Well, it was bound to happen… Last Saturday, fate finally won and I flopped my 80.
It was a soft flop, thank God, but a flop just the same. It was on an obstical called Can-Opener on Archer’s Firebreak in the Tillamook State Forest OHV trail system. Now I have made it up Can-Opener a few times, but always in the dry. In fact, the only time I ever tried it wet was to get the MetalTech rock slider shots! Well, this time I went for broke, and broke I did. The pics will show the body damage, but I also broke a passenger side Birfield. That makes two in a month…
This is becoming an expensive year!
Here I am first starting up Can-Opener. This will give you some idea just how steep it really is:
Here I’m just approaching the hard section. If you have never wheeled in this area, take a look at my tires… The mud is like baby crap.
This is about as far as I made it on my first run. The majority of rigs stop right about here.
Setting myself up for a second attempt…
Denied… I’m going to need more momentum for this.
Crap… That didn’t work. I have to be farther up that wall… At this point I told my passenger I was going to take one more shot at it, then back down and claim defeat.
YES! I made it past the first rock! Now stay on it to keep momentum. In this pic, you can see just how much I’m side walling that hill. And it is still as steep as the approach!
Well, the cameraman couldn’t cycle thru shots fast enough, but this is after I laid it over and bounced back to my tires. It was here that I lost momentum.
And here that I broke the Birf…
My fearless passenger and best friend Jordan goofing around as we are waiting for the hook.
The depressing part of the story is a J**P got me to level ground!
(Actually, that J**p is owned by Randy, who owns J&H 4WD in Portland, OR. This man is a master at recovery and I was very thankful to have him and his equipment along!)
DAMAGE PICS… Damn, lost another taillight… (BTW, look at the slider!)
Amazingly, everything still opens, all the windows work and no glass broke… Not even the mirror.
And for those who don’t know this truck, this is what it looked like when I bought it 2.5 years ago: