Ok, thanks for the clarification. Really helped with understanding what went down .
Can you educate us on how the S&R folks reimbursed for the effort of rescuing you? I've never gone through such a thing, and I hope to never do, but would like to be more educated from first first hand experience.
Were you unable to get out of the seat belt unassisted?
I have a self rescue seatbelt cutting tool / glass breaker permanently strapped into my centre console for exactly this kind of situation. Glad your situation didn't deteriorate, there's many ways being caught up in belts for 2hours could have worsened the situation. Hot weather, leaking fuel, etc
Airing down if your going to be on gravel roads for more than a few miles is a good habit. Traction is greatly improved, and comfort is too. Aired down tires absorb a lot more bumps than highway pressure tires.
It's easy to underestimate how quickly traction can change with rain. I've had a few hairy situations when heavy rain turned roads or trails slicker than snot. 1/2 hour later, no problem.
The comment about shifting to neutral makes the hair on my neck stand on end. Not sure that's the right move at all!?
One thing i like about wheeling with a manual, on steep downhills, you plant your left foot on the floor and leave it there. You can use engine braking to help slow down if needed, you can brake hard and stall out the engine, with the engine not running, but still in gear you have the ultimate engine compression braking to assist the brakes and control a descent. If you lost traction, this is kind of moot anyway.
Ok, thanks for the clarification. Really helped with understanding what went down .
Can you educate us on how the S&R folks reimbursed for the effort of rescuing you? I've never gone through such a thing, and I hope to never do, but would like to be more educated from first first hand experience.
SMRis the EMS service for San Juan County. They operate in conjunction with the fire dept, so would imagine they are similarly funded through property taxes. I did have to pay for the ambulance ride - kind of regretting not having a window seat for a ambulance ride on the scenic Million Dollar Highway - but that is pretty much they way things are done elsewhere too,
Were you unable to get out of the seat belt unassisted?
I have a self rescue seatbelt cutting tool / glass breaker permanently strapped into my centre console for exactly this kind of situation. Glad your situation didn't deteriorate, there's many ways being caught up in belts for 2hours could have worsened the situation. Hot weather, leaking fuel, etc
Yeah, had one of those tools at hand in the center console, but-the way I was hanging the knife on my belt was readily at hand. I decided at first to not cut because the truck's position was sso precarious I was afraid it might shift thing enough to cause it to continue downhill. Then it becaame clear getting loose would involve me falling on my head about 3'. With no pressing need to esscape, I decided that waiting ion the pros to extraact me was the best course of action.
//Airing down if you’re going to be on gravel roads for more than a few miles is a good habit. Traction is greatly improved, and comfort is too. Aired down tires absorb a lot more bumps than highway pressure tires.
It's easy to underestimate how quickly traction can change with rain. I've had a few hairy situations when heavy rain turned roads or trails slicker than snot. 1/2 hour later, no problem.
The comment about shifting to neutral makes the hair on my neck stand on end. Not sure that's the right move at all!?
One thing i like about wheeling with a manual, on steep downhills, you plant your left foot on the floor and leave it there. You can use engine braking to help slow down if needed, you can brake hard and stall out the engine, with the engine not running, but still in gear you have the ultimate engine compression braking to assist the brakes and control a descent. If you lost traction, this is kind of moot anyway.
As it turns out, there's more to the story than lost traction...
Once I got the unit home and ready to fire up, I noted the brake fluid needed about a cup added. Once running, it was clear the brakes weere very weak. There was a lot o squalling, which seemed to be due to rust on the rotors. The body shop guy differed, he said it had no brakes!
I suppose it could be as simple as air in the brake lines needing bled after sitting on its side for a day or two. But having surmounted 12,500' Stony Pass in a truck with 300,000+ miles on it's master cylinder, it could have been a seal failure of some sort. I trust my tech to get to the bottom of things after graduation from the body shop.
As it turns out, there's more to the story than lost traction...
Once I got the unit home and ready to fire up, I noted the brake fluid needed about a cup added. Once running, it was clear the brakes weere very weak. There was a lot o squalling, which seemed to be due to rust on the rotors. The body shop guy differed, he said it had no brakes!
This explains, to me, why it ended like it did. Thanks for the update, Mike! I suspected there was another issue, looking at the tracks your 80 made before leaving the road. To me, the tracks didn't look like there was much of an attempt to either change direction or stop. I'm sure it was slippery, but it wasn't ice. (On an extremely hard surfaces, evidence for attempted maneuvering is scant - if any.) Your 'skid marks' didn't look much different than if you were headed in that direction any way. IMHO if the tires were slipping from either being locked up or plowing on a turn, there should have been deeper skid marks. That is why I suggested the neutral trick. In my 80, when I shift in to low range, if I don't step firmly on the brakes when it goes in to gear, it will creep on me, even going up hill. I'm sure you've seen it on yours.
As it turns out, the brake issue was resolved by bleeding the lines, apparently caused by her laying on her side for some time.
Tom, that's just the end of a long stretch of "is it going to slow enough or not." In retrospect, I probably should've taken whatever steering into the hill on the left would've brought me.
All's well that ends well. The truck is home and mostly looking good. The passenger side doors are still beat up and will be dealt with later...
After she arrived home thanks to the excellent service of Randy Wilson Trucking (found him via Uship.com) this was how she looked.
The Starlink platform was pretty much intact, although my Odin mount took a direct tree strike and was destroyed like the Starlink. Rigged with supporting cables, the tree snagged it, dragging the rack forward about 10" despite the strong Bowfin clamps remaining firmly engaged. This acted the keep the tree from mangling the top part of the windshield opening. The A-pillar was not so fortunate, but turned out to be repairable.
Photo courtesy of Charlie Seibert, Central Illinois Auto Body
She graduated from the body shop last week and I've been busy putting gear back on her.
Yesterday's mail brought me the Silverton Medical Rescue 2026 calendar I'd ordered to support the work of this fine organization, which came to my rescue along with the fire department. To my surprise I am, sort of, Mr. September!
Here's a link to get this calendar or their smaller one or one of the sharp stickers that show your support for their work: Silverton Medical Rescue Calendars and Stickers
Anyone who wheels in San Juan County around Silverton may want to consider supporting the invaluable work of this mostly volunteer organization. They took great care of me, although I was lucky enough to emerge unscathed.
It's worth noting how well the ARB performed. Some people underrate it and - admittedly - it doesn't provide the ultimate in many aspects of bumper beef, such as clearance or absolute strength. It does protect your vehicle against being stopped by it's taking a hit. After I cut the corner short rather than see what was under the air I saw looming in front of me the truck went right through the 3' tall grader berm bordering the curve and T-boned a 18" aspen. I thought for sure this would take out the radiator or at least the grile. Nope, there's a small indent on the drivers side of the reinforcements around the fairlead, That'ds all.
Of course, the next tree smacked me down, but did stop me from rolling on down that long hill. I will hug it next time I'm through there. Definitely no hard feelings towards it,
.
