TrailChaser Posted April 25, 2005 Share Posted April 25, 2005 (edited) This is what happened over the weekend. The story was copy/pasted from texasnissantrucks.com. First off I'd like to say a huge THANK YOU to Chris (OnlyOneDR) for saving my a$$... If it wasn't for him coming up there with a trailer the pathy would still be sitting at the park... I can't thank him enough, and I just hope someday I'll be able to repay the favor... Here's the link to the cell phone pics. http://www.geocities.com/stormer42o/Genera...l?1114435730651 I'll probly make another page when I get the film developed. Those will be the pics to see. So here's what happened. We got to the park and decided to go around the perimeter to check that out then we'd start on the other trails. We were doing good just riding around we had to bypass a massive mudhole. After that bypass it was easy going till we got to the "innocent looking" water hole. It was hard sand for the first 3/4 then it just dropped off outa nowhere. When the front went in I was going about 5mph, and the water was pushed up to the window. I was kinda scared of waterlocking the engine so I let off the gas. When the water ran off the hood I tried gassing on it to get out of the hole... Wasn't happening. The front climbed up a little then we stopped moving. I reversed a little to try again. I think I moved maybe 2ft when the truck stopped moving either way at all in the deepest part of the hole. I didn't really get all that worried because the truck wasn't waterlocked, then I looked out the window and noticed just how deep the water actually was and kinda knew then I was screwed... I had my wife climb out the passinger window and get on dry land while I sat in the passenger seat and tried in vain to reach someone on the CB... I didn't think the cell phones had a signal, but they did. After about 4-5 rounds thru the CB channels with nuthin but Mexican truckers speaking spanish I decided it wasn't gonna happen. So I decided to call Denny at the front gate to see if he could send someone my way to pull me out. I searched the now flooding truck for the # with no luck. At this point I called Chris (OnlyOneDR) to see if he had the # or could get it online. He didn't have it and couldn't get online so I called my cousin to see if he was around a computer... After a bunch of B/S with him I got the # and pretty much taught my cousin how to enter an internet address on a computer. So I got Denny on the phone and he said he'd come out with a 4x4 to get me. About an hour later I figured he was lost or something and called back. By this time the door locks were going nuts locking and unlocking so fast it sounded like distant machine gun fire. Well, Denny had been looking in the wrong area. I gave him a few landmarks and he showed up about 15 mins later on a 4wheeler with BAD news... The 4x4 that was coming to get me out was nosed into a bad mudhole and needed someone to pull him out also. So Denny goes and gets the 2wd John Deere tractor and snatches on the pathy for about 45mins gaining about a 1/2in on each pull, but mainly he was just digging holes. I just happened to look back and saw 2 jeeps with winches and headed over to ask if they could take over. They both crawled by me without a problem and the first guy hooked up and pulled with BOTH lockers engaged and couldn't move the pathy. So they hooked up to each other end to end and both pulled me out easy... Denny pulled me back up front with the tractor while the jeeps went to pull out the guy who was comming to pull me out. About halfway to the front the horn goes nuts and scares the (I am a dork for trying to use profanity here) outa Denny. It blasted for about 30second strait then just stopped. I was holding my hands up to show him it wasn't me blowing the horn... When I got back up front I decided to give it another chance to start up. It turned over w/out cranking up and about 10gallons of water/mud came out of the tailpipe. If I had it all to do again I first of all wouldn't go thru that hole again, but if I did I would've popped the hood and disconnected the battery as soon as the water started coming in. The pathy had mud all in the floorboards and the only things that didn't get wet where: Amp, Subwoofer, CD player, CB, everything in the glovebox. I took the passinger seat out and took out the ECU. It had mud on the board when I took it apart. I took it in the restroom and washed off the mud then let it air dry for about 5hrs. When I put it back in and tried to start it nothing happened. It wouldn't even turn over now, but the runnin lights were on even tho the switch was off. Rolling Eyes It sat at an angle where we parked it and it dripped water for the rest of the day and the next morning it was still leaking water from the soaked floors. Denny and his wife are the nicest people I've met in a long time. They cooked up some burgers and wouldn't let me pay, then they offered to let us stay in the tipi for free. "normaly$30" Then they insisted we go have some fun by taking their 4wheeler riding around for as long as we wanted... They also let us use there truck to run to town to get gas, food and a change of clothes. As we where leaving Denny told us to call ahead before we come out again so he can have us stay in the tipi free if we want to. I got a real good look at the park while riding around on the 4wheeler, and I must say it's alot bigger than it seems. It's also got some mudholes in there that I wouldn't run a tank thru. One creek crossing is said to be impassable w/out winching thru it. One good thing is that almost all the bad mudholes have a way to bypass even tho most bypasses are about 4wheeler size. Thank's again to Chris for going out of his way to help us out of a jamb. Edited April 26, 2005 by TrailChaser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jj big shoe Posted April 25, 2005 Share Posted April 25, 2005 Geez, man...I would've called it a day once the tree fell on my truck. Looks like you got to know some good folks and with a little this&that the Pathy will be ok, so I guess it wasn't that bad after all. Do you think you need a new ECU? I could check the local yards for you if needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airrun2002 Posted April 25, 2005 Share Posted April 25, 2005 Did that tree really fall on the pathy? That is insane that it just fell right as you were driving by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88pathoffroad Posted April 25, 2005 Share Posted April 25, 2005 Ohhh boy. That's not good. #1, never attempt to try starting a waterlogged engine. You might have bent a rod by trying to crank it over with the cylinders full of water. Pull the spark plugs and THEN crank it over. Wash the cylinders out with clean water. Crank again. Drain the oil completely and change the filter. Spray off your radiator from the outside as well. #2, you'll need a new ECU and probably a door lock timer, ASCD unit, remote unlocking/security unit and tranny computer, if they got wet. Ouch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrailChaser Posted April 25, 2005 Author Share Posted April 25, 2005 That tree didn't fall on the pathy. It was just a good camera angle with the way I parked it. I was a little nervous that it might actually fall the rest of the way while I was parked there. It was being held up by another tree at the top so it didn't look very stable. I never actually waterlocked the engine. I know it asperated a little water but I don't think it got a good drink in the intake. I'm pretty sure the main damage is from the ECU and other electronics... It was turning over w/out a problem it just wouldn't start before I cleaned the ECU out. The 10 gallons of mud/water from the tailpipe was just there because I sat in that hole for a total of 2 1/2-3hrs. I'll probly be looking in to getting a different 95 soon and just swaping my parts off. I'll just have to check around and see what some prices are for 95's in this area. I'm thinking it'll probly be around $5,000 for a good used one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC88Pathy Posted April 25, 2005 Share Posted April 25, 2005 Poor little pathy! :sniff: It's too bad that your truck got f****ed up hopefully you will be able to fix it. I guess the lesson to be learned is to always check how deep it is before you jump in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harbinger Posted April 25, 2005 Share Posted April 25, 2005 F***ing Harsh Man! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Pickles Posted April 26, 2005 Share Posted April 26, 2005 D'oh! Major ouch man! Sorry to hear that. Hope it works out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Posted April 26, 2005 Share Posted April 26, 2005 Ewwwwwwwwww...you poor thing..and your poor Pathy!!!!!!! Glad you got home ok with some great help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrailChaser Posted April 26, 2005 Author Share Posted April 26, 2005 Thanks for all the kind words. I got the other pics developed and here's the link. That was a hellova day. I luv this pic. Looks like it just sunk in quicksand or something. :o Break out the ol john deere tractor. :idea: Can you believe that much mud can come from water just standing in the truck. I never opened the door so there was never water running in the truck. It took about 30mins to fill up to the point where it was level with the rest of the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowOSU Posted April 26, 2005 Share Posted April 26, 2005 Looks like we nuked your geocities bandwidth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrailChaser Posted April 26, 2005 Author Share Posted April 26, 2005 (edited) Ya, you may just have to try back in a few minutes... It's been doing that every since I added that 3rd page. Those are mostly small file sizes, so I don't know what's goin on with that??? :contract: If you can see the 3 pics above, it'll probly work. Edited April 26, 2005 by TrailChaser Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC88Pathy Posted April 26, 2005 Share Posted April 26, 2005 It's just geocities. It's free so you can't complain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrailChaser Posted April 26, 2005 Author Share Posted April 26, 2005 This was posted by me in the TNT forums but I figured ya'll might want to see what I had to say about the park... Copy/pasted: The MAIN problem out there is that the mud doesn't have a bottom. So the guys with the broncos and super jeeps and suburbans with 44's and bigger run around out there and make insane holes that even they can't make it thru.(check out the scout pics Rolling Eyes ) If that were my park or IF I had some kinda sayso out there I'd first put up some regularly updated signs about innocent looking stuff... If there had been a sign there that said DEEP WATER, I woulda never tried to run thru that hole. But it looked soooo shallow without any visible big/deep ruts that would normally throw up a flag to think about how bad it might be under the murky water. I'm not really laying blame. I knew what COULD happen when I left the house. I just had no idea I'd end up in water that deep. I figured "worse case" I'd get stuck in some sticky stinky nasty mud and get all dirty trying to hook up my HI-Lift to a tree, and maybe someone wold come along and pull me out... But darn. Second thing I'd do is bulldoze the hell out of those impassable spots that give eveyone the most trouble. I realize that some people wouldn't really like that. (that would be the 44+clubs) Denny told me that most of his business right now is ATV's, and that they are really wanting him to limit or ban the BIG 4x4's because they are making the trails so bad that they are the only ones who can run'em w/out a major problem. Third, I'd ban beer on the trails... I wish I had a trash bag when I was riding the 4wheeler around I coulda darn near made my money back recycling BUD LIGHT cans... They currently do not say anything about drinking and 4wheelin... Rolling Eyes I see how they are new to this and probly don't want to discurage the party crowd from coming, but somebody's gonna get killed out there as a direct result of beer... Mark my words on that... I bet I heard 8-10 horror stories about some guy riding his 4wheeler and having some drunk just about run'em down because they're running 40+mph and top a hill and can't stop fast enough so the guy on the 4wheeler has to pretty much run off the road to avoid an accident. Last I'd make a few campsites out in the park. Currently you have to camp right up front unless you bring a weedeater, a machet, and the will to clear some land. I think I may look into getting a 4wheeler for places like that. I'll save the pathy for places like Barnwell Mt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 Hey Trailchaser, here's a trick I figured out a while back... Go buy a CHEAP 6-8' telescoping fishing rod and throw it in the back. Use it to probe mud holes... No, it doesn't always work; you cant reach or check it out well, but all it has to do is save ya once or twice... I would have tried that on your hole as I've seen many trucks stuck in 30' puddles (darn near me once). I just hate getting stuck and have been known to scope out ahead on foot, rod in hand... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC88Pathy Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 Hey Trailchaser, here's a trick I figured out a while back... Go buy a CHEAP 6-8' telescoping fishing rod and throw it in the back. Use it to probe mud holes... A much cheaper idea is to go find yourself a straight stick, mark off the deepest you think your truck can go, and use that to measure how deep a hole is. You could even add marks for the bottom of your door, the bottom of your intake, etc. :idea: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 LOL, I guess thats an option, but sounds like you'd be standing in the water hole waist deep, probing around, trying to get a good reading... Sound off when you hit mark twain... What I was describing just helps you feel if something is 1 or 3 feet deep, has huge ruts, etc... The nice thing about a cheap rod is that you always have it, it is compact and light, and costs about $10.... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jj big shoe Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 Just mount a couple of those emergency life rafts along the frame rails. That way when you find yourself in deep water, you could tug the cords and before you can say "chitty-chitty bang-bang"... *pffffft* you're high and dry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9sar Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 I always believed that velocity was the solution. With sufficient skid plates, you should just skip across, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrailChaser Posted April 27, 2005 Author Share Posted April 27, 2005 Actually, you're probly right. If I woulda hit the gas as soon as the front dropped in I may have made it out/up the other side. I let off for fear of hydrolocking the engine. Hindsight's 20/20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC88Pathy Posted April 27, 2005 Share Posted April 27, 2005 Or get one of those kits that they made for old WWII jeeps that turned the jeep into a canoe. I'm sure one could be modified to fit a Pathfinder, then you could cross any body of water, heck you could even pop the glass in the back and mount an outboard motor! Then you could go *anywhere*! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrailChaser Posted April 27, 2005 Author Share Posted April 27, 2005 I've seen those on the history channel. It looked like it was just a big canvas tarp they drive onto and then pull up the sides so it'll float. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrailChaser Posted April 27, 2005 Author Share Posted April 27, 2005 Wooo Hooo, 300 posts :cool2: :o -alcohol- -bounce- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepRescueService14 Posted April 29, 2005 Share Posted April 29, 2005 well if theres ANY parts you need to get her running i have em.. if manual trans stuff will work.. ECM might be different.. i dunno.. but hey i rolled my 95 and it runs.. its getting parted out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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