Wow, haven't seen that one before. That's intense! Did you guys drive it on the road afterwards?
I was definitely not expecting that to happen and while I usually have a pretty good assortment of spare parts, a radius arm was not included! However, it was really a best case scenario as it happened about 300 yards from Buck Island Lake, not on the main trail (took a different line) and more or less on flat ground. There also happened to be a professional welder
@SqueakyCleanDave who arrived probably 45min after the breakage. Coupled with team Mudrak, a pretty cool onboard welder (Premier Engine Driven), some 1/2" flat bar stock I had, and a few metallurgy tricks to overcome the challenges of welding cast steel (lots of preheating and then covering the repair in sand and letting it slowly cool overnight),
@lelandEOD and I were able to get the repaired arm back on the next morning and it got us through the trail.
I was also able to place a phone call to Georg
@orangefj45 and he brought up a spare set in case the repair didn't hold. I think I reached him while he was getting out of his pool at home. He had no clue who I was, but heard radius arms were needed at Buck Island and said "No problem." What could have been a pretty disastrous break, requiring leaving behind a vehicle, going home to source spare parts, and then returning for the repair, instead turned into a mere few hour delay. The repaired arm was back on my 80 by 7am the next morning. It was also a very good piece of mind to know that a spare was en route in case the repair didn't hold. This highlights what many of us already know, how awesome the TLCA community is and how others will do pretty much anything to help out someone in need...and the only compensation that was accepted was some beer and prime rib. No one would take my raffle money.
I was a little nervous departing Buck but figured if the repair was going to fail, it would fail within the first few obstacles. I really tried to take easy lines and not smack the arm but I did land on it at least a few more times. We would get out and inspect it frequently and it looked solid every time. My concern with putting in a replacement at the Springs was interference with the oversized tie rod...which was indirectly the cause of the original failure. In order for the arms to clear the tie rod, I clearance them, perhaps a bit too much. This was 8+ years ago so it took a while to fail. Again, luck that it happened when it did, and not 15 miles into Dusy Ershim, or en route to Moab. Delta replacements will be ordered today.
Off the trail at Tahoma we looked at it and I decided since we were only going around the lake to Mt Rose Highway, to go slow and not swap in the replacement. It will now stay parked until the Delta arms get installed. For extra credit, I plan on cutting the other arm (not the set going back to Georg) and seeing if I can repair it myself with a battery powered Ready Welder....then putting it in a press to see how much force it takes to break the repair.
All in all, still a great Rubicon with plenty of excitement. Trail seemed a bit harder in a few spots, but Big Sluice and Cadillac were pretty tame compared to past years. It was great to see old friends and make new ones. Big thank you as well to
@MountNGoat and the rest of the Pryors for everything they do for the wagon run. There were definitely some extra challenges this year but it all worked out in the end. Also thanks to
@lelandEOD for tagging along and helping with everything from driving, spotting, and repair work. He should have either a 60 or 80 ready by Rubithon 2023.
