Maine 4x4 Club - Wheeling

[Lucifer]

Originally Posted by 4pointoh1998

I've always been under the impression M4x4 was predominantly southern maine

X2, but hey... as far as maine wheeling and associations go, I'm fairly new - only been in and around OHV clubs for about 2 years.

All you local guys know me, obviously, by my screen name.

M4X4 is a huge collective of OHV enthusiasts that (like others) seem to be mostly centered around south-central Maine. Of course, this area of the state has the highest population density as well, so it only stands to reason.

There are a few other clubs in Maine that are OHV related. As this is Jared's thread, I won't jack it entirely, but some of the other clubs (and I'm positive I'm leaving a couple out!) are:

Western Maine Mountain Jeepers
Maine Off Roading
Penobscot Valley 4-Wheel Drive
Midcoast Jeep N ORV

Only Penobscot Valley 4-Wheel Drive and Western Maine Mountain Jeepers are Jeep-Only OHV groups, MOR and Midcoast both are open-enrollment as far as OHV activities.

M4X4 is a great club with a broad knowledgebase and many awesome members. If you're in the more Portland/Lewiston end of the state, I highly recommend checking them out! They do a lot of runs to All Wheels and other trails in that area.

If you're more central Maine (Bangor-ish), I'd suggest PV4WD or MOR, depending on your style and jeep/not-a-jeep situation.

If you're more coastal, I'd suggest Midcoast. Lastly, Western Maine Mountain Jeepers... well, you certainly aren't going to be from "The County" to go clubbing up with folks over in Fryburg.

Any Maine OHV organizations that I missed? I'm sure Bryan or Jason will chime in!

[4pointoh1998]

Think you about summed it up Bill.

[CheapJ]

I'm Jason, but thanks for the kind words.

Every club I've been involved with in the state is great. Great people, awesome trails. I hope in the future we can get a bunch of clubs together for a huge gathering somewhere, like RC or someplace like that.

[Lucifer]

Lol! Yeah, trish told me. I fixed it! :-) I cant keep you guys straight! Hehe :-)

[gonejeepin04220]

does treadlightly mean you cant tear up a big ol mud hole?

[Lucifer]

I'd say tear up any mudhole you want... as long as it's designed for doing that.

If you're asking if it's cool to go destroying privately owned property or rutting the hell out of a soft dirt road... nope. How would you feel if the main artery you used to get to and from work was destroyed by people. You had to foot the entire bill to repair it (usually around $1000 per hour for the equipment, operators and fuel... around 6 to 8 hours of work) and then, two days after you fixed it, it was destroyed again.

Yeah... I'd say probably not cool to do that.

Oh... how about if you were a fisherman that fished in a stream for 20 years of your life. Now the game that you grew up fishing for no longer came up the stream because it had been polluted by silt runoff from a nearby access road that had been 'mudded' and all of the optimum spawning ground that your game-fish used had been destroyed by folks that probably didn't even know there was a stream nearby.

Most-likely not a good idea.

I could keep going...

So yeah... tear the hell out of a mud hole... on your own land or at a place specifically designed for mud-running. I know there's one up in Howland (near Lincoln) and there's two at RMTP and another at honeywell valley. I know that AllWheels has quite a few big mud holes as well.

[gonejeepin04220]

ive seen to many trails closed to consider tearing up private land,roads,streams,etc. i just meant, could i play in the mud? i just wanna play in the mud

[Lucifer]

Originally Posted by Lucifer

I'd say tear up any mudhole you want... as long as it's designed for doing that.

...

So yeah... tear the hell out of a mud hole... on your own land or at a place specifically designed for mud-running. I know there's one up in Howland (near Lincoln) and there's two at RMTP and another at honeywell valley. I know that AllWheels has quite a few big mud holes as well.

All the way man! When you're out on the trail though, don't forget that you're not the only one that uses it and most-likely, it's not yours to tear up. That's one of the best parts about freedom. Do whatever the hell makes you happy! (As long as you don't infringe on someone else's rights to pursue that same happiness.)

Me, I'm not a fan of the mud. Takes too damn long to clean up afterwards and it's hell on a rig (Unless the rig is specifically designed for it.)

I dunno 'bout you, but my idea of fun isn't spending a Saturday replacing toasted universals, wheel hubs and flush/filling diffs/transmissions whose contents look like chocolate milk. hehe

As far as playing in the mud literally... *chuckle* I really don't think a landowner would get pissed if he found a grown man wallowing around in slop, in a ditch next to an access road. Really, I'd hope he pulled out a camera, snapped some pics or a vid of that and dumped it to youtube! hahahaha

[gonejeepin04220]

haha. how would you explain that to some one. "oh ,um, uh. hmmmm. i was just uh. "

[gmiller217]

Originally Posted by Cavitation

As far as I know frame height is restricted to depend on what your vehicle weighs. And body ifts are OK but you can not use hockey pucks or thing like that . It has to be a "manufacturered BL"

I believe my Jeep can be no more than 24 inches to the frame on the front and 26 inches on the rear. A pick-up that weighs more can be a bit taller.

Also cannot install a body lift on vehicles with ABS ... which is IMO total BS because before that law was changed in 2006 it was allowed on any vehicle. ... Now there are all those ABS vehicles with body lifts installed before 2006 that suddenly no longer meet inspection standards. ... and frame height is still restricted depending on GVWR which I also don't totally agree with. ... a lifted jeep wrangler that would pass with its stock tires on may now be over the limit with his 33's on ... I think the law should be as long as the vehicle is safe in all manners and a manufacturer's lift is installed correctly it should be at the discretion of the inspection mechanic. (I am licensed by the state police and I am sometimes appalled at some of the vehicles I have to refuse due to height issues or tires ... but I am held responsible if John Doe gets pulled over or worse gets into an accident and I just put a new sticker on his vehicle)