Off Road Breakdown Horror Stories

[theexbrit]

Hi guys, I was just wondering if anyone has broken down miles from nowhere & if so, what did you do, how did you resolve it, what do you recommend if anyone breaks down off road?

 

One of my (ahem, sorry to say this word in public) "Jeep" buddies broke his rear drive shaft on John Bull trail, so he removed the drive shaft, put it in 4 wheel & used the front drive only to get home.

[Kyle94]

I had a break down on the trail once. My battery (old and weak) got too shook up off road and stopped holding a charge. It just so happened the car died in a 6" deep pool of water. There were plenty of people out on the trails as we were there as a group. So I'm not sure if my story counts. My mom and dad had broke the u joint on my dads old bronco and had to drive home in "front wheel drive" some funny things.

[Tungsten]

The good old front wheel drive trick... Be careful with that one as you can totally blow up your transfer case and CV axles.

[ahardb0dy]

I "broke down" after climbing a hill in my old hardbody, the pass side lower control arm split in half causing the pass. side to fall, the secondary adjuster on the torsion bar kept the suspension up slightly and the body off the tire, limped to my buddies house and placed a section of square tubing between the arm and the bumpstop than drove it to another friends house, quick junkyard trip got me a new lower control arm and I replaced it.

[theexbrit]

Thanks for the input guys. Seems like a lot of breakdowns are of a fairly minor variety (although they don't seem minor when when it happens). I'm wondering if anyone has had a completely immobile vehicle & if so what did they do. My big concern is, in the desert we're literally 25 miles or more from a road, if there's a breakdown that needs a tow we'd be ok in a lot of the areas but sometimes we're in really rocky, hilly terrain. Not sure how we'd get a disabled vehicle out then.

[KovemaN]

Fuel pump went out 80 miles from home and 50 miles from the pavement. A tow could have easily cost $600-1000 and I'm not even sure anyone would have taken the job due to the terrain. I had to leave the truck overnight and hope nobody would mess with it. I pulled the fuel pump relay and ECU fuse just to be safe. I returned the next day with a new fuel pump and everything I needed to get the job done. After pulling the bed to get to the pump I noticed that the wiring to the pump had been cut and spliced. When I pulled the connector it had pretty bad corrosion so I cleaned the contacts and plugged it back it. The damn thing fired right up after that and drove home just fine. At least I got to return the unused fuel pump.

[Slartibartfast]

My big concern is, in the desert we're literally 25 miles or more from a road, if there's a breakdown that needs a tow we'd be ok in a lot of the areas but sometimes we're in really rocky, hilly terrain. Not sure how we'd get a disabled vehicle out then.

 

Know anybody in the Air Force? "Hey, yeah, you got a Chinook we could borrow for a few minutes?"

[nismothunder]

I helped a guy pull the split shaft on his 85 yota. He beat on it in front wheel drive.

 

Now I dont think you can use that to get a pathfinder home with out at least plugging the rear of the tranny. I maybe wrong though) Or Bronco unless it had a 2 piece shaft.

 

I got hung up in a rut and let the engine idle for roughly 45-minutes to 1.5 hours and my atf boiled (although there are those that say it wasnt boiling)

 

Not a horror story but I almost ripped my bumper off twice, once while climbing a hill and another time when I backed up perfectly with a birch tree. But I got a 1/4" thick chunk of angle Iron for a bumper know so its not a problem anymore.

 

My frame broke (the first time) going over rail road tracks at 10 miles an hour. It broke the second time hitting a jump.

 

I bent the frame on 94 S10 Jimmy driving over a a fallen oak tree, I ended up dragging it for 100 feet. Popped one of the S10s tires 5 minutes later on a little twig (backed into,instant flat)

 

I ran into a tree at 25mph (well brush) on Polaris 400L 2 stroke atv when I was 12ish with 2 other people on the wheeler (I wasnt acutally drive, the guy on the front rack was)

 

The one I dont like telling the most is when the throttle stuck on my 86 c-vic in reverse and I ran into a light pole in my driveway. my backs still messed up from that one.

[theexbrit]

@KovemaN, I figure thats what I would have to do, leave the truck until I can fix it & just hope no one messes with it.

 

@nismothunder, you've had a few "incidents" man!! Sorry to hear about your back, I still have back pain from an injury (not 4 wheeling) 29 years ago so I know how you feel.

[silverton]

I had an upper control arm bolt fall out while on a particularly difficult trail at night. it was very hairy limping it through the rest of the trail to get back home.

 

 

Hellaflush yo!

[andreus009]

I had an upper control arm bolt fall out while on a particularly difficult trail at night. it was very hairy limping it through the rest of the trail to get back home.

 

 

Hellaflush yo!

 

 

Now that is a nightmare. I had one of these bolts get loose on me and that was just around town. Ever since, I check them periodically.

[k9sar]

I destroyed a CV and had to be pulled up a hill cause my 4wd was shot a that point. Nothing too crazy and always wheeled with a good group of people. One of my favorite stories was when a buddy's new cherokee died on the trail and would not start. I crawled under the hood and poked around... then I asked the owner for a small flat stone. 2 minutes later I told him to start the truck and she fired right up. I was elevated to automotive-God status at that time until I let the cat out of the bag and told him that the contact on his rotor was scorched and just needed a little cleaning with nature's sandpaper to make good contact.

[AndyC]

I had an upper control arm bolt fall out while on a particularly difficult trail at night. it was very hairy limping it through the rest of the trail to get back home.

 

 

Hellaflush yo!

 

Lost that same bolt on the passenger side, had to re-tap the threads as they were stripped. Also noticed my idler arm is shot, could that have been the cause?

[silverton]

The cause on my truck was because it was lifted and longer bolts were not put in by the alignment folks. This is why I will not do a suspension lift again.

[KovemaN]

The most common cause of UCA bolts being lost isn't due to the lift, but the loss of alignment shims on rough terrain. Once one shim slips out the bolt is loose. I lost all the shims on one side on my last wheeling trip, but I got lucky and didn't lose the bolts completely before I got home. I now use thin stainless washers for alignment. There is absolutely no possibility of them falling out. I've been setting the alignment myself for a few years now and I trust my work much more than any shop. My tire shop checks the alignment for free when I go in for balance/rotation and then I adjust the washers accordingly.

[silverton]

The most common cause of UCA bolts being lost isn't due to the lift, but the loss of alignment shims on rough terrain.

 

With a lift, too many shims are required to correct the camber, and without using a longer bolt, you can't torque the bolt enough, and you either end up getting "lucky" and the bolt just falls out, or you have a really bad day, and it rips the threads out of the frame. I won't say a lift is the only cause of this issue, but it certainly accelerates it!

[JamesRich]

My story wasn’t off road and wasn't a pathfinder but it still sucked!

I was working as a fleet mechanic for a spring water company and I took care of two branch fleets. Once a week I would go to Alexandria, 80 miles away to just check fluid and general conditions because the drivers never would. I just brought basic tools because I didn't do any major work at that branch.

I drove an 89 dodge half ton pickup with a compressor on the back that had no power so I pretty much drove it to the floor most of the time. I had been ignoring a separated motor mount for a few months because after recently changing it, it lasted maybe 8 months and tore again so I wasn’t in a rush to change it again.

Around 9 pm I left the branch heading home and stopped at a convenience store for a snack for the 80 mile drive home. Getting back on the interstate I punched it as I usually do and somewhere around 3500 rpms the other motor mount let go and the engine twisted over a few degrees and the fan started digging into the shroud.

I surveyed the situation and decided I could use the factory jack to lift the motor and push it back in place. So while I'm under there fighting with it the only flashlight I have burns out! Going from memory and feel I finally got the motor over enough so the fan wasn’t touching the shroud and drove home at 45 mph taking off really slowly!

The next day I got two motor mounts from the dealer and two new flashlights!

James

[GSeijo]

First one wasn't in a pathfinder, was in a friend's 89 Montero, the middle part of the trail was a high and the Montero was basically lifted from the differentials( four wheel in the air) there was no one around, so we had to walk out of the trail(about 30 minutes) to look for someone who could pull us out. In my pathy going up a very steep rocky hill the engine started dying and suddenly it turned off, was there waiting for a buddy for about 4 hours, I decided to take one last look to the engine, results that the cable from the engine coil had somehow manage to come off, connected, placed adhesive tape around it and good to go. Last time, it was really my fault, hydrolocked the engine...VERY DEEP MUDHOLE! water came up to front windshield, pretty bad stuck, engine went on for about 5 minutes, finally after ten minutes managed to pull it out with alittle help from another Pathy. Had to pull my Pathy all the way to my house with a recovery strap, it wouldn't turn on, gasoline came out of the air filter...I thought it was well dead until the mechanic checked it, new spark plugs, air filter, airflow sensor and engine oil, transmission fluid, differential fluid etc and it's been working like a champ...I think I learned from that last one, now I'm very carefull when muddin'. I've seen people braking axles, differential being cracked hitting rocks, roll overs and other crazy stuff. It's part of wheelin'and muddin', you have to be prepare and never think that nothing will happen.

[MY1PATH]

I blew a bypass hose on the trail and lost all my coolant. This is that short little hose behind the timing cover PITA to get to on the trail and we didn't a hose that small...

we ended up using the old hose as a reducer inside a larger hose and stealing the clamps from the radiator to match the larger diameter.

So now we have a larger, stiffer and not pre-bent hose going into a really tight space and it starts snowing. Hands are getting cold, engine sitting so its cold too and trying to shove my fingers and an over sized wrong hose between my intake manifold and my timing cover. YAY

We'll we got it in the end and I drove the rest of the day with my radiator cap loose too keep the pressure from blowing our repair.

[adamzan]

Mine wasn't offroad nor a pathy either. I was with my buddy in his ram and we were hauling my parts pathy to a storage lot, this was in the middle of winter and it was about -30C outside. We heard this funny noise from the motor but couldn't really pinpoint it so we kept going. Stopped off for gas 30 mins later and when we were pulling into the station I could hear this ping ping ping sound. When I got out I could smell burning rubber. Popped the hood and found the belt tensioner bearings were flying out! Ended up having to bum a ride from some random guy to get to a parts store that was 20 miles away. He was nice enough to drive us back too. We installed it and went on our way. Were our fingers ever frozen!

[AndyC]

I had a 1992 bronco. A jeep XJ pulled out in front of me in a snow storm in Pullman WA. I t-boned home and crunched the drivers side fender and headlight on my truck. XJ was a total loss. I had an appointment with the body shop the week after Christmas break. I went home to Tacoma, then on the return trip my one good headlight went out, at 9pm, on I-90, 10mi before Cle-Elum which is in the middle of a mountain pass in the middle of nowhere. I was not prepared to sleep in the truck so u spent a very cold (15deg) night huddled in the back seat, running the truck every 30 min to keep it warm enough inside. I've kept heavy blankets in all of my trucks since.

[Danger]

We were ice fishing in North Bay -42 celcius with winds and all. When its really cold my truck loves to lock itself (really annoying since I only have 1 key). Well, we woke up the second morning and my path and 1 other guy on the lake were the only ones to have vehicles start, so as I was letting my truck warm up, the door slamed shut and locked itself, truck still running. Took about 10 mins to find a coat hanger, and another 30 to unlock the door. Everything kept slipping because of the cold, but at least the truck was warm. Went to jump my buddies civic, the windsheild washer fluid line snapped because it was so cold, with the winter fluid in it, crazy.

[theexbrit]

I spent a winter near "Zama City" & Edson in Northern Alberta with an oil survey company, we had to plug the trucks in overnight or they wouldn't even turn over in the am. One day it was -40c plus a -40 wind chill, we had to pack up & go back to camp. I've never been so f*#@ing cold in my life, I could hardly move, even with all the Arctic gear we had on!!

[Mr.510]

Thanks for the input guys. Seems like a lot of breakdowns are of a fairly minor variety (although they don't seem minor when when it happens). I'm wondering if anyone has had a completely immobile vehicle & if so what did they do. My big concern is, in the desert we're literally 25 miles or more from a road, if there's a breakdown that needs a tow we'd be ok in a lot of the areas but sometimes we're in really rocky, hilly terrain. Not sure how we'd get a disabled vehicle out then.

 

If a truck is a long way from a road or there is very difficult terrain it has to be towed over it's often necessary to to link two or even three other trucks together in a row in order to pull it. Great care needs to be taken when pulling a truck over serious obstacles as the angle of pull from the strap can easily roll the towed vehicle.

 

@KovemaN, I figure thats what I would have to do, leave the truck until I can fix it & just hope no one messes with it.

 

I will only leave a truck on the trail unattended if it's necessary to prevent risk to someone's life. I'm not willing to freeze to death guarding my truck but have seen what happens to trucks left in the woods for even a few hours. Partially for this reason I carry a sleeping bag rated to 15* F year-round when wheeling.

 

I've had two 'breakdowns' off road with my Pathy. I'd probably only had it a year and was doing some easy wheeling at Reiter Foothills outside Monroe, WA. My starter had given me the "click... nothing happens" treatment a couple of times so I had a spare in the truck 'just in case.' So my buddy gets his Pathy stuck in a deep water hole and I shut mine off while in two feet of water to assess his situation and figure out what the recovery is going to be. When I went to re-start it I got nothing. Banged on it with my Hi-Lift handle, still nothing. Luckily somebody came along and pulled my buddy's Pathy out of the water hole. We then used it to pull my truck to somewhat dry ground (it was pouring rain and 40*). It turned out I didn't have enough tools to actually change the starter so my buddy drove an hour round-trip to buy some 3/8" extensions and a breaker bar in the nearest town. It was Sunday and the auto parts store was closed but the owner was there doing something and sold my buddy the stuff we needed. When he got back to my truck it was about dark, 30 degrees, and snowing sideways. Great weather to replace a starter on the trail! lol A couple hours later we were on our way for some much needed pizza.

 

The other incident with my Pathy wasn't really a breakdown, but actual breakage. I high centered my Pathy on it's rear end on a rock at the top of the 311 trail at Evans Creek. In rocking back and forth trying to get it off the rock I managed to twist my rear driveshaft in two:

 

 

I can't seem to find the pics from that day wheeling, so I shot this one of it hanging on the "Wall of Shame" in my shop with other various parts I've broken over the years. So anyway, I bummed a Ziplock freezer bag from Garret's lunch as I recall and used electrical tape to seal it over the dust shield for the rear driveshaft in an attempt to keep some oil in the T-case so I could drive it with just the front end pulling. This was the first trip with my new front LSD installed and it had hammered out and completely destroyed what was left of my compression rod bushings in the first couple miles of trail. So I had a FWD Pathy with MASSIVE amounts of torque steer to get down from basically the top of a mountain that was half covered in snow. I needed to be pulled over a few minor obstacles as I just could not keep the truck pointed the right direction with the toe changing two inches every time I breathed on the skinny pedal. Things went slightly better when we got to tarmac, other than the fact it would spin both front tires to 50mph or so no matter how easy I was on the pedal. This was due entirely to toe change when power was applied. I ended up wrapping a ratchet tiedown around the back of the compression rods and cinching them together so the toe could not change as easily. With this setup I could go freeway speed as long as I was really careful about throttle application. A little too much and it would tighten the LSD, change the toe, and go whatever direction it felt like! It was a spooky drive home but as long as I kept the speed up very little throttle was required and it drove OK. With good bushings and an open front diff you can drive any speed you want in a FWD Pathy to get it home and it won't hurt anything. The front diff and CVs are the same strength as 300ZX Turbo rear end parts so it's not like you're going to hurt something with torque when you're in high range. Surprisingly the Ziplock bag and electrical tape sealed perfectly. There was oil about an inch deep that I could see against the clear bag the next day and it did not leak a drop. I swapped in the driveshaft from my parts Pathy the next day and all was good again. I will be re-tubing the shaft I broke with 1/4" wall DOM steel tube so I'll never have to worry about it again.

[JamesRich]

I remembered another story which could have been off road, I’m hell on company vehicles!

I was working as a fleet repair mechanic for a Pepsi bottling company. The company truck I had was an 84 Toyota diesel pick up with a work bed on the back. Back in 92 or 93 we had a really bad flood. Most of the town had water and in some places half way up people’s houses. I found a way home with not too much water. While cruising through the water and all the belts were slipping I’m thinking nothing will stop this thing because there’s no distributor to get wet. I crossed a small bridge and the road dipped down that the water was coming over the hood and it never stopped! Made it home that night with no problem.

Next morning I picked a different route that actually had less water. BUT while I’m putting along a big jacked up jeep crosses me with his foot to the floor! When the wave he was pushing hit the grill of my little truck it sucked the water right up the intake and locked the motor solid!

Of course I tried to hit the key and it was locked. After a couple of minutes the water started seeping in till it was up to the seat. Finally I got an idea. I took off my boots and rolled up my pants then got my tools and pulled all the glow plugs out. Even though the starter was completely submerged it spun the motor over until all the water came out. I put the plugs back and it started up but had blown the rings out of cylinder 3. The pressure in the crankcase would blow the dipstick out and puff like a steam train. I backed it out the water and drove it to work. The most speed I could get was 35 mph but they didn’t have to send a tow truck for me!

James