NADA trip and MOMO roll over thread

[Linus Tremaine]

All,
here it is! The thread where mo can tell you about his roll over.

We made a trip to mendocino national forrest. It was a good turn out but our campsite was clogged up with knuckle dragging troglodites! They were shooting guns in camp and making a mess.

The trails were fun!

Here are some pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/poozleyloot/sets/72157604795545616/

http://s7.photobucket.com/albums/y296/RPGreg2600/mendo%2008/

http://s149.photobucket.com/albums/s70/Woodslug/Mendo%202008/

[Momo]

Yeah, it sucked. It came down to two seconds of complacency following an hour of intense focus on the trail.

I had led 12 trucks down a trail called Big Sullivan, which follows a ridge about 2.5- 3 miles. The trail is stepped, with few climbing sections, mainly steps downhill. Up to 35 degrees at some points. First gear low, keep it straight, then brake at the bottom and crawl over the next water bar and repeat.

It was hairy but the main thing was to stay calm and keep it pointed down with your foot off the brake, letting the engine do the work.

Anyway, I was at the very end, and rounded a switchback which leads into a gentle left hand curve. To my left the brush was grown over the trail, and since I had my top off and windshield down, I took it to the right to keep from getting a branch in the face/steering wheel. I was going in a little too fast, and the trail surface fell off slightly under my left wheels. I didn't really notice that to the right was a hump in the road. Partly due to my spare on the bonnet. The truck pitched just right and my wheel was already turned into the hump. I couldn't react fast enough. She just rolled over slow.

I was unscathed. I unclipped my belt and crawled out. All my gear- 4 jerry cans of fuel, two of water, and a bunch of plastic bins and ammo cans and cooler dumped out. That was a good thing because it took weight out and may have kept it from rolling completely over. Fuel was leaking- probably from the filler hose . I reached in and turned off the key and CB radio, climbed over the truck and walked up to the next truck to tell him the news.

We got my friend Phil to spot his monster Volvo 303 on the trail above and Linus bounded thru the brush with a winch cable. Then we all pushed on the front and rear ends of the truck as Phil winched and she rolled back on her wheels.

I rolled it to the main road (50 feet!) and we pulled the plugs, cranked it over to blow out the oil, then topped off the lost oil and used starter fluid to get it running. Took about 20 times before it started and cleared all the oil. She smoked for about ten minutes until the manifold and exhaust pipe were cleared of raw oil. Drove back up to camp and started working on the damage.

My bulkhead corner right at the windscreen hinge tab took the most force, so it is tweaked down a bit. The windscreen tabs are both bent to the right. We heated and hammered the tabs close to the original angle and got the windscreen on, then put my truck cab back on. The LH doortop won't fit because of the angle of the bulkhead corner- it's raked back a bit.

I am thinking of how I'll repair it. My plan is to remove my vent panel, screen, and windscreen bracket, grind the paint off the area, and torch heat it. Then take a piece of old firehose with some rescue webbing passed thru it, using a tie called a lark's foot. (The firehose is there to keep the webbing free from heat damage.) Then loop it thru the vent hole and around the A pillar.

The lark's foot will go into a shackle. The shackle will connect to a come-along strapped to a palm tree in my yard. Then I will tension the come-along and see if it can pull the angle back. If not then I'll repeat the heating and tensioning and whack the other side with a sledge and wooden drift. It may take that sudden force to bend back due to the thickness of the steel.

Not really having done any bodywork in the past beyond a bit of fender straightening, I may be totally off base on this plan. I'll post pics of the damage tonight if possible and anyone who has a better idea is welcome to chime in.

[Bostonian1976]

man that sucks - that's a sweet truck you have. I guess that's the good thing about Rovers though - you'll have it back to 'good' relatively easily.....

[KingSlug]

Mo,

Drop me an email. I have a outer fender skin for you and maybe a windscreen, but unfortunately I dumped a really good LHS fender last week.

Jared

PS: Its really cool to see the Sals I sold you.

[greenmeanie]

Well that sucked - I have learned the painful way on my DH bike that it I always have my worst crashes on the easy section when I think I'm safe. At least you came away without a scratch which is fortunate.

I did some pretty similar damage to the bulkhead when I rolled my 88 onto it's side although those protruding IIA hinges seemed to do more damage to my door post. I tried jacking the bulkhead straight and I even gave it a little tug with my 101 winch but ultimately I ended up having to cut that top corner and the door post off and weld in repair panels for a neat fix.

Of course, having done that some idiot in a Dodge pickup thumped her up the back end on the driver's side so now I have to get in there, straighten out the rear tub and then make everything line up again. On the plus side it did take out every panel on the front of his truck so he wasn't going anywhere for a while.

Cheers
Gregor

[Momo]

Here's pics of the carnage:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26154882@N02/

[Bertha]

Momo what brand and size tires are you running, they look really nice on your truck?

[Momo]

Thanks Bertha- they're Firestone Steeltex ATs, 235/85R16. They've been great tires, & even with the mild AT tread have done well in varied situations.

I think I'll go BFG MTs next

[Momo]

untweaking the tweaked bulkhead

Well today I went to a friend's house and we took off the truck cab and windscreen, then put a shackle thru the hinge tab and chained it around an oak tree. I backed up very gingerly in low gear and pulled the bulkhead corner back out. Then I kept the tension on the chain and just rocked the truck back for fine tuning. It's only about 1/16th off where it should be now and the door top windscreen and cab fit fine.

Also did a little metal work to take out some minor kinks and ripples. Not bad!