We have all been there. Something that started out as fun or something you thought that you had a handle on quickly went sideways and you found yourself up dookie creek without any paddles. Frankly if you have been on Hot Rod Drag Week we already know your story and you already know the feeling of stepping off the ledge into the unknown with only your own wit and resources to get you by. That being said, the majority of people have not been out on the trail of that event and these stories are going to be mostly self-induced trauma or stress. Allow me to share one from high school.
My buddy Jared was the best man in my wedding and growing up he was probably my best pal. One night in high school we all went out and had some fun. He had a little too much fun and then got into a tangle with some tall granite curb stones on the way back to his parent’s house, blowing out both tires on one side of the car. He managed to get our mutual friend Dana (who is a gearhead to the bone) on the phone and articulate the situation through a series of grunts. Now, this guy didn’t even know where he was in our small town and Dana had to kind of do the math and find him…which he did. He drove Jared back to his ‘rents house and dropped him off. He then went through the pile of junker tires in his backyard with a flashlight and found a decent hoop to bolt onto one of the wounded corners. Between the donut spare the the backyard tire, Dana was able to drive the car back to his (parent’s) house, walk back and get his truck, and then get phase two of the plan together. When the morning came, he ran to the junkyard, bought two used tires/rims, got them mounted and left the car in Jared’s driveway with no one being the wiser.
I still think that this is one of the greatest stories I have ever heard and I know for a fact that it is true. As a side note, this experience scared the daylights out of Jared and he knew what could have happened. He was effectively scared straight and never drove in a questionable state again.
I have gotten trucks stuck in the woods so bad that we thought we’d be spending a winter’s night sleeping in the cab with the heat on, had cam lobes go flat 50 miles from home and just try to gut the motor back to home base, lost an oil pump (but thought just the gauge was wonky) and drove until the motor sounded like a cement mixer, rewired lights with speaker wire on the side of a highway and any number of other questionable things to get home or somewhere that could be home for that night. What about you?
BangShift Question Of The Day: What’s The Worst Automotive Jam You Have Ever Gotten Yourself Into — How Did You Get Out?
(Here’s a highly intelligent me after hours of digging after I decided that my Z71 GMC truck was actually an Icelandic tundra truck during college motorsports club antics….it wasn’t and this sucker was buried. The campus police were not too pleased with me.)
How much of the story to relate? There’s bits on either end, but here’s the nutshell. I spent most of my college days 4 wheeling in the hills above Walla Walla. During the winter there’ would be 10 to 15 feet of snow on the tops of the hills. There were two ways into the major playground, one would be closed by a gate in the winter, the other would be closed by nature via huge drifts that would be strategically placed perpendicular to the road. We weren’t to be stopped, so we dug a trench to put our tire into so we could drive down the drift (it was only 500 feet straight down on the other side of the drift). We went down the drift, then went an played for the day. When we went to turn around, we did it in the wrong place and got both of our rigs stuck. We were 10 miles from town, without overnight gear, and my hiking boots were moon boots (look them up). Up in the hills are a number of hunter’s cabins, we broke into one to stay the night then hiked out the next day. We got a ride back with another friend in a 4×4, but when we got to the vehicles, the local Jeep guys were wondering why these vehicles were stuck in the middle of the road (they drove around, came back at the same time we were trying to get them out… stupid jeeps). They pulled us out, then we went back to the drift….. it really was providence that we got stuck, because there was no way we were getting up that drift without a winch and another vehicle as anchor (now, I probably would have just shoveled it into a road)… After that adventure, I put a lift on the truck and a winch… and have never left home without one…
25 miles into the bush , split the transfer case. Used winch cable, hose clamps, and a rachet strap to tighten up the cracked case. then added duct tape to try and keep some oil in it . Made it out and home but not before pissing off the albion ferry crew off over the slick on their deck. Stupid aluminum transfer case , the super swampers had nothing to do with it, nor did the big block, or the lead foot………..
When I was 17 I bought an old Army Jeep. My Dad and I took it out wheeling about 5 miles from our house around the edge of a lake. We got the Jeep stuck at the bottom of a hill in some deep mud at the edge of the water. Dont know what I was thinking cause there is absolutely no way anything I have ever saw would make it through this spot. We walked through the woods back home to retrieve another 4X4 but we didnt have much chain and were not sure what we were going to do. We ran into some drunk rednecks at a store and they insisted on helping us out. They were in a Toyota 4X4 and had a little more chain so we accepted the help. They hooked their truck to my Jeep and I swear didnt even get the chain tight before they got stuck. Luckily they knew somebody with a big winch but they lived about 20 miles away. This was before cell phones and had to chance it that they were home, which they were. After getting them all pulled out I had a flat on the pickup on the way home. I didnt have a spare with me and we had to drive the Jeep home to get one. Talk about a long day!!!!
back in my misspent youth,every vehicle I ever owned at one time or another,became a jeep–59 olds,hillman wagon,vw bug(which was pretty much unstoppable),you name it—-the one that comes to mind was a 67 chevelle 2-door(hey,i was young,and they weren’t the big deal they are now),a logging road,and a slight miscalculation on my part as to where the road actually was lead me to get her good and stuck—solution?–jack it up on the factory bumper jack,place some handy brush under the drive wheel,wrap it out to about 4-5 grand,and have my buddy push it off the jack—-we made it out,but I did bust a shock mount—I look back and wonder how we never killed ourselves……..
Went up to cut firewood to sell… Was driving a 41 Dodge 4X4 running gear shod 51 pickup..
When my wife and I got there… It was pouring rain.. Clay roads. Only brakes the Dodge had was E brake..
So backing down to a turnaround was out of question as the turnaround was an old cemetary..
When I got to the normal turnaround, it was just too slick, the heavy Dodge just did a 90* slide, burying the front bumper on the first log of the deck.. Reverse was no go.. It just spun.. I went forward.. Over the logs watching my wife bounce her neck off the top of the cab untill we got to the other side and able to drive onto the road again.. She still talks about that..
running the Hammers out in Johnson valley with a few members of my old 4×4 club and on sledge hammer not more than 10 min into the trail i blew the t/case up like ventilating it and spilling gear oil and pieces of gears all over the rocks
i immediately turned my jeep into a trail barricade and had the trail blocked for 4.5 hrs until i could locate a T/case and get the jeep back up and running .
Stuck in a snow bank outside an east German outpost. Fear and E tools, we grabbed our tools, the other one posted lookout, started digging and we never talked about it again. The M151A2 was fun but underpowered.
16yrs old blew my trans in my 68 dodge on my way to work got off at midnight all I had was reverse drove 11mi backwards till I got pulled over and the officer walked up and wanted to know “what the F#*K” are you doing? let me Park it and walk the last mile! (went back and finished the drive after shift change)