First Mudding Adventure Didn't Go As Planned

So yesterday I decided to take my brother out to this mudding area since he had never been before and I have only done it a few times. We just had a huge rain storm come through about three days ago so it wasn't too muddy anymore but enough to get my truck dirty. I start having a little fun and doing doughnuts and going through the water when I look down and see the air pressure light on. I immediately find a flat surface and stop the truck. I open my driver side door and look at my front tire and then my back tire. The back tire is completely flat coming off the rim!


So I get out and start lifting the truck up. I have never gone off road before except for in this same area like twice, and I have only changed the tire on the car I had before my tacoma once. So I take out the the lug wrench that comes with the truck and try to take the lug nuts off. The wrench doesn't fit! I call my dad and he comes out with some different size wrenches. We find one that fits and try to take them off, but it feels like we're stripping them. Turns out I have tuner nut spline drive nuts. The dealer I bought the truck from put the aftermarket rims on and failed to give me the adaptor to the lug nuts. So I call a tow truck and tell them my situation and they say it will be half an hour. I am also about 200 yards from the road and the area I am in is pretty bumpy and muddy. So I walk up towards the road seeing if I can find the culprit that punctured my tire.

Found it! Not a very good picture. But the whole branch is probably about 5 feet long and 4 inches in diameter. So while I wait I finally figure out how to lower the spare tire which was kind of a pain. About 40 min later the flat bed tow truck shows up on the side of the road. I meet him and we walk out to the truck. Long story short, he says there's no way he's making it out to my truck in the flat bed and he doesn't have anything to break off the lug nuts so he's going to have to call the 4wd guy to come out and pull me out. So from when I first got out there to now, its been about 2.5 hours. So we wait for another 40 min for the 4wd guy to come out.

So to pull me 200 yards from the dirt to road it cost me $165! And then to pull me from the road to a shop is another $65! So overall for 5 minutes of fun in the mud, it cost me $230! When we first got out there it was about 4:30pm, when I got home it was almost 7:30pm! I am hoping my insurance will cover at least the $65 but I haven't went in to check yet.

In the next month I am planning on probably getting an Icon Stage 2 and 265/75/r16's. Is that a good set up? I know I don't need new UCA's unless it's over 3 inches. I learned a lot, I was angry at myself at the time for being stupid, but I guess we all make mistakes and we learn from it.

 

If you plan on doing any offroading make sure you have the tools to aleast fix a flat and its worth doing once or twice in your driveway with the tools kept in your vehical. Glad it all got worked out and a tow truck was able to get out to you. Some places I wheel no one is comming to tow you out.

 

Ya if I plan on doing this more and more in the future I definitely need to make sure I have the tools I need. Luckily the area I was at is only a couple miles from where I live.

 

Damn. That's unfortunate. I had a similar incident once but no tire failure, just stuck as shit lol.

You're definitely on the right track getting the right tools to change the tire. A very important thing to be able to do.

Adding a good set of tires will help. Your chosen size will fit even without a lift so don't think you need it. But, if you want a little extra lift by all means go for it!

 

Insurance claims are placed into record and your premiums go up, and for what? A measly $65? I would hate to think there are people who would make an insurance claim for damage they cause while mudding. Its not wise and frankly if you cant afford to play, don't play.

 

Same thing happened to me recently. Doing donuts, hit a ditch and popped the bead. Just like Mademan said, very important to have the necessary equipment for the unexpected situations.



Luckily I had my hi lift jack, air compressor, wrenches, socket set, etc...

It was good trail fixing experience though.

 

1st thing to bring is tire mgmnt/flat repair - 2nd is stuff to get unstuck with - gas to go offroad is 3rd. Glad it wasn't worse/more expensive.