Completed another trip, this time to Death Valley.
This time we actually checked out a couple of new trails. One was the infamous Surprise canyon, which is now closed to vehicles. It's pretty impressive that trucks were actually able to make it.
check it out...
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Check out some pics...
http://www.deckowski.com/
why did you bend your tie rod? Have never seen that on a G before. Time to do my class and it will never happen again.
Hey...I'm signed up for that August class remember? [:)]
It's really strange...there was some play in it before, and I can't be sure if it was slightly bent before hand. All I did was a u-turn on a dirt road that happened to have some ruts. No rocks?!?! Luckily I was still able to drive it home.
4x4abc - 4/13/2004 1:23 AM
Time to do my class and it will never happen again.
Nonsence. Unless your class is about strengthening the tie rod...
Slip another tube over the loger part of the tie rod and then it can last a little longer. The only real cure is to carry a spare.
G's do have relatively strong rods, so having that happen without help from rocks suggests to me that someone has bent that before and straightened the rod.
You wrote:
"Nonsence. Unless your class is about strengthening the tie rod... "
Well, my class is about strengthening the mind of the driver. And I have been very successful for 20 years to get that message accross.
A tie rod does not bend by itself - the driver bends it.
I hear it out on the trail everyday: "You can't do anything about it - 4x4's break. There is no way around it!"
If we would have accepted that we can't change things - we would still live in caves.
Of course you can strengthen 4x4 components - but a well trained driver is much more valuable. He knows about strenght and weakness of the stuff he is working with. He'll make anything survive.
The untrained driver keeps on abusing his strengthened parts until he breaks them. Stronger parts only break later than stock parts.
Tom Deckowski - 4/13/2004 1:15 AM
...I can barely imagine driving it in the daytime....
To the best of my knowledge no human has ever "driven" a 4wd vewhicle through that particular "surprise canyon" stretch. Dragged vehicles, yes. Lowered vehicle-shaped cargo on winch lines, also yes. But driven? That I WOULD like to see. [:)]
Personally, I think that particular area is better off without the vehicles. It's an incredibly beautiful and special place. Getting better again a little bit at a time now that it's allowed to take it's own course.
It was not possible to drive the tough sections of Surprise Canyon - and it was not possible to simply winch them up (due to pull angles etc.).
So, in fact it was always a combination of driving and winching.
Some drivers actually were able to drive most of it without winch help (I have seen it with my own eyes). And I know of one who "drove" down (controlled fall) without any winch assistance.
Since Surprise Canyon was a public roadway for the longest time (it serviced the upstream town Panamint City with several thousand inhabitants) until it was washed away in a flash flood it was no different than the Rubicon Trail.
Every sport has its extreme challenges and folks who love those challenges. Pushing the limits is human and I don't see anything wrong with it. No harm to Mother Nature either - rubber tires do not hurt granite.
That the area is protected wilderness now finds my support as well as there is no need for extreme challenges. However, it was a perfect training ground for "impossible" military operations.
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