We all have things that go wrong at some point with our rigs. No matter what it is someone can learn from it. Please share them.
Rig mishaps
- Thread starter Oldwestrig
- Start date
Iv been building my rig that's an older style. I'm in the middle of rebuilding the motor and found why it was burning so much oil. I had a valve guide that was broken. I think that will explain the burning oil. Lol
Attachments
Member III
What I thought was a small little bump in the sand ended up hiding a large stump that flopped me on my side , thankfully I was only doing maybe 15 mph and it was sand so the landing was soft and everybody was safe 
Member III
Just a little dent in the door ... ok a large dent in the door . But just flopped it over , checked all the Fluids and fired it back up
Member III
Thankfully it was on the last day of our week-long Oregon Backcountry Discovery route trip but on the funny side it was really the first off road trip my now fiance had ever taken
Enthusiast III
Hi! I bought a new Dodge PowerWagon in 1973, as far as I knew, it was the best looking truck in the world. The next summer I knew of a dry creek bed where there was lots of 4x activity every weekend. It was tons of fun driving back and forth through different areas of the creek bed. The creek had a small amount of water in it at the time, just enough for some fun.
I didn't know at the time that there was a dam at the top of the creek and they were letting water out of the dam very slowly. My PowerWagon had 700 X 15 Goodyear Highmilers on it, not the best footprint in the world. Driving around I finally found the small pee gravel part of the creek with no apparent bottom. I ended up spending several hours watching spectators watching my new truck sitting helplessly in the creek unable to get out. A big portion of the front of my truck was down in the water. Finally a jeep with a winch came along and offered to help. It was a great effort, but the only result was pulling his jeep closer to the creek. Sometime later an old landcruiser (FJ40) arrived. With the two chained together they finally got me out.
NOTE TO SELF:
tires to thin
unprepared have recovery gear
Know the area you intend to drive in
Probably many more lessons here but I'm getting tire of typing.
Cheers
I didn't know at the time that there was a dam at the top of the creek and they were letting water out of the dam very slowly. My PowerWagon had 700 X 15 Goodyear Highmilers on it, not the best footprint in the world. Driving around I finally found the small pee gravel part of the creek with no apparent bottom. I ended up spending several hours watching spectators watching my new truck sitting helplessly in the creek unable to get out. A big portion of the front of my truck was down in the water. Finally a jeep with a winch came along and offered to help. It was a great effort, but the only result was pulling his jeep closer to the creek. Sometime later an old landcruiser (FJ40) arrived. With the two chained together they finally got me out.
NOTE TO SELF:
tires to thin
unprepared have recovery gear
Know the area you intend to drive in
Probably many more lessons here but I'm getting tire of typing.
Cheers
Not my rig!! I was driving some nasty and lonely rough roads to the Verde River Hot Springs a few days ago. At the intersection of FR58 and Dugas Road I came upon this. Having no idea how long it had been there, I quickly checked the interior of the vehicle, shouted a few times and then blew the horn on my truck. No response. Drove on down to the springs and ran into the young man who owned the vehicle. Summary is -- out of state, used a road atlas to pick the shortest drive to the spring, didn't turn around when the road got way beyond his expertise and the capability of the vehicle, street tires fully inflated, no recovery gear. He did find a single bar of cell coverage to text a friend to meet him at the springs (hopefully coming in from a different direction) to attempt to get the vehicle operational again.
The road tends to be more dangerous than the trail. I got t-boned by a guy who blew through a red light. I had gotten out at the previous light to talk to a buddy in his truck behind me (I was moving) and forgot to put my seatbelt back on. I got thrown from the vehicle and suffered 4 broken ribs, collapsed lung, required stitches and staples in my head and had some road rash. I don’t remember the accident and have made a full recovery.
Member III
Ouch! I guess my dent/side scrap when I badly negotiated a large rut is nothing compared to this. Glad all was okay.
40-miles into our 900-mile trip. We thought the worst, luckily our friends were there to help troubleshoot. The place that serviced our engine bfore the trip overfilled the ATF.
Member III
Mishaps in the Australian outback.
A Recent trip through the Gibson and the Great Sandy Deserts.
Burn't out FJ Cruiser 1000km from nowhere. Driving over Spinifex Grass is the danger here. If you do not clear it out from underneath your vehicle regularly from around your exhaust system, this is what happens.
We stopped every 2 hours pulling this stuff out and it packs in tight too. The Spinifex Grass was about 2 metres high on some parts of the track.
Below is a BT 50 300km from the FJ Cruiser this is a very recent one, about 4 month ago by a log book we read when we reached the Gunbarrel Hwy. (Called a Highway but its not, The Australian sense of humour)
The BT50 was also towing a camper trailer. This area is not really suitable for towing a camper trailers, not recommended.
An over turned camper trailer 150km from the BT50
Another burnt out wreck. A Pajero been there for at least 6 years.
You can see how high the Spinifex grass can get
We don't know if anyone was injured in these vehicles, we just hoped that it ended well for them. It would take a week to drive into these places to rescue them from the nearest Aboriginal communities. Even these communities don't have a full time medical facilities.
A Recent trip through the Gibson and the Great Sandy Deserts.
Burn't out FJ Cruiser 1000km from nowhere. Driving over Spinifex Grass is the danger here. If you do not clear it out from underneath your vehicle regularly from around your exhaust system, this is what happens.
We stopped every 2 hours pulling this stuff out and it packs in tight too. The Spinifex Grass was about 2 metres high on some parts of the track.
Below is a BT 50 300km from the FJ Cruiser this is a very recent one, about 4 month ago by a log book we read when we reached the Gunbarrel Hwy. (Called a Highway but its not, The Australian sense of humour)
The BT50 was also towing a camper trailer. This area is not really suitable for towing a camper trailers, not recommended.
An over turned camper trailer 150km from the BT50
Another burnt out wreck. A Pajero been there for at least 6 years.
You can see how high the Spinifex grass can get
We don't know if anyone was injured in these vehicles, we just hoped that it ended well for them. It would take a week to drive into these places to rescue them from the nearest Aboriginal communities. Even these communities don't have a full time medical facilities.
My buddy has always wanted an FJ40. Last winter the stars finally aligned and he found the truck he wanted and had the money to pay for it. He asked me to fly to Kamloops with him and we could tag team drive it back because we both had to be at work on Monday.
We picked it up at 11 pm on a Saturday night... may have been the coolest truck in the world, but then again at 11 pm on a Saturday night, anything on 35s is the coolest truck in the world. Don't need to say he was a pretty happy guy.
By about 4 am with him driving (thank god) we hit a blizzard on the Rogers Pass. By about 4:30 am he was not such a happy guy.
The good news was that no one got hurt and the Cruser is now in his garage getting some new and much-needed bodywork.
We picked it up at 11 pm on a Saturday night... may have been the coolest truck in the world, but then again at 11 pm on a Saturday night, anything on 35s is the coolest truck in the world. Don't need to say he was a pretty happy guy.
By about 4 am with him driving (thank god) we hit a blizzard on the Rogers Pass. By about 4:30 am he was not such a happy guy.
The good news was that no one got hurt and the Cruser is now in his garage getting some new and much-needed bodywork.
Member III
