Last night, I decided to do a little wheeling with some friends. It had been raining for two days, so it was the prime time to go. I was in my Explorer and the other vehicle was a '94 Jeep Grand Cherokee, driven by my friend John. To make it even worse, the Jeep is stock and AWD.
All was fun to start with. We ran through a couple mud holes and made a mess. He stuck to the small hole, and I went in the bigger hole since I had bigger tires and didn't want to rut the hole he was in too deep.
That got old after a while, so he decides we should try to climb this huge, off camber hill made of slick mud. I had absolutely no intention of climbing the hill, but he just had to do it anyways. After a lot of slipping and sliding, he somehow got his Jeep up the hill. Everybody then starts talking crap to me and trying to get me to do it. I kept saying no, that my Explorer was way too top heavy with the lift, and couldn't handle that much lean. Some how or another ( and trying to impress the girls ), they talked me into giving it a shot. BIG MISTAKE.
I started up the hill quite well, having no trouble at all where the Jeep was sliding and kept getting stuck to start with. At the top of the hill, where two huge holes and the off camber bank are located, things went bad. I made it around the first large hole and was trying to squeeze by the next one without going up the bank too much and having the truck lean too bad. As I was rounding the hole, my rear end slipped to the right and I started to slide backwards. (very bad, to my right was a big drop off) In a quick, desperate attempt to stop from going over the edge, I turned so that my left front end would drop into the large hole, stopping me from sliding.
The event scared the crap out of me and my passengers, so one of the guys on the passenger side decides he's gonna jump out, even after I said not to do it. He jumps out, letting 200+ lbs off the right side of my truck, then slams the door. The shift of the weight and the slamming of the door tips my truck over VERY far into the hole. So much that both of my right side tires were off the ground, the front about 2' and the rear about 6". I couldn't even get out to look because I couldn't open my door the ground was so close. (I could reach out the window and touch the dirt.) Now everybody is really freaking out.
Scared as crap, I start trying to coordinate what do to get me unstuck over the CB. Problem is, everybody's too afraid to come help except for John. He comes up the hill and I get him to explain what is happening so that I can think of what to do. After a lot of thinking, we decided that the only way was for him to sit on my hood and fender to push the front end down enough to keep me from tipping over. He climbs up on the fender and it levels me out a little, but not enough to get the wheels on the ground. (he weighs around 270, big guy) No one else is willing to help, even though all we need is a little more weight. One guy standing around thinks that if I slide back far enough to get my left rear out of the first hole, my right rear will be back on the ground again. The thing is though, if I do that and John isn't heavy enough to counter balance the lean, it's a gaurantee that the truck is gonna fall over on its side.
After a lot of talking ourselves up to having the balls to give it a shot, we go for it. As I slide back, the truck starts to lean over even farther. We're all thinking it's gonna tip over, and I can't stop because the mud is too slick. Just as I'm about to crap my pants, I feel the rear end come up out of the hole! I keep sliding and the front goes out of the second hole, then back through the first, but I can't stop and the Jeep is only about 15' below me, directly in my path! I was sliding slowly, so John jumps off and runs to his Jeep to move it.
He gets in his Jeep, cranks it up, gives it gas, and he's stuck!! I'm sliding straight at him and he's on the CB saying he can't get out of my way! I look in my mirrors trying to find a way to stop and see a rut just to my left. I turn at the rut, slide into it, and slide right next to his Jeep, missing it only by about 6"!
All that scared the crap out of us so much that we decided to call it a night. We got the Jeep unstuck and headed home. I mentioned quite a few times how pissed off I was that nobody else would help add weight to the front end, and that they would be wasting their time if they were to ask me for anything in the future.
Needless to say, I don't think I'll be wheeling anytime soon, especially if I've been drinking anything. There were enough scares in that one night to last me for quite a while.
Oh yeah, no pics. It was too dark.
All was fun to start with. We ran through a couple mud holes and made a mess. He stuck to the small hole, and I went in the bigger hole since I had bigger tires and didn't want to rut the hole he was in too deep.
That got old after a while, so he decides we should try to climb this huge, off camber hill made of slick mud. I had absolutely no intention of climbing the hill, but he just had to do it anyways. After a lot of slipping and sliding, he somehow got his Jeep up the hill. Everybody then starts talking crap to me and trying to get me to do it. I kept saying no, that my Explorer was way too top heavy with the lift, and couldn't handle that much lean. Some how or another ( and trying to impress the girls ), they talked me into giving it a shot. BIG MISTAKE.
I started up the hill quite well, having no trouble at all where the Jeep was sliding and kept getting stuck to start with. At the top of the hill, where two huge holes and the off camber bank are located, things went bad. I made it around the first large hole and was trying to squeeze by the next one without going up the bank too much and having the truck lean too bad. As I was rounding the hole, my rear end slipped to the right and I started to slide backwards. (very bad, to my right was a big drop off) In a quick, desperate attempt to stop from going over the edge, I turned so that my left front end would drop into the large hole, stopping me from sliding.
The event scared the crap out of me and my passengers, so one of the guys on the passenger side decides he's gonna jump out, even after I said not to do it. He jumps out, letting 200+ lbs off the right side of my truck, then slams the door. The shift of the weight and the slamming of the door tips my truck over VERY far into the hole. So much that both of my right side tires were off the ground, the front about 2' and the rear about 6". I couldn't even get out to look because I couldn't open my door the ground was so close. (I could reach out the window and touch the dirt.) Now everybody is really freaking out.
Scared as crap, I start trying to coordinate what do to get me unstuck over the CB. Problem is, everybody's too afraid to come help except for John. He comes up the hill and I get him to explain what is happening so that I can think of what to do. After a lot of thinking, we decided that the only way was for him to sit on my hood and fender to push the front end down enough to keep me from tipping over. He climbs up on the fender and it levels me out a little, but not enough to get the wheels on the ground. (he weighs around 270, big guy) No one else is willing to help, even though all we need is a little more weight. One guy standing around thinks that if I slide back far enough to get my left rear out of the first hole, my right rear will be back on the ground again. The thing is though, if I do that and John isn't heavy enough to counter balance the lean, it's a gaurantee that the truck is gonna fall over on its side.
After a lot of talking ourselves up to having the balls to give it a shot, we go for it. As I slide back, the truck starts to lean over even farther. We're all thinking it's gonna tip over, and I can't stop because the mud is too slick. Just as I'm about to crap my pants, I feel the rear end come up out of the hole! I keep sliding and the front goes out of the second hole, then back through the first, but I can't stop and the Jeep is only about 15' below me, directly in my path! I was sliding slowly, so John jumps off and runs to his Jeep to move it.
He gets in his Jeep, cranks it up, gives it gas, and he's stuck!! I'm sliding straight at him and he's on the CB saying he can't get out of my way! I look in my mirrors trying to find a way to stop and see a rut just to my left. I turn at the rut, slide into it, and slide right next to his Jeep, missing it only by about 6"!
All that scared the crap out of us so much that we decided to call it a night. We got the Jeep unstuck and headed home. I mentioned quite a few times how pissed off I was that nobody else would help add weight to the front end, and that they would be wasting their time if they were to ask me for anything in the future.
Needless to say, I don't think I'll be wheeling anytime soon, especially if I've been drinking anything. There were enough scares in that one night to last me for quite a while.
Oh yeah, no pics. It was too dark.