Worst Trail breakage/carnage you have had or seen?

BRUISER

BRUISER

silent.. but deadly
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Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Raleigh
I know there are some good stories out there.. so what ya got?

Here is my Short story from a day at Callentee on Armor All:

We started at 10am and got off the trails at 4:30pm.. and we went about 200 yards total

The damage:

I broke both front u-joints, all 4 front axle shafts and my winch cable

Dave broke rear driveshaft.. popped a bead (a few times) got a bunch of body damage

We learned:

How to use every piece of recovery gear we had with us..
and having to much recovery gear is never a bad thing..
Oh ya and the water was rushing down the trail and we all ended up walking and standing in FREEZing water all day

oh and I had a tree limb hit me in the eye and it moved the flap that was trying to heal after having laser surgery a few weeks back.

Pics are here:
As you can see we did not take many on the trail..(we were a little busy)

http://community.webshots.com/album/548274303LiMFrJ
 
#1 - broken water pump pulley. Try trail-fixing that shit.

#2 - broken front link, took out both c/os (snapped shafts at the thread)

Breaking all four front shafts sounds like a normal day of wheeling a D44. :flipoff2:
 
last week I was up there for 4 days and I decided to continue past the standard exit on Easy out. Welllll.....8 hours later we got the rest of the group on out too!
 
Broke pinion shaft & drive shaft in the rear on kodak due to axle wrap. Backed down (couldn't go forward due to the broke pinion binding with the ring gear) down the trail to the short pull off just before the begining of kodak. Borrowed 1 highlift along with mine & pulled both d44 shafts to get the carrier out to get the pinion out. Broke pinion removed installed carrier & shafts, shoved a large grease rag in the housing & wrapped with duck tape. continued in front wheel drive.

Good times.
 
Worst one I've seen would be on Lower Damnation. Big ornage Jeep on Rockwells. I think alot people remeber this one. Took the whole front axle, cross member and links out from under it. There again was standing on ice cold running water with Greg(Donkey Stompit) helping hold plates together so he could weld them. Used 3 or 4 winches to help hold that heavy beast were it was at for about 8-9 hours to do the reapirs to get it the rest of the way up and off the trail.
 
Broke two rear c-clip shafts, carrier, ring/pinion, and spider gears at one time in a gov-lock'd 10 bolt on daniel when my K5 was on 1/2 tons.
 
V8pickup broke both birfs and twisted his rear drive shaft clean in two going up 5 ways out at the farm event,thanks to the quick recovery of the BDB ,he was dragged out by Stone and his mammoth diesel Toyota.
 
Worst breakage ever was when I had to help a red suburban on the switch back on daniel. This beast had broke the u-bolts off the rear axle and the 10bolt rolled out from under it. The ujoint in the drive shaft boke too. My jeep was used to prevent it from moving down the hill. We had to jack it up on the switch back but trying to keep it level!! It took six jacks and a couple of hours. But the funny thing was that the guy called a flat bed recker before i got there and he made it through daniel until he got to the lower ledge, right before the switch back. Even tho he was no help, the recker made him pay for the trip out there. :fuck-you:
 
Let me see. Hmmm there are a plenty.

This one, I will never forget.
Wheeling for 5 days in/at Crossville. A mostly dried up river bed(Obey River) that goes for miles and miles. Rocks ranging in size , from golf balls to Houses. Every rock as smooth and round as can be. Very cool place to ride, away from everything.As close to a real adventure/expedition as youe gonna find.

Day 4, Bens xj breaks a trac-bar. Swapped in a spare.Broke the 2nd 10 mins. later.
We decided to do a linked battery weld, so we rounded up everyones batteries and welded both trac-bars back together. This took a while.
Next we move on a little further away from camp and start exploring a second dried up river bed that split off the main river. Now we are really wheeling in uncharted territory.
Next thing you know we are out of the rigs, chasing Rattle Snakes. Yes..we killed them and planned to try to grill and eat them back at camp.There was snake blood all over the flat white rocks.
So anyways, were all riding again and CRUNCH..SNAP!! Bens xj had just lost another trac-bar....An hour later, we installed the spare again.
Crawling along again, making progress until we come to a large tree that we could'nt saw out of the way, we had to turn around.

On the way back...One of Aarons long arms/link fell out, so that took a while to fix.
While folks were laying on the rocks fixing that, I heard someone say...''Whats this crap on my arm?'' Then we realized he was laying in the snake blood from before..lol(it was almost dark now) ---WE NAMED THIS TRAIL RATTLE SNAKE'S REVENGE!
Ok...moving again. We hadnt gone 20 yards when..#@%^Damnit man, Bens xj broke the steering box clean off the frame. Remember, we were on an all rock river bed..no smooth trail to speak of....FOR MILES!

While being towed out, Ben Broke the rear driveshaft,the last trac-bar, and drivers side front axle...maybe more. Any way, his jeep was fubar. He said he would sale it for 50 bucks , but we had to extract it later, ourselves.

We didnt let him give up, and 1 day and a half later(31 hours) we were back at camp. With 3 miles to the road.

Had another jeep towing him the 9 miles back to the tow rigs on blacktop, but the last front axle let go. Ben and his co-pilot decided to let Ben ride in the other jeep and fetch the tow rig and trailer, leaving Bens friend in the broken jeep that was sitting right in road.(guardrails on a tiny winding mt. road)they could NOT get the jeep off to the side.

Now the funny part...yes, there is a very funny part.

Bens pal was exhausted, like the rest of us. He ended up falling asleep in the stranded jeep, in the middle of a curve, in the middle of the rd. Some guy drives by and sees him.
This guy thinks he is dead and calls 911 to report a fatal accident. EMS,FIRETRUCK AND STATE TROOPERS ALL SHOW UP!!

They knocked on the glass and the sleeping guy wakes up. Imagine what he thought, he didnt even hear the sirens..lol
Come to find out..the passerby that called 911 didnt even try to wake him up before calling 911.

Funnier than that is...several of us were still in the river trail, but could see all of this, due to a switchback in the rd. We were still almost 3/4 of a mile away, but we could see it all. We saw the man in the truck stop, we just thought he was talking to Bens friend. We heard the sirens...we just thought they were heading somewhere else.....We were all like..WTF...when all the sires stoped at The Broken Down XJ!!!

I know there is a carnage story in there somewhere!
 
Back in Jun at Mnt City I twisted rear shaft in half on armour all,tryin to winch and pull with just the front end I broke a stub shaft on the ds which got the hub and the spindle.That left me in one wheel drive.Spent a good two hours winching which resulted in the side post of my optima battery melting out and that left me without a winch.Johnny Shermans big jeep strained it's ass gettin me out.Took about 4 hours or so for 5 of us to run AA,but we did the extension also.
 
not spectacular carnage, but i changed a u-joint in a buddies rear driveshaft on the steepest part of daniel. While he sat in the bronco holding the brakes.
 
This has been several years ago... my wife and I were riding at Uwharrie. It may have been a weekday as there was very little traffic on the trails. We had just ascended to the top of Daniel where we stopped to eat our lunch, and just sit for a while. We had just finished eating when we saw a young fellow walking up the big hill toward us. When he finally got to us he said that someone had rolled a Jeep on the trail and asked if we could help. We asked if anyone was hurt and he said he thought the driver may have broke something. If my memory serves me correctly, it was his ankle, but again it's been a long time. Anyway we went back down and sure enough, just below the switch-back (where you have to pull up, back up, then proceed) was a very clean yellow CJ laying on its top, almost ready to go off the side of the trail and down the big hill. The vehicle had apparently got out of gear and rolled backwards. The left-rear tire had gone up the bank and thus flipped the Jeep onto its top. We asked if anyone had any experience with vehicle recovery. No one did. So, I hooked a strap from the back of my Jeep to a tree and put my wife in the drivers seat where she ran the winch. I recruited some help from the small crowd of onlookers and we proceeded to carefully get the vehicle turned back onto its tires. Once that was done, the driver asked if we could get him back down the trail. I said not by ourselves as our weight was about equal, and if he got away, he would take us with him. We finally got hold of a couple fellows via the CB who just happened to be good friends of ours, and were preparing to head home to South Carolina. They quickly made their way up to us. We hooked one Jeep to the front of the disabled one, then my Jeep, plus the third one, to the rear, and down the trail we went. We later heard via the campground host that the vehicle survived with minor damage and the driver was also recovering nicely from his injuries. This particular incident could have turned out very bad, but luckily it didn't. If anyone on this forum has any recollection of this, please don't hesitate to add or make corrections.
 
A few years ago at tellico. This was a friends truck I was riding with. It was a very heavy 78 Bronco on 42's.

Day one. Just past guardrail at the V-notch hydraulic ram brakes end hiem. No big deal. It was just hyd assist, so still have P/S. The quickest way down is school bus. After a short way the rag joint on the steering gear box strips. That means no steering at all. Used the winch to pull the tires straight on one side a ratchet strap on the other side. Ratchet strap breaks. Use lock - unlock hubs and back up for steering. Very slow progress. Go forward 4 foot back up 2. Friend goes and brings us new joint. It's late and we tell him we will put it on and see him later at camp. We realize after he leaves that it's riveted on. We camp by the canyons at the top of schoolbus. March is a bad time to camp with no tent or blankets.

Day two. We use a screwdriver and hammer to make notches in the power steering pump and use it like a grinder to replace the rag joint. We decide to go by the canyons instead of through them. Almost roll about 100 times and run out of gas. Get some gas and steering gear box breaks. Friend takes his bronco apart and gets a ride to bring us parts. We put it on and hose will not fit. At least we have manual steering. The bolt holes on the frame that hold the gearbox on strips. Get it about 3 miles from trail one. Leave it on the mountain and hike down. Get FOOD!!! and a hotel (HOT SHOWER)

Day three. This is Monday. We call into work and know all we have to do is get it to trail one where we can get it on a trailer. We go to town and get an assortment of parts and patch it up. It has one full turn of the wheel of play, but at least it turns some. Eventually we get it on the trailer. Now we are on the TN side and need to get to NC. We took the dragon tail road with a quadcab logbed truck and 20 foot trailer. We just want to end it all! Eventually we get home in time to sleep for a few hours before work the next day.
 
When I lived in South Dakota I used to wheel all the time and I have only broke a couple of minor things, but I had a friends break stuff.

When I lived in South Dakota I used to wheel all the time with my 1984 4cly jeep home made lift and used 31" tires all the time. One night I get a call from some friends saying some other friends broke down on the back half of a trail named Ice Man and they could use my help seeing as I was the most experienced on rocks. So we go up there with a 3/4 Chevy pickup and a full size bronco on 44's (not a rock crawler and never has been). Once we get there we see that it's another XJ and a Ranger. The Ranger busted just about every moving part on both axles except one U joint and the XJ broke everything in the front axle and pulled the drive shaft out of the tranny. So I am coaching this Bronco on where he should be going to get the best point of attack and it was like teaching a 3yr old Quantum Physics. I ended up pulling both busted vehicles into a spot that would give the Bronco an easier time. Since the Ranger couldn't move forward or backwards we decided the Bronco would pull that out and I would pull the other XJ after put the drive shaft back in place. After breaking a couple of straps and ripping a hook out of my bumper we get the XJ up the final hill and give it a once over to access the damage. The XJ broke both axle shafts, both U joints, two of the control arms, and the trac bar. After a lot of pulling, jerking, and cursing we get the Ranger up the hill. His damage was much more extensive. Both axles were completely destroyed, T-case was cracked and chewed up, and tranny was toast it did start up just fine though. So after all the damage was looked over we are pulling both vehicles to the main dirt road the Bronco was going to fast and ended up rolling the Ranger going around a corner. The Ranger flipped three times coming to a rest on it's roof so the Ranger was not going anywhere after that seeing as it was late and extremely dark. We spent roughly 8 hours trying to get these two idiots out of there to which I stopped a long the way to sleep at a friends house. Two days after this excursion the Ranger shows up on the front page of the news paper still out there and on it's roof with the tires gone, I never talked to those guys again after that since I got into a little trouble with my jeep club for not getting it out of there.

A couple of months later with another group of friends at a place called Farming Dale. Friends decide to bet me again on a little strip of muddy rutted road. So yes I take the bet in my $500 jeep (no new parts, if it's not broke why fix it). I go into the muddy rutted road and get stopped 50 yards in and cannot proceed. So I put it in reverse and hammer the gas pulls right out no sweat. Again my Chevy friend says, again, "Let me show you how a Chevy does it" I look at him and laugh. Long story short it took us 5 hours to get him out with an F150 and breaking the chain twice which ended up slamming into the tail gate of the F150 twice lol.

On a third trip at a place called Little Falls (yes same group, but without my jeep). We were doing fine no-one getting stuck no-one breaking anything. After wheeling for about 3 hours we come to a big hole with about 4 feet of water in it. The Chevy makes short work of it, the Explorer takes it slow and makes it through so we continue on. After we turn around and head back we come to the hole again which the Chevy goes through like a Sunday drive. My Explorer friend decides he's gonna make a big show of this hole and decides to go through a little faster since he made it with ease before hand. Well his front end made it through but not the rest of it since the engine cut off. I knew what had happened and before I could tell him he try's to start it (he sucked up about a gallon of water through the intake). So we pull the plugs and try to crank it over but the engine will not turn not even a little. We end up pulling out of the hole to the shallow river that is there which is as far as we could get due to the fact that the river had thick ice on both sides of it. So after an hour or two of trying to get his Explorer out of the river we have to leave it over night. Again we call my TJ friend who gladly agrees to help since he hates Fords, he in turn calls his dad with another off-road ready TJ. So the two TJ's and my XJ go back out to rescue this Explorer. We get there and all Jeeps make to the spot which is only a few hundred feet in. My TJ friend does it in 2 wheel drive and ask Explorer man if he needed 4wd to get back there just to push his buttons. After some Ice breaking and configuring we finally get this thing out. The funny part of the whole thing was that my Jeep had to pull this Explorer back through the town of Keystone to a parking lot until he could get it towed home. So everyone in this little town watched as a horrible looking XJ pulled this explorer with two more Jeeps behind him. The carnage was a bent piston rod in not one but two places. The rod was bent in a C and S formation from him trying to start it more than one time.

After all of these excursions no-body talked crap about my $500 1984 4cly jeep. Sorry this is long but it is the worst I have ever seen.
 
Dang, some of you guys have ended up in some really bad situations. My worst trail fix is pretty simple. We started up Daniel late on a Sunday afternoon after being at URE since Friday night. I made it about 100-200ft up the trail, and the output shaft on the steering box broke. This was pre-tow rig days, so I had to be able to drive the rig 1.5 hrs home. We took my buddies truck to Troy and bought a rebuilt steering box. It was dark by the time we got back to the Daniel parking lot where the truck was sitting. We managed to get the new box on, but ended up destroying the high pressure line removing the old box cause it wouldn't come loose. Since I couldn't hook up the lines, we cut the belt off going to the PS pump. I started the truck up to get ready to drive home, and it started running hot. The belt we cut also turned the water pump, Doh! Back to Troy for a belt. Ended up running the ps pump lines in a circle so the pump wouldn't burn/lock up. Drove it home with no PS, and later replaced the high pressure line, and the pump still worked, LOL.
 
My worst for me was at Harlan.
First day, broke a crawl box, came back to camp via a strap from Yagar. and after seeing the extent of the damage, went looking for a donor 231, none to be found within reasonable price. So My Friends, David Minton, Andy Williams, and myself transformed it back to just the Dana 300. David and Andy were under the Jeep doing all of that, while Mike and myself shortened the front drive shaft, and lengthened the rear drive shaft. A lot of cutting, drilling plug welds, and welding, we finished up about 1:30 am. I am sure the other folks in the campground loved us!
The next day armed with less than desirable gearing, we hit the trails again. On Middle rock garden I separated my front drive shaft, put it together, and chained the front so it wouldn't flex out as much. 30 more feet, it popped. Broke the factory adapter from the Tranny to the T case. Started winching and winch just wouldn't pull me, made the turn to go back down and the T case hit the dirt.
You know you have friends when they(David) said if you have another adapter, we'll put it in and wheel!
I didn't so on the trailer t went.
 
A few years ago one of my buddies broke the knuckle studs on his FJ40 on a trail way back in the woods. I carried spare knuckles in my tow rig, so we grabbed them and went back to fix his rig after going into town for dinner.

I couldn't remember which side he said he broke, so I grabbed both of them. We took my Cruiser and another buddy's 4Runner in to get him. While getting the 4Runner in position to shine the headlights on the broken rig, his knuckle stude broke!

Luckily it was the opposite side as the first break, so we had the parts there to fix them both. So 4 of us had to change out 2 knuckles in the middle of the night. We got them both back together, and got back off the trail around 3am.
 
So I'm driving down to the store (~5mi) Sunday morning to get milk for my daughter so she can have some cereal. Well, there's 2" of wet snow/slush/icy crap on the ground. I get 2.5 miles from the house (going like 25 mph) and the jeep swings around 180* and goes across the shoulder (backwards), over a mound, down a 80* 15 foot drop, onto a flat rounded corner rock like the shape and side of most small sedans.. so I picked my tools up from the carnage behind it (30 minutes later and still missing tools) the tow truck shows up, he winches it out and brings it home. all the while its raining. but here's what I found when I got a good look at it:

I guess the tow hitch got the back half of the uni-frame. it twisted the hitch insert even... thats bound to be some force, since it was a 10k insert.. oh and the drivers seat bracket is flat to the floor in the back. hole in left rear tire, wadded drivers side leaf into a 90* angle at the front, twisted the hell out of the back half frame, buckled the top down from the impact, the drivers side doors aren't even close to closed, and recracked the windshield. Oh and it was still running when it came to rest. Thank God, I walked away.

click to enlarge









 
the worst for me so far is probably when i snapped my rear...destroyed everthing but the other shft...or put a tree branch that was about 5in in diameter thru my front winshield
 
a few years ago at URE i saw a YJ and an XJ on the ledge coming up the hill right before kodak on RML..... both had broken front ends (not sure if it was axles or driveshafts) but the XJ made it up the ledge and it was the YJ's turn.... (not sure why they didn't turn around and go back DOWN the hill) the YJ floored it and stood it straight up and landed so hard he snapped the tailshaft off of his t-case..... so now they had a 2wd cherokee pulling a no-wheel drive YJ UP a hill..... :beer:
 
jeepin1995 said:
a few years ago at URE i saw a YJ and an XJ on the ledge coming up the hill right before kodak on RML..... both had broken front ends (not sure if it was axles or driveshafts) but the XJ made it up the ledge and it was the YJ's turn.... (not sure why they didn't turn around and go back DOWN the hill) the YJ floored it and stood it straight up and landed so hard he snapped the tailshaft off of his t-case..... so now they had a 2wd cherokee pulling a no-wheel drive YJ UP a hill..... :beer:
Click to expand...

I think I might have been there that night! Was the YJ on 35-39" tires? I can't remember, but I loaned the driver of the YJ my headlight/flashlight.
 
If the XJ was "linked" with a Dana 50 Front im pretty sure I remember this one. It was left on the side of the trail there and it got some fancy artwork in the clay dust all over it.
 
my own carnage list on the same trip...

Day 1
1 output shaft on D20
1 valve stem

Day 2
front driveshaft
2 motor mounts
both leaf spring mounts on the rear axle
shock mounts (can you say crappy welder)
rear driveshaft ears bent out
2 u-joints

Day 3 (as I was pulling into my driveway)
1 rear wheel bearing
 
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