Ok, heres my story....
One day (about a year ago) I had the urge to go wheel in the middle of the week and none of my wheelin buddies could go because they had to work so I called a friend (who didnt have a rig) to go along for an early afternoon run.
We got there and unloaded in the lower lot and proceded straight to Stair Step. Got over that easily and headed towards Poop Chute and found that the large rock that was sticking out of the left side at the top had dislodged and was sitting right in the middle after the drop off. Didnt look safe so we turned around and headed back to the "Y" and was going to go around to Sac Up when all of a sudden, I decided to go down Stair Step as I had never done that before. Got down towards the bottom of the upper section (where that big rock is that alot of ppl catch on the right side when going up) and all was good until the right front started going up the big slab. I felt the right rear pick and immediately felt uneasy about continuing. Last thing I wanted was to flop it against the big rock on the left or worse, roll down the hill without anyone there to help me so I decided it wasnt worth the risk. As I started to reverse out of the predicament I was in, I heard a loud pop and all of a sudden I wasnt going backwards anymore.....instead I started rolling back down towards the bottom and the right front started up the slab and we were about to pick the right rear again. Thats when I hit the brakes and let the rig settle at the bottom. Once I felt it wasnt going anywhere, we jumped out of the rig to assess the situation.
We couldnt find anything that broke and caused the loud pop and so I determined whatever broke was internal and it didnt look good. I jumped back in the rig and ran the shifters thru the gears, first the tranny, then the crawl box and finally the t-case. I started it up and tried to reverse it again but still nothing (was like it was in neutral). We were fooked....out there in the afternoon, in the middle of the week all alone with no other wheelers in sight so I called a buddy who was just getting off of work to see if he could come out and help me. Mind you, he works in Everett and lives in Marysville so we were going to have to wait a while before he got there. About an hour and a half later, I get a call from him telling me that he was on his way but he suggested I try something while we were waiting. So I jump back into the rig and guess what? It doesnt start. Because of the fuel cell that I run is a drag race style with a rear sump, and because we were sitting at a pretty steep downhill decline, the pickup wasnt getting any fuel so I immediately call my buddy who was already on his way to bring some gas with him. Fortunately he had a 5 gal gas can in his truck and so he stopped to fill it up.
By the time he rolled up stair step to where we were stuck, it was starting to get dark. We quickly assessed the situation and topped off my fuel. We then hooked up his winch line up above us to the right and around a tree (yes we used the proper treesaver/snatch block setup) and back down to my roll cage to keep me from floppin and I ran my winch line to the front of his truck. I started pulling in my line as he kept his line tight and was able to crawl up and over safely.
Once on flat ground, I decided to try running thru the gears again just to see if we could figure out what broke. To my surprise, the rig would go in foward but not reverse and only without the crawl box in low which told me something let loose in the crawl box. I was then able to drive back down the the lower lot and right onto my trailer.
The next day I pulled the dual cases out and took the crawl box apart. To my amazement, the lower gear had stripped out and the reason it did was because the smaller thin roller bearing on the rear of the lower shaft wasnt there!!! Thats right, whoever put this thing together 7 years ago never bothered to take that bearing out of the donor t-case and put it in the dualcase adaptor.
I was impressed that it stayed together for so long without that bearing, but if you think about it, when going forward, that lower gear wants to move towards the upper gear keeping the gears engaged. Its only when going in reverse and the crawl box is in low that the gears want to separate. It then dawned on me that I rarely if ever drove in low low and in reverse at the same time....otherwise Im sure it would have happened way sooner. Good damn thing too because the weekend prior to this happening, I was in Naches wheelin over the weekend and it would have really sucked if I broke there.
Moral of this story, never go wheelin alone....
Also want to thank that buddy who came to my rescue. MarkM and Stu both know him as well as some of the others here at NWW. His name is Tom. :awesomework:
