How to build a crawling course: step-by-step

[Crawlerdude75]

In this thread you will find detailed insight, instruction, and ideas of how to build your very own rock crawling course. I will teach you the basics of building a stable and challenging course, that you and friends will have countless hours of fun with-building and driving! So lets get started!

First off, you will need some basic supplies. These are pretty much all
you will need, but some things listed will help more if you have them.
1. A good sturdy wagon, wheel barrow, or small utility trailer for an ATV.
Having one or two of these things is very essential. You will need them
to haul rocks, dirt, gravel, etc., etc. Here is a picture of what I used--

http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/444/dscn06880001ae4.jpg

2. Several common garden tools, such as-
a rake, spade, wide flat blade shovel,
pickaxe, and a very small planting shovel.
Here is a picture of everything I used--

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/5151/dscn06910004oc4.jpg

3. Gloves, a hat, sunscreen, and some Gatorade.
You need all of these to prevent from hurting
yourself, and to keep you going longer.
Here is what I used--

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/8393/dscn07220035rk9.jpg

4. And the most important tool of all, your body and effort.

You will need plenty of materials as well. They will be listed below.
1. Rock. You need alot of rocks. Rocks ranging from big boulders to sand.
Here are a few pictures of the sizes of rock I found burried in my yard--

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/2862/dscn07160029oo2.jpg

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/2140/dscn06950008dt5.jpg

2. Rolls of plastic. You will need this to put down on the dirt before you start
putting rocks down. This will prevent weeds from growing up through your
rocks. Here are a picture of the plastic that I used--

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6718/dscn07000013zx2.jpg

3. Plants, perhaps? If you want to make your crawling course blend into current
landscaping with plants, maybe include some of the other plants of your yard.
I used barrel cactus, and it looks great. Here is a picture of some of the plant landscaping
on my course--

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/9096/dscn07010014ju4.jpg

4. Sand, pea gravel, lava rock, gravel, river pebels. If you plan on making it look nice,
you may want some filler down between the rocks. Things like I suggested, such as
pea gravel works great to cover and exposed plastic and fill in low areas without rock.
You can also use it to landscape, maybe even make a trail on it like I did? Here are a
couple of pictures of what I used as far as smaller rocks / sand goes--

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/6568/dscn06930006qn4.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9616/dscn06980011hh1.jpg

Now then, once you have all of your supplies and materials all gathered up into pretty much one general area, you can begin.
Step 1-Laying plastic-------
Find a spot that you think is suitable for your needs for size and shape for your course. Then, lay down plastic, and
overlap the big stripes by about 4 inches. Next, put about a 5 pound rock down on basically every corner of the strips.

Step 2-Start laying down the rock--------
Start by using a variety of large and medium (large being 30+ pound boulders, medium being 15-29 pound rocks) rocks,
placing them close together, and try to interlock them. This provides a more stable surface to crawl on.
Here is a picture of this step--

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6113/dscn06960009uk5.jpg

Step 3-Laying down the rock, continued--------
Once you have a fair amount of the plastic covered in medium and large boulders, continue by stacking and interlocking
more boulders and smaller rocks on top of the first layer of medium and large boulders. Thus building on another layer.
Here is a picture of this step--

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/3995/dscn07130026gl2.jpg

Step 4-Laying down the rock, continued--------
Continue with the layers until you feel you have made the course challenging enough for your crawler. Add height and
topography to the rocks, and once again, make sure its challenging enough for your crawler, but not so much you always
get stuck.

Step 5-Landscaping the course-------
This step is optional, as you may not want to add any more to your course so far. But if you would like to make it a bit less
obvious as to what its actual purpose is, you can landscape the course to make it a bit more like the rest of its surrounding
area. On my course, my grandparents and I put a simple rock barrier around some large barrel cacti, as well as a nice
meandering dirt trail, to make it a bit like the other rock garden on the opposing side of my crawler course. And as I said
landscaping with more sand, rock, gravel, plants, or with anything is optional. If you think it would make your course less
obvious, go for it. Here are some pictures of the landscaping on my crawler course--

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/2668/dscn07060019tg1.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4969/dscn07030016bv7.jpg

Step 6-Test it out!-------
Once you feel that your course is just right for you, try it out! Try to walk around on the rocks, and make sure they are all
very stable. If some of the rocks are not stable, try adding some small rocks under them, and try to keep the rocks from
moving. Once you are sure everything is good to go, go drive on it! Here are several pictures of my 95% complete rock
crawler course--

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/5253/dscn07050018ue0.jpg

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/692/dscn07170030uf7.jpg

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/797/dscn07030016sz3.jpg

Well, I hope you use this guide well, and if you make a course using this guide, or already have a crawler course, post pictures of it here. I would love to see them.
Thanks for reading---- "How to build a crawling course: step-by-step"

 

[WIREPULLER]

Thanks alot, I'm looking at building a course in the back yard, and any info is greatly appreciated!!


WP

 

[Crawlerdude75]

your welcome, and btw, I fixed the pictures, so you should be able to see pics.

If you cant see the pics, I will provide a link below each one.

 

[raytard]

Laughed, then read;
Well thought out post.


My Wife may go for something like this.
PLUS+, my Son can play w/ my truck on rocks, w/o me worrying about changing out an axle or servo gears... :roll:
"Sticky" material right there! "thumbsup"


...for the Noobs of "course". :lol:

 

[shutupanddrive]

Check out the articulation on that dog! Is he a comp dog or just a basher? :lol: "thumbsup"

 

[Crawlerdude75]

Laughed, then read;
Well thought out post.


My Wife may go for something like this.
PLUS+, my Son can play w/ my truck on rocks, w/o me worrying about changing out an axle or servo gears... :roll:
"Sticky" material right there! "thumbsup"


...for the Noobs of "course". :lol:

Thanks. I really appreciate the good feed back. "thumbsup"

Check out the articulation on that dog! Is he a comp dog or just a basher? :lol: "thumbsup"

(he is actually a she...lol:roll: ) And she is just a basher. Lol.

 

[slowcrawlin]

WOW nice job "thumbsup"

I X2 agree with making this sticky

 

[chip cross]

or you could bum the cities rock garden "thumbsup"

 

[cembom]

Yeah I am going to build my mom a "rock garden" since we have alot of room now. I just think I will build mounds of dirt and lay concrete over top to make buolders lol. I would also like a small pond and stream. Just got to figure out a layout first. Great post, nice dog and I also believe it's worth a sticky as I dont have naturally formed crawller cources.

 

[Crawlerdude75]

or you could bum the cities rock garden "thumbsup"

Only one problem... if a city employee sees you, they may ask you to leave. IDK, maybe not. oh well

and thanks again for all of the good feed back on this guide. ;-) I really hope the mods think its "thumbsup" and pin it.

 

[rockwerks]

Only one problem... if a city employee sees you, they may ask you to leave. IDK, maybe not. oh well

and thanks again for all of the good feed back on this guide. ;-) I really hope the mods think its "thumbsup" and pin it.

We have approached the city with video DVD and supporting documentation and they have given us the go ahead to use the parks etc.

 

[Crawlerdude75]

Well, its good you asked them before you did anything. Now that I think about it, the city park here in Sierra Vista has some good things to crawl on. Hmmm, maybe I will do the same, and prove that its ok with a video. "thumbsup"

 

[rockwerks]

Well, its good you asked them before you did anything. Now that I think about it, the city park here in Sierra Vista has some good things to crawl on. Hmmm, maybe I will do the same, and prove that its ok with a video. "thumbsup"

I have a demo cd I can send you I used for the DAMN crawl in page az

PM me your address and I will send you one

DOH! sorry for the hijack, Your yard turned out great

 

[Crawlerdude75]

I have a demo cd I can send you I used for the DAMN crawl in page az

PM me your address and I will send you one

DOH! sorry for the hijack, Your yard turned out great

I sent you a PM, and I really appreciate that.

And thanks for the feedback on the yard. ;-)

 

[RcGuY07]

Sence i live in Kentucky my Grandpa has 4 acres down in red river george and he is giving me about and acre to do what ever i want with ( another acre made a pond with a track ho). I will take pics of the land this weekend and start to get rocks (alot of trails i can get them off of the side of and have a Polaris 500 to pull a full sized trailer with) post pics once i am back (i go every weekend.

 

[mazdaparts]

Looks great. Awesome write up. I agree with it getting a sticky as well. At first I was confused as to what part the dog played. But at the end I seen that she was for testing purposes.

 

[Crawlerdude75]

Sence i live in Kentucky my Grandpa has 4 acres down in red river george and he is giving me about and acre to do what ever i want with ( another acre made a pond with a track ho). I will take pics of the land this weekend and start to get rocks (alot of trails i can get them off of the side of and have a Polaris 500 to pull a full sized trailer with) post pics once i am back (i go every weekend.

Sounds great, and I am looking forward to seeing some pics. Also, when you are done, post some pics. I would like to see. ;-)

Looks great. Awesome write up. I agree with it getting a sticky as well. At first I was confused as to what part the dog played. But at the end I seen that she was for testing purposes.

Actually, my dog (her name is Sophie by the way) was not really tesing anything. She was just out there looking for lizards to chase.

 

[Nova's Ark]

Great pictures and write up. Thanks for taking the time to write it up. I would have never thought about the plastic first, until the weeds were there. Definitely should be a sticky for noobs like me. Well done."thumbsup"

 

[Crawlerdude75]

Hmmm, I wonder why any of the mods havent sticky'ed this yet:-(. Anybody got pictures of their own homebuilt or natural course in their yard? Post pictures! We would love to see em.

 

[Brandon]

Hmmm, I wonder why any of the mods havent sticky'ed this yet:-(. Anybody got pictures of their own homebuilt or natural course in their yard? Post pictures! We would love to see em.

They cant sticky everything, then the whole first page would be stickies. Great thread though, im sure it will stay alive without being stickied "thumbsup"