Southern Alberta Near Disaster

[karlairey]

A few days ago Khamul and I, and a friend with a Landrover, went 'Splorin in the foothills of the Rockies north of Coleman, Alberta. We hit the Trails about 10 AM. It truly was a wonderful day with a wide variety of trails. One we all liked a lot was long and mostly strait with lots of great hill climbs and very little mud. Too bad the day ended so horribly...





[quote name='Khamul' date='04 October 2010 - 09:33 PM' timestamp='1286249591' post='21642']

Well... we had a blast - but easily some of the toughest trails we have ever done to date!!! Like these were actual quad trails with no doubt about it. We spent about the entire day going along the trails and when we thought we were coming to the end and coming out around the Old Man River exit..... we were brought to a dead halt by a bog. Impassible!!! This was at around 5 and it was already getting dark!



We tried to go around on what we thought was fairly dry ground but Karl basically sunk into it and got thoroughly stuck.... So I tried to come into where we thought it would be safe and hook straps with him, and I got stuck... entire front end ended up digging a hole down to the body. Tried winching out with Chris's winch but not strong enough... after digging out and adding in rocks and wood to climb on... finally got me out. Then attached all the straps together and used Kris's winch to pull Karl out of his hole. But I should say at this point 2 hikers came along and helped push and I think that's what gave the extra little bit we needed.



Sad part is.. about 20 minutes prior to this point we encountered some quads on the trail and they said to basically turn around as they barely got through..... did we listen?? Of course not!!!!



I'll let Karl fill his part in so I won't say anymore about that, but I didn't get home until 4 in the morning...... I was a little tired....



There was no room to maneuver on most of the trails so at one point when I was trying to turn around, I hit a tree and bent my bumper. LOL - so yesterday I rolled her down my driveway to the street off the curb, put by floor jack on the curb for some extra height and jacked it up under the bumber and then bounced on the side steps and i did manage to get it back up to almost what it was before. Made a mess of the passenger side of the Hummer though so I think I will go to that spa place and get a quote for getting my paint repaired.. I'll wait until after the 23rd though... I can't wait until I have the money and I'm getting the Detroit TruTrak upgrade for the front... I also realized the importance of a winch!

[/quote]







Well I personally made it home a few hours before Dave... CUZ HE DROVE ME TO LETHBRIDGE!!! Thanks to you my friend! You are one of a kind. We had to leave my Hummer on the trail though... I went back for it and she's home now, but it was a hell of an adventure!



Short version...

• The trails were awesome! Getting stuck so bad in the peat bog was not.
• Our Hummers were amazing! Except when my lower left differential casing bolt broke and the diff jumped up and sheered off the oil cooling lines housing from the side of the engine block.
• The day was warm and sunny. Except when the sun went down and my Hummer was OIL-LESS in the middle of a skinny muddy trail about 2 hours from gravel road and I was covered from head to toe in mud and engine oil.
• The drive home was... Quiet/subdued/pissed off
• 36 hours later I began a day of toosl and parts gathering.
• 16 hours after that I was camped at top of the trail head at 1 AM with a few great guys in a monster Grand Cherokee, an older Landrover with no tires, and a Quad.
• Next day was spent: Trying to get an air compressor to work (never did); Trying to drill with an electric drill the 6mm Housing bolts so we could reTap the holes (didn't work); Tapping the oil outlet holes themselves to allow screwing in two bolts to block them off and hope some oil pressure would build. We had about 30 minutes of light left after the taps were done.
• Out of 3 vehicles down there we didn't have 2 bolts of the right size to fit in the oil outlet holes...Soooo, I borrowed one from a rear shock and we cut it in half and used those! (It leaked like crazy but worked).
• Replaced the bolt in shock with an oversized bolt and (no kidding) 12 washers!
• Tied down the Diff with a new bolt and plenty of washers and nuts. Now it was getting dark and we had to get heading back up a steep muddy trail.
• 7 Gallons of oil later and a $265 tow I was home with my baby at 2 AM.
• Tomorrow she goes into the shop to get the screws out, the broken bolts out, new bolt holes tapped and the oil cooling lines reattached. I'm sure that won't be a cheap bill.
• I have to order the correct bolt for the diff from GM, but if it ain't at least Grade 8 I'll just get a better one made!

So it was an expensive (on top of the tow, tools and parts, and shop charges tomorrow, I will pay $500 to the 3 awesome guys who helped me - which is nothin really - for time and gas and a few small parts they broke out there too) and very frustrating end to a wicked fun Exploratory Day in Southern Alberta!



...can't wait until I get out there again!! Anyone else wanna try it?



Karl



PS.. Pics and vids in a day or two.

[whitehumh2]

We have had an experience like that here in Quebec.



1000ft took 9 hummers from 6pm till 2:30am to get everyone through...stupid bogs!! Ours was waist deep!



However we just got miserably stuck and destroyed a bunch of winches.



What did we learn??



We need bigger winches and now we use 2 or even 3 snatch blocks and boy what a difference they make! They make a so-so winch stronger and a heavy duty winch unstoppable!! Also Bigger tires and sealed underbodies make a big difference...my custom skidplate protects that diff bolt from being a low point...it is still visible but much better protected and the plate allows us to slide over or through almost anything!



Can't wait to see the pics and the vids!!



Kev

[Big_Dub]

You guys are f*ckin crazy <img src='http://www.canadianhummerclub.com/forum ... >/grin.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt=';D' />

[Khamul]

You know..... the more I think about it.... It's pretty harsh what we went through in the end.. I'll be doing my repairs this weekend (Calipre and reform the protective Armour and my new Ball joint goes on next week...) Aside what the trucks went through.... That was an awesome run! Driving out on the trails when it was pitch black was kinda invigorating!! It made some of those nasty points we had to go over not seem so bad as we couldn't see them...lol



I'd do it again! But when someone says turn around.... I think I'll listen next time!! But night run was really cool!!!!!!!

[normsadler]

Now that is an adventure!

[Khamul]

[quote name='Polar Bear' timestamp='1286455108' post='21712']

We have had an experience like that here in Quebec.



1000ft took 9 hummers from 6pm till 2:30am to get everyone through...stupid bogs!! Ours was waist deep!



However we just got miserably stuck and destroyed a bunch of winches.



What did we learn??



We need bigger winches and now we use 2 or even 3 snatch blocks and boy what a difference they make! They make a so-so winch stronger and a heavy duty winch unstoppable!! Also Bigger tires and sealed underbodies make a big difference...my custom skidplate protects that diff bolt from being a low point...it is still visible but much better protected and the plate allows us to slide over or through almost anything!



Can't wait to see the pics and the vids!!



Kev

[/quote]



Hey Kev,



Can U give a quick description of how these work? I looked at one site and they rave about these things but don't really say alot about them in the process. The Block itself looks like a pully and does it get mounted on an oposing vehicle or tree?



Thanks

[whitehumh2]

A snatch block can also be called a pulley block. It is exactly that. A Pulley that the cable runs over to alter it's direction.



Pulley blocks can be used in many ways. we have used them in many cases to pull a Hummer to the side to prevent body damage by using the Hummer behind it with a snatch block attached to a tree in between the trucks, giving a v-shaped cable set-up that allows one truck to winch the truck in front of it to the side without having to manuever the Hummer into that position.



Another way to use the snatch block would be to connect it to either a tree or another vehicle(that is strapped to a tree!!) and then back to the originating vehicle, this will double your pulling capacity. Need more power, use a second pulley block and attach this one on the vehicle and move your hook to the other end near the first pulley block, DO NOT attach it to the same tree nor to the same strap unless it is the only tree and your only strap!! You have now triple your pulling capacity. One thing to note, is that every time you use a pulley block your cable gets shorter. No PB = 100ft of cable. 1 PB = <50ft of cable. 2 PB = <32ft of cable. So what does that mean, well very simply, you better have winch extension straps otherwise you will have a super strong winching setup with no way of attaching it to something solid.



Here is a Towing video that illustrates it fairly well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaM-akMZgSA



Here is a link from Superwinch that gives somemore info: http://www.superwinch.com/4x4_Winch.html



To get your own Snatch Blocks, ARB makes the best ones: http://www.arbcanada.com/ And Tony will give you a Really great deal too!!!



Hope this helps!



Kev

[Khamul]

Sweet, talk about ingenious!



I don;t have a winch yet but 2 of these will be on the list for when I do. Our last trip would have benefitted immensley with one of these as I really wanted to pull mu butt away from a tree but we have no way to do it due to teh ground.... This would have been real handy!



Thanks dude!

[karlairey]

Excellent Polar Bear! Thanks for he great info. I've been thinking about snatch blocks and come alongs a lot lately...



I'm curious about come-alongs. Anyone use them or have them on board in case winch breaks down?

[karlairey]

[quote name='Khamul' timestamp='1286545621' post='21738']

You know..... the more I think about it.... It's pretty harsh what we went through in the end.. I'll be doing my repairs this weekend (Calipre and reform the protective Armour and my new Ball joint goes on next week...) Aside what the trucks went through.... That was an awesome run! Driving out on the trails when it was pitch black was kinda invigorating!! It made some of those nasty points we had to go over not seem so bad as we couldn't see them...lol



I'd do it again! But when someone says turn around.... I think I'll listen next time!! But night run was really cool!!!!!!!

[/quote]



I 100% agree my friend! It was a very good day... Right up to the end. And I know what you mean about the ride out in the dark too. I loved the ride out with you, and REALLY loved it a few days later when I drove mine out... It felt really good and my truck did great.



By the way, the fix for the oil cooler? Only $4 bills. 1Stop Automotive in Lethbridge. Very careful and detailed work removing the screws from the holes, cleaning out pieces of thread, flushing the lines and engine, resealing and reattaching lines. Excellent job he did.



Total bill for that weekend: $1350. Add to that $400 for a new front drive axle right before the trip and my Differential in August, and I am in for $5 flippin grand. Crazy. But I still love it! Anyways, budget is toast for October and won't be able to go on the 23rd. I am planning a mid-week trip first week of November same area though. Maybe you'll be able to get away?