Rolled my 81. I need your help! (1 Viewer)

[nickw]

I could use your help. Please read all.
There is tech I need answers to. Thanks.
___________________________________________

Well, the HDJ81 rolled tonight. I was on my way out for an evening canoe with cruiser_guy and his son. For those that don't know, I am dating cruiser_guy's daughter. I crushed the canoe. His daughter and I just spent 50 hours refinishing it. Just finished last week!

Anyways we were on way out. We went up the wrong road so I started backing up. I accidentally backed up a bank and 2 seconds later we are teter-totering in the air. I was going slow in 4-low, but it happen so fast. It just happened right now. I climbed the bank like it was nothing.

I did my best, but it was to late. The truck was already on steep of angle to recover. We were there for probably 2 minutes trying to inch our way down. We even had time to pray.

We rolled, as you can see in the pics. Fluke accident. Was not heavy offroading, or hardcore wheeling. Just backing up back onto the better road.


Nothing I can do now, but here are my pics.
Questions are at the bottom after the commentary.
I need to explain what happened and how.
I need help getting it out.
We were by ourselves, way out of cell and radio range.

Pics are in order as I (and cruiser_guy) took them.

On the roof. Lots of pics for ICBC

Side shot. If you look you can see where I backed up and my tire slid.

Other side and the busted canoe.

Back from side:

Back. Cruiser_guy and his son to the side.

Another shot of the bank:

Now you can get an idea how steep the bank was. About 4 or 5 ft tall.

Well, we need to get out. No cell or radio service.
So lets self right with the winch. I had shut the engine off as soon as we rolled.
Ran for less than 1 second upside down. And I mean that. Might of only ben half a second. First thought was "SHUT IT OFF!"

Hooked up the snatch block. Attached the other side to the back of the truck.
Using tree savers on the other side to reach a tree.
I only had about 1 ft to spare!!

Its coming...:

A little more. Loosing daylight fast.

Getting better:

Here is a roof shot. Its worse than it looks. Its really bent in. Sunroof broke into thousands of pieces, and roof it down 8-10 inches in the center inside. Roof rack is totaled.

Getting close to where it started before roll over:

I am so thirsty. My mouth is bone dry no matter what.
I need a break and some water:

Getting teird.

I look like a geek!
Cable is not running between the rollers on the failer lead.
This is not good. We ended up using some strap and come along to the door pillar to pull it over a few inches while tetering again. This alowed us to get the cable back onto the rollers.

Looking for some straps.
The cruiser is almost where we started.
The tipping angle is AMAZING!!!!
Must be around 50 degrees or more.
That is with a 70 pound canoe(acting as leaver in the wrong direction), plus roof rack.
At first when we were in the truck it felt like it was gong to tip. But we started getting steeper and steeper and it still held. The impact was actaully very small when we hit. Not much distance to cover. When we rolled it was suprisingly calm.

 

[nickw]

part 2

This is basically where I was right before I rolled.
You can see how I would of backed up the steep bank.
It happen so fast. Such a simple mistake.
Its dark now as well.
You can see the strap on the B pillar.

One more pic.

Anyways, now that you have seen the pics and its touching the ground again. I need to move forward to level groud. So seeing as I only lost 1-2 liters of oil, and it shut if off right away, I start it up. Runs great and like nothing happened. It hiccuped for the first 1 second but now is fine. Problem is it will not move in any gear. Hi or low range. 1st, 2nd, 3rd or overdrive, or reverse. I tried using straps and a come along to pull myself down off the bank (seeing as I can't drive). And nothing. No big enough anchor point in reach. I can not disconnect the winch or it will roll again. So I am stuck. Can't drive, or hand winch.

I am thinking I lost the fluid in the Automatic tranny. But I am not sure where it went. I could not see it.
Any ideas? What do I do now? Truck is still up there. We had to walk about 14km's out. Took many hours, and am just at home now doing this. Got home around 3:30am.

Right now I am thinking with fill it with ATF and it will go. Going to try tomorrow after I sleep a few hours.
We are going to go up tomorrow morning to get it. Winch it forward with another truck. if I can't drive it with ATF we will drive all the way home. About 40 km's. If not we will tow it about 3kms to the main FSR where it can be towed on a flat deck. I need to go to ICBC with this tomorrow (but that is another thread which will come soon.)

So my questions are:
What do I do? We are going to go back tomorrow.
Do I add ATF and go?

Also, what about the engine? What do I check before driving.
I don't want to mess the engine. As far as I can tell it runs tip-top.
Don't want to make it worse.

Anything else to check.
Please help. This is all new.

Thanks,
Nick

P.S. I want to say. I feel blessed we are all safe.
We all walked away and hiked 14km's out until cell service.
Took almost 5 hours. We are very lucky. God is good.
It could of gone much worse.
And the end of the day, the cruiser is just a truck.
There will be others. Someone's life or health is much more important.

 

[mot]

Nick,

Can't offer any help, but just wanted to say I'm REALLY sorry that it happened.

Hope the damage is not all that bad.

GOOD LUCK!

Mot

 

[landtank]

No experience here but maybe the fluid just needs a chance to drain back into the pan. Once you get it on level ground I'd give it some time to further accumulate in the pan before trying to drive it again.

 

[lshobie]

Damn, that is nasty - sorry to hear about that and I'm glad everyone is ok. You are lucky you didnt keep on rolling.

You can try to lower the tire pressure on the uphill side to lessen the angle a bit.

Do as you were saying - leave it winched the way you have it - have someone pull you straight - steer down off the bank while letting out your winch cable slowly. If the soil is soft on the bank you can shovel a bit off to lessen the anlge as it proceeds downhill.

Hopefully the tranny oil will have shifted back to where it should be - check the dip and see what the level is. Not sure if you can get an air lock in an auto tranny - maybe look at the service manual to se what it says.

Let us know what happens please.

Good luck.

 

[roscoFJ73]

Bad news. I cant see why the engine will be harmed as long as it has oil and coolant.
I agree with Landtank about the trans fluid and take some extra for top ups if needed.

In regards to the positon your in now,let the LH tyres down to lower it on the high side and get rid of the firewood off the roof.
Get your helpers to hang off the side like outriggers
Turn the steering wheel the other way.
This should make it safe to move onto level ground

EDIT It appears Louis beat me to it

 

[stanley]

good thing no one was hurt.


looks like the rear tire was digging into the side of the hill from the tracks it left and the dirt on the rear tire. Did the tire hit something hard while spinning backwards?

 

[crushers]

unless you have a huge puddle of oil laying ont he ground then the tranny fluid is still in there. sounds like it just needs a few minutes to stabilize. make sure the oil level is at the proper level on the dip stick for botht eh tranny and the engine. you might have a bit of blue smoke when you fire it up but there should be no damage to the engine or tranny.
as to getting down of the bank, get a come along and run it from the high side to the winching tree and then take the winch to a tree in frotn and slowly move yourself down onto the level ground. check and make sure the linckages are still hooked up properly as well...
all i can say about the accident is "s*** happens", you and your passenger are okay, that is the big thing. now what to do with the 81... buy it back from the insurance company and turn it into a dedicated off road rig, cut the roof off, bend the front windsheild frameback into "close" shape and install a new windsheild, make a canvas top with a cage and you are ready to rock and (hopefully not) roll.

what sucks big time is the crushing of the canoe, that looked like a work of art. really sorry to hear and see the accident.

 

[TiredIronGRB]

Check your shifter linkage.

 

[gowyn]

check the obvious, she may have slipped out of 4 lo...

goodluck

 

[Trunk Monkey]

When my friend put his 80 on it's lid, it did loose all the ATF. We were on hard pack dirt and could plainly see it. Ground there looks soft and wet, may have just soaked in? After we got his over we added one quart of fluid (all we had on hand) and the truck still wouldn't shift.

Good luck, glad you're safe. Damaging your truck and the canoe def. sucks, but you all walked away.

 

[jrhaze]

Wow, I'm very sorry to hear this Nick! You've helped me with every question I've had for you in the past, I wish I could return the favour!

Glad everyone is ok . . . like you said it's just a truck!

Best of luck with it!

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Wow, man I am glad you guys are alright.


If you strap to a tree then reattach the winch cable to the front drivers corner of the bumper and pull your front end up the hill?? Kinda drag it, we did this once in a simular instance.

Good luck.

Rob

 

[wesintl]

Bummer Nick Glad you all are ok. Good luck on getting her home

 

[The Dude]

as to getting down of the bank, get a come along and run it from the high side to the winching tree and then take the winch to a tree in frotn and slowly move yourself down onto the level ground.

Great advice on the come along... It's one of those things that is sooo nice in a recovery situation. It allows you to take up slack if need and is easy and simple to use. Buy a good one, you won't regret it.

Glad to see everybody is OK, sucks about the roll over.

 

[wussyPup]

Wow, too many emotions here...

Sad about the dmage to your canoe and Cruiser; I know you take a lot of pride in both.

So relieved that all of you were unharmed.

And, impressed with your attitude regarding this incident.

P.S. I want to say. I feel blessed we are all safe.
We all walked away and hike 14km's out until cell service.
Took almost 5 hours. We are very lucky. God is good.
It could of gone much worse.
And the end of the day, the cruiser is just a truck.
There will be others. Someones life or health is much more important.

G'luck with the recovery and restoration, -Steve

 

[Greg_B]

Can't offer much more then to say I'm sorry to hear this, however everyone is ok, which is the big thing.

gb

 

[jditom]

I am so sorry but glad you are all ok

Appriciate you posting this as it reminds us that you don't have to be doing serious wheeling to get in to trouble

 

[cdnroofrack]

Hey Nick, I'm in the west Kootenays in Rossland and by the looks of it you might be in the neighbourhood. I don't have a winch but I have a strap and a truck, if you need a hand getting it out give me a call 250-362-0006, Aaron.

 

[1990 LJ78]

Nick, as every one else before me has said.. I'm glad everyone is ok,
and I wish you well with the recovery.
Great offer from Aaron.

Best Regards