eh, who needs a front end.

more flow to that intake!

 

Much improved approach angle.

 

Glad to hear there were no injuries. I would be curious to know if the airbags deployed, or if they were disabled.

 

Bruce, can you explain this a little more?

You mean the visibility was low as in dust clouds everywhere?

Up where I go at Greenwater during the summer to access trails we are often on FS roads, and the dirt/dust makes huge dust clouds and you can barely see 10 feet in front of you.

We use the guy in front to spot for vehicles coming towards us, but never to navigate blindly.

We do not follow each other closely, we keep a very safe distance and no tailgating so something like what happened to Lance would never happen.

I am just trying to get a better understanding of what happened here.

Also how do you think a plate bumper like an ARB would have held up to this?

Thanks,

 

lance doesnt drive fast...

 

I have never known Lance to drive unsafely. S&*t happens to the best of us.

 

Yeah, I am just trying to picture how it took place.
It is the investigative safety part of me.

Besides my normal job at Boeing, I am also a Safety Focal/Investigator, and I have to do building inspections monthly and investigate accidents at work and determine how they happened.

 

I know that it is perfectly possible to have a few hundred yards of space between you and the vehicle ahead of you and still not be able to see what's going on until you're right on top of them because of the amount of dust.

 

Glad Lance is okay

I'm interested to learn more about the failure of the bumper. We might be able learn something about mounting and bracing issues, if that had anything to do with the overall damage.

Since Lance is okay, I think we need a moment of silence for the winch and lights...

Erich

 

Glad Lance is all right.

Dirt roads in rock crawlers versus dirt roads in a stock truck versus dirt roads, at speed in a go fast truck are different animals.

Ever drive at night? Some times by the time you see something, it is too late to react?

Sorry, it's the, Wow, can we just write this off as something bad happened, side of me.

 

From my experience out there both in a 4runner and in tracked vehicles at 29 palms in the desert, you don't have to be close to have this happen. YOu can easily have hundreds of yards of clearance and if you are still directly in the dust and somebody slows or stops you have no warning. I wasn't there but sounds like stuff I saw plenty of times in the military, a little miscommunication and glancing away at the wrong time is all it takes. Just glad to see everyone is ok.

 

First off, this was a high speed run, regularly over 50mph. We keep a very safe distance, usually 1/4 to a 1/2 mile apart. In this case the wind direction was blowing directly back on the road, so visibility wasn't the greatest. Dust lights were mandatory......

When the lead vehicle slowed down he created less dust, we normally get on the radio to let others know. What happened after this is simple, Lance didn't see a huge dust cloud ahead, so he kept the pace up around a small bend in the road, at this time he glanced away, possibly looking at his GPS. By the time he saw the other vehicle stopped in front of him, it was too late to do much. He did manage to slow down enough to minimize the impact, which didn't set off the airbags.

Personally I would have veered off the road into the sagebrush, but I'm sure Lance did what happens to most and that was to affixate on the rear of the other vehicle, by doing so you usually end up going in that direction. The other truck had very little damage, just a bent tube on the rear stinger.

Now why did Lances rig sustain so much damage, very simple the way the front bumper was mounted. there was a total of 5 bolts with thin washer mounting to the end of the frame. The bolts went through a slot in the bumper, on impact the washers simply pulled right through those slots. Basically the bumper wasn't properly attached, the reason is simple, this was a prototype bumper that was quickly installed for pictures and wasn't meant to be used. The additional bracing wasn't installed yet, so on impact it simply folded up. If the bumper was properly supported, he most likely would have been able to drive his rig out with just a bent bumper, instead it took out the radiator, clutch fan, both core supports, hood, all the lights, etc.......

The ARB bumper would have held up just fine....BTW on more that one occasion I did tell Lance that his front bumper needed to be better braced. I know it will be next time..........

This trip did take it's toll on many rigs including mine, the first day one truck twisted a driveshaft in two and busted a leaf spring on a hill climb. My rig had a weld break apart near the headers on my exhaust system. Then the left rear spring pocket on the frame tore off, ripping the wiring to the e-locker and ABS sensors. All this occured after Lance's incident, while I was following behind him, slow, on the wash boarded roads.

 

That is scary!! I am glad Lance is ok.

 

I think he's still in shock........ but we'll rebuild her, we got the technology, make her better, stronger, faster....anyone want to donate? figure 6M should do it.......

 

Very sad to see those pictures. His truck was awesome. I'm glad Lance is fine and hope to see him on the trails with a rebuild truck.