MonkeyProof's Misadventures

I carry a ton of spare parts while on the trail, a full set of spindles and a front wheel bearing is one of my bulkier items.

I never really had a permanent spot for the pair of spindles. How I previously attached them was with hose clamps to my spare tire carrier, which wasn't ever a great way to attach them in the first place. But it worked, and it was a good location for them that didn't take away precious cargo space else where on the truck.


I finally got around in finding a new home for them that locates them in a much better spot, and out of sight. But still remaining on the spare tire carrier.

 

Tonight's project, wiring a Harbor Frieght BadLand Wireless Winch Controler thingy to work with my 1st Gen. Smittybilt Winch ..

 

Back in 2009 when I bought my 1st Gen. XRC10 Smittybilt Winch, I removed the end cap so that I could reclock the free spool lever to better fit inside my bumper. There was a surprise in finding a T-Max casting inside the cap. The Smittybilt Winch is actually a T-Max Winch just rebranded for Smittybilt. Some of you who don't know, T-Max is one of the bigger Australian OffRoad Accessory Companies next to ARB.

 

Back in mid August I saw something posted in a regional off road SOS Facebook Page for a T4R that had rolled down a trail high up in the High Sierras. I know the area very well and wanted to help with the recovery, but I couldn't do it on my own. And I wasn't going to go up there alone.. I needed help from other experienced peeps, so I called @theesotericone to see if he would like to help as well, and he said he was in. We were also joined by Patrick who had seen the FB post and wanted to help as well.

I left work early, (mind you that this was in the middle of the week) and was on the road by 6pm from Los Angeles, it would be a good 6 - 7 hour drive to get to where @theesotericone, Patrick and Ian and his girlfriend the T4R owner had camp setup near the rollover site. @theesotericone doesn't live too far from where Ian had rolled over and was able to get to the site and assess the situation fairly quickly. Patrick drove a few hours south for Reno and had arrived in the evening.

This was mid August during a brutal heatwave, temps were still between 107° snd 109° well past sunset driving North through the Owens Valley on the 395. My Tacoma overheated just past the city of Independence, I managed to make it to a rest stop to let things cool off enough to add water to the radiator. Turns out I had a faulty radiator cap that caused the overheating issue.

Missing In Action is the little thermostat assembly that closes I think at 105°, or there abouts.. Later on a few months later the overheating caused the thermostat housing gasket to leak, but that's another post for later.


Here some highlights from the recovery..

103° at the trail head airing down



The camp spot and Owens Valley down below.



And finally, the T4R and the actual recovery..




The plan we came up with was to use a strap around the door and sunroof attached to @theesotericone winch line while attempting to push over the 4Runner far enough that will allow the winch line to gently get it back onto all 4's. My winch line was used to help stabilize and anchor in place the 4Runner to keep it from sliding down the mountain side any further. Surprisingly, it took very little effort to push the 4Runner far enough to let @theesotericone winch line do the rest of the work. Unfortunately nobody was able to take
pictures of us all pushing on the 4Runner.

First order of business was to setup proper rigging to @theesotericone 4Runner and my Tacoma to keep our vehicles firmly anchored in place.





Now that it's all back on all 4's, the plan was to see if we get the 4Runner to run which will help with the rest of the recovery.

Ian removed all of the spark plugs to blow out whatever motor oil that may have leaked into the cylinders. After that was done and replacing a blown EFI fuse, the 4runner fired up with no problems.


Now it's time for the hard part with this recovery, Getting the 4Runner safely back up to the trail. Time for my winch to do the work..

Ian behind the wheel helping to lesson the load during the winch operation.

Pretty close to the top. And this is where my Tacoma had to be repositioned for a better winch line angle and approach for the 4Runner.







The crew..


To think, that down at the bottom of the trail in Owen's Valley was triple digit numbers because of the heatwave. We experienced a thunderstorm with strong winds, lightning, hail, rain and temps down in the low 50's on our way down to the bottom. All in all, the recovery ended up being pretty easy and only took a few hours. That largely was in part being with a group of awesome people who all worked together extremely well.



Ian has rebuilt his T4R and is still hitting the trails!

 

@MonkeyProof

Remember the rock that caused the rollover? The rock that I've driven over, without issue, at least 20 times. The rock that makes doing that section of the trail so much fun because it's actually an obstacle? Yeah, that rock.

RIP.

 

Are you fucking serious?

Thats like what happened a few years ago at The Hammers on Sledge Hammer, a very well established and respected jeep club filled in a few sections with chicken wire, rebar and concrete and also jack hammered some rock the week before so that even the mildly built members jeep can do the trail during the clubs 25 year anniversary

Edit: I texted the picture to Ian

 

Yep, I'm serious.

The FS did not do it or give permission to do it. The local 4x4 club did not do it. Nobody I wheel with locally did it. Some asshat took it upon themselves to "improve" the trail.

It's the exact opposite of what wheeling is supposed to be about. Same thing with Sledge and filling in Little Sluice. Instead of building a rig that's capable, being a driver that has the skills and sending shit we now have people that dumb the trail down for the masses. To say I'm pissed would be an understatement.

The FS is still investigating the matter. I don't know what they will chose to do now. There was talk of closing that section for a while. This damage could be the valid reason they need to do just that. I'll keep you posted as I find out more.

 

Sad, very sad because that's one of the few trails left that hasn't really been discovered yet and not popular

 

If it makes you feel better as of November a big ass rock got moved into the twist/tight turn right after plaque rock and made it back into a buggy trail. We were gonna try and run it if that rock wasn't in the way.

 

Yeah but that could have very well been a natural event that caused it. Rocks shift all the time. Even big ones. They don't ever drill themselves in half though.

 

Wasn't saying it was, simply that sledge hammer isn't easy anymore.

 

Gotcha. Read it wrong. Nothing in JV is supposed to be easy anyway. That's why we go there. Speaking of that, when's the next trip?

 

This is my line right here that gets me up at one shot everytime. And I swear, everytime we start the trail its daylight. But dark when we get to the plaque. One year we had to leave two rigs on their sides overnight to come back with parts and a better plan for recovery lmao

 

@tetten

Have you tried Wrecking Ball yet? I think you'll be able to make it..

 

Quit giving him ideas. Ever since he went to 40's it a real bitch following him. Those things dig holes to that I can't even come close to getting traction in. Luckily my shorter wheel base usually saves me. Usually. lol

 

You know, there's only one way to handle inadequacies such as that...

 

We stuck to the "easy trails" in November.

We gotta build up to get to the JV hard trails, by the time I'd have the confidence to try wrecking ball I'll probably be SASed.

 

Yep. Last time we where at JV I took one of @Tacoma1192 BFG 39's and put it on my rig. I got one steering wheel rotation before it hit my frame. lol

 

You need a crawl box with 4.70's before you ever SAS

 

I've got a tacobox