Sand Shark
Well-known member
- May 5, 2021
- 4,156
- 4,186
After a 2 year absence I was finally able to make it back down to Baja for some fun in the SXS with Erik at Black Rhino Performance a few weeks ago. This is the group I have been doing Baja trips with for several years. Black Rhino Performance usually put together a few rides a years in Baja and they will also do private trips. This one happen to be a trip my friend set up with Erik. We has several people on the trip that had never been to Baja or never done any off-roading in Baja. A few of my friends from Texas made the drive and I think they are hooked on Baja.
Prior to the trip Baja was hit with the hurricane and the week before our trip the Baja 400 race took place. We figured there would still be lots of water in areas and sections would be beat up due to the race the week before. Surprisingly there really was not much water and only certain sections were beat up from the race.
This ride states in Ensenada and head south along the coast to San Quitin. We spend a day in San Quitin and the following day head back to Ensenada. We covered almost 340 miles on this trip. I took my kid with me and he drove most of the first day and second day and a few section on the third day. He did a great job behind the wheel. He managed to miss the cows and not hit the donkey that came flying onto the road. The donkey was pissed and did not know which way to run (sorry no pictures as I was hoping it did not end up on our laps. LOL!).
The drive down to Ensenada from TJ is an easy drive except when your friend's Chevy 2500 decides to throw a serpentine belt. Turns out you lose power steering and the brakes are basically non-existent. Add in a trailer 2 SXSs on it and it is good time on the toll road. My trailer brakes were not working either so that just made it more fun. Of course this happen as we were going through a construction zone. If you have every been in Mexico driving through a construction zone it is quite entertaining. The cones are placed wherever, the lands go from wide to super narrow and there is usually some person in regular clothes waving their hands to let you know your entering a construction zone. LOL!
We managed to get to the third tooth booth before pulling over to fix the issue. My friend ahead of us had an extra serpentine belt. Open up the hood and get the belt out and inspect the pulleys. Of course the one idler pulley in the difficult spot was frozen. Thankfully these are all common Chevy parts and there a ton of Autozones. Sent our friend to get the parts while we waiting on the side of the road next to a OXOX store. While waiting for my friend to get back my friend crawled under the trailer to see what was up with the trailer brakes. Turned out the wire got cut, so a quick patch job and we had trailer brakes. By the time my friend got back the idler pulley was removed and we were ready to install everything. Turns out the idler pulley he returned with was the right size, but wrong bolt hole size. So back to Autozone! Well of course they did not have the correct pulley and had to order it. Thankfully they just needed to get it delivered from another store in Rosarito and would not be there until 4. So we made the call to keep driving and use the trailer brakes to get us through Ensenda to our hotel.
Finally made it to the hotel in time for the pool and some much needed beverages.
Prior to the trip Baja was hit with the hurricane and the week before our trip the Baja 400 race took place. We figured there would still be lots of water in areas and sections would be beat up due to the race the week before. Surprisingly there really was not much water and only certain sections were beat up from the race.
This ride states in Ensenada and head south along the coast to San Quitin. We spend a day in San Quitin and the following day head back to Ensenada. We covered almost 340 miles on this trip. I took my kid with me and he drove most of the first day and second day and a few section on the third day. He did a great job behind the wheel. He managed to miss the cows and not hit the donkey that came flying onto the road. The donkey was pissed and did not know which way to run (sorry no pictures as I was hoping it did not end up on our laps. LOL!).
The drive down to Ensenada from TJ is an easy drive except when your friend's Chevy 2500 decides to throw a serpentine belt. Turns out you lose power steering and the brakes are basically non-existent. Add in a trailer 2 SXSs on it and it is good time on the toll road. My trailer brakes were not working either so that just made it more fun. Of course this happen as we were going through a construction zone. If you have every been in Mexico driving through a construction zone it is quite entertaining. The cones are placed wherever, the lands go from wide to super narrow and there is usually some person in regular clothes waving their hands to let you know your entering a construction zone. LOL!
We managed to get to the third tooth booth before pulling over to fix the issue. My friend ahead of us had an extra serpentine belt. Open up the hood and get the belt out and inspect the pulleys. Of course the one idler pulley in the difficult spot was frozen. Thankfully these are all common Chevy parts and there a ton of Autozones. Sent our friend to get the parts while we waiting on the side of the road next to a OXOX store. While waiting for my friend to get back my friend crawled under the trailer to see what was up with the trailer brakes. Turned out the wire got cut, so a quick patch job and we had trailer brakes. By the time my friend got back the idler pulley was removed and we were ready to install everything. Turns out the idler pulley he returned with was the right size, but wrong bolt hole size. So back to Autozone! Well of course they did not have the correct pulley and had to order it. Thankfully they just needed to get it delivered from another store in Rosarito and would not be there until 4. So we made the call to keep driving and use the trailer brakes to get us through Ensenda to our hotel.
Finally made it to the hotel in time for the pool and some much needed beverages.
oule: 
