k_enn wrote:
Tom, thanks for organizing such a great run. And thanks to AC for the cert.
Carnage was light on me -- dropped the front skid early in the day. Also, got the typical slow leak at the rim on one of the tires.
Things got interested in late morning. Andy had been leading, but I took over for spell for some of the trails on the south section. When we got to Lake Christy, it was decided that we would go down to the lake. I took the lead on the usual approach from S-1. Haven't been down that way in a while, and I noticed that the mud/water hole on the approach was bigger than I recalled. It also go a name --- Black Hole. Thinking that was the name and not the trail rating, I skirted the right edge of hole and was doing fine until one of my back tires hit something and slid the back end further into the hole than I wanted to be. This pulled my front end a bit too.
I could not traverse the hole , even with the front locker, because the bottom was too soft. Andy pulled around in front of me and tried to pull me forward with his winch. No go, it was just pulling his truck towards the hole. Things weren't too bad - the water level was just little bit above the door seam, with very little seepage. It was decided that Tim would try to winch me out from behind. Again, the winch was pulling his truck in, not pulling mine out. Next, Tim strapped his truck to tree to anchor it, and tried to winch me out. Still no luck. However, with each attempt, the truck was sliding sideways in the hole, getting deeper and on more of angle with driver side down. By now, my left boot was wet, and so was my lower pant legs.
It was decided that Tim would re-position his truck, and get a straighter pull on mine. Same shit, Different try. His was being pulled to mine, and I slid a little more into the hole. Tim could not tie directly to a tree, so he tied off to Chris's (Picachu) truck. His winch was pulling both of them in to me. I think they then tied Chris to a tree, but this was still not enough. Chris had a pulley, so they attached the pulley to my recovery strap, and double the winch back to Tim's truck to increase the leverage. Still not enough. By this point in time, the water was just about up to the hood seam, the lead light submerged, the engine had stalled, and the water was in up to the level of the driver's seat on the right side and less than an inch below the fuse panel. Finally, Andy came around to the back, and added his winch to the effort. The truck had such a lean to it, Chris was assigned to stand on the passenger side slider to help keep the truck from tipping. Finally, with three trucks, two winches (one with the line double with the pulley) they were finally able to extract me.
Once out the the hole, we checked the air intake. The air filter was soaked, and there was some water in the bottom of the air intake box. Andy pulled the intake from the box the engine, and it was dry. (So I did not do a TJ). After moping out the air box, and with a new filter from Tim, the engine fired up. However, I thought the clutch may have been messed up when I pressed it in and it did not return. After pulling it back up, it seemed to work ok, so probably it was just mud obstructing the cable.
At lunch, Tim noticed that the headlight was fill of water/mud. Using a hex wrench and lighter, he poked a small drainage hole, and it drained the rest of the day. He also had some silicone spray for my alternator, and I check the voltages to make sure it was still putting out (it was).
Thanks to all of you for getting me out of that mess.
Later, I noticed a slow leak at the tire. I topped it off back at the office, with the hope I could make it home on it. I sort of did, with one air refill from Brian on the way home. But by the time I got home, I was running on less than 15 psi.
Question -- how do you get Rausch Creek mud out of your carpet and seat? Answer -- use a carpet steam cleaner if you have one. I don't have one, but I do have a wet-dry shop vac. So I used dish detergent in a bucket of water and scrub brush, scrubbed the carpet and seat, hosed it down a bit more, and used the shop vac to extract the resulting mess. after about five times, it was running pretty clear.
Final problem emerged on Monday when I went to get the slow leak taken care of at the tire shop. The key for my locking lug nuts was nowhere to be found. (Good thing I did not totally trash a tire Saturday). Called the local Nissan dealer, they did not have keys, and they are a special order item and they say you need the number code for the particular key (I have no idea if have the code or where it would be). So I had the tire shop remove all four locked lug nuts. (Not too bad a job, with an impact hammer and chisel -- just bite into the edge of the nut and use the hammer and chisel to rotate it counterclockwise). Tire repaired, I then got some regular lug nuts to replace the old locked ones. Wish I had gotten rid of the lock lug nuts long ago -- just a disaster waiting to happen.
Once again thanks to all for organizing a great run, and for the great recovery job the guys did on me.
k_enn
had a great time wheeling with you Ken as always. happy you made it home safe and sound. see you at ecxc.
tim
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Taking a walk? Eating lunch? Smokin a blunt? Just standing around watching?