Wash = ford fail. Any tips? (Pics)

Thats crazy SC4333, nice job getting it out, nothing wrong afterwards. I dont think I ever want to be able to swim with my truck though lol

 

Thankfully it escaped without and harm. I had forged many crossing with it before, but never quite that deep. It would have made it through without a problem, except for the fact that the bottom just fell out from under me at one point. I ended up driving that truck for another 60k miles after the incident and never had a single issue with it. The whole time I owned that truck, I only had to change the oil, and replace a serpentine belt once.

 

That's great feedback. I've got a trip coming up in two weeks that ends with a 2-4 foot deep water crossing. I'm actually not sure how that height relates to the intake, I'll have to check. With my old Cherokee, I just measured off the headlights - it was a great indicator.

Might have to the diff breather mod, then, prior to leaving.

 

I've played around in water a bit in vehicles... It's risky; I don't do it much anymore. The two best ways to protect yourself are to walk the exact route first, all the way across, and have a recovery plan (winches, multiple vehicles, etc.)

Here's a story to kind of highlight some lessons learned:

Fiance and I were out offroading in a wash in her Jeep Wrangler (on 33'' BFG KM A/T's). There's a river running through that was about a foot and half deep at it's deepest place and about fifteen to twenty feet across. We crossed it multiple times with zero problems. We then found ourself on a dead end trail that ended in the river. We decided to drive down the river a few hundred feet to meet up with another trail.

Driving down the river we got stuck almost immediately. Just hit a soft spot in the sand - the sand to our left and right was fine but we were in quicksand.

We recognized that we had to act quickly, as the current was causing the jeep to sink by the minute. I grabbed her winch line and ran out to the nearest large bush. Wrapped a tow strap around the base a whole bunch of times and hooked the cable up. She grabbed the controller and started the winch up.

Neither one of us noticed that there wasn't more than a single turn left on the winch's drum - the cable snapped right off. Immediately following that the Jeep stalled and wouldn't restart.

She started digging and piling rocks to create a barrier between the jeep and the current.

I ran for the road while calling a friend to pick me up so I could get my truck, which was parked 5 minutes down the road. Got my truck, got back there, and couldn't get a strap on her jeep from an angle that would work. Didn't have my winch back then, either...

Ended up needing a tow truck with a 200 foot cable to get it out. They pulled it from the edge of the wash.

Pictures....



Tow truck dragging it over the final berm out of the wash. I call this her "I didn't do it" picture

 

The best method is to go wheeling with that one crazy guy and have him do everything first.

Years ago my buddy lost his Yota truck in a small river crossing in a section that was only about 3' deep. The truck became boyant, floated and tipped over. It happened real quick, he got out, but his motor took a big drink and that was the end of that.

I went through a seemingly harmless puddle in my CJ years ago, before I knew it I was over the fenders and all the shit on my floors was floating out. Pulled that one off unscathed but it was so unexpected I crapped adrenaline for like an hour after.