds like he may call it something other than it is, like Squarecircle calls his RR a Ford and its getting back at him

There is more than one kind of Cooper Discoverer... mine were the STT model (pictured)... a mud tire with aggressive tread and 3 ply sidewall... Looked great, but were noisey on the hwy. and not good in sand until down to 10 psi.

Personally, I have been very fortunate. My only blowouts happened while playing around in the Old Dale Mining Dist. near Joshua Tree. Both tires were BFGs - one an All-Terrain, the other a Mud-Terrain KM.


On the Pole Line Road - south of the Laguna Salada at the foot of the Sierra Juarez Mountains, I have witnessed just two tire blowouts - a BFG All Terrain KO took a hit to the sidewall, and let go, and a BFG Mud Terrain KM took a stick through the sidewall. The Mud-Terrain tire was patched (not recommended) on the sidewall, and the tire was driven to Phoenix, AZ the same day!

On the Baja Grande event - the sand highway near the 7 sisters, there is a boulder patch that the Jeeps were playing on. The pictured Jeep took a boulder the wrong way, and its BFG Mud-Terrain KM tire lost its shoulder - sort of a tread-separation brought on by the rock acting like a can opener and cutting the tire right open.

The passenger wasn't fazed through...



OUCH!


As you can tell, the Jeep (6th vehicle from the street), made it and was able to complete the 4WD event w/o further issues...


[Edited on 2-6-2008 by Ken Cooke]

Driving style, terrain traveled, vehicle type/weight, pressures used, etc. will all have an effect on the type and frequency of tire damage you will see.

I have found BFG All-Terrains to be an EXCELLENT all-around tire. They are the quietest pavement tire that is still competent off-road. I have found BFG Mud-Terrains to be an EXCELLENT off-road tire, but terribly noisy on the pavement and not a very good pavement tire generally.

I drive and F350 diesel. It weighs a little over 8,000 lbs. I now run Toyo Open Country M/Ts and love them. I won't call them indestructible because the minute I do, I know what will happen.

It's also apples/oranges to compare BFG long-trail TA's with the more expensive premium tires.

[Edited on 2-6-2008 by Roberto]

Yes there is, it's name is TSL/SX.

This tire is the BAJA TAMER!

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke Quote: Originally posted by Gadget IMHO there is no indistructable tire out there for general public use, unless you go to a $350 per BFG Baja KO race tire or similar. Yes there is, it's name is TSL/SX. This tire is the BAJA TAMER!

Those chevron blocks in the center allow you to turn at speed in the dirt. The heavy lugs dig nicely when cornering in the dirt. This tire works exceptionally well in the sand when aired down to 8 to 10 p.s.i.

I ran this tire for 2 years, and I loved it. The soft tread wore down within 25K mi., and I went with the BFG AT afterwards. I thought the BFG was a good tire, but when people would spot me on the trail, they were shocked with how much that tire spun and caused me to lose traction.

This is why I still run the Interco brand, just not as aggressive due to all of the street miles I put on my tires.

Playing around up in Parque Nacional Sierra San Pedro Martir with my good friend Andrew (R.I.P.)..

We had a flat on the trailer moving household goods south last October. We were just coming into the flat land north of Insurgentes. Incredibly lucky in several ways.

1. We had just passed a slow moving propane truck coming down the hill about 10 minutes before the flat.

2. I heard a funny noisy, looked in the side mirror and saw the tire deflate and smoke.

3. There was a great turnout right there with lots of room. The ground was hard and flat. When I think of all the places where you can't get off the road safely, this was a real stroke of luck.

Now the bad.

1. Oops. Never checked to see if the lug nuts on the recently purchased trailer were the same size as on the Blazer. Guess what?

2. I knew I had a socket set somewhere, along with tons of other crap. And it was about 95 degrees. Didn't really want to unload the whole trailer. In the Blazer I had my giant Crescent, a good sized pipe wrench, a hokey 'TV Special - does anything' tool and an undersized lug wrench. Got off 4 lug nuts after much sweating and a few choice words. 5th lug wouldn't budge. An ambulance stopped and asked if we needed help. They had a socket set so I was able to change the tire finally.

3. The ambulance guys were thanked profusely and they drove off. That's when I think I could have used them the most as I started going blind. Not everything dark though. Just the opposite. Everything got really bright with little, if any contrast. Kind of like turning your TV contrast knob to the highest setting, everything just in whites. Putting on 2 pairs of sunglasses helped a bit and we were almost to Insurgentes. We stopped for lunch and I felt fine and my sight returned to normal in the restaurant. Once in the car and the bright light again it started going again so we spent the night in Constitucion. Next day I was much better and we continued on to La Paz. Turned out the culprit was a new blood pressure medicine the doc put me on just before heading down. No more medicine, no more problems.

Does anyone know how I can patch this tire?




ps - I can't believe I still have the stupid TV tool. It's never worked on anything I've tried to use it for. Oh well, maybe someday it will work on something.

I fell I have been hijack, by the tire guys,,

I have always run BFG'S in all my trucks,and 0 flats on regular driving in Baja.Most of them were allterrain's.

Quote:

Originally posted by BAJACAT I fell I have been hijack, by the tire guys,, I have always run BFG'S in all my trucks,and 0 flats on regular driving in Baja.Most of them were allterrain's.

Quote:

Originally posted by Ken Cooke Quote: Originally posted by BAJACAT I fell I have been hijack, by the tire guys,, I have always run BFG'S in all my trucks,and 0 flats on regular driving in Baja.Most of them were allterrain's. With a track record like that, I would consider myself lucky.

MATOMI 2001

Photo by Amo Pescar taken at the first Matomi group trip...

I have run the swamper tires for years and have had great luck with them.When I run the rubicon or four dice trail I run 6 psi in the front and 8 psi in the rear,when in Mexico on the sand I run 8 psi in the front and 10 psi in the rear.
After years of running the same tires this year in Baja I did pickup a sheetrock screw in one tire and an old sidewall cut finally let go.Had a sidewall patch installed in EL Rosario and a plug in Rosarito.
I run 15.50x38x15 radials.The tires work very well on the road and offroad.Before we head back to baja in december I will be putting a new set of tires on. I hope Interco sends me my check for this commercial

Quote:

Originally posted by David K Photo by Amo Pescar taken at the first Matomi group trip...

bfg's waaaaaay south

Hi there,
Ive ran with the BFGs way down here in southern Chile and they lasted only about 14,000 miles. Many flats during that time.
No pavement here. Just really good dirt roads with tons of loose rock and lots of river crossings.
Sorry, its not Baja, but I did do a run on these tires to that incredibly not so secret surf spot (7 hermanos???) before shipping the rig to Patagonia. A piccie:

QUOTE OF THE DAY

give that woman a beer!

Oh yah, another tale in the sisters--we were driving on a very old, seldom used, very bad road into the area. At one point you have to drive a fairly steep incline up the lower flank of an old volcano (lots of nice sharp basalt!). Wouldn't you know it--my brother's LandCruiser gets a flat on this steep part, and gets stuck straddling a huge boulder in the middle of the road--such that the truck comes to rest on the spare tire which is stuck on the boulder. Can't jack it up on the steep slope without piling up a lot of rocks and such, so we have our other truck--an almost the same year LandCruiser(1982ish) come up behind the stuck truck and hold it in place while we dig a hole under the bad tire of the first truck. After a few shots of tequila for lubrication we continued by taking the spare from the good truck and putting it on my brother's truck.
That was the "Punta Fiasco" trip, wherein to the aforementioned adventure, my brother's truck rack collapsed and was rebuilt using dead Agave blooms. For two days out there we were whipped mercilessly by 50 MPH Santa Ana Winds, breaking our tents and blowing any swell back out to sea(the real tragedy:lol.

a mexican jack?

just place a rock under the frame and dig a hole under the flat until you can remove it!!!!

as for winds......the november '07 santa ana that burned so. cal:

musta been a be-itch!!!!!

Quote:

Originally posted by Mexitron Oh yah, another tale in the sisters--we were driving on a very old, seldom used, very bad road into the area. At one point you have to drive a fairly steep incline up the lower flank of an old volcano (lots of nice sharp basalt!). Wouldn't you know it--my brother's LandCruiser gets a flat on this steep part, and gets stuck straddling a huge boulder in the middle of the road--such that the truck comes to rest on the spare tire which is stuck on the boulder. Can't jack it up on the steep slope without piling up a lot of rocks and such, so we have our other truck--an almost the same year LandCruiser(1982ish) come up behind the stuck truck and hold it in place while we dig a hole under the bad tire of the first truck. After a few shots of tequila for lubrication we continued by taking the spare from the good truck and putting it on my brother's truck. That was the "Punta Fiasco" trip, wherein to the aforementioned adventure, my brother's truck rack collapsed and was rebuilt using dead Agave blooms. For two days out there we were whipped mercilessly by 50 MPH Santa Ana Winds, breaking our tents and blowing any swell back out to sea(the real tragedy:lol.

Now folks, That's a Baja trip

Quote:

Originally posted by woody in ob a mexican jack? just place a rock under the frame and dig a hole under the flat until you can remove it!!!!

Using a rock for a jack

Quote:

Originally posted by mtgoat666 Quote: Originally posted by woody in ob a mexican jack? just place a rock under the frame and dig a hole under the flat until you can remove it!!!! the rock trick is sometimes less work than using your "gringo jack," and may be safer than supporting vehicle on tippy jack stand.

fill in the hole, duh!

Quote:

Originally posted by woody in ob Quote: How do you get the vehicle off the rock? That must be a little tricky... fill in the hole, duh!

I had a sidewall bulge and almost blow out from an impact. Happened on the road north of Gonzaga.

I would have been fine; but, I was in a hurry to catch up to a motorcycle rider and hit a pothole/rock at a pretty good speed.

I had picked up the rear storage box that had fallen from his bike - about a mile before that I had stopped to help him fix his rear blowout. It took 2 hours and a few beers. I restocked him with water, and watched as he rode off to catch up with his buddies that never knew he fell behind.

His rear topbox fell off about a mile after the spot where we fixed his tire. I picked it up and hoped to find him farther north. About 2 hours later, I found him standing in the dark by the side of the road in Puertocitos and returned his box to him.

Too bad about my tire; but, I didn't spot it until the next morning. I'm sure he would have got me a new tire; but, either way I saved the same guy twice in the same day and seriously charged up my road karma account.

that blowout

here it is

This replacement from a llantera in Asuncion that Shari took us to lasted well. Four years before blowing out on a logging road on Vancouver Island BC.

When that one from Asuncion blew I put new ones all the way 'round and so far they've done well - though they've been driven more in snow than sand.

Baja Champions handle 20 inches of snow

like this day in early December 2007

[Edited on 2-16-2008 by standingwave]

Quote:

Originally posted by David K Photo by Amo Pescar taken at the first Matomi group trip...

Yesterday in Joshua Tree...






[Edited on 2-17-2008 by Ken Cooke]

Ken the tire with the torn sidewall, what brand was it?

Quote:

Originally posted by David K Ken the tire with the torn sidewall, what brand was it?

BFG - Always Trashed & Knocked Out

Yah, I could tell from the sidewall tread pattern, but I wanted you to confirm... I wonder what those 3 plys are made of ?

Quote:

Originally posted by David K I wonder what those 3 plys are made of ?

90% post-consumer waste???

What I would wonder is why there are some folks who drive, and have been driving, to Baja and other places for years with little to no problems, and others seem to tear them tires up?

Could "driver error" be a factor?

By the way, the only BFG tires with three-ply sidewalls are the All-Terrain and Mud-Terrain. The Baja T/A has four, as does the Krawler. The others are two-ply, at most.

Quote:

Originally posted by Roberto Could "driver error" be a factor? By the way, the only BFG tires with three-ply sidewalls are the All-Terrain and Mud-Terrain. The Baja T/A has four, as does the Krawler. The others are two-ply, at most.

My Super Swamper/Interco TrXus MT tires are 2 plys, and I have not had a single problem out of this brand in the 80,000 miles that I have run them. When you're the guy leading the events, your stuff can't break down...

Damage incurred on Old Dale Road w/in Joshua Tree Np:


Baja Grande Nov.'07 This happened en route to Gonzaga Bay along the shoreline:


An OEM tire let go while in Copper Canyon Jan. '07:
[img]http://www.justruns.com/gallery2/d/6529-2/Search+for+tire+for+Bill.jpg[/img]

Victor Chacon switched from BFGs to Mickey Thompson Baja MTZs. He didn't suffer a blown sidewall, but on obstacles like this one in Baja, he doesn't like to take chances. Baja Pole Line Road (Night Run) 12/06:


Chris Glass went from Pro Comp X-Terrains to Maxxis Creepy Crawlers to now Super Swamper IROKs. This is Chris' rig on the Baja Pole Line Road:


This is Chris in Rosarito Beach at a 4WD event held there last year:
[img]http://www.justruns.com/gallery2/d/8516-1/drop+in.jpg[/img]

Here's Chris gettin' some love. He was an event official, and he judged the dancers!!
[img]http://www.justruns.com/gallery2/d/8524-1/Model+1.JPG[/img]
[img]http://www.justruns.com/gallery2/d/8506-1/Chris_+modelo+girls.JPG[/img]

Chris then moved to Goodyear MT/Rs (37") as shown here in Jacume (outside of Tecate, BC, Mex.):


Here's Chris' rig out in Mexicali running the big 40" Super Swamper IROKs on 20" rims:

The TrXus MT doesn't ride as smoothly as the BFG All-Terrain, it costs roughly the same price, and it is not engineered as well as the BFG or the Goodyear tires, but it is durable, and wears more evently than the MT/R. That's why I am sold on the Interco tire.

...it works well in the sand, but doesn't like the mud very much...

MATOMI'S REVENGE

Well guys my firts flat in Baja.this happend about a mile from reaching Matomi Ranch.I check my tires and my sidewalls just had it, to many miles in Baja, the 3 left are coming off.

haha. That is a great picture.

Looks like something that would happen in Pismo dunes. Although its an Arizona plate.

Also, that Ford Explorer is really nice. Coilovers on a solid front axle.... NICE!!

This is my 4runner, with MTRs. They are a solid tire... not as aggressive as a true MT but much more dig to them than an AT. However with very thick side walls. Ken, you seem like a big time off-road guy. Any of your buddies run the Interco Irok's ?



[Edited on 2-19-2008 by BooJumMan]

Quote:

Originally posted by durrelllrobert Quote: Originally posted by Ken Cooke Quote: Originally posted by David K I appreciate BFG sponsoring Score and helping Sal mark the race courses... I know the hummer is 4wd but didn't realize that it has 3 rear ends [Edited on 2-19-2008 by durrelllrobert]

I'm lucky to call my buddy Chris a real good friend. The guy is super cool, lives in Tijuana, and has a beast of an Explorer that he 'wheels regularly. He now runs IROKs on his Ford Explorer. 40's!!

Here's the proof:

Running small(er) 37s on the street in Tijuana with his family on board:



Running the big(ger) 40s on the trail FULL-TIME:







[Edited on 2-20-2008 by Ken Cooke]

Yes guys the beer was in my hands in matomi ,not in my hand while I was driving back,I will never do that specially with my family riding with me, thats a big no.no.In Matomi the only thik I can run over is a cactus and thats it. here is the proff. look for beer in hand, see no driving.