So, I'm writing this very tired, after a fairly long, eventful, yet fun day on the trail. Expect long winded rambling that goes in circles, and a long winded unnecessary story. I'll update this thread as I figure out exactly how much damage was done, and what needs/is being done to get my truck back to how it was 16 hours ago.
Today's trail run started out like most others... I was running late. I got some info from a friend late Saturday night about the run, and was undecided as to whether I was going to tag along or not. I originally planned to finish some work on the truck - install my winch, get my wiring ready for my lights, fix the rear bumper so it clears my body better, and have a look at my inner tie rods which need replacing. I set my alarm to give me enough time to get to the scheduled meeting area, and went to bed some time after 1:00AM Sunday morning. I woke up to a text asking if I was coming still, already 15 minutes late and 30 minutes away from where I needed to be if I wanted to go wheeling. Realizing my alarm was set to 2011, a year in which March 4th does not land on a weekend my alarm hadn't gone off... Not wanting to hold up the group, I sent him a text back saying I wasn't going to make it.
Somewhere near 11:00AM I had my coffee half drank, subway sitting in my lunch cooler, a nearly unpacked truck and I was sitting in the staging area on the trailhead where we normally meet and air down. I figured I would take the main trail in, and if I couldn't get any sign of them on the radio I would turn around and meet up with some other friends. The small storm that hit that night had lured me out, in hopes of large snow drifts and tom foolery. I managed to hear some chatter on my radio, and sure enough the pack of trucks were just all clearing the first major hill on the "winter only" trail loop. It's a trail I have ran many times before, so letting them know I was going to catch up, I raced along the trail. Other than a quick stop for lunch and gas I didn't pack much. I left my shovels, hi-lift, and regular box of gear I normally throw in the truck for day trips all at home. I do however keep my recovery gear in the truck, and had a good amount of winter work clothes and tools on me anyways. Not sure where I'm going with paragraph, but at this point you've signed up to read it all :hello: I was in a rush and figured I was prepared enough, sitting at the bottom of the first hill climb...
I somewhat recently put a very sweet rear CBI bumper on the truck. I ordered it in bare steel, with the swing out, jerry can holders, fold down table, and hi-lift mount. The bumper is burly as hell, and I'm super impressed with it. I ordered it bare planning to add small hoops to the side of it, which I have since done. I also wanted it bare with the thought of pairing it with a Outdoor Logic front bumper. Again, bare, no hoops. Until I get around to adding my own that is. I kind of feared having two different colour powder coats, and of course having to grind off paint to add hoops and re-powder coat is somewhat silly. The only downside I can say for the CBI is that it's a total ***** to get it to fit right. Not sure if something on my truck is off, because I haven't seen anyone else complain about this, but mine or my truck didn't want to work well together. This is kind of besides the point, but I will at some point be letting CBI know. The holes for the bolts that mount into the hitch location did not line up for me. The bolt locations are slightly wider than what is drilled on the bumper. I widened the holes on the bumper with a carbide bit and a walter tool. It's not perfect but it works. The other major issue I had with fitment, is the bumper rubbing (er, pounding) just behind the rear tire where the body slightly kicks out. Luckily ordering it in bare, I was able to grind out a contour to match the body lines. Victor being a local friend with the same bumper has the same problem. On bumps before I clearanced it a little I could hear the bumper smashing the body (it sat against it, and slightly rubbed up and down). I'll note that this was before I welded hoops on the sides that could I guess pull the bumper. Again not huge issues, but it is a pricey bumper and if it came powder coated I wouldn't want to have to deal with it. Other than that the bumper is fantastic, and I'm totally happy with the purchase.
And back to the hill. I lost radio contact sitting at the bottom of what might be a 200-300 meter hill. The group wasn't much further ahead, and again it's a hill and trail I've ran probably near 15 times or so; recently as well I might add. We've had some warm weather which has left a good amount of thick sheer ice, but was for the most part covered by the early morning disappoint storm of 2 or 3 inches of wet snow. The bottom 1/4 of the hill looked like bare rock and mud after sitting a few hours in the sun, and being scrapped away at by morning trail "traffic". I threw it in second gear low range, locked the rear end and started to climb. Didn't make it far before bouncing off some steps, losing my momentum, and throwing it in reverse to back and slide down the hill.
At this point I'll say while I know I far from the best driver, I have had my fair share of experimenting and slipping around on hills in winter conditions. I have probably tobogganed up and down hills, forward and backwards 100's of times at this point, and last year had ran these same trails with the most bald tires you've ever seen anyone take off road. Having 2 month old 33" duratracs is awesome, but slippery is slippery and don't let anything fool you.
I backed down what little of the hill I had made it up in reverse with little problem, sliding fast but nothing obscene. Again at this point I was in a rush, figured I could air down once I caught up to the group and we were waiting for everyone to clear a hill or obstacle. Still sitting at nearly 40PSI I reset myself at the bottom, and started up for attempt number 2 in second gear with a little more speed to keep momentum up. I was probably hitting it somewhere around 3500-4000RPM if I remember right, and got a little further before getting bounced around pretty good and losing momentum. Here is where I got it wrong. BIG TIME. I figured the bottom section was fairly bare, and if I dropped my RPM and wheel speed my locker would let one side of the truck grab the bare rock and dirt and I could crawl up. I let off the throttle, wheels slowly spinning trying to find some bite and held it that way to long. I started sliding backwards with tires moving forward. Not too big of a deal, this hill wasn't anything too crazy and I've been in this position before. All I have to do is get in reverse, keep off the brakes and keep it in the ruts. My manual transmission doesn't let me shift into reverse if I am rolling backwards, so putting in the clutch and shifting into reverse just makes fun grinding noises. I'm now starting to slide backwards faster and faster, and touching the brakes does nothing but make it worse. The only way to get it into gear at this point is to lock all 4 wheels with the brakes, shift into reverse, and probably at this speed now hit the gas to help the tires match the same speed I'm sliding at. If you've ever descended down a steep hill in winter and locked the tires you'll know you slide faster. Even in a low gear if your tires break traction and you start to slide with the wheels turning in gear, the only way to regain control is either wait until your tires pick back up traction or stab the throttle to let the wheels catch up to how fast you should be rolling, and then try to scrub off speed. I've done this before lots, and it is pretty second nature for me to do. I lock the wheels, try to shift and couldn't get it in gear. I grind, picking up speed like crazy, and am completely out of control coming backwards down this hill. Before I know it I'm probably doing somewhere near 20-30km/h backward and am just trying to keep it straight and on the trail, with occasional small pumps with brakes to keep speed down as best as I can. My windows and mirrors were still caked from my wet and muddy drive to the trail and I could barely see. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill I must have been doing something stupid like 50km/h backwards, with any attempt at braking locking up my tires. I did my best to steer, but with the speed, locked rear end, and no vision it was all to quick. I felt my rear tires push threw some soft snow off to the side of the trail and braced for something.
This is what something looks like:
This is what something does to your truck:
No idea what order these trees were origionally in, but that's how they ended up. My truck was showered with 14+ dollars in change I had in the ash tray, a million pine needles that I knocked off the trees along with some smaller branches, and the terrible sound of tempered glass shattering and metal bending. I was hit in the shoulder by a 1/2" drill bit I had on my dash, and a shot of adrenalin I would pay good money for. Still with no idea what I had hit, and not sure if my truck stalled or not, I just knew I wanted nothing more than to move from where I was. Without getting out to check anything I glanced over my shoulder, saw some broken glass, plastic, bent metal, and more forest in my trunk than what I started with. Started the truck and moved up 10' back onto the trail. I sat there, looking for my hand held radio to try and reach the group. I couldn't get anything other than small bits of static, so I got out and had a quick look. Realizing no one knew I had slid off trail, I turned around, crossed a tree I had knocked over (the big 25' one laying on the trail in the pictures), and drove as fast as I could around a bypass to where I met up with them.
It seems spare on the tire carrier took most of the brunt of the trees. It caved in the swingout, which came through the rear door. The main base of the bumper seemed to take a pretty good hit, and between that and the force on the pivot from the swingout slightly kicked out the passenger side wing under the fender. So other than a little tweaking to base (which I should have stayed home to grind out some more clearance
), the base seems to be fine. The swingout is a write off. Other than quickly tarping my rear blown out window, I haven't had too deep a look at it. The jerry can holder is a little bent but nothing that can be pounded back, the spare tire mount looked like it got twisted pretty bad and the square tube that it all mounts to is scrap. As far as body damage to the truck it seems to be contained entirely to the rear hatch. A couple very tine dents along the edges of the hatch, but the roof, and all the panels don't have a mark in them. If that tire wasn't mounted I'm positive that with the angle I hit the trees at, first contact would have been my roof line and I would have had a tree in my rear seat. The large tree laying on the trail luckily didn't fall on the truck, along with any other significant branches. As bent as everything is, with how hard I hit, I am ecstatic at how well the rear bumper held up.
After catching up with the group, telling my tale, and gawking at the damage, we carried on as usual. I was in pretty good spirits. Bent metal isn't the end of the world, and if it's only the hatch that is fubar'd I'll be pretty happy. I'll probably be editing and adding some stuff tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and here's some more crappy phone pics from the rest of the day.
Today's trail run started out like most others... I was running late. I got some info from a friend late Saturday night about the run, and was undecided as to whether I was going to tag along or not. I originally planned to finish some work on the truck - install my winch, get my wiring ready for my lights, fix the rear bumper so it clears my body better, and have a look at my inner tie rods which need replacing. I set my alarm to give me enough time to get to the scheduled meeting area, and went to bed some time after 1:00AM Sunday morning. I woke up to a text asking if I was coming still, already 15 minutes late and 30 minutes away from where I needed to be if I wanted to go wheeling. Realizing my alarm was set to 2011, a year in which March 4th does not land on a weekend my alarm hadn't gone off... Not wanting to hold up the group, I sent him a text back saying I wasn't going to make it.
Somewhere near 11:00AM I had my coffee half drank, subway sitting in my lunch cooler, a nearly unpacked truck and I was sitting in the staging area on the trailhead where we normally meet and air down. I figured I would take the main trail in, and if I couldn't get any sign of them on the radio I would turn around and meet up with some other friends. The small storm that hit that night had lured me out, in hopes of large snow drifts and tom foolery. I managed to hear some chatter on my radio, and sure enough the pack of trucks were just all clearing the first major hill on the "winter only" trail loop. It's a trail I have ran many times before, so letting them know I was going to catch up, I raced along the trail. Other than a quick stop for lunch and gas I didn't pack much. I left my shovels, hi-lift, and regular box of gear I normally throw in the truck for day trips all at home. I do however keep my recovery gear in the truck, and had a good amount of winter work clothes and tools on me anyways. Not sure where I'm going with paragraph, but at this point you've signed up to read it all :hello: I was in a rush and figured I was prepared enough, sitting at the bottom of the first hill climb...
I somewhat recently put a very sweet rear CBI bumper on the truck. I ordered it in bare steel, with the swing out, jerry can holders, fold down table, and hi-lift mount. The bumper is burly as hell, and I'm super impressed with it. I ordered it bare planning to add small hoops to the side of it, which I have since done. I also wanted it bare with the thought of pairing it with a Outdoor Logic front bumper. Again, bare, no hoops. Until I get around to adding my own that is. I kind of feared having two different colour powder coats, and of course having to grind off paint to add hoops and re-powder coat is somewhat silly. The only downside I can say for the CBI is that it's a total ***** to get it to fit right. Not sure if something on my truck is off, because I haven't seen anyone else complain about this, but mine or my truck didn't want to work well together. This is kind of besides the point, but I will at some point be letting CBI know. The holes for the bolts that mount into the hitch location did not line up for me. The bolt locations are slightly wider than what is drilled on the bumper. I widened the holes on the bumper with a carbide bit and a walter tool. It's not perfect but it works. The other major issue I had with fitment, is the bumper rubbing (er, pounding) just behind the rear tire where the body slightly kicks out. Luckily ordering it in bare, I was able to grind out a contour to match the body lines. Victor being a local friend with the same bumper has the same problem. On bumps before I clearanced it a little I could hear the bumper smashing the body (it sat against it, and slightly rubbed up and down). I'll note that this was before I welded hoops on the sides that could I guess pull the bumper. Again not huge issues, but it is a pricey bumper and if it came powder coated I wouldn't want to have to deal with it. Other than that the bumper is fantastic, and I'm totally happy with the purchase.
And back to the hill. I lost radio contact sitting at the bottom of what might be a 200-300 meter hill. The group wasn't much further ahead, and again it's a hill and trail I've ran probably near 15 times or so; recently as well I might add. We've had some warm weather which has left a good amount of thick sheer ice, but was for the most part covered by the early morning disappoint storm of 2 or 3 inches of wet snow. The bottom 1/4 of the hill looked like bare rock and mud after sitting a few hours in the sun, and being scrapped away at by morning trail "traffic". I threw it in second gear low range, locked the rear end and started to climb. Didn't make it far before bouncing off some steps, losing my momentum, and throwing it in reverse to back and slide down the hill.
At this point I'll say while I know I far from the best driver, I have had my fair share of experimenting and slipping around on hills in winter conditions. I have probably tobogganed up and down hills, forward and backwards 100's of times at this point, and last year had ran these same trails with the most bald tires you've ever seen anyone take off road. Having 2 month old 33" duratracs is awesome, but slippery is slippery and don't let anything fool you.
I backed down what little of the hill I had made it up in reverse with little problem, sliding fast but nothing obscene. Again at this point I was in a rush, figured I could air down once I caught up to the group and we were waiting for everyone to clear a hill or obstacle. Still sitting at nearly 40PSI I reset myself at the bottom, and started up for attempt number 2 in second gear with a little more speed to keep momentum up. I was probably hitting it somewhere around 3500-4000RPM if I remember right, and got a little further before getting bounced around pretty good and losing momentum. Here is where I got it wrong. BIG TIME. I figured the bottom section was fairly bare, and if I dropped my RPM and wheel speed my locker would let one side of the truck grab the bare rock and dirt and I could crawl up. I let off the throttle, wheels slowly spinning trying to find some bite and held it that way to long. I started sliding backwards with tires moving forward. Not too big of a deal, this hill wasn't anything too crazy and I've been in this position before. All I have to do is get in reverse, keep off the brakes and keep it in the ruts. My manual transmission doesn't let me shift into reverse if I am rolling backwards, so putting in the clutch and shifting into reverse just makes fun grinding noises. I'm now starting to slide backwards faster and faster, and touching the brakes does nothing but make it worse. The only way to get it into gear at this point is to lock all 4 wheels with the brakes, shift into reverse, and probably at this speed now hit the gas to help the tires match the same speed I'm sliding at. If you've ever descended down a steep hill in winter and locked the tires you'll know you slide faster. Even in a low gear if your tires break traction and you start to slide with the wheels turning in gear, the only way to regain control is either wait until your tires pick back up traction or stab the throttle to let the wheels catch up to how fast you should be rolling, and then try to scrub off speed. I've done this before lots, and it is pretty second nature for me to do. I lock the wheels, try to shift and couldn't get it in gear. I grind, picking up speed like crazy, and am completely out of control coming backwards down this hill. Before I know it I'm probably doing somewhere near 20-30km/h backward and am just trying to keep it straight and on the trail, with occasional small pumps with brakes to keep speed down as best as I can. My windows and mirrors were still caked from my wet and muddy drive to the trail and I could barely see. By the time I got to the bottom of the hill I must have been doing something stupid like 50km/h backwards, with any attempt at braking locking up my tires. I did my best to steer, but with the speed, locked rear end, and no vision it was all to quick. I felt my rear tires push threw some soft snow off to the side of the trail and braced for something.
This is what something looks like:
This is what something does to your truck:
No idea what order these trees were origionally in, but that's how they ended up. My truck was showered with 14+ dollars in change I had in the ash tray, a million pine needles that I knocked off the trees along with some smaller branches, and the terrible sound of tempered glass shattering and metal bending. I was hit in the shoulder by a 1/2" drill bit I had on my dash, and a shot of adrenalin I would pay good money for. Still with no idea what I had hit, and not sure if my truck stalled or not, I just knew I wanted nothing more than to move from where I was. Without getting out to check anything I glanced over my shoulder, saw some broken glass, plastic, bent metal, and more forest in my trunk than what I started with. Started the truck and moved up 10' back onto the trail. I sat there, looking for my hand held radio to try and reach the group. I couldn't get anything other than small bits of static, so I got out and had a quick look. Realizing no one knew I had slid off trail, I turned around, crossed a tree I had knocked over (the big 25' one laying on the trail in the pictures), and drove as fast as I could around a bypass to where I met up with them.
It seems spare on the tire carrier took most of the brunt of the trees. It caved in the swingout, which came through the rear door. The main base of the bumper seemed to take a pretty good hit, and between that and the force on the pivot from the swingout slightly kicked out the passenger side wing under the fender. So other than a little tweaking to base (which I should have stayed home to grind out some more clearance
), the base seems to be fine. The swingout is a write off. Other than quickly tarping my rear blown out window, I haven't had too deep a look at it. The jerry can holder is a little bent but nothing that can be pounded back, the spare tire mount looked like it got twisted pretty bad and the square tube that it all mounts to is scrap. As far as body damage to the truck it seems to be contained entirely to the rear hatch. A couple very tine dents along the edges of the hatch, but the roof, and all the panels don't have a mark in them. If that tire wasn't mounted I'm positive that with the angle I hit the trees at, first contact would have been my roof line and I would have had a tree in my rear seat. The large tree laying on the trail luckily didn't fall on the truck, along with any other significant branches. As bent as everything is, with how hard I hit, I am ecstatic at how well the rear bumper held up.After catching up with the group, telling my tale, and gawking at the damage, we carried on as usual. I was in pretty good spirits. Bent metal isn't the end of the world, and if it's only the hatch that is fubar'd I'll be pretty happy. I'll probably be editing and adding some stuff tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and here's some more crappy phone pics from the rest of the day.
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