well.........................
the plan for today was to spend half the day out laning in south shropshire, driving some lanes ive not driven for a few years, as a bit of a reconnaissance trip, as im leading a group around Shropshire in a few weeks and want to show them some lanes theyve not done before.
the day was going quite well really.
and then i decided to show the chap who i was out laning with me, what is Shroshires muddiest lane!
i never intended to drive it as i knew id end up spending 6 hours cleaning my truck, for 10 minutes worth of fun.
the video below is the start of the lane, and at that exact time everything was good!
the lane is very rutted and i ended up with the truck at a very sever angle, to the point where it felt like it could tip over at any moment. it was at such an angle that the 15-20 litres of fuel in the tank wasnt being sucked up by the fuel pick up, so the truck spluttered and died!
not a problem i thought, i will stick 20 litres of veg/derv mix in the tank, and hopefully that will be enough in the tank for it to drive.
so as i went to get the jerry can out i stood on/in the back wheel and snapped the valve off the wheel!
so after getting the can out of tha back of the truck, i lifted it up and started pouring the fuel into the tank, and some how managed to slip over! so im now stuck on this lane, with a flat tyre, covered in mud and diesel! lovely!
so i stuck the rest of the fuel in and decided that i should keep going to the end of the lane, where i could change the wheel. this was mistake number 2, i should have tried to reverse out.
with both lockers engaged i managed to move forwards and into a deep water section, where i managed to get myself completely stuck!
i could move about a foot forwards and backwards but couldnt get out of the deep muddy water. the water was 3ft deep and half way up the doors.
i couldnt open the doors enough to get out, so had to climb out of the window, dukes of hazard style!
had to climb onto the bull bar and fish around in the cold water to unhook the winch hook, and then turn the free spool lever on the winch, to free spool. i was a bit sceptical as to whether or not my cheap, 5 year old Chinese winch, would work being fully submerged in water.
i was then able to attach the winch rope to a tree, climb back in through the window, by which point the water in the drivers foot well was over a foot deep! not pleasant trying to find the pedals in filthy smelly water!
fortunately the winch worked faultlessly!
and i was able to winch myself out of the muddy water.
after unhooking the winch line and walking back to the truck, i noticed there was oil leaking from under the front of the truck!
my first thought was 5hit have i managed to blow the front diff up.
looking a bit closer revealed that it was engine oil leaking from behind the cambelt cover.
id also managed to roll the tyre off the wheel.
with all the lockers engaged i still couldnt get down the lane, sio ended up having to winch the entire way down the lane.
got to the end and fitted the spare. decided i didnt want to risk damaging the engine, by driving it with the engine leaking so much oil. so got towed about 30 miles home!
so ive now got a truck that is absolutely filthy, both inside and out, with an engine that is leaking oil at an alarming rate, and a spare wheel with a tyre and wheel that are both possibly knackered.
the cambelt is going to need replacing as it is now no doubt contaminated with engine oil, im guessing front main seal is whats gone? need to strip it down and inspect it though really. meant to be revising this week for my exams, but now i need to make time to fix my truck before the weekend.
so more evenings to be spent getting covered in dirt and oil working on my truck, oh what joy!
