Damnn I was BEAT when I got home.
Big turnout. I was running anchor and GJ was running lead on this run. We were almost to the trailhead, when Matt pulled off to the side of the road with a dead rig. We found that his alternator bit the dust. I drove all the way back to Bakersfield and hopped between Autozones (the only place open at 9:30pm) to find the right alternator for his YJ. Alternator was found, drove all the way back up the canyon, and we finally got Matt going again just before 11:00pm. Matt and Becka decided it was too late for them to continue because they were very tired from moving all day, so they headed home and I decided to hit the trail and try to catch the group.
I got to the trailhead Just after 11:00, ran that bitch like it was the Baja 1000, and caught up with the group in less than a half hour!!!! (they had already been on the trail for over 3 hours). Things were going very slow and people seemed to be struggling to get through, but the beer was cold and the company was good. The usual IOR shit-talking and fun on the trail. I was lucky enough to have Monepit join me in my rig for some interesting tales of anal delight
. Jeff, I love you man, you my favorite mofo.
Aaron's XJ broke down. Alex and myself hooked up to Aaron and pulled him up broken axle hill to the can-opener, and I had to winch all 3 rigs up the last 30 feet of the hill. Pete busted his rear driveline on his JK on the same hill, and had to be pulled out.
While pulling Aaron around a tight turn, the tow strap pulled his XJ off the side of the trail into a fallen tree. This popped a tire and bent a rim, so he had to put his spare on.
The shit really hit the fan when we got to piston hill and had to pull Aaron up. My rear end was knocking really bad when pulling Aaron up the hill, so I hooked us up to the winch. My trusty old Warn was pulling my heavy pig (which was buried half way up my 40" tires in sand), Alex's Toy, and Aaron's broke XJ all hooked together and anchored to GJ's Jeep, up piston hill. The winch was actually pulling all 3 of us, but suddenly stopped, my headlights dimmed, and my battery warning light came on.
I immediately disconnected myself from the threesome, blasted up the hill, and checked under the hood. The winch was too hot to touch, the engine was the hottest its ever been, and the battery appeared to be close to a meltdown. I didn't want to turn my Jeep off, for fear that it wouldn't start again. Richard cautioned that my alternator may be fried also, so I made a decision to haul ass off the trail as fast as I could for the last mile and hopefully break down on Rancheria where I could recover my Jeep with my trailer later. The knocking in my rear axle was getting worse too. Luckily, the Jeep made it to town before the battery went so low that it could no longer run the computer. Fortunately, I had a spare battery in my garage, retrieved it, and got my sick jeep back to my house.
I haven't had the time to open up my rear diff cover or survey damage to the electrical system, and i'm not sure I want to at this point. I started the Jeep and re-spooled my winch line yesterday, and the winch works fine. I am still getting noise from the rear axle though, and my "check engine" light wont go off.
Hindsight is always 20/20 and everyone always has a better idea of how to do things after the damage is done. But there is things to learn from this;
* We could have pulled him down the trail, which is longer but less stressful on the tow rigs. But also very dangerous going down several of the steep hills, off-camber sections, and through the switchbacks with sheer drop-offs on the sides. IOR has had rigs flop and near-disasters with rigs almost going off the trail being pulled down Freeway Ridge. So even though pulling Aaron down the trail would have been easier on the tow rigs, IMO it was more dangerous than just going the 1.5 miles into Evans Flat. Others may look at this differently, and that is understandable.
* Since Aaron's rig still had a running engine and working winch, we could have let Aaron winch himself up the two hills before Evans Flat, rather than destroying other rigs by pulling him up. In retrospect, we should have done this. I think Aaron even mentioned this just before my rig broke, but I was in a hurry and didn't think it through totally. I blame myself for this oversight. I have been through enough of these to know better.
* Break-downs happen, and the rigs that broke were built well and mechanically sound before the run. It was a big turn-out, and the more rigs you have the more break-downs you have. Its simply statistical probabilities multiplied by Murphy's Law. When you put more than 10 rigs on the trail, you are never going to get through without problems. Just a fact of life.
So there is my bit of Monday morning quarterbacking to add to everyone else's.
Frances, My strap is the orange ARB with the silver shackle on one end.
It was really nice to have chuckanut join us. Sorry I didn't get the time to hang with you more.
Ohhh, and it would have been nice to have the 9-11 run organizer join us
Posted: September 9th, 2012, 7:52 am
