I have to give a HUGE shout out to Stephen, Ross, and Darren tonight. These guys went above and beyond to help me out if a real bind today.
I decided to take my kids up Little Bear today for a drive and picnic. On our way down the mountain I heard a clunk and suddenly the truck was pulling left. I found the clearest spot I could and stopped.
This is what I found:
The nut and washer meant to hold the through bolt of my Upper Control Arm was gone. The bolt pulled out of one side of the UCA entirely and could just barely be seen sticking out of the strut tower.
My truck had suspension repairs (including new UCAs) in November. I can only assume the nut was nut torqued properly.
You can see the front passenger tire had serious camber issues. I couldn't drive. I had no cell service, apart from occasional 1x signals. I could text but could not call.
I managed to get one HAM radio and got some fellow HAM users to call Darren for me. Thank you Darren for rounding up help! Stephen and Ross came up with Darren to my rescue. Stephen even managed to buy the right size nut to bolt me back together. I got lucky and the through bolt appears to be straight still as Ross got it pushed back onto place pretty easily.
Other HAM users were able to coordinate Ross by radio using his APRS system (which he JUST installed yesterday) to find me on the mountain.
I'm so thankful this didn't happen on the highway or at higher speeds. I don't know if or how myself and my three children would have survived had the UCA come off at speed.
Lessons for the day:
1). Torque everything properly. Even if it's not your vehicle.
2). HAM radio. Get one.
3). If you know something sounds wrong or feels wrong with your rig... something probably is wrong. Don't ignore it.
4). Know where you are. Be able to obtain GPS coordinates for rescuers.
5). Take food into the mountains. My kids were hungry and bored.
All told, trouble began around 11:45am or 12:00pm. I got back onto pavement at about 7:25pm.
Thank you Stephen, Ross, and Darren!
I decided to take my kids up Little Bear today for a drive and picnic. On our way down the mountain I heard a clunk and suddenly the truck was pulling left. I found the clearest spot I could and stopped.
This is what I found:
The nut and washer meant to hold the through bolt of my Upper Control Arm was gone. The bolt pulled out of one side of the UCA entirely and could just barely be seen sticking out of the strut tower.
My truck had suspension repairs (including new UCAs) in November. I can only assume the nut was nut torqued properly.
You can see the front passenger tire had serious camber issues. I couldn't drive. I had no cell service, apart from occasional 1x signals. I could text but could not call.
I managed to get one HAM radio and got some fellow HAM users to call Darren for me. Thank you Darren for rounding up help! Stephen and Ross came up with Darren to my rescue. Stephen even managed to buy the right size nut to bolt me back together. I got lucky and the through bolt appears to be straight still as Ross got it pushed back onto place pretty easily.
Other HAM users were able to coordinate Ross by radio using his APRS system (which he JUST installed yesterday) to find me on the mountain.
I'm so thankful this didn't happen on the highway or at higher speeds. I don't know if or how myself and my three children would have survived had the UCA come off at speed.
Lessons for the day:
1). Torque everything properly. Even if it's not your vehicle.
2). HAM radio. Get one.
3). If you know something sounds wrong or feels wrong with your rig... something probably is wrong. Don't ignore it.
4). Know where you are. Be able to obtain GPS coordinates for rescuers.
5). Take food into the mountains. My kids were hungry and bored.
All told, trouble began around 11:45am or 12:00pm. I got back onto pavement at about 7:25pm.
Thank you Stephen, Ross, and Darren!
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