Infectious Off-Road.com

how does this work?
do we have someone monitoring the web site,
or is it by phone call, by text, all the above?

the range/land rover recovery this weekend looked tuff
and yet, not much help showed up.
i am just curious how the word gets spread

[quote="Uncle Cracker"]how does this work?
do we have someone monitoring the web site,
or is it by phone call, by text, all the above?

the range/land rover recovery this weekend looked tuff
and yet, not much help showed up.
i am just curious how the word gets spread[/quote]

I think the problem with this one was a combination of mechanical failure and lack of info. The small group the initially went up really didnt realize how bad it was until we got there and assesed the situation. We should have at that point immediately called for one or two more rigs but it didnt cross my mind at the time. Kodys bumper failing really kicked our ass too.

I think having more info up front about what was needed would have been very helpful but making the call for reinforcements sooner also would have helped. Pics and GPS location would have been very nice also. As far as the ICE team I dont know if there is any more organization beyond it being a contact list of members willing to help?

Roger, they had 4 show up - which is often as much as we have on some runs

People normally just call one of the numbers on the ICE list. Matt, Larry and myself usually get the first calls for some reason? We then call up a couple people and head out, usually just a few of us as it turns into a cluster fuck if you get too many on a tight trail. Its definitely not the place to bring spectators along. Also, when you get stockers helping with the recovery, you often end up recovering them too - so rather than post a general invite on the board, we usually just put a posse together and git-r-done. I probably do half of them on my own because they are just simple stuff like providing a trailer (like I did for a member who broke down last week) or running a part/tool out to get the rig running (like I did 2 weeks ago). Sometimes, the location is just too distant to get a good group together (like Henry's annual breakdowns in Pismo )

But people NEED to UNDERSTAND the following;

* Sometimes, people just can't get away due to personal obligations. Don't expect someone to miss a family reunion or get fired from work so they can pull you down Freeway Ridge.
* Others just can not be reached; you can't expect someone to monitor the ICE board 24/7. You also can't expect everyone to babysit their telephone all day waiting for an ICE call.
* On the really bad recoveries or when victims want their broke-down Jeep towed through a trail, some people are just not interested in doing it because they can not afford to break their daily driver doing such a recovery. On the really bad recoveries, often thousands of $ in damage is done to the recovery vehicles.
* Sometimes, people just get sick of getting called out every weekend in the winter when people decide to take their stock truck up Rancheria or Breckenridge alone, find our website, and use us to tow them out for free rather than pay $700 to have a tow truck do it. So they take a pass once in a while.
* Some recoveries are VERY dangerous and technical in nature. Its best to have a "scout" party go up and size-up the situation, then plan the full recovery at a later time when full resources can be gathered. DON'T get impatient, if its broke/stuck that bad, nobody is going to steal it if i sits for a couple days.


There is a LOT of names on the ICE list. Don't get butthurt if someone can not go, just keep calling, or plan a recovery on a day/time where you can get the vehicles you need. As long as the humans are taken care of, the rig is of secondary importance.

Nobody is "obligated" to leave their house to go recover someone elses rig. We do it voluntarily, live with the consequences of doing so, do it for nothing more than a "thank you", and don't hold it against people who couldn't make it. There really hasn't been an issue until now. I wasn't there (was drinking beer in my pool), so couldn't tell you what went wrong, but if you didn't get it yesterday, we would have got it today just the same.

Sometimes an ice rig is still broke from the last ice call....

I need to fix my junk lol

Mine broke today on my way to the ICE rescue today .

Don't know exactly what happened, but need a new unit bearing and rotor now. The tire exited the Jeep at 70mph, jumped a barb-wire fence, and went 1/4 mile out in a field, landing right in the middle of a flock of sheep. Luckily, my Jeep handles pretty well on 3 wheels and I was able to pull off the road and stop pretty easily

Cool thing is that about 10 Jeeps stopped to see if I needed anything. One dude pulled up with a 3-ton floor jack in his Jeep and helped me with the recovery. Its back in my driveway waiting to have more money and time dumped into it

[attachment=0]broke (800x600).jpg[/attachment]


This whole recovery was cursed!

Crazy man.

The same thing happened to my buddy a few years ago in his super duty on the 126. He watched his 44" swamper pass him, then went through a fence and ended up about 1/2 mile in an orange orchard. His turned out to be the wheel studs, they sheered off. Not enough strength for the added weight of the tires on the factory studs. We managed to fix it that day and then drove out glamis for the weekend.

[quote="81BigBrett"]The same thing happened to my buddy a few years ago in his super duty on the 126. He watched his 44" swamper pass him, then went through a fence and ended up about 1/2 mile in an orange orchard. His turned out to be the wheel studs, they sheered off. Not enough strength for the added weight of the tires on the factory studs.[/quote]
Yep, this is the 3rd time I have lost a tire. This was definitely a near death experience. 42" Swampers that wont balance with those little studs is a bad idea. I will be upgrading wheel studs before I drive this Jeep again.

Thought you were going back down to 33s?

Glad you're safe, and it happened where nobody would get injured by the tire. Imagine a 42 rolling through a baseball game...

[quote="REDxj5150"]Glad you're safe, and it happened where nobody would get injured by the tire. Imagine a 42 rolling through a baseball game... [/quote]
Or a windshield of oncoming traffic

[quote="Desert Dog"]Roger, they had 4 show up - which is often as much as we have on some runs

People normally just call one of the numbers on the ICE list. Matt, Larry and myself usually get the first calls for some reason? We then call up a couple people and head out, usually just a few of us as it turns into a cluster fuck if you get too many on a tight trail. Its definitely not the place to bring spectators along. Also, when you get stockers helping with the recovery, you often end up recovering them too - so rather than post a general invite on the board, we usually just put a posse together and git-r-done. I probably do half of them on my own because they are just simple stuff like providing a trailer (like I did for a member who broke down last week) or running a part/tool out to get the rig running (like I did 2 weeks ago). Sometimes, the location is just too distant to get a good group together (like Henry's annual breakdowns in Pismo )

But people NEED to UNDERSTAND the following;

* Sometimes, people just can't get away due to personal obligations. Don't expect someone to miss a family reunion or get fired from work so they can pull you down Freeway Ridge.
* Others just can not be reached; you can't expect someone to monitor the ICE board 24/7. You also can't expect everyone to babysit their telephone all day waiting for an ICE call.
* On the really bad recoveries or when victims want their broke-down Jeep towed through a trail, some people are just not interested in doing it because they can not afford to break their daily driver doing such a recovery. On the really bad recoveries, often thousands of $ in damage is done to the recovery vehicles.
* Sometimes, people just get sick of getting called out every weekend in the winter when people decide to take their stock truck up Rancheria or Breckenridge alone, find our website, and use us to tow them out for free rather than pay $700 to have a tow truck do it. So they take a pass once in a while.
* Some recoveries are VERY dangerous and technical in nature. Its best to have a "scout" party go up and size-up the situation, then plan the full recovery at a later time when full resources can be gathered. DON'T get impatient, if its broke/stuck that bad, nobody is going to steal it if i sits for a couple days.


There is a LOT of names on the ICE list. Don't get butthurt if someone can not go, just keep calling, or plan a recovery on a day/time where you can get the vehicles you need. As long as the humans are taken care of, the rig is of secondary importance.

Nobody is "obligated" to leave their house to go recover someone elses rig. We do it voluntarily, live with the consequences of doing so, do it for nothing more than a "thank you", and don't hold it against people who couldn't make it. There really hasn't been an issue until now. I wasn't there (was drinking beer in my pool), so couldn't tell you what went wrong, but if you didn't get it yesterday, we would have got it today just the same.[/quote]

hopefully i wasn't misunderstood here. i was in no way complaining about the ICE team, or how this recovery was handled. i'm on the ICE team for my area, but i haven't been utilized as of yet. i agree, wholeheartedly with the above mentioned "idea" of how ice works, just haven't seen it put into words before now. thanks DD

I am just getting into things with the group but wouldn't mind helping when needed. I am off 2 weeks every month so would be more than happy to help when off.

drlddy post up on the ice team info page, with your equip, your particular skill set, the areas you are familiar with, your schedule, if known, and so on.
the mediators will take it from there