Another spindle failure...Backcountry DV

we have some time to get that squared away, or you can ride with me.

chicken rock is right after the briggs bridge

 

If you REALLY wanted to spice up a trip you could do a Defense Mine run.

 

I'm game, no worse then some of the trails I've done in the taco at The Hammers

 

a little oopsy at Chicken Rock
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/boh...Death Valley/deathvalleymarch2011048.jpg.html

 

Funny that you mentioned South Park, I have been spending the last few nights plotting a route through the South Park Loop, not finished yet. And I have heard the route is back open since the bridge has been recently worked on.

edited: here's my uncompleted .gpx route that I have so far past the bridge and chicken rock

 

I thought they closed it? Happy to see it still open..






Trucks much wider now so I don't know how I feel doing it again... Trail was falling apart under my wheels... You can see parts on road from one of the incidents...

 

Do you recall the source for it reopening? It was closed due to the bridge..... it wasn't properly maintained(legally with inspections and qualified maintenance technicians) and was a liability if it failed with someone on it. Also to compound the problem the bridge isn't on NPS land it is officially on BLM land and money to inspect and maintain it wasn't available.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/east...n-bridge.html#/topics/977388?page=1&_k=hger3j

 

@Mach375

Greg asked this and I'm sure you were wondering about the missing lug nut....

When the spindle sheared the remaining portion buckled over and the tire got gravel injected into the bead and lost all of its air. Before I could make my futile attempt to stabilize the hub and test it I had to swap over to the spare. For the test I only installed 3 nuts. I lost one of the lug nuts during all of this. After I gave up trying to keep the wheel steady I had to get down to the hot springs ASAP since it was Sunday and my best chance to hitch hike out was going to be there before lunch (to catch anyone heading home after the weekend) and I had a long hike. I grabbed the lug nuts I could find and threaded them on a little and started hiking. I Simply didn't have the time to look for it, when Greg and I went back out I searched for it but couldn't find it again. Oh well, I've got spares.

 

I'll be in Panamint Valley next weekend. I'll report back on the status of chicken rock and the bridge.

 

I was tempted to donate one of my ever-dwindling-supply of lug nuts, but figured you had pocketed one.

 

I've always had a morbid interest in trying out Defense Mine. Don't tell The Boss I said that, as she has said flat out I'm not allowed to think those thoughts (she knows about Defense Mine).

 

Found this exact link the other night. I was planning on asking if anyone had experience with it. Seems legit but would like actual user experience

 

I think we need to make it happen

 

Wing man for life Tom <3

 

Im newish!

Do we have a certain date... cause if not, i pick weekend of March 10-12 ish

 

A little off topic, but why the gussetted spindles in the first place?
Are they a weak point to begin with?

 

made at a different factory and they use slightly different material/process?
I'm curious to find out too.

 

They bend over time from hard use(cross country ass hauling through the desert, or prerunning style stuff), or if you take a hard enough hit under any circumstance they can bend quite bad. Gusseting is supposed to prevent the bending of the spindle under these scenarios.

Have you seen a report of a ungussetted spindle fail? I ask because I have searched for them and can't find any reports, just reports of varying degrees of bending. The only reports of complete failures on either gusseted or non-gusseted are mine and Greg's.

I don't know much about the 4Runner community, but might it be because of prerunning with Tacomas and people with plate bumpers+winch extend from the suspension a little bit farther increasing the load on the suspension? By that I mean....on a 4runner the front bumper is closer to the suspension, so even romping through the desert it wouldn't cause as much fatigue as a Tacoma with the bumper/winch further away?

 

There are some knowledgeable people that think the TC spindle gussets came out as a band-aid to compliment a sub-par kit when it first came out. Then when the kit fixed its problem with uniball binding, a market had already been created for the gussets and people kept buying them and thinking they needed them. I've been advised that you're better off without them.