The Jeep That Saved the Day
And our lives
By Del & Stacie Albright
The trucker behind us on I-80 near Truckee, CA, said he figured we were goners when the Jeep made the FIRST 360 at 55 MPH on the freeway with the Jeep trailer coming disconnected yet upright, held only by the safety chain. Then, when he saw me steer out of that for the SECOND spin with the trailer headed sideways and still flopping on the chain, he knew we were going to be statistics. Yet we survived it; no one got hurt, and after a few repairs, we drove home the Jeep with the trailer. It's a story worth telling.
"Red," the Jeep stayed upright, and we must
have had the luck of the Big Four-Wheeler in the sky watching out for my
driving. I'm still celebrating life even more today. But this story is also
about the right gear, the right buildup on your rig, the right training, and
the family we call four-wheelers, or better yet, off-road recreationists.
Stacie and I were returning from Sierra Trek by CA4WDC in
freeway traffic on I-80 when we thought the trailer ball bolt sheared off and
let the trailer fly loose from our Jeep at freeway speed with a semi-truck
behind us. Thankfully, the trucker was not tail-gating!
Stacie happened to notice the ball bouncing harmlessly
off the freeway into the dirt lane right before I felt the trailer coming
around to visit me in my driver's window. All hell broke loose after that.
The stink of rubber burning whiffed by my nose as the
sound of metal crunching and banging together filled my ears. We could faintly
hear brakes behind and alongside us locking up, but instantly, the world
started to rotate the wrong way, and the only thing I could say was, "Hang
on."
Stacie grabbed the passenger bar and leaned towards the
middle as my hands bore down hard on the steering wheel, anticipating the drift
and slip of the front tires as the Jeep got tossed by the weight of the
speeding trailer. I've been through skid pan and safety clinic-type off-road
training, so I knew to stay with it, turn into the skid, and use the brakes
carefully so as not to slam the trailer into the Jeep too hard, thus canceling
my steering efforts.
Turning the Jeep in a drift towards the far right lane
and dirt ditches alongside the freeway was my mission. Red was as stable as I
could ever imagine, and I could feel the steering respond the way it should.
But the weight of the flinging trailer and our freeway speed put us into the
first 360 spins on the pavement. Then we skidded into the dirt and began our
second spin as gravel and dirt flung up from the BFGs, filling the cab with a
dust ball that nearly stifled our breathing. Losing visibility, I had to rely
on feel and instinct to make the last couple of turns, fighting the skid and
still turning into the drift, trying to keep Red upright, rubber side down. It
worked!
Thank goodness the Jeep is built right! The MFS custom
steering and PSC hydraulic assist is one-ton stuff with CTM U-joints and BFG
KM2s clinging to the pavement. The Jeep's suspension is Rubicon Express long
arm heavy-duty stuff with RE shocks as well. Hanson bumpers provided a lot of
rear-end strength in spite of the trailer dragging by the safety chain. And I'm
convinced the Raceline Monster Beadlocks kept us from popping a tire off the
bead during the pavement-burning spin.
The Altop family of wheelers (Gerald Sr. and Jr. and Ron)
was coming down the highway, returning from Trek, and immediately pulled over
to help get the trailer upright. They just happened to have a spare tow bar and
proceeded to strip off my hitch-bent parts and replace them with their stuff.
They even had a spare ball hitch, but it was too small, so we broke out the Premier
Power Welder, and they put a blob of weld inside the hitch to make it fit, and
viola, we were on our way within about 45 minutes.
The Altops (who are members of the Sacramento Jeepers of
the Calif. Assoc. Of 4Wheel Drive Clubs) even took the time to pull over with
us at the next freeway exit to check if everything was working okay with the "trail
fix" that they did. I gotta say that the off-road community is really a
great network of people who go over and beyond the call of duty to help a
friend or acquaintance in need. Thanks again to all who stopped to help and
make sure that we were okay.
Here are the lessons that were ingrained in my brain from
this event. I don't pass these along lightly.
Maintenance and
Checking Your Gear: Although I had
tightened everything with a pipe wrench after coming off the dirt, that didn't
prevent an old, worn bolt from shearing off. I
recommend you always double-check gear and anything that can kill you, like
trailers, brakes, tires, and steering parts. Did you know that trailer balls
have torque specifications? Check this out: http://www.hitchinfo.com/index.cfm?event=faq&topic=223&question=1752.
Training and
Driving Skills: I've taken my fair share of driving training, including
skid pan driving, as well as off-road Safety Clinics. I can recommend that you
consider something like Badlands Off-Road Adventures and 4WD training (http://www.4x4training.com/) and the
safety clinics put on by state associations like the California Association of
4Wheel Drive Clubs (http://www.cal4wheel.com).
Off-Road Family: Never take it
for granted how special off-roaders are to each other. We are a family, and I've
seen it over and over. This episode was a clear reminder of a lot of things and
made a person think about things like luck, life, and, yeah, divine assistance,
as there were a lot of variables in this incident that could have changed a lot
of lives. The tow ball bounced down the freeway, harmlessly landing off to the
side rather than becoming a hand grenade through someone's windshield; the
trailer could have busted out into traffic; the Jeep could have flipped, rolled,
and bounced several times, and the trucker could have slammed into us sideways
after we quit spinning; etc.
But none of that happened. Whew... so cheers everyone!
Here's to another day of being a part of the off-road family.
##
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DEL'S BOOKS (LAND USE, WILDFIRE, DEATH VALLEY, COWBOY POETRY, AND MORE)
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