Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
That would be an interesting call to the insurance company...
"Hello. My Ranger has just been swallowed whole by a fire road..."
"Hello. My Ranger has just been swallowed whole by a fire road..."
2017 F150 Exploration/Tow Build
- Thread starter McCarthy
- Start date
McCarthy
Is it riding season yet?
Literally almost had to make that call lol
Here's an excerpt about what happened I wrote for another forum.
[Gets stuck in the mudhole that used to be a nice FSR] Oh well, not a huge deal, i'll just winch out of it. I climb gingerly to the side, grab a tree saver and a couple shackles, and turn around... Ranger's sunk AT LEAST 6 more inches. In about a minute. Hooooooly ****. I think oh well, I guess that's the bottom, not a huge deal.
Turn around and start setting up the tree saver, turn around, and guess what? She's sunk another 6 or more inches. At this point, it's right where I know the air intake is, so I shut the machine down (No mud ingested while running thank god). climb into waist deep mud to grab the winch line, and I notice theres no bottom to this pit. Literally. Kinda started getting worried for myself, as I can't climb out. Buddy runs over and between the two of us I can barely get out. Hook up the winch line, and it it move, about an inch at a time. 4500lb Superwinch pulling a 1500lb machine buried (at this point) up to the windshield in a foot of water, and then a few feet of concrete mud...
SAFE!!!
Here's an excerpt about what happened I wrote for another forum.
[Gets stuck in the mudhole that used to be a nice FSR] Oh well, not a huge deal, i'll just winch out of it. I climb gingerly to the side, grab a tree saver and a couple shackles, and turn around... Ranger's sunk AT LEAST 6 more inches. In about a minute. Hooooooly ****. I think oh well, I guess that's the bottom, not a huge deal.
Turn around and start setting up the tree saver, turn around, and guess what? She's sunk another 6 or more inches. At this point, it's right where I know the air intake is, so I shut the machine down (No mud ingested while running thank god). climb into waist deep mud to grab the winch line, and I notice theres no bottom to this pit. Literally. Kinda started getting worried for myself, as I can't climb out. Buddy runs over and between the two of us I can barely get out. Hook up the winch line, and it it move, about an inch at a time. 4500lb Superwinch pulling a 1500lb machine buried (at this point) up to the windshield in a foot of water, and then a few feet of concrete mud...
SAFE!!!
durgaprasadzone
New member
thanks infoo..
McCarthy
Is it riding season yet?
Just came back from a two day adventure, awesome time, and bitterly, bitterly cold! Had quite the scare though... In ~3 inches of snow and another couple of mud, heading down a 13% grade the back tires slid sideways toward about a 500 foot shear cliff. Every time I released the brakes even the tiniest amount the truck just slid and slid closer to the edge. (see how close tire tracks are to the edge? Holy pucker factor...)
I then tried to just get off the brakes quickly and roll down, and all that did was drag the front tires to the edge. At one point I could feel the soft mushy shoulder of the shelf road starting to kinda give and I really didn't have much choice at all... See in this pic how the tracks are literally over the edge:
If I sat there, the soft shoulder would continue to give away and... Well, rolling- actually scratch that, falling 500+ feet would just turn the truck and me into a metal coffin, so with my left foot I held the brakes, and with the right I spooled the turbos, and being in 4LO (with a 10 speed transmission, the gears are insanely, insanely short in 4LO) just punched it and steered away, the back tires slid a bit further, and the front tires finally hooked and pulled the truck to safety. At that point, the speedo was like 70kmh roughly, so the wheel speed was gargantuan. Managed to get to safety and pulled over to let my heart rate drop... ************* hell. Almost died...
Beautiful scenery and awesome trip though!
I then tried to just get off the brakes quickly and roll down, and all that did was drag the front tires to the edge. At one point I could feel the soft mushy shoulder of the shelf road starting to kinda give and I really didn't have much choice at all... See in this pic how the tracks are literally over the edge:
If I sat there, the soft shoulder would continue to give away and... Well, rolling- actually scratch that, falling 500+ feet would just turn the truck and me into a metal coffin, so with my left foot I held the brakes, and with the right I spooled the turbos, and being in 4LO (with a 10 speed transmission, the gears are insanely, insanely short in 4LO) just punched it and steered away, the back tires slid a bit further, and the front tires finally hooked and pulled the truck to safety. At that point, the speedo was like 70kmh roughly, so the wheel speed was gargantuan. Managed to get to safety and pulled over to let my heart rate drop... ************* hell. Almost died...
Beautiful scenery and awesome trip though!
Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
Definitely beautiful scenery!
Great to see your heart is in good shape!
What an adventure!
Great to see your heart is in good shape!
What an adventure!
Big50
Adventurer
Truck looks great. Mud is by far the most dangerous trail condition there is IMO. As you experienced, it's almost impossible to control the vehicle in a slick section. On one of our trips in Utah last year we had one of the prerunners slide off the trail into a ditch. He stopped about 2 feet from a another ditch that would have made it absolutely impossible to get his truck out without a crane or something lol. He came around a turn and the sun was in his eyes. Tried to brake and the truck just slid straight off the road.
McCarthy
Is it riding season yet?
Thanks! Only thing worse than mud for that is snow! As soon as you try to move the truck slides downhill- which is typically towards a cliff... Of course, living in the rocky mountains means sliding off the trail is usually a death sentence... I just ordered a set of proper chains to alleviate the issue... The garbage chains Canadian tire and Princess auto (Canadian harbour freight and Napa auto) just don't work. Had to order these through a friend's logging company that has skidder chains made for our conditions.
Actually speaking of skidders... Went out to hang with him for a few hours, man if it payed better i'd be a logger. I love it out there...
