In Attendance:
Chris & Ed - Ford Bronco (blue)
Yasu & Clint - Jeep TJ (red) & Honda ATV
Dave - Jeep TJ (blue) & Honda ATV
Chris - Nissan Pathfinder (blue)
Grumpy - Jeep CJ (brown)
? - Dodge Dakota (black)
? - Ford Explorer (white)
? - Ford Ranger (silver)
? - Toyota (blue)
The Lionsgaters were doing a scouting run for there 'Play Day' coming up shortly, and they decided to check out Herrling Island. Seeing as I
have never been there, I accepted an invitation to tag along with them. We had 9 trucks in total meet at the weigh scale in Surrey, where I got
to weigh the Bronco in at just over 3200 kilograms. Just as were about to pull out from the scales we witnessed a car drive off the freeway, so
we waited until the police and ambulance arrived.
After stopping in Chilliwack for gas and food, we continued on to Herrling Island where we drove down to the river crossing and aired
down. The river crossing isn't that deep (maybe a foot or so), but it is at least 80 feet across. Once across the river we drove down a narrow trail
that was a bit narrow and a bit muddy. After about 15 minutes I heard Clint on the CB mumbling something about sinking a truck. I figured he was
horsing around, but turns out he was serious. We round a nice off camber 90 degree corner to see Grumpy's CJ hood deep in water, and Grumpy
up to his waist.
Turns out he was trying to cross a small section of water to get to a sand bar, but the water was a bit deeper than he anticipated.
After we pulled the CJ out, Grumpy started pulling the plugs to crank out any water in the cylinders. A lot of water did come out, so he put the
plugs back in and tried cranking her over; nothing. After doing this a few more times we found that the motor would crank with no plugs in,
which was a good sign. We gathered up all the oil we had, barely 3.5 litres, enough to an oil change and get back to town. Grumpy gets an amo
canister to catch the oil, but for at least two minutes nothing but water came out of the oil pan, and clean water to boot. After the oil finally
drained out, he topped up the oil, put the plugs in and gave her a crank. She cranked for a bit then the solenoid starting to smoke. Turns out there
was still moisture in the cylinders which put a huge resistance on the starter.
Clint drove into town to get a tool that he knew of. It was a blow gun with a nipple on the end so you could put a piece of hose in the cylinder and
syphon any water out.
Once Clint returned with the parts, I helped Grumpy syphon out the water with my on-board air. We ended up doing this for about an
hour, on and off. Grumpy got the CJ to crank and almost fire, then she slowed right down. He pulled the plugs again to find more moisture.
Being it was getting late, we decided to try siphoning the moisture out one more time, and if that didn't work we would have to start the
tow home. After siphoning all but the last cylinder I hear weird noises coming from my air compressor. As I ran to the truck I noticed smoke
coming from the clutch. The compressor was extremely hot, so after letting it cool down for quite some time I tried turning it on and it killed the
engine, so looks like a new compressor is in order; Sanden or a York? That is a whole other story.
Turns out I had 115 psi in the system, so I could use the ARB if I needed to. Grumpy put the plugs back in, cranked her over, and finally
after 6 hours she fired up. The cheer from the group was deafening. We then cleaned up and headed back to cross the river. Once across, I
decided to use up what air I had left in the system, so I took the front tires to 22 psi, and the rears to 20 psi. Then Grumpy came over and offered
me the use of his compressor, so I topped up all the tires. After a quick chat session, we all departed for the 1 hour plus drive home.
Feeling quite content that I had made this trip with only the loss of a compressor, I neglected to see Mr. Murphy hovering above me. As
I got close to home, it started raining quite heavily, and my rear window wouldn't go up.
All is good, everybody made it home safe and sound, some drier than
others. :-)
Time to air down. Why don't I remember that
car being their? :-)
Getting the quads ready.
Grumpy sinks his CJ.
Grumpy sinks his CJ.
Grumpy sinks his CJ.
Yasu gets his quad stuck.
Dave winches him out.