Western MA Trail Scouting Ride: 6/2004

Things went pretty smoothly for the first part of the day... the trails were tight, and some of the hills were slick, but everyone got through without any major issues.

The hill in the pictures above was tougher than it looked - a couple of the Jeeps needed a strap to get to the top.

Craig tried to get over the slope, but couldn't quite get the traction to make it over. My mistake was trying the same thing afterwards... After some heavy BTM trying to get good traction, I heard a bang, and the front wheels stopped turning... &*^!@

Not good... T-case exploded. Craig's friend Nate was under my truck in a flash, disconnecting the front drive shaft. Everyone else was very patient while we tried to get the truck prepped so we could drive it in rear-wheel drive... it took us a while to get the chain out of the case, but Nate finally got it out, and then we were underway.

To further complicate issues, my truck started to have an intermittent fuel delivery problem - it was stalling and refusing to restart at certain points of the trail, particularly on steep downgrades... no fun to guide the truck down steep descents with no power steering and no engine running to control speed and traction.

It took Craig's truck and a tow strap, my winch, and on one occassion a whole bunch of Jeeps with winches to get me through the tougher sections of this trail in 2wd. I was very happy with the performance of my winch; the Milemarker E12000 made every pull without a complaint, and even when I did some long heavy pulls, the winch never heated up. The synthetic line made things go much faster - pulling it out, and spooling it back in was a snap. I am glad I went with the combination I have... Even when the truck wouldn't start/run, the dual Optima batteries kept the winch pulling strong.

This local rolled his Toyota on a hidden obstacle while taking a different line... nobody hurt, thankfully - and after tipping it back over, all was fine.

More problems... ripped off a CTIS connector, and the tire went flat and rolled off the bead. Had to change on a spare...

Thankfully, Nate had trailered his Jeep, which is streetworthy; so we pulled my truck onto the trailer, and his Jeep made the trip home under its own power.

Everyone ready to split - thanks for being patient and helping out, guys.

Craig gave me a lift back to his place while my truck was being trailered. He also lent me a car to get back to the seacoast that night... thanks a ton!