JK-Forum Climbs the Falls with Yokohama Tires
We off-roaded with fans from our forums, and JK-Forum moderator Canvas as he tested out a new set of Yokohama Geolandar M/T G003s during our “Climb the Falls” event.
The Fourth of July gets a lot of well-deserved attention, but it’s not the only special day during that month. Saturday, July 22 was cause for a celebration, too. That’s when a few of us here at Internet Brands met up with some of you frequent contributors to JK-Forum (and other IB forums) for the Yokohama “Climb the Falls” event at the Hidden Falls Adventure Park in Marble Falls, Texas.
Before the get-together, IB awarded four forum moderators and members with a set of Yokohama Geolandar M/T G003 tires to put on their vehicles. According to the manufacturer, the all-season G003 was designed to fit SUVs, crossovers, and trucks, and features a wide, flat profile for longer life and a variable-pitch tread design for a quieter highway ride.
Its armored, multiple-ply sidewalls, steel belts, and full nylon cap help it endure the abuse of off-road driving. A combination of mud/stone ejectors and a carefully calculated block-to-void ratio enhance the G003’s grip on the road, even when it’s wet. JK-Forum Super Moderator Canvas was one of the lucky tire set recipients and showed up to the park with his new rubber on his 2011 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport.
JKs were the unofficial vehicle of our convoy, but there were other Jeeps there, such as a couple of TJs, a CJ, and a pair of XJ Cherokees. We showed up with a shiny new JKU Sahara (and a 2017 Ford F-150 Raptor).
Our expert trail guides from the Fort Hood Military Jeepers split us into groups so we could wheel over different parts of Hidden Falls. Before we set out, one of our guides disconnected our Jeep’s front sway bars. We made sure to air down our Wrangler’s stock, non-Yokohama tires to boost their grip and smooth out the ride over the rough terrain we were going to encounter. Given that we were in a press vehicle, we (and our friends in full-size pickups) stuck to the less extreme trails.
The Trail Rated JK articulated and flexed its way
past whatever we pointed its 7-slot grille toward.
Nevertheless, we had a blast in the Sahara. Over one particular stretch we roughly tested the Jeep’s traction, ground clearance, power … and our ability to scream even louder with excitement and delight as we bounced and rattled deeper into the park. The JK may be an old vehicle, but it made us feel like little kids again.
The Trail Rated JK articulated and flexed its way past whatever we pointed its 7-slot grille toward. If only its factory rubber was that adaptable. We hit the nub of a tree stump sticking out of the dirt with a little too much speed and blew a hole in the side of one of the Bridgestones. One of our guides was kind enough to swap it out for the swing gate-mounted spare. We made it through the rest of our drive without incident, but with a healthy fear of popping another tire.
ALSO SEE: What Forum Members Have to Say
After lunch, it was time to travel down even more challenging paths. Our guides suggested leaving the Sahara and the Raptor parked and riding along with the Wrangler owners around us. We were happy to oblige and grateful that we did. The afternoon trails were narrower and more hazardous. If their rocky sides didn’t scrape body panels, huge chunks of stone were bound to leave their marks on skid plates.
Ground clearance, suspension travel, and 35- to 37-inch tires
were the only currencies that could buy drivers safe passage.
Ground clearance, suspension travel, and 35- to 37-inch tires were the only currencies that could buy drivers (and their rigs) safe passage. One uphill climb was so arduous that it shook a wheel well liner out of a 2-door Willys Wheeler. After trudging through what seemed to be miles of stinky, muddy water lined by jungle-like overgrown greenery, the convoy came to the most demanding portion of the park yet: TRO. Multiple Jeeps attempted to get their driver’s side up on a rocky ledge, then power their passenger’s side front tire and the rest of the vehicle behind it up another large mass of stone. Not all of them could do it.
Every part of the Jeeps had to work perfectly. The tires had to bite at the right places. The Jeep owners needed to apply throttle and brake with painstaking precision to avoid shifting weight to the wrong places at the wrong times. Every inch of suspension travel was in demand. It was vital for the drivers and the guides to communicate and cooperate with each other quickly and flawlessly.
Yours truly rode in the back seat of a naked black JKU. Nature was tough, but my escort was tougher … and patient. He moved forward, he tilted, he scraped, he reversed. Just when I thought he was going to give up and take the side trail, he powered over and away from the stuff that Jeeps are made of.
So did Canvas. His rock rails took a hit, but it didn’t knock his Wrangler out. He went on to finish the trail, and in a review of his broken-in Yokohama Geolandar M/T G003s here on JK-Forum, he said, “The Yokohama Geolandar is a great tire and suitable replacement for the Nitto Trail Grappler. The tires hooked up nicely on the rocks and loose dirt in Central Texas. The tires hooked up so well I only had to use the front locker once.”
Referring to TRO, he added, “[I] was able to work my way through without using any lockers (note the creek was dry). The entrance … is a waterfall crawl that last time required the use of lockers, not today. TRO is mainly a creek bed with large rocks. Entrance to the main trail after the gate keeper involved dropping into a mud hole and working through some larger rocks. The Geolanders hooked up nicely even covered in mud. Once past the first obstacle, the trail wanders up with various sizes of rocks to go over. On the way out there is a side hill off-camber climb-out that was taken with ease.”
July 22 at Hidden Falls was a hell of a real-world test for Yokohama’s Geolandar M/T G003s. They passed it. They also helped Canvas and other drivers “Climb the Falls” and allowed us here at JK-Forum to see your Jeeps in action … not just on a computer screen.
Photos provided by JK-Forum editor Manuel Carrillo III
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