Hurricane Creek-Run and gun May 6-8

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Made it home. It was a great weekend Izzy, Stan, Heather, Jim and the boys!

Thanks for everything.
 
Had a great time this weekend! Met Jamie and Heather for the first time, great folks and thoroughly enjoyed their company. Of course Jim and Izzy were great trail and camp mates.

We found a great many closed gates that are generally open, this was caused by the recent forest fires in the area. We ran into a man that works for one of the agencies involved (someone else may know who he worked for. He informed us that the fires were intentionally set. We met him at a set of temp gates and barriers.

We got a little bit of a slower start than planned due to a bit of a mechanical issue. I'll let Izzy and Jim fill you in on that as they were there.

We camped Friday night at the little camp site above (Wolf Creek Falls?) The larger falls with the ladder to climb down to the pool. The second night we camped at Paint Creek. Both times near running water so the sound was perfect. It was pretty chilly Friday night but much better Saturday night.

I can tell you that personally, my tastes are changing in regard to the type of wheeling I enjoy more. In the past I was always looking for the harder trails and more obstacles to overcome. We spent this weekend covering ground and seeing new sights along the way. We passed through the town of Hot Springs while on paved roads going from one trail section to another and heading toward the Fire Tower. Cool little town, we stopped and fueled up and had lunch at a local restaurant. Lots of hikers in town as the AT passes straight through town. Cool hardware store too.

I left my phone in the console all weekend and did not take one photo. All the photos I need are in my head :) I am sure that others snapped some photos and will post them up. I can tell you that for me, a weekend in the woods was just what the Dr. ordered. Driving trails in search of something different and new is good for the soul. Looking forward to doing it again soon.
 
Finally, made it back to the ILM around 10:30.
Mrs. Redheadedstepchild was NOT impressed with the weekend's event, but everyone is safe and sound - maybe a bit tired.
All in all we had a good time this weekend, though the close could have been a bit better - full report when I get a report from the transmission shop.
 
The Curse of the Black Pearl.. I mean, the curse of the Mothers Day trip.. Okay I am over exaggerating, but I am a drama queen. As Jim and I were heading to the meeting point, about 20 miles from the rest stop on I-40, I heard a loud "boom" from the rear of my truck, the driver side rear went down, I am thinking blown tire, freakish. Did a controlled recovery and pulled to the side of the highway. Got out of the truck and there is no rear wheel!!! WTH? studs are broken, sheared, and my wheel is missing.
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After getting a hold of my panties and changing my diaper. It was time to get to work and analyzing the situation. Then a fellow stopped by, Todd Mosley, Mud member from Memphis who relocated to Asheville area, and also an attorney. Got on the phone, found the Toyota place had studs and nuts for an 80, and offered us his driveway to do the work if we needed to. Also as attorney, he advised me when the troopers came, since my wheel had flown over the median and an accident occured on the other side. Thats another story.
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Jim, Stan, and Jamie all came as well once Jim sent the alarm, and Stan went off to get rotor and pads, Jim got the studs and nuts. Stan had stopped on the other side and retrieved my wheel, which was in amazingly great shape. I had to stay with truck as per the troopers instructions. Called insurance company to let them know what happened.
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Removed sheared bolts.
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Parts came back, and 6 new Toyota studs got replaced on the side of the road, new rotor, new pads.
We then continued to trail head, but my head was still not in it, as troopers told me 2 vehicles on the oncoming side got into an accident and one was being towed. The best news was that no one was hurt. I got a citation for "unsafe tire", so Todd got hired. Also, he was extremely helpful the whole time when a level head was needed. Very much appreciated. Got to love Mud people.
 
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Hurricane creek went off without any issues, water crossing where cool.
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Stopped for lunch, deployed the home made awning, boys played in the creek.
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Kept driving, some drizzle, then sun, but amazing views regardless.
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Holy s*** Izzy. What happened? Over-torqued lug nuts?

Awesome pics. I'll have to talk with you to get your annotated maps.
 
Holy s*** Izzy. What happened? Over-torqued lug nuts?

As your non attorney adviser I would suggest that you answer this question in private :)
 
Round top mountain was closed, so we decided to risk it and drive to the unmarked campground at the end of the trail, Wolf Creek Falls. It was being used to store gravel, but still plenty of room to lay out tents and kitchen, gravel made a perfect spot for campfire.

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Canopy was deployed and made a great impromptu kitchen area. Rain was in the forecast so we figured better be over prepared.

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Campfire
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Next morning, we decided to drive north east towards Hot Springs, check out the town, get gas etc.
And here the curse struck again, Stan has low pressure light. We pulled over to flat area, and dipstick did show very low oil level. We refilled the oil and looked for leak. Found the house on the VC, next to the PCV, had a longitudinal crack and was letting oil out. We fixed it with Rescue Tape, and moved on. Rescue Tape held the entire trip.http://smile.amazon.com/Rescue-Tape...8&qid=1462801708&sr=8-11&keywords=rescue+tape
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Lunch at Spring Creek Tavern, which was awesome, and we got on River Road to find more trails towards Hurricane Gap Road
 
Rescue Tape :beer::beer::beer:

Oil level was fine from there on. Heather sent me a text that oil light is back on this morning. She said the level was fine on the dip stick, so perhaps the sender is having an issue. No clue at this point.
 
At Hurricane Creek, we did take this unmarked trail south, nice loop to change the same old trail. The red is the basic HC road, the green is what we diverted too. There was tarmac at the end, but it was awesome.

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We drive by Paint Creek campsite area, which was open, and explored all these trails below. But like Stan said, lots of gates closed and road closures due to arson fires. Sad to see how another person can create so much destruction for everyone.
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Jim and Jamie doing the Hurricane Creek Crossing


We drove and get off trail a few times to explore, found awesome locations for campsites, but there was evidence of recent fires. We ended up back in Paint Creek that night, Jim's MacLeod truck was not getting off 4WD.....
 
Next morning, bright and early to make it home to mothers day's events. Wheels rolling by 9, but the 4Runner was acting up, not getting off 4WD, so we drove for a bit, and the "Mom's curse for not being here" struck again.
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The Callahan machine would not work, transmission, transfer case, software or electric bugs. Tried a few things but no dice. Truck not safe to drive. Made it to gas station with large area to park and that was that, rescue with flatbed was needed. Jim will tell you about that when he knows diagnosis.
While we waited, and waited, told corny jokes and hung out people watching. Sam got a great workout playing with the Callahan boys...
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Then we loaded the all of Jim's stuff into my 80, lower the middle seats for the boys, and headed back to CLT, and points east after that. I was amazed we fitted it all, and got to use my roof rack!!! No problems rest of the way, got to Charlotte, unloaded my junk, and team Callahan drove the 80 to coast. More to come, it was memorable in many many ways...

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Oh My!! We just assumed all would be well after the removal of the front drive shaft!

Looks like Jim got a pretty good trade in the deal - broke 4runner for an 80. :)

Jim - I am sorry to hear your truck ended up worse than expected :( Hopefully its not a fully blown transfer case etc.
 
It was showing blinking 4WD like it was trying to come out of 4Lo to 2H, but never disengaged.

I will let him give the dirty detail.

I wonder if the high-center caused it, Jim? That is the general assumption, I think.
 
I THINK an actuator is/was hung up. Either for 4WD or center diff.
I think the high center is merely coincident. The contact was on the fuel tank skid - there is no evidence of contact on the transfer case.

Anyway, when we got down to camp Saturday night, I clicked out of 4WD, but the indicator would only flash, and it was clearly still in and felt like the center diff was still locked too - pushing/hopping/binding in tight corners on the pavement.
After much forward and reverse, I packed it in for the night. A bit of fiddling the next morning and we decided to hit the road and just see if exercising it would get it to disengage.
There was some discussion about finding a trail to explore on the way out, but after, oh I don't know 5 miles maybe, I was convinced I had a problem, and I just wanted to get it home. Izzy turned off the main road to start to head to the trail. I stopped the group and told everyone I was out. I wanted to take out the front drive shaft, so I could finish the 6 1/2- 7 hour drive in (effective) 2WD.
The road was tight, so instead of a 47 point turn, we backed out. As I swung the the nose around to driver to get pointed back on the main road, there was quite a bang and a hop in the front end. The bang was loud enough that the other vehicles heard it.
We stopped at a gas station just down the road and pulled the drive shaft and ABS fuses (traction control didn't want me to go anywhere).
Shifting into reverse resulted in a grinding of gears like a missed shift, though it did eventually catch. Forward didn't APPEAR to be a problem.
I decided to just be very careful how I pulled into places and only go forward to get home. Unfortunately, once underway when I got off power, it would seem to jump out of gear, and resulted in the whirring/grinding noise. On the shoulder I was able to get power again to get to another parking lot.
In case the drive shaft removal was causing a problem by having the front completely unloaded, I got back under the truck, put it back in (while sunburning my feet). We tried a few tricks Heather pulled up on Mud, thought for a minute we were good, but alas no. After driving multiple figure-8s around the parking lot, it seemed to be out of 4WD though the indicator was still flashing for both 4WD and CDL, but since it felt good (though still no reverse) we tried to soldier on. The first downhill resulted in a disengagement and the grind/whir. I pulled to the shoulder in neutral. At around 5 mph, it took drive again. As long as it was loaded it was good, as soon as it was unloaded, it came out until it was slow enough to catch again. With flashers just a-flashin' we limped into a gas station (that had no gas) and Heather called a flat bed to bring it down to Chesnee, SC., 85 miles away, where Stan has a friend with a transmission shop. No we wait....
IDK, my gearbox experience is all motorcycle based, but (I think) the actuation in this transfer is similar. If that's the case, it feels to be like a bent/broken fork sliding the gear over a bit, but not enough. At low speed, it can catch and the back-cut on the side dogs will pull it in, but the fork gets flexed. As soon as the power is off the fork springs back and disengages the dogs.
We'll see.
More to come.
 
Holy cow.

Amen

I am thinking that the reverse and the issues with drive once power comes off is a trans issue. The center lock issue in the T-case, no clue. It may or may not have caused the trans issues. Hopefully Richard (trans guy) knows a little magic fix.

Up side is that this is a perfect example of how this club operates as a whole. While Jim was under the truck removing the drive shaft, Heather and Izzy were on MUD looking for similar situations, found one that was not the fix. Jim eventually drove home from Charlotte to his place in Izzy's 80. Heather called AAA and got him a ride on a roll back. She claimed she bought it a week ago and was driving it on the previous owner's tag :) So at least he was saved the expense of a tow. Never leave your wing man!
 
Sounds to me like the transfer case blew up, specifically because of the bang that happened when doing a tight turn with the CDL locked in 4wd on pavement.

Whatever it is, hopefully it's a cheap fix!
 
Sounds to me like the transfer case blew up, specifically because of the bang that happened when doing a tight turn with the CDL locked in 4wd on pavement.

Whatever it is, hopefully it's a cheap fix!

My guess something similar ....

Bang = blown birf .... wait was this the 4runner with IFS? So blown CV or a spider gear? :D
Then center diff starts slipping (feels like tranny slipping)
Then the CV/spider gear goes back and forth between having something to grab onto and grinding.
 
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