Hungry Valley trip and the things I learned (1 Viewer)

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NLXTACY

Wits' End
Joined
Dec 7, 2007
Threads
200
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23,013
Location
Medford, OR
So today I went on a day ride with RANDY88FJ62 from my TRAILCREW club. We decided on Hungry Valley mainly because it was close and I had never been there before. Lame too, 45 mins from my house and I've never bothered to stop in and say hi. The day started out as just a big ole pain in the ass which I think was a precursor for what was to come. I forgot my phone and had to drive back making us an hour late to start. Which meant we still needed to be even later to get gas and food. And oh wait, the dog got a hold of his leash and chewed it up. Nice. Off to find a store and get another one.

So a few minutes later and we are at the Hungry Valley entrance and we are finally off the paved road. So to speak. It goes from paved to gravel to paved again several times. At the beginning of the park there is an off-road course that people can test out their vehicles on. There are three paths. One is just dirt, the second is a moderate concrete path with some flavor thrown in and the third is a rock garden that we were watching some ridiculously lifted beater trucks playing on. We just drove past.

The park itself doesn't really have much that is technical and its pretty small over all. I could probably do all the trails in a day. There is a decent flowing creek to cool off in and is great if you have your doggie along.

So, what I've learned:
• The stupid pencil air gauges are waaaay off. Randy had that and lowered the pressure in his tires to 22#. I brought out my ARB deflator and reduced mine to 18#. I double checked Randy's tires and each was between 25-27# so I reduced each to 18#.
• People need to know the trail codes for how many in their group. Sometimes they do it and sometimes they don't. Case in point: there was a motor bike rider who waves his hand with THREE fingers up. Easy enough, there are three riders in his group behind him. Randy didn't see it, rather wasn't looking for it and started to go into the path. On other occasions there were riders that did not inform us how many more were behind them. Thats how people get hurt.
• Be willing to pin stripe your truck before you go someplace you have never been before. And I don't mean the light marks that you can usually buff out, I mean the heavy gouges that the trunk of a tree makes on your truck. Its kinda like its slapping your ass on the way it and its leaving a mark.
• When you park your truck to go have some fun outside of the truck, make sure you lock and still keep an eye on it. I caught three guys dicking around with my truck. It "looked" like they were going for my NATO cans before I caught them and they took off. Reported their asses to the Rangers. who merely said, "its probably just a coincidence". Uh huh.
• GET SLIDER!!!!! I can NOT stress this enough. I took a nasty run going backwards uncontrollably and I steered into a group of brush to slow me down. Little did I know there would be boulders hidden under the brush. Well a few of those boulders smashed my running boards to where they were just barley touching the moulding. Bent all to hell now.
• When you bash your running boards....take them off BEFORE your wife sees them!!! :bang:

And finally a two pieces of tech:
1. While going up the steepest hill I could fine I had a boo-boo. Here is the info I have and please see if you folks have any suggestions as too what went wrong and what needs to be fixed. I was in 4LOW, tires at 18#, CDL was OFF and I just tooled up the incline. Everything was going fine, I was butt puckered for sure but there was no issue whatsoever...UNTIL...

The tires juuust started to lose traction because there is some loose dirt/sand towards the top. I could hear the tires start to spin and then I started sliding backwards. Now I thought it was because I was losing traction so I tap on the throttle. Nothing. Turns out the freaking truck stalled...at the top of the hill and like it was in neutral just started rolling backwards...FAST. I stepped on the brakes. Nothing. I stood on the brakes, literally NOTHING until I was on flat. I was eyes pinned to the rearview mirror the whole time making sure I stayed in a straight line without over correcting to prevent a roll. WTF was that. I figured something is up. Maybe it was me doing something wrong. I forgot about the CDL but still it shouldn't have done that. Then Randy took his 62 and crawled right up, over and back down again like nothing. And I was like, "F that!". So I tried it again. Up, up, no problem, and then it happens AGAIN!!! This time I give it more throttle to keep it going. Nothing. It stops and shuts off and then it goes into "neutral" again and this time I had to take a different line going backwards and I went airborne, backwards, onto some brush and rocks which took out my running board and luckily missed my transfer case and cats.

2. The second issue was after the malay Randy and I were looking over the truck to see if there was any leaking or other damage. He found dripping power steering fluid. I looked at all the hoses and found no leak. Then I looked at the top of the cap, it had poured out from under the cap. Now the cap was tight. So was it the angle I was at that made it come out? Was it pressure that made it force its way out? I have no clue.
damage1.jpg
 
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I'm with ya on the running boards-they GOT to be replaced by sliders. As far as the stalls, wow - that's weird! Can you pull any codes? Being EFI, the angle of incline shouldn't affect your fuel delivery unless your tank was near empty and it starved the fuel pickup in the tank. I can't see your electrical being affected by climbing a hill either. It's got to be in the codes!
 
Im with 80t0ylc - were you close to empty to cause fuel starvation when you were approaching the top of the hill? I dont know which hill you were on but there are very steep hills in the SVRA.

I would think having stalled would affect your brakes (how was the brake fluid level?) but not to the point of complete failure. So how steep was this hill? :D

But Im pretty sure you checked everything before you hit the trails. So these can be moot points.
 
As far as the "scratching" from the foliage and what not, what can be done about it to prevent it?

Obviously not go through it is the smart-ass answer, but is there anything out there that can protect the rigs? Hmm
 
Isn't it the case that if you are in Drive (or some forward 'gear') in the auto and you start going backwards that the engine will stall out at which point it's "toad's wild ride time"?

I'm pretty sure that's the case - maybe only applicable to the later 80's with the electronic stuff controlling the auto.

With the engine stalled you would lose power assist on the brakes - just to add more 'fun' to the whole going down the hill backwards and out of control...

cheers,
george.
 
Wow. This thread just convinced me that the first bit of armor to go on my truck will be sliders. Yes, an ARB or short bus is sexy as hell and provides a better approach angle, but the most vulnerable and lowest hanging part of the truck has got to be between the wheels, aye?

Anyways, nice one :hillbilly:
 
Your one and only problem here is stalling. Your engine is not shut off or stalled by going backwards as speculated above. There is something amiss or your fuel was very low. I'd have the EFI system checked for fuel pressure, and of course looked at for stored codes. I've also heard of some 80s with cracked intake rubber hoses that showed up at extreme angles (simply the engine pulling harder opening the crack temporarily, etc) and another one with some part of the wiring harness near the oxy sensors also from hard engine pulling that was scraping on the drive shaft over the years.

So, what was the fuel situation?? Sounds like you had enough error issues - was one of them no time to fill up?

DougM
 
No CEL and I had a full tank.

Brake fluid topped off before the trip and checked after the incident.

Hill was pretty steep. Steep enough to not see the trail and to make my son really really nervous. :D

I'm with ya on the running boards-they GOT to be replaced by sliders. As far as the stalls, wow - that's weird! Can you pull any codes? Being EFI, the angle of incline shouldn't affect your fuel delivery unless your tank was near empty and it starved the fuel pickup in the tank. I can't see your electrical being affected by climbing a hill either. It's got to be in the codes!

Im with 80t0ylc - were you close to empty to cause fuel starvation when you were approaching the top of the hill? I dont know which hill you were on but there are very steep hills in the SVRA.

I would think having stalled would affect your brakes (how was the brake fluid level?) but not to the point of complete failure. So how steep was this hill? :D

But Im pretty sure you checked everything before you hit the trails. So these can be moot points.
 
As far as the "scratching" from the foliage and what not, what can be done about it to prevent it?

Obviously not go through it is the smart-ass answer, but is there anything out there that can protect the rigs? Hmm

There is but all the solutions involve NOT off roading or putting on stupid looking covers.
 
Isn't it the case that if you are in Drive (or some forward 'gear') in the auto and you start going backwards that the engine will stall out at which point it's "toad's wild ride time"?

I'm pretty sure that's the case - maybe only applicable to the later 80's with the electronic stuff controlling the auto.

With the engine stalled you would lose power assist on the brakes - just to add more 'fun' to the whole going down the hill backwards and out of control...

cheers,
george.

See this sounds really really bad. What if I am in Frisco and on a steep hill and start rolling backwards from a stop light? Should I be expecting the same thing? This is really really bad and I am hoping there is another explanation. I can't imagine Mr. T designing this on purpose.
 
Wow. This thread just convinced me that the first bit of armor to go on my truck will be sliders. Yes, an ARB or short bus is sexy as hell and provides a better approach angle, but the most vulnerable and lowest hanging part of the truck has got to be between the wheels, aye?

Anyways, nice one :hillbilly:


X10000

The rear bumper protected me my last trip. Sliders would have helped out this time around.
 
No CEL before or after. Fuel tank was full. So there has to be something else. Why at the SAME EXACT spot? Was in the incline? Was is the slipping? Was it my throttling? No cracked intake hose, I JUST replaced it.

Your one and only problem here is stalling. Your engine is not shut off or stalled by going backwards as speculated above. There is something amiss or your fuel was very low. I'd have the EFI system checked for fuel pressure, and of course looked at for stored codes. I've also heard of some 80s with cracked intake rubber hoses that showed up at extreme angles (simply the engine pulling harder opening the crack temporarily, etc) and another one with some part of the wiring harness near the oxy sensors also from hard engine pulling that was scraping on the drive shaft over the years.

So, what was the fuel situation?? Sounds like you had enough error issues - was one of them no time to fill up?

DougM
 
that is a problem, something is amiss.
I have never stalled out on a steep incline and i've been on a few that got my attention.

All the guys that have run up Hells Gate in 80's didn't have a problem that i've heard like this and that's pretty darn steep from pics and descriptions.

if you loose your engine, the brakes will loose power so you have to pump them to get enough back to hold. So if you are in this type of situation again (hopefully never) than pump as fast as you can.
 
that is a problem, something is amiss.
I have never stalled out on a steep incline and i've been on a few that got my attention.

All the guys that have run up Hells Gate in 80's didn't have a problem that i've heard like this and that's pretty darn steep from pics and descriptions.

if you loose your engine, the brakes will loose power so you have to pump them to get enough back to hold. So if you are in this type of situation again (hopefully never) than pump as fast as you can.

First time I stood on the brakes and nothing. Second time it seemed like I was going even faster and I was pumping like a mad man. Nothing at all. It was the brush that stopped me.

And yes, logically the engine should not have cut out A. And B it should not then have thrown everything into "neutral" allowing me to go barelling backwards down the trail.

The first picture in post #2 IS the hill in question.
 
I've been on steep enough hills going up that it was out of the question that I would ever had to go back down in reverse... Engine was running smooth the whole time. No stalling. Thankfully..... :D
 
Don't do hill climbs with CDL off. It will act as an open diff. If you loose traction or unload the front, then nothing is going to keep the back axle from holding you in place. Did you try the hill with CDL locked?

Why truck stalled, I do not know.
 
Don't do hill climbs with CDL off. It will act as an open diff. If you loose traction or unload the front, then nothing is going to keep the back axle from holding you in place. Did you try the hill with CDL locked?

Why truck stalled, I do not know.

I have had mine stall on steep inclines when I forget to lock the CDL. I was able to stop immediately and there was no harm, I just started it back up and locked the CDL and up the hill I went.

My 80 and it sounds like yours do not like loosing traction on inclines with the CDL unlocked, mine doesn't stall everytime, but it has happened a few times. I have never had a problem with the CDL locked, so if you are going to be climbing anything I would recommmend locking the CDL.


Jack
 

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