The second day was the first adventure day of the trip. We started the morning with breakfast of eggs and bacon (our favorite camping breakfast) and packed up the truck. It was surprising cool for that morning and I believe the night before was the coldest night of the trip (luckily).
We then made our way to the morning briefing where they covered what to expect and how we should be driving and contacting each other. Everyone was given a RuggedRadio and instructed to line up at the entrance of the Flying E Ranch.
After lining up, we all aired down to whatever we determined would be appropriate for off road use while still having some short stints of highway driving. I opted for ~20psi. For us, this gives us some give but not so much that the steering becomes mushy on road and the tires won't vibrate much worse than they already do.
From here, we had a short drive to the first off road section. We dropped into a valley and riverbed that was beautiful! There wasn't a whole lot of water (it is the desert after all) and there were lots of cottonwood trees I believe.
When we started to do our first water crossings, we became the first damage truck. One of the pools of water was deep enough that when nosing in, water came up into out grille opening. This normally wouldn't be a problem except that we're running a pusher electric fan that happened to be on at full blast. The blades hit the water and instantly shattered! We didn't notice until a few minutes later. I checked the temp gauge and notice it hitting 230F! It was at that point we realized that we didn't hear the cooling fan roaring! We radioed the group that we had trouble and pulled off out of the way. Once I got to the front of the truck, I could plainly see the problem. We had broken 5/10 of our fan blades! Then then got wedged between the shroud and remaining blades and melted the fan's fuse. After the initial panic subsided of not having a spare fan, we got to work. We removed the grille and extracted the fan from the radiator. Once out, the 5th remaining blade was broken off in order to balance the fan as best we could (so no 4/10 blades!). The melted fuse was replaced and everything was reassembled. From this point on, we avoided deep water and did what we could to keep the V10 "cool-ish".
We got back into line and proceeded to the lunch point at the top of a ridge. While up there, we could watch the rest of the rigs tackle the "hard line". (We opted out of the hard line for a couple reasons. A: it was the first day and we wanted to wheel for the week, not the day. B: there was deep water in excess of 3' and our tcase/trans breathers aren't that high. figured we'd try to keep from drowning them. C: we had already broken the fan and didn't want to hurt anything else yet and give the truck a chance to cool.) Watching the truck try to tackle the steep ridge was plenty entertaining.
Especially when Rouge Overland's Xterra almost rolled! The only think=g that stopped it was one of the event staff grabbing hold of the bumper! They then backed down and a crisis was averted! After that, the Cummins Power Wagon made it look foolish and crawled up the ridge without even trying. I don't think he went over 1400rpm!
Image credit: FourWheeler Mag
After everyone made it up the ridge and had lunch, we ventured through the back country to our camp site. This involved a 5mi hill climb up a mountain at a decent grade (5% or greater. I can't remember).
We trudged up the mountain at ~40mph and the truck stayed cool enough. Temp stayed around 220F. We passed a few other rigs that weren't enjoying the climb and had to pull off. Once we made it to the top, we all stopped and regrouped.
I popped the hood and let the truck cool. While here, we could smell the strong, syrupy smell of coolant. we were concerned it was us but then we saw the Staff Hilux (Curtis) blow his radiator! Apparently it really didn't like the hill climb. Once it cooled enough, he refilled it with water and we pressed on.
Before getting to camp, they offered another trail for anyone that wanted to. We figured we'd go for it despite our cooling issues. This turned out to be a poor choice. We made it down the trail no problem but because of the slow pace, once we reached the turnaround we were overheating. We stopped and opened the hood and tried to let it cool. After maybe 10 minutes, the group started to head back. We tried to follow but because of the high heat, our brakes heat soaked and wouldn't let us move! So we still had some cooling down to do. (this wouldn't have happened had our fan been working but oh well). Luckily a couple of the guys stayed back with us and one of them had a portable shower system. We used that to spray down the radiator, engine, and brakes. This did the trick and we were on the move again! Coming back out of the trail was a breeze with only 3 of us and we made it to camp with no problems.
Once at camp, we set up the truck and had dinner (which was BBQ that was catered in!) while contending with the cows on the ranch.
That night, we visited Curtis and discovered why his radiator blew. We weren't the only ons to break fan blades in the water. His Hilux had shattered a couple of his mechanical fan's blades! And even worse, one punctured the radiator! This is why his truck overheated and blew its top on the hill climb. We helped him drain his system and remove the radiator. Unfortunately for him, there was going to be no replacing it since it's a foreign to US vehicle and on top of that, was a custom job. Mike (Cummins Power Wagon) was also there and was leading the repair effort. He scrounged up some JB weld and patched the radiator for the Hilux as best he could. The cooling system would have to be refilled in the morning to give the epoxy time to cure.
After that, we went back to our campsite and were given a portable fire pit from the DeeZee guys. This was the favorite toy of the trip and kept us warm throughout. We spent the evening around that fire swapping stories from the day and past trips. A great way to end the long day.
