to mud or not to mud (1 Viewer)

[freewayken]

A lot of your story doesn't make sense. I can't imagine how what you describe ended up bending your AC pulley. Also, tires would have done little to prevent what you describe.

IMO, the bottom line is that until you actually DO buy the cruiser from your folks, instead of just planning to buy it, you should not be taking it off road at all.

I bought my first Cruiser when I was 16 ('78 FJ40) for $2,500 and when it broke down I fixed it as best I could with my own sweat and money. When it's your sweat and money invested, you'll approach wheeling with a whole different attitude.

 

[www1221us]

ok question? if the fuse for the a/c was taken out might that put a strain on the pulley thus making it bend slightly
or how can one make a pulley bend

 

[freewayken]

I don't see how that would make any difference. All those pulleys can come loose, for various reasons, it isn't uncommon at all.

You said you don't use the AC. Why don't you just remove the compressor all together then? That pulley is a single pulley, it doesn't drive anything else. Just remove the thing and be done with it. Easy enough to do yourself, I wouldn't pay a mechanic $150 to do it, and I certainly wouldn't pay to have it fixed if you don't use it.

I on the other hand need mine or my dog would be very unhappy with me

 

[clyde60]

I know the discussion has moved on a bit but going back to your initial post, I went around australia in a pretty much stock 60 with 31x10.5x15 BFG AT's and the only time we came even close to getting stuck was once in really deep soft sand and once in really wet mud (nearly ended up driving off 20 ft drop into a river!). So I'd say get yourself some better tyres (it does make a difference), do a 4WD driver ed course (makes a massive difference) and build up to those really difficult bits. Unless you are looking for deep bog holes to drive through theres usually an easier way to go that will avoid banging up the truck and will still get you there. Most importantly get out and enjoy it

 

[srplus]

Rule # 1: Lesson # 2

NEVER, EVER loan your cruiser to another or let them drive it unless you ARE BRAIN DEAD. OR, if your wife is PREGO and wants to get to the hospital to deliver while you're on IH8MUD.COM.

not even my brother drives my cruiser now, or for that matter, uses my fishing equipment. once, i let him use my favorite, most expensive spinning reel when we went to the beach for a week. i went down to where he was fishing and saw the reel just lying on the sand. i had to take it apart, completely rebuild it and then buy him his own fishing outfit for Xmas.

another time i was 'letting' that same beloved brother drive my 4WD suburban two days after a major hurricane had passed thru. we were down at the coast in some marshy areas redfishing in estuaries and tidal creeks (he was using his 'Santa' rod & reel at this point). there was a huge water hole / mud pit in front of us on the trail. i told him that if he was gonna drive thru it, he had to walk thru it first to see how bad it really was. he decided to just turn around instead of hearing me complain about water in the dif's & all.

before i could say anything, he hung a quick right; veered off the trail & shot out onto an area that was completely covered with reeds and grass debris that had floated up there from the hurricane. as we started to sink in, he gunned it - needless to say, the suburban submerged. no amount of wheel spinning, black rooster tails, lockers or anything was getting us out of that morass. of course the winch was on the front (under water) and i had no wiring / provisions for the winch on the ass end, even if i could have taken it off and used it on the back. the creek was about 50' in front of us and we were about 25' out into the muck. all around us the floated up debris looked pristine, almost like hard pack. we had to climb out of the windows because the truck was so far in we couldn't open the doors. for hours we dug, jacked, cut down trees and put them under the wheels, etc.

i ended up having to walk 10 miles back thru that marsh covered with black smelly slime... and then 3 more miles back to civilization, once i hit the pavement. every time i opened my mouth to breathe i filled up my lungs with mosquitoes and no seeums. found this guy with a monster mudder 'Heep', who for $75 cash promised to pull us out with his gigundo snatch strap... he drove his 'Heep' while some of his buddies came along for the show in their one ton souper douper mudder ford PU. it took two snatch straps and both vehicles, lots of yanking, rednecks yellin' all kind of directions (and one trying to follow them), neck snapping and swimming around in the goo to get out. they snatched my rear quarter into a tree and then had the nerve to tell me the extrication would be $ 150. since i was already out, they got the 75 bucks and that's all. the suburban got a new rear quarter, complete paint job, and winch on a receiver adapter with power plug on the rear end for it. after looking beautiful for a while, the 'burb' died a slow and painful death from body cancer.

lesson learned. rant over. except, a few months after that, i was trail riding & fishing again with that same brother in my fj40 in that same swamp. saw the 'Heep guy' stuck up to his hood in a mud hole of his own making. he wanted me to pull him out... i figgered out this was the way the guy made his traps to catch his victims. I drove around him while my brother grinned and told him it would be $ 150 to drag him out... we went down to the creek & fished. he walked home. my brother was so proud of himself and we were laughing so hard that he thought he could slip one by me... he wanted to drive it back out.

i told him he could keep smiling at me from the passenger's seat or catch a ride back in the 'Heep'... and if i got us stuck, he was the one walking out for help. i won't lend him my wife or tools, either. prolly a post for the chat section. LOL !

 

[TEPUI]

NEVER, EVER loan your cruiser to another or let them drive it unless you ARE BRAIN DEAD. OR, if your wife is PREGO and wants to get to the hospital to deliver while you're on IH8MUD.COM.

Brilliant!


This is sig material

 

[agent orange]

Ok, you didnt break anything wheeling. Youre not gonna bend an a/c pulley by driving through mud. Some jackass probably cinched the belt way to tight, or stepped on it, or something stupid like that. Or maybe it worked loose over time or something. Youre not gonna break a 60 with little tires like youre unless you do something stupid. Extend the vents on your axles/tranny/tcase, make sure the distributor is sealed up tight, and go play. If you really think you need more clearance, get some 33x10.50 ATs. And what kinda s***ty mechanic takes a couple weeks to change a pulley? If hes waiting on a part, theres nothing to keep you from driving it, just yank the a/c belt and go.

 

[Heartworm]

Grow up time

If it ain't your rig and you ain't footing the bills, treat your parents wishes with some respect. Who's going to pay the shop bill? (real time pay, not payback some day) And, who wants to go out and offroad again?

 

[www1221us]

If it ain't your rig and you ain't footing the bills, treat your parents wishes with some respect. Who's going to pay the shop bill? (real time pay, not payback some day) And, who wants to go out and offroad again?

actually my dad is making me pay for it. and i dont think that the mechanic is making much sense, he keeps saying that the last part will be there the next day, and another thing, when i ask him what exactly is wrong with the truck he wont tell me, says hes to busy. which is messed up because my dad insists on going to the dealership for "quality" service. i just have some bits and pieces that my dad has mentioned. i mean this is almost taking as long as when my dad ran the truck into a telephone pole which took quite a long time to repair

 

[www1221us]

you know what im just going do what my dad says and stop offroading with that truck. i might put 31s on it but its going to stay on the road for a while. thanks everyone but im just :shotts:

 

[gulp3000]

you know what im just going do what my dad says and stop offroading with that truck. i might put 31s on it but its going to stay on the road for a while. thanks everyone but im just :shotts:

Excellent choice. When you buy a vehicle, pay for all the insurance, gas, repairs, maintenence, & have your own replacement car to drive when you break it and it takes a week to fix, then you can offroad all you want.

31s vs 235s is not a solution to whatever happened to bend your pulleys.

 

[zcruiser]

you know what im just going do what my dad says and stop offroading with that truck. i might put 31s on it but its going to stay on the road for a while. thanks everyone but im just :shotts:

Get out while you can afford it...

 

[www1221us]

31s vs 235s is not a solution to whatever happened to bend your pulleys.

i know, the first thing i am going to do when i get it back is make sure that the pulleys are properly protected from stuff getting up there. for some reason i dont think that there is a plate underneath the pulleys. im just going to put 31's on for fun.

 

[Tinker]

At 18 the brain is not the most developed organ of the male body.

Sorry, www, I just had to say it. I was reminded yesterday of a minor incident in high school when I warped the head & cracked the block on my mother's only new car ever. It involved a case of Coors quarts (at a "woodsie" near where I live now) & a roller-coaster dirt road.

Had to help R&R the head, and then pay the difference between the trade-in & a new car out of my own pocket (college savings). Never did that again!

 

[89s rule]

oh my friend has a picture of it stuck, on her cell phone if you want to see it, i think shes out of town right now though.

This little clue might help as well. "friend with pic" the same as "friend who was driving" ?

- Yet another strike against you if it was a girl driving. When I was your age there were only a very very small handful of ogirls who could drive well. More guys but many of those drove like a bandit with a smokie behind him!

Hope all gets worked out. Especially sorry to hear about the messed up parts and having it go to a shop/stealership!

 

[gulp3000]

i know, the first thing i am going to do when i get it back is make sure that the pulleys are properly protected from stuff getting up there. for some reason i dont think that there is a plate underneath the pulleys. im just going to put 31's on for fun.

Very strange to hurt any part of the engine or components attached in while mudding. A lot of the advise on here probably sounds like a bunch of old farts, but most of us are using knowledge we gained doing stupid crap at your age.

I begged my Dad to let me trade my '64 Chevy shortbed PU for a '72 CJ5. The first day I got it, I was attempting to show off and buried it in a mudhole. I had to leave it and go to work so we tried again to unstick it around midnight but the mudhole was now frozen solid. The next day I ditched school and tried with 2 buddies with 4x4s and we couldn't budge it. That afternoon the only 4x4 wrecker in town drove to the edge of the field and said there was no way he would even try to get to the Heep.

He gave me a ride home and my Dad threw some shovels, boards, and a Hi-Lift in his 2WD S10 and we headed out. In 20 minutes we had it out.

Then there's the time I rolled it, right before the time I didn't follow my Dads advise regarding maintenence and ended up with a cracked block, etc, etc, etc.

 

[www1221us]

No i only let my mom, and my sister drive it (she used to use it)
ok heres what happened after my guy friend got the truck stuck we called a friend of his his who brought his truck, because the front hook was not on we wrapped his tow rope around the frame but then the bumper cut the fabric tow rope. we went to find some other people and we found someone with a chain, the girl that was with them took the picture. MAN i am not explaining this very well am i?

 

[jgordon]

Here's my take as someone who might be closer to your age than most. I know a lot of these guys are trying to steer you right from their own experience, and from what it sounds like, they're right to a large degree - stay out of the woods till you own/can afford this truck. But I'm not sure the entire thing's your fault.

I think maybe the lack of maintenance that let the belts get cracked in the first place was evident in the pully bearings. THen when you "enthusiastically" tried to get out of the mudhole, you probably over-revved the engine, and strained an already weak component.

Then again, I'm new, so I could be completely off. But from what you're saying, I also have a hard time seeing how you inflicted the damage you described.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I agree with jgordon. Don't be so quick to entirely blame yourself. For example, the first time that I went mudding with my 60, I got hung up on a rock and tore off my exhaust system from the cat back. This was accomplished by dragging my truck across a boulder, but the entire system was rusted out anyway, as in the muffler was doing nothing because there were holes in it, the pipe after it and the tailpipe afterwards.

Anyway, get it fixed, by yourself next time, and then once you own it, take it out again!!

 

[zcruiser]

MAN i am not explaining this very well am i?

Try using a period now and then, maybe a few caps at the beginning of complete sentences, that sort of thing....

Writing is a skill worth honing.