Bad day at Choccolocco

[Metro]

Well, the good news is that my new front locker worked great and took me places I couldn't go before. The bad news is I bent the hell out of one of my new 16mm tie rods and apparantly broke my steering rack trying to get up a trail called Gambler. I had a spare tie rod and was able to swap that out on the trail easy enough but I lost power steering within a couple of minutes of being back on the trail.


I filled the pump up four or five times on my way out of the park and heading back toward Atlanta but the last time I filled it up, we noticed that the fluid just runs right out on the ground. I decided rather than risk ruining the pump too, I'll just get towed home.


As I type this, I'm sitting in a parking lot off I20 and AL431 waiting on my step dad to come and tow me home.

Logan's brother Jesse captured the event on video so I'm sure he'll upload it soon so all the web wheelers can give me their 2 cents on what I did wrong. :

This picture doesn't do the trail any justice of course.

Thanks to everyone who helped me out today.  I was having a really good time up until the breakage.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Logan]

Ouch, sorry you couldn't make it all the way home. For correction, Jesse isn't my brother and I may not want him to upload the video though. It comes off as you following what I said to do, caused the breakage. {peek}

[DMB]

I hate that you didnt make it home, hope you only have minor damage to the rack only. maybe the pump is still good, good move not burning it up.good luck getting home and repairing. Had fun today thanks every one, just hate you had problems.

[Ben H.]

That's too bad Seth. Sorry for the bad luck. Good day besides that though.

[Ben H.]

Since this is sorta our recap thread, here are my pictures.

http://s85.photobucket.com/albums/k53/Sporer65/Choccolocco%20May%2016%202010/

[Logan]

Here's the video.

[Will]

Logan's brother Jesse captured the event on video so I'm sure he'll upload it soon so all the web wheelers can give me their 2 cents on what I did wrong. :

 First up  ;D 

Nah man you did fine. The equipment is mostly to blame (IFS) on that one cause you really weren't bouncing too bad, but whenever I start hopping like that I let off the gas as quickly as possible to keep sudden traction from tearing my junk up. All that wheel spin is holding a lot of torque and when the tire actually grabs the stress has to go somewhere and with the case of my solid axle dana 30, a lot of the time that sudden transfer of energy has an easier time blowing U-joints or gear sets than it does pulling the rig forward. With your rig it's a little different, but basically, to me, looks like the combination of sudden traction after a little wheel-spin and the rig moving sideways between the ruts with that one tire grabbing against the side is what broke the tie-rod. I mean that's a relatively heavy truck compared to most on the trail. When the whole rig is moving sideways after a little hopping it only takes that tire cocked in a little bit when it goes into the side of the rut for a theoretical "torque arm" (for lack of better term) to be made between the edge of the tire back to the hub (and the rest of the rig behind it) to create plenty of force to snap that little tie-rod. The weight of the rig is moving one way and the tire suddenly grabs traction and is pinned in the wrong side of the rut. Weakest link = goodbye.

How did the rod break? Did one of the ends blow? 

And just a general statement, lockers break more stuff than open diffs cause traction is what breaks stuff when wheelin. Damn I can't wait to get on the trail and break stuff again  {toast}

And the video dialog is top notch 

[Krawler00]

Wow, that must have took you awhile to type. ;D Will is right on. IFS blows. Nothing you did wrong. But those tie rods are the Hummers biggest weakness... among others, JK! Well, keep us informed on the repairs! UPGRADE TIME!!! {toast}

[Metro]

Logan, I don't know why I thought Jesse was your brother?  Thanks for posting that video.  The steering rack assembly is going to be about $400 doh!  I wish there was an upgrade to be had but there's not. 

[DOUG]

Man I love the luxury of the Hummer, but I don't think I could wheel it after watching the vid and hearing the prices and limited options.

Are you going to fix it and wheel it more?

Is a solid front axle mod an option for you?

[Metro]

Man I love the luxury of the Hummer, but I don't think I could wheel it after watching the vid and hearing the prices and limited options.

Are you going to fix it and wheel it more?

Is a solid front axle mod an option for you?

Yeah I'll get it fixed and wheel it some more but I'll probably take it a little easier next time.  There are some things you can do to the stock rack assembly to beef it up a little but it reuires some machining.  I absolutely LOVE it for the 95% of the time I am driving it on the street.  It just doesn't do well on the terrain at Choccolocco.  That loose stuff is very unfriendly to the IFS.  I was happy with the performance of it at River Rock, Morris Mountain, and Mountainside.  It's never going to outwheel a moderately modded jeep but it's a much better daily driver than a TJ, JK or Cherokee and it gets around the trails OK.  


Someone is supposedly working on an SFA kit for the H3 but it's not out yet.  I got tired of waiting and spent my wad on the front diff w/locker so I probably won't go that route now that I have made the investment if it ever comes out.  You never know though, I won't say never.  The only decently documented SFA conversion on an H3 is project Recon and that one was big $$$.  http://www.hummerxclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=51&t=10172&start=30

[Sasquatch]

Nice meeting you man.  Wish the ride had been a little less eventful for ya.

I cringe every time I watch that video man.  And the rate the steering fluid just poured out at the gas station was nuts!

Hopefully your future rides go a bit better than this one did.

The one thing I noticed that seemed to hurt you the most was your rear diff.  It's so low it was hanging you up in places it shouldn't have.  Is there anything out there that would help raise that a bit or is it one of those "It is what it is." type deals?

Seth