SGU Turkey Run 2018

Casualties or not should not stop people from wheeling. It's all part of wheeling. We are here to help each other and make sure everyone gets out safely.

Speaking of, thanks to everyone who stepped in when I got a flat! That was some real team work guys

 

Wow sounds eventful haha. Hopefully it’s just ur camtab. Time for gussets

 

Exactly

 

Part 2 is uploaded now. It's a bit long and all from a GoPro mounted to my dash

 

Dang Dan... How did that happen? Did it twist a bit and hit your leaf springs?

 

No, I removed the tire after I noticed it bent the bar so badly.

 

It didn’t look like the shock twisted.

 

Well I like meeting new guys. But this trip is definitely not for n00bs. I pulled my damn steering rack out of the crossmember. If it wasn't for Dave and Matt and Jimmy and I putting our heads together, that would have been one expensive extraction

 

I was supervising

 

haha yeah you were

 

Sounds like it wasn't properly secured?

 

Please tell me someone has video of this famous cart wheeling RTT LOL

 

Sorry, no video and no plans for a sequel. I just don't rate like you.

 

Ummmmm... can we get an update on the Land Rover? Curiosity is killing me.

 

I’ll let Alex explain in detail what happened, but I’m not sure what you mean by securing the steering rack. His crossmember had a weld fail.

 

Damn, takes a lot of stress to do that. Need to hear how they fixed it.

 

I have been feeling something causing resistance in my steering for the last few trips. Usually when turning right I feel something at the 2 o'clock position. I could barely feel it so I was ignoring it, but it was getting slightly worse over time. When I was rotating tires prior to the Turkey Run, I found my tie rod had play in it. I thought for sure that was the cause. So two days before the run @papasmurf and I swapped the tie rod. But that didn't fix the problem. So we spent some time actually looking for the problem. We found that the steering rack bushings are shot and the rack is moving side to side whenever I turn the steering. When I turn right, the steering rack shoves left, which pushes the steering column into the shock hoop and I was feeling the bolt that holds the column together barely making contact with the shock hoop.

So the answer was my bushings were shot and I needed to replace them. I have some poly bushings in my garage but its a big job so I had been putting it off. I figured I was ok to do the Turkey Run since it steered fine, just a little play in the rack. We filed a little off the bolt clamp on the column so it was barely making contact. I couldn't even feel it anymore.

Anyways, that was a big mistake. We did something like 200 or 300 hundred hard desert miles and at the end of day 3, right when we found camp, I made a u turn on some rocks and I felt something pop and give in the steering. Turns out that the bolt sleeve that is welded through the frame cross member had pulled out of the cross member. The upper and lower welds failed and the bolt itself pulled up through the cross member. So every time I tried to turn left, the tie rod pushed the left side of the rack up and pulled the bolt through the hole in the cross member. I guess too much play in the rack was putting too much stress and vibrations on the welds and they gave out.

We found a larger washer, pulled the bolt out, and used the larger washer under the cross member to hold the bolt. we were able to put a good torque on the bolt and everything felt solid. I didn't feel comfortable finishing the trip so I cut my loses and drove home. I made it 300 miles home with no issue. Now I'll have to pull the rack, replace the bushings, and weld the bolt sleeve back into the cross member.

Sorry not sorry for the long explanation LOL

Landy took several hours to get out of the canyon. They went to Furnace creek to try and find tires but they struck out so they called it and went home. Total loss = 4 tires

 

Wow, fortunately it didn't pop at high speed. How many miles were on the bushings?

 

I doubt it would have popped at high speed. Less stress on the bolts

66k miles; mostly hard off road

 

I made it out driving on the fire roads out. After popping the 4th tire, it was pretty much over and driving like a B*tch. I tried to get a spare and meet up with you guys at the Thanksgiving spot, but there's nothing in 19s and had to call it.

 

Isn't the rear resi welded to the shock body? Or do you just have standard rear shocks and not bypass style. I was thinking Bypass (what I have) where it is hard mounted to the shock.

Regardless, Any clue how it happened?

 

It’s the Triple Bypass shock with a piggy back resi. Wasn’t welded on and is held on with a metal clamp on top. Not sure how it attaches to the shock body. Maybe it screws on?

ADS RMA’ed the shock and ADS should get it today. Will see what they have to say. I’m not 100% sure how it happened but the resi is gone somewhere in Death Valley.

 

Dang dude... Glad to hear that they are at least considering covering this under warranty.