Friend in his 87 4banger & I went camping / offroading in the mountains by Montreal. We went on some crazy trails often 1st gear 4wd, lots of rocks & some pose a risk of hitting the rear axle.

Anyways, on the way down as I was trying to evade a large rock by steering right, i hit these cut branches that were left on the side of the road. Little did I realize one of the branches had made it's way into my radiator (pics coming tomorrow).

So we continue & thats when i start noticing white smoke from under the hood. Keep in mind we are in the middle of nowhere, a good 20km away off-road. A piece of the branch went straight through my radiator, we left it on as it was plugging the hole. But man, it was pissing collant.

I was able to push her for about 10km before the temperature guage went above half. I pulled over to refill the prestone & add water. She was not going anywhere for a while. Then a miracle happened, this jeep comes down the trail & offers some rope they use to perform television stunts. Then another older man appears later with some hooks on flexible rope.

My friends 4banger towed us the way back, but with the engine off i had no power steering & my brakes were super hard to press down. We ran the risk of smashing into him several times. Thankfully we made it to the highway just as the ropes snaped. What an adventure, thankfull a quick call to CAA and my truck was towed away. Still runs good, just needs a new radiator.

I respect his 4banger so much now, those things are beasts!! I Just need to put some bigger tires (running stock) and a lift on my 97 3.4 v6.

Moral of the story, bring tow cables, prestone, water & tools!!!! So close!!

Pics coming soon

 

Thats why you always wheel with buddies. never go alone

 

Ah yes a moral you probably should have known before you went. But now you know!

1) With radiator damage you can pinch the fins to close off the leak. Get some needle nose pliers for that one

2) Ya need a good tow strap and NOT the kind with hooks! You need the kind that has a little "give" in it, for strapping another rig. You also NEED some good tow hook points on your frame. Make sure you have this before you go out again

3) Got a high lift or the like? GET one. Need a good jack for rescue missions. Some chain as well as the know how to use a high lift are crucial. If you don't have body protection get the high lift tire lift. Other wise you'll dent your rig changing a tire.

4) Pass it on. Because as the Jeep helped you, some day you'll help some one else. Do this with grace and friendliness. No one likes to feel silly because they were unprepared. You wheel and you learn. Looks like you did both! Good job!

 

Heh, good experience to have indeed. Thats how you learn and becom a better offroader. It's a dangerous hobby and being as prepared as you can be makes it not only more enjoyable but safer.

I bring extra coolant, JB weld, two tow straps, shovel, jack, flood-light, and a assortment of tools, wrenches and vice grips etc, WD-40, carb cleaner, electrical parts cleaner, brake cleaner also good to have handy and extra oil.

Usually, I find myself using my supplies on other peoples rigs hehe. In the winter I throw in my full set of chains as well, typically only use them to pull people out tho.

goodluck and have fun!

 

All good points, wise advice.

 

You can get by with no or poor equipment but having quality stuff is 100X better and can even save ur life. Ive learnt that lesson a few times, last time i had an electrical problem at night in a muddy trail in a high bear populated area. mostly black bears but some grizzlys. Anyways we only had one cell phone light, just like the screen brightness, took us so long to figure it out and it was scary outside cuz u couldnt see ur hand infront of ur face. And just so you know, a Come-Along is the ulitmate tool. I use it for everything, including getting my wheels off the ground to change tires.

 

People always look at me like I am nuts, but I carry a heck of alot of tools and supplies with me at all times whether wheeling or on the road.

Heck, last time I was out with a group a guy with a SFA broke a birf. He was so happy I not only had the proper sockets, but a punch and chisel and grease.I carry every essential fluid and a good toolkit in the truck, plus straps, tarps, you name it.

However the biggest tool you need period is a buddy. Trust me BTDT and been stuck on a local trail and had to have someone give a few of us a lift to go get another truck and a chain. THat was not a fun night.

 

Thus my comment about the high-lift and chain. You can use a high-lift as a come-a-long jack. Takes forever but works super well in a pinch!

Anyone have a good link with instructions about this. I just searched PBB, Hi-lift.com IH8TMUD and several others and no good description came up. It would be good to have that!

BAD DOG! If you are runnin a SFA with Birfs you better be carying spares! (Or Longfields... Even MO BETTAH!)

Carry spare tools. A Metric socket set for sure, clamps, tubing, fluids, nutx/bolts, flashlight, food, water and a blanket! It can be a small bag, but it might save some time and energy for sure!

 

yeah, I learned the hard way, to always go with a buddy and the propper equipment, as you can see in my avatar, I have been stuck many times, that time was in the middle of the night, with just my g/f in the truck, we werent planning on any serious offrading, just a quick trail on the way home(beer does not help this type of situation...hehe), and we came across that hole, sure enough, sucked water, and were stuck there all night. We unfortunately did not have any equipment, except a seized come-along, we ended up building a fire and sleeping on the ground till morning when we could see our way out of the woods, and call for a ride home. Now this worked out for me, cuz the g/f thought it was super sexy that I could get a fire goin without a lighter or matches and keep us warm till morning(even in the rain), but from now on, I always bring the propper gear.

 

Howd ya do that?

 

I went wheeling in a Bronco when the tranny blew. It was in an area you don't want to be in at night. Everytime a car is left out there it is burned then flattened. Ending up spending the night out there with a 9mm and hollow tips in hand.

 

glad to hear you made it out all right.

You learned a lesson and really did not cost you a bunch of money.

"It can always be worse"- for example that branch could have stuck you in the arm or face. Add first aid kit to your gear.

You will begin to carry your recovery gear with you, by doing so you will never need it. I carry mine and only break it out to rescue Jeeps in the winter, that do not know how to engage 4wd.

It's kind of a contest out here when you get in the hills-who has the most obscure part just in case it breaks? who has the one tool that will never be needed?

And of course your ride is always 100% trail ready, so you won't have expected surprises to add to the unexpected.

Prestone? not for 3rd gens you want the red coolant juice I believe.....
and of course straight water will always get you by.....enough to get back to pavement.