Enthusiast III
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- Thread starter Joaquin Suave
- Start date
Advocate I
Wow, that could have been B-A-D. Glad it's something you can look back on and laugh now!!! Anyway, I have many, many... but I'll start with one that is pretty "fresh" because it just proves we can all still make bonehead mistakes...
On one of the first trips after the Solid Axle Swap on my D'max (the first "real" trip where 4WD was used, in fact) we moved every day. We started in Joshua Tree, spent some time near the Salton Sea, then ran all the way back up to Lake Isabella. When we left way-down-South and headed up to Lake Isabella we had a long freeway pull, so I unlocked my hubs (I opted for Yukon locking hubs vs. modern unit-bearing arrangements for serviceability as well as the ability to run in "2LO" simply by not locking the hubs). I'm sure you can all already see where this is going, but we ended up in a silty wash and my buddy in a 2WD van was struggling a bit. I thought I was super cool cruising it in 2WD and having no issues (not a shocker given the tire-size difference between the narrow rear duals on the van and my 37x13.5"s). Being overly cocky I stopped in a stupid place, and when I went to get going I sunk a little. I stopped, switched the truck to 4H and figured I'd pop right out... nope. Went to 4LO, nope. Back to 4H but put the rear locker on and gave it some wheel speed... still nope. I could make slow progress throwing sand everywhere and digging trenches. WTF, I asked my buddies if my front tires were pulling, and had them check my front driveshaft because it just didn't seem like the front was helping...
...sho-nuff I had never locked the hubs back in after the freeway run. I've owned the truck a dozen years (since new), but obviously never had to lock hubs 'til the SAS.
-IRDUMB
Following is the event that caused the rebuild on my '63 SIIa Land Rover to be moved up.
Grover was having issues with popping out of gear, and the parking brake was basically none existent. Because of this I made sure to parked on level ground. One day I had to make a mad dash to the lumberyard here in our small town (less than 1,500 people). Parking is in the front and has about a 15 to 20 degree angled slope; where I normally park, off to the side, was blocked by a semi. So, I went ahead and parked, it was just going to take a minute to deliver a payment. Well... guess what happened.
In less than 10 minutes time the Rover popped out of gear, rolled down the slopped parking, rolled across the street and rolled into the gas pump area of the convenience store across the street. He came to a stop right at one of the pumps, on the side the gas cap was on even!!!
When I walked out the front door of the lumberyard, standing off to the side - laughing their butts off - stood the lumberyard manager AND the chief of police. The chief knew about the transmission issues and the parking brake... While still laughing he walked up to me and said - "you have got to get that thing fixed, if it had hit a car or one of those gas pumps things could of been a lot worse".
To this day people laugh about it and my reply is usually something like "well, I did need gas and the Rover decided not to wait for me". I did indeed need gas...
Grover was having issues with popping out of gear, and the parking brake was basically none existent. Because of this I made sure to parked on level ground. One day I had to make a mad dash to the lumberyard here in our small town (less than 1,500 people). Parking is in the front and has about a 15 to 20 degree angled slope; where I normally park, off to the side, was blocked by a semi. So, I went ahead and parked, it was just going to take a minute to deliver a payment. Well... guess what happened.
In less than 10 minutes time the Rover popped out of gear, rolled down the slopped parking, rolled across the street and rolled into the gas pump area of the convenience store across the street. He came to a stop right at one of the pumps, on the side the gas cap was on even!!!
When I walked out the front door of the lumberyard, standing off to the side - laughing their butts off - stood the lumberyard manager AND the chief of police. The chief knew about the transmission issues and the parking brake... While still laughing he walked up to me and said - "you have got to get that thing fixed, if it had hit a car or one of those gas pumps things could of been a lot worse".
To this day people laugh about it and my reply is usually something like "well, I did need gas and the Rover decided not to wait for me". I did indeed need gas...
i m a bonehead when it comes to tailgates...
somehow left the tailgate down while backing my boat down a ramp and a slight turn sent the front post on the trailer right into the tailgate. i live down in the swamps where everyone goes boating and i see a lot of pickups with that same tell-tell dent in the tailgate, so at least im not alone on that one
another time i was working on something at one of my buildings in town and was using the tailgate as a work bench. i ended up yapping with a tenant and then drove off forgetting about the tailgate and my toolbox on it. when i turned onto one of the main streets in town, i recognized a toolbox that looked just like the one i have go sliding across two lanes of busy traffic and tools going everywhere. i was embarrassed, but with the price of tools, i quickly swallowed that pride and played hopscotch in traffic recovering the majority of them
once again had the tailgate down and a gas generator on it. i got sidetracked and then decided to go to the store for something and as i got down the road and turned onto the highway, i saw something tumbling down the road in the side mirror and realized what it was. a vehicle was coming toward me in the other lane so i decided to drive down a little ways and turn around in a driveway. as i turned around, i saw the vehicle had stopped, quickly loaded the genny and hauled ass.
they make idiot lights for pretty much everything else, so maybe one for when the tailgate is down???
somehow left the tailgate down while backing my boat down a ramp and a slight turn sent the front post on the trailer right into the tailgate. i live down in the swamps where everyone goes boating and i see a lot of pickups with that same tell-tell dent in the tailgate, so at least im not alone on that one
another time i was working on something at one of my buildings in town and was using the tailgate as a work bench. i ended up yapping with a tenant and then drove off forgetting about the tailgate and my toolbox on it. when i turned onto one of the main streets in town, i recognized a toolbox that looked just like the one i have go sliding across two lanes of busy traffic and tools going everywhere. i was embarrassed, but with the price of tools, i quickly swallowed that pride and played hopscotch in traffic recovering the majority of them
once again had the tailgate down and a gas generator on it. i got sidetracked and then decided to go to the store for something and as i got down the road and turned onto the highway, i saw something tumbling down the road in the side mirror and realized what it was. a vehicle was coming toward me in the other lane so i decided to drive down a little ways and turn around in a driveway. as i turned around, i saw the vehicle had stopped, quickly loaded the genny and hauled ass.
they make idiot lights for pretty much everything else, so maybe one for when the tailgate is down???
Trail Blazer III
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Grub, Starting to think you and I could be brothers from a different mother .. lol I too have a love hate relationship with tailgates. First one was fresh out of high school and left the tailgate down after loading a 400 piece box of brand new shiny Craftsman mechanic tools, got distracted and drove off, remember gunning it up a hill to make the light and seeing a impressive explosion of cardboard and chrome scattering across a 4 lane road. Being both low on cash and a type A engineering type person, spent a long time dodging traffic and gathering tools, some of which had been shot quite a distance by the tires of passing vehicles. I ended up only a few sockets short of a set, and learned my lesson (for a short time anyway)
More recently I was hauling my 6x10 dump trailer behind my dually (which has bad manners as it is very short and jackknifes easily when backing up, not that it had anything to do with this issue) and was helping Michelle out at her work doing some landscaping, dropped the tailgate to get some garden tools out, and then needed to move the truck as it was in the way, completely forgot about the tailgate and backed up to the right and stuffed the tongue jack right into the edge of the tailgate. Worst part was I didn't even notice the reverse camera was pointing at the ground. That one cost me a 600 mile round trip to Spokane to buy a replacement tailgate from Craigslist.
As far as idiot lights go, when I was on the fire department, we had them on all the compartments of the fire trucks to prevent driving off with a compartment door open (big ole flashing light in the cab). Found out that as bright as the flashy light is, it can still be missed by and adrenaline fueled firefighter (not me on this one) right before he drives out of the station with a compartment door fully open. The building won that particular battle.. lol
The greatest I ever did, stayed up late, real late , putting a hitch on a f150 work truck. Got done right at 1:45 a.m. , all bolted in with grade 8 bolts and wired trailer plug. Worked the day prior at my landscape and fence company so yep I was tired, but that truck had to run the next day with a trailer for a big job. I slid the ball hitch in to the receiver backed up to trailer hooked up did a light check, man I was so proud of myself. Well I thought I should test drive the set up and make sure it worked so I hopped in the truck and slowly turned down the street onto the main road by the house. Trailer was pulling straight and I was thinking yes this will work, so I started heading home to wash up and get a couple hours rest. All the sudden there was a loud bang and scraping and swaying. I pulled over put the hazards on got out walked back sure enough trailer came off truck with the ball .
I forgot to pin the hitch slide in.
I forgot to pin the hitch slide in.
Ha. I've got a similar one. I worked for the city parks department for a few years. A couple of months after I started, I needed to go get a trailer and bring out a small spray rig from the main shop to the park we were working at. It was my first time hooking up a trailer. I made sure I had the right size ball, safety chains hooked, loading ramps positioned right to drive the sprayer on. All good. I start to drive the spray rig onto the trailer and WHAM! The front of the trailer flew up and smashed into the back end of the truck. I never locked the hitch onto the ball. Fortunately, the truck was a stake side flatbed and the rear of the bed was thick plate steel so other than a few scratches, there was no damage. I sure felt really stupid though. Never forgot to lock the hitch again.
Off-Road Ranger I
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LOL these hitches seem to be a trend.... Mine was the one of the first times out with my trailer, I was packing up to leave and backed the truck up to the trailer and went out to check my alignment, I was close, so I lowered it onto the receiver (Max Coupler) and it was just slightly off. So what did I do, nope I didn't safely put the trailer back on the trailer jack to realign, I figured I could just pull forward a hair and it would drop in, well it dropped, just not into the receiver!
Traveler II
While preparing for a trip on the CDT, I removed my normal camping hammock from the vehicle (since I planned to sleep in the RTT) and replaced it with a compact ENO. Half way through the trip I was at a remarkable camp site. The kind of site that is on a bluff in the mountains overlooking a vast valley with nobody around for miles and miles. The sun was shining, the air was still and the temperature was perfect. Not to mention one hell of a view. I thought, this would be a great place to kick back in the hammock and take it all in. I rig the tree savers and straps then pull out that compact hammock. Son-of-a-gun! It was NOT a hammock, it was simply mosquito netting 
I never did get to hang in pure tranquility on that trip!!!
- - -
After building my trailer and verifying everything worked as intended I left for a weekend trial run with it a couple hundred miles away. The trailer pulled great and handled beautifully all day long. When I set up camp it was daylight and easy going. When nigh fell I tried to use the lighting I spent so much time engineering and implementing, but none of my light would come on. I verified all of the connections, my battery supply, the grounds, everything. I sat by the fire feeling defeated, wondering what I did wrong, where did I make a design mistake. Since I am a giant dork, I did had my wiring diagram saved on my phone. Breaking one of my self implemented camp fire rules, I retrieved the phone and studied the diagram. Then I saw it. A basic switch that is obscured by the jack and trash bag. I installed that switch to prevent any lights from accidentally coming on when on the road. I got up, flipped the switch and presto. EVERYTHING WORKED
- - -
I have hundreds (if not thousands) of boneheaded snippets of my adventures in the garage and on the road. Guess that just happens when you are a bonehead
I never did get to hang in pure tranquility on that trip!!!- - -
After building my trailer and verifying everything worked as intended I left for a weekend trial run with it a couple hundred miles away. The trailer pulled great and handled beautifully all day long. When I set up camp it was daylight and easy going. When nigh fell I tried to use the lighting I spent so much time engineering and implementing, but none of my light would come on. I verified all of the connections, my battery supply, the grounds, everything. I sat by the fire feeling defeated, wondering what I did wrong, where did I make a design mistake. Since I am a giant dork, I did had my wiring diagram saved on my phone. Breaking one of my self implemented camp fire rules, I retrieved the phone and studied the diagram. Then I saw it. A basic switch that is obscured by the jack and trash bag. I installed that switch to prevent any lights from accidentally coming on when on the road. I got up, flipped the switch and presto. EVERYTHING WORKED
- - -
I have hundreds (if not thousands) of boneheaded snippets of my adventures in the garage and on the road. Guess that just happens when you are a bonehead
Influencer I
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I was getting ready to haul a car with my dad using my old 93 Cummins powered Dodge. While looking over the trailer I noticed the forward axle wheel bearings were not in good shape, so I got it into the shop and popped the hubs off, turned out I was not doing a good job of maintenance and the spindles were bad.
So I did some quick thinking, I had just parted out a 2wd 74 Ford F100 and still had the front spindles and hubs out back. So I torched off the old trailer axle spindles and welded on the Ford spindles. Got everything together and even got about 3 hours of sleep before needing to load up and head out.
Everything was going great, leaving Spokane headed west I stopped at the Sprague rest stop and did the old hand test on the trailer hubs, perfect. Now that we were on the flat I could put the hammer down as we were behind schedule. About Mosses Lake I started hearing a faint squeaking sound, my dad told me last time he used the pickup the rear brakes were a little off and so they probably just needed servicing, so on we went.
As we turned off I-90 headed towards Roslin I finally figured out what that squeaking was. There was a faint thud and a jerk, both of those Ford hubs failed at the same time and I ended up loosing both of my forward trailer axle wheels. Thankfully nothing was hit and it was at slow speed. What was really surprising was that the hubs were still on the axle, but the wheels were gone, and so were all the wheel studs...
What had happened was when I installed the wheels I left the brakes drums off and torqued the wheels down. Well the nuts tightened up against the wheel and pushed the wheel against a stepped portion of the stud. Normally this stepped portion would have held the brake drum and allowed everything to tighten up securely. Without the brake drum there the studs were effectively loose in the hub. So that squeeking sound was actually the studs machining their way through the hub. Once I had slowed down and started to turn through the interchange the wheels finally got enough side load to allow the studs to slide out. It was the wildest failure I have ever had. Fortunately I was only hauling a 2K lbs Dihatsu so I just chained up the forward axle and got the job done.
Even though everything ended well it still scared me. I had never had a wheel off (and have not had one since), despite all the stupid things I have done I had never had a failure that was that dangerous to others.
So I did some quick thinking, I had just parted out a 2wd 74 Ford F100 and still had the front spindles and hubs out back. So I torched off the old trailer axle spindles and welded on the Ford spindles. Got everything together and even got about 3 hours of sleep before needing to load up and head out.
Everything was going great, leaving Spokane headed west I stopped at the Sprague rest stop and did the old hand test on the trailer hubs, perfect. Now that we were on the flat I could put the hammer down as we were behind schedule. About Mosses Lake I started hearing a faint squeaking sound, my dad told me last time he used the pickup the rear brakes were a little off and so they probably just needed servicing, so on we went.
As we turned off I-90 headed towards Roslin I finally figured out what that squeaking was. There was a faint thud and a jerk, both of those Ford hubs failed at the same time and I ended up loosing both of my forward trailer axle wheels. Thankfully nothing was hit and it was at slow speed. What was really surprising was that the hubs were still on the axle, but the wheels were gone, and so were all the wheel studs...
What had happened was when I installed the wheels I left the brakes drums off and torqued the wheels down. Well the nuts tightened up against the wheel and pushed the wheel against a stepped portion of the stud. Normally this stepped portion would have held the brake drum and allowed everything to tighten up securely. Without the brake drum there the studs were effectively loose in the hub. So that squeeking sound was actually the studs machining their way through the hub. Once I had slowed down and started to turn through the interchange the wheels finally got enough side load to allow the studs to slide out. It was the wildest failure I have ever had. Fortunately I was only hauling a 2K lbs Dihatsu so I just chained up the forward axle and got the job done.
Even though everything ended well it still scared me. I had never had a wheel off (and have not had one since), despite all the stupid things I have done I had never had a failure that was that dangerous to others.
I leaned the 4Runner against a rock ledge in southern Utah. Then proceeded to get a $300 speeding ticket in Colorado.
I forgot to turn my radio on after a stop. The trail leader told us to NOT follow him, take the bypass. Needless to say, I didn't hear him.
I had just gotten my discovery 1. Did the basic liquids changes, making sure she wasn't heating and I was eager to take her up the local mountain.
Was going up no problem on 4Hi on winding snowy dirt roads when suddenly I begun sliding a bit. No problem there, feeling confident, put her in 4Low and continued to climb.
There were no tracks in front of me anymore. After a couple of curves and steep inclines, I decided it was time to head back, but not before stopping, enjoying the view and even getting out for a nice photo memory of this 1st exploit.
As I put my feet on the snowy ground I fell on my bum. The foot of snow was hiding a heavy and thick ice!
My heart stopped! I lifted myself up and closed the door. I turned the music down so I can see better. With sweaty hands, I slowly turned my rig around. It took a couple of back and forth to get it turned. I didn't want to slide down into the valley below...
With the valley on my left and the mountain on my right, I begun to slowly head down.
On 4low and differentials locked, as soon as I lifted my foot from the brakes, I was sliding down uncontrollably! Adrenaline kicked in and I did what any newbie would have done : I slammed the brakes! It wasn't stopping! The back even slide towards the precipice to the left! I let go of the brakes and moved my steering towards the mountain. The mountain stopped me!
Wow! I was in sweats. I took a minute or 5 to calm down. I had no chains with me, I wanted to call a towing just to be safe. It was steep guys!
What I ended up doing is turned my wheels to the left, as soon as I was moving 5-10 feet on ice, bumped into the right side of the mountain again. I did this for an hour or so and finally got down safely.
Morale of the story : 'Where there's no head, the feet will hurt.'
Was going up no problem on 4Hi on winding snowy dirt roads when suddenly I begun sliding a bit. No problem there, feeling confident, put her in 4Low and continued to climb.
There were no tracks in front of me anymore. After a couple of curves and steep inclines, I decided it was time to head back, but not before stopping, enjoying the view and even getting out for a nice photo memory of this 1st exploit.
As I put my feet on the snowy ground I fell on my bum. The foot of snow was hiding a heavy and thick ice!
My heart stopped! I lifted myself up and closed the door. I turned the music down so I can see better. With sweaty hands, I slowly turned my rig around. It took a couple of back and forth to get it turned. I didn't want to slide down into the valley below...
With the valley on my left and the mountain on my right, I begun to slowly head down.
On 4low and differentials locked, as soon as I lifted my foot from the brakes, I was sliding down uncontrollably! Adrenaline kicked in and I did what any newbie would have done : I slammed the brakes! It wasn't stopping! The back even slide towards the precipice to the left! I let go of the brakes and moved my steering towards the mountain. The mountain stopped me!
Wow! I was in sweats. I took a minute or 5 to calm down. I had no chains with me, I wanted to call a towing just to be safe. It was steep guys!
What I ended up doing is turned my wheels to the left, as soon as I was moving 5-10 feet on ice, bumped into the right side of the mountain again. I did this for an hour or so and finally got down safely.
Morale of the story : 'Where there's no head, the feet will hurt.'
Member III
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I too have a couple of tailgate stories. I have a utility trailer and would always take my riding lawn mower to the self storage unit I had. Well one day I went to drive the lawnmower up on the trailer and had forgot to lock the tailer hitch to the ball and it popped off and into the tailgate went the trailer hitch putting a nice dent and scratch on my tailgate, I covered the dent with an Overland Bound sticker!
The second story has to do with the bed slide I built for the back of my tuck so that I could pull things out from under my Diamondback cover once I installed a rack with a RTT on it. I used a piece of plywood, put 1x4 sides on it and picked up some tiny wheels off Amazon so I could roll it in and out of the back of my truck with relative ease. On that bed slide I had loaded it up with my fridge, lithium battery, toolbox and other camping related items. One day after going to Home Depot I had put some stuff in the back of my truck and forgot to put the tailgate up. As I pulled out of Home Depot my whole bed slide flew out of the back of my truck onto the road stopping traffic. My fridge, the battery, toolbox and other items were scattered on to the road in 90 degree Florida heat. Luckily some bystanders helped me get the bed slide back into the truck and pick up my things from the road. I now have heavy duty rubber bungees holding it in place in case I ever forget the tailgate down again as I've almost forgot a few times! My fridge has a nice dent in one corner but still works like a champ, kudos to Ironman 4x4!
The second story has to do with the bed slide I built for the back of my tuck so that I could pull things out from under my Diamondback cover once I installed a rack with a RTT on it. I used a piece of plywood, put 1x4 sides on it and picked up some tiny wheels off Amazon so I could roll it in and out of the back of my truck with relative ease. On that bed slide I had loaded it up with my fridge, lithium battery, toolbox and other camping related items. One day after going to Home Depot I had put some stuff in the back of my truck and forgot to put the tailgate up. As I pulled out of Home Depot my whole bed slide flew out of the back of my truck onto the road stopping traffic. My fridge, the battery, toolbox and other items were scattered on to the road in 90 degree Florida heat. Luckily some bystanders helped me get the bed slide back into the truck and pick up my things from the road. I now have heavy duty rubber bungees holding it in place in case I ever forget the tailgate down again as I've almost forgot a few times! My fridge has a nice dent in one corner but still works like a champ, kudos to Ironman 4x4!
Influencer III
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Colorado loves their speeding tickets.I leaned the 4Runner against a rock ledge in southern Utah. Then proceeded to get a $300 speeding ticket in Colorado.
View attachment 250523
Off-Road Ranger I
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The boniest headiest thing I did? Plenty of really stupid stuff back in the 70s & 80s. But the biggest? I’m sure I’ll draw lots of ire for this one—- I spent about 9 years and thousands of dollars attempting to make our 04 Rubicon into a long range overlanding land cruiser. I was asking it to do something it just wasn’t designed for or very good at. I threw the salt over my shoulder, did not cry over the spilt milk, threw the towel in and bought the 80 series. It was a learning experience and had it not been for that jeep we wouldn’t be where we are today.
Traveler II
Guilty as charged! I've had my 03 Rubicon for 20 years and spent the first decade with it attempting to make it a long range travel vehicle. As much as I love the TJ, it is not the right choice for that kind of work, so I bought a land cruiser as well. The most boneheaded thing I ever did to the Rubi was pulling all off the stock suspension/flares/intake/rockers/bumpers and giving it all away. I really wish I had all of that stuff back today!
Found out the hard way 5th generation Rams have a composite transmission oil pan and the transmission is not covered in the Rebel's "skid plate system"
