Wild Rosser Roundup

If you're interested in next year's Rosser Roundup or other Rosser events, call 205/424-1640 and tell 'em you read about it in Jp Magazine.

Hard-core ’wheeling isn’t just in the West. In fact, it can be found in nearly every one of the United States. When we went looking for some top-notch events to cover, one of the first we thought of was the Rosser Roundup. This three-day trail ride was held this year in Monteagle, Tennessee, and combine rocks, mud, dirt, and more.

Ken Rosser runs Leon Rosser Jeep in Bessemer, Alabama, which has been around since 1955. The dealership is famous for great deals on Jeep parts and accessories. Ken puts on a series of trail rides throughout the South that are guaranteed to give you a thrill and a great time. There were more than 600 happy participants at this year's event, which takes a lot of work to organize, but it's a chore Bob Hazel of Sports in the Rough takes on with pleasure. Volunteer helpers and a host of others combined to pull off this year's event to resounding results.

The Creek Bed Trail runs along a railroad right-of-way, about 40 feet below the tracks. The limestone and sandstone terrain is deeply cut near the creek and offers wet, loose, slick 'wheeling in the bouldery bottom. This three-stage ascent is rough when the creek is dry and really bad when the water flows.

Breaking the clutch pivot inside the bellhousing is hard to do and harder still to fix. Robin Stanfill runs a Jeep shop in Columbia, Tennessee, and had the know-how to weld some scrap steel together for a cool field fix on his buddies' CJ.

Some of the Tennessee trails are slimy, and others just chunk up with blobs of mud. The weather this year cooperated nicely, allowing this CJ to go topless and still not get splattered.

One of the best obstacles on the Creek Bed trail is this big crack in the limestone. Located just before the area called the Cut, this gash in the ground swallows tires, then rips them off the wheel. Anything narrower than a 12.50 is prey to this groove, so crossing it at an angle is a better bet.

When the dirt is dry, the Bald Spot trail is loose, not slimy. Shane and Donna Reid were celebrating their one-year anniversary by churning the dirt in a bobbed Scrambler. The shortened CJ-8 runs a Chevy 10-bolt in the front and a 14-bolt in the rear; both are filled with 4.88 gears and lockers. Painted a beautiful shade of OD, the Scrambler was nearly a Freiburger look-alike.

The Rosser Roundup also attracts hard-core Jeepers like Darrian Tefft, who tattooed the original AMC logo and Jeep on his arm. Darrian also invented a portable john, which fits on the back of his CJ.

Big Swampers really help in this terrain, and Matt Cutler slapped the 35-inch variety his onto 1985 CJ-7. A 4-inch Big Dick's Suspension kit is complemented by a shackle and body lift, and a 258 engine pulls them with help from 4.56 gears in the axles.

Sporting 33-inch tires and a Buick 225 V-6, Stan "The Man" Stephens Jr. showed the others what a near-stock flattie could do. Most 4-plus-rated trails in the area require 35-inch-or-bigger tires, but a little Jeep with flexible suspension can squirt around the bad ones--unless Sam's in the mood for fun.

This tricked-out CJ-8 that belongs to Delbert Galloway is as custom as they come. Delbert runs dual 9-inch axles with Detroit Lockers and 4.56 gears, and a Ranger gearbox between the NP435 and Dana 300 transfer case. Throw in the Ford-302-injected engine and custom coil conversion, and you see what we mean. Oh yeah, the Scrambler got its rear bobbed in the process too.

Wet tires and tipsy terrain make for some tense moments on the trail. Check out the bolt-on body bars between the cage and the nerf bars. They come off easily for the milder trails or when the top is on but provide great protection in the rocks or trees.

Think Jeep! Is the motto of the Rosser clan, and the king thinker is Ken Rosser. Ken drives a TJ or a Comanche on the trail, but back in camp, he pilots the slickest grill around.

Kirk Marks is a firefighter from Columbia, Tennessee, which may account for the bright color of his 1981 CJ-7. The CJ sports a Chevy engine, tranny, and NP203 transfer case and stock CJ axles right down to the 3.54 gears. But the Lock Rights and Moser axles helped the 35-inch Swampers pull out of this muddy climb on the Bald Spot trail.

Water crossings on some of the trails hold hidden obstacles that can hang a Jeep high and dry. Luckily, most of the Jeeps on the Creek Bed run had winches fore or aft. This CJ was in a prime location to pull a Jeep backwards off some boulders, which saved much time and muddy trouble.

Budget 'wheeling is cool, and Ronny O'Dell of Alabama shows how it's done. Total investment in his '47 CJ-2A is under 750 bucks, including the Warn winch and $21.50 for the custom paint job. Ronny kept up with the pack and made nearly every obstacle--even after loosing two thirds of his brakes.

Pounding ledges requires real beef, and that's what John Hawk has on his 1991 YJ. Those tires are 39.5-inch Swampers on bead-locked Barts wheels, slapped onto a Dana 60 front and 14-bolt rear axle. The gears are 5.13, Detroits spin the rubber, and a 4-inch Big Dick's suspension on top of the axles clears the wheelwells. The stock T-176 tranny and Dana 300 combo is powered by an injected Mustang 5.0 mill.

This tricked-out CJ-8 that belongs to Delbert Galloway is as custom as they come. Delbert runs dual 9-inch axles with Detroit Lockers and 4.56 gears, and a Ranger gearbox between the NP435 and Dana 300 transfer case. Throw in the Ford-302-injected engine and custom coil conversion, and you see what we mean. Oh yeah, the Scrambler got its rear bobbed in the process too.

This two-tone paint job is courtesy of the local Tennessee mud, and you can imagine what the occupants must have looked like. One of the featured runs was called the Mud Run, and judging from some of the other vehicles in camp, this Jeep must have skirted the big holes.