Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Discussion about deep snow wheeling, vehicle builds, trip reports, etc
Post Reply
User avatar
Nobody
Site Admin
Posts: 1140
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Stanwood, Wa
Contact:

Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Nobody »

Post your 2020/2021 snow wheeling trip reports. Subscribe to the thread and get email notifications. Of course you're also welcome to start your own topic.
WINTER IS HERE
User avatar
Nobody
Site Admin
Posts: 1140
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Stanwood, Wa
Contact:

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Nobody »

The mountains got a nice dump of snow late last week. Decided to take the family up to see the snow on Saturday. Things were going great, until they weren't. Turns out that deceleration vibration was something to worry about after all :homer:

Yeah...broke a u-joint on the rear driveline. Broke, alone, with they family. Pretty much a worst case scenario. After a few minutes of sheer panic due to not having a spare u-joint, I made due with what I had. :idea: Turns out, a 17mm socket makes a decent trail fix u-joint bearing cap.

Attachments
31EC9874-97EF-45F8-9F05-77B41BE72DBF.jpeg
758E55A7-41CF-4344-9FE5-0E16444409A9.jpeg
F5DB71D6-EF46-422A-B14F-E8A6F9791117.jpeg
09439D5D-87BB-4678-98E7-C95E8E463F39.jpeg
WINTER IS HERE
pirateflag
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2019 11:24 am
Location: Issaquah, WA

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by pirateflag »

Bummer but lucky you were able to fix!

Yesterday's trip turned into spending three hours getting 3 full size pickups unstuck from snow.
PRY4SNW
User avatar
Nobody
Site Admin
Posts: 1140
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Stanwood, Wa
Contact:

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Nobody »

Been there!

Found out my pinion yoke is toast. New one should be in today. Also discovered my driveshaft popped out the welch plug, so get to fix that too. Luckily the slip yoke seems runable.
Attachments
5A6F8179-C1C2-4968-A3DC-9C85FCC57DFE.jpeg
BC6A309F-E997-4CAE-8C1D-289A3BBD17F4.jpeg
WINTER IS HERE
Cylvertip
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:06 pm
Location: Granite Falls by way of Rainier/ Tenino

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Cylvertip »

That 17mm socket fixe helps reaffirm all the tools I carry. Thank you. They are dead weight 99++++% of the time, but then something grenades and they are worth their weight in gold. That's a great trail fix. Glad you got out fine and that you found the other items before it turned into a bad situation.
User avatar
Nobody
Site Admin
Posts: 1140
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Stanwood, Wa
Contact:

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Nobody »

I've gotten lazy on the maintenance over the past few years. Totally my fault. Lucky I had just replaced a very bad front axle u-joint prior to this trip. I even changed the oil! Just ran out of time and didn't make it back to check the rear driveshaft. I was so scared to look under the bronco... expected to see gear oil soaked snow. :homer:
WINTER IS HERE
User avatar
Nobody
Site Admin
Posts: 1140
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Stanwood, Wa
Contact:

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Nobody »

I attempted a little shakedown run yesterday. Didn't last long. 50 year old factory booger welds gave out... I can't seem to catch a break.
Attachments
8162EE41-350B-4C80-AA4B-04CEF851D209.jpeg
1F02D0F4-87C2-4E89-9A3F-34A838E6A833.jpeg
WINTER IS HERE
User avatar
Seventee
Posts: 34
Joined: Tue Nov 10, 2015 2:20 pm
Location: Marysville, MT

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Seventee »

Wow, that's a difficult break to prepare for and deal with!
70 Bronco
79 Bronco
79 F-150 4x4
User avatar
Nobody
Site Admin
Posts: 1140
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Stanwood, Wa
Contact:

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Nobody »

Luckily, other than a bunch of banging around, I was able to just drive it home. The body was resting on the end of the spring and I still had plenty of tire clearance. I suppose in a worse situation one could cut/find a piece of wood and secure it between the axle and the frame. I'm really surprised the welds let go after 50 years. Didn't seem to be corrosion related, just a bad weld job.
WINTER IS HERE
User avatar
Nobody
Site Admin
Posts: 1140
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Stanwood, Wa
Contact:

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Nobody »

New Year's Day turned out pretty decent considering the crappy weather. Lots of snow around 4,000 feet. It was wet, extremely slick, but firm enough to drive around with out too much effort.

The Suzuki sidekick lost both beads and a valve stem while down in side trail hole. What should have been a relatively easy fix ended up being a major problem due to not having the correct size spare valve stem. Was able to seat the beads by using a male air coupling fitting in the valve stem hole. The Sidekick was light enough to drive much of the way out, but lost the beads again on an off camber corner. By that time the weather was really kicking in. While working out what to do next, I realized my spare would fit, so we changed the tire and got off the mountain.

The SxS on tracks does circles around everyone, however in this snow even it had work to get up one of the hills.

The Bronco did great, but wouldn't let me finish a trip without a problem. Fuel sending unit went out again... :mad:

It was really crappy weather, so not many photos. Got some video I might post at some point.
Attachments
0EFA56DE-EC80-4BA2-9D9D-E5561761C9B1.jpeg
20DD8AD7-1615-4D33-89D4-FA91C659B663.jpeg
BD1D43AC-26A6-4565-9F5F-E1E66B745661.jpeg
CE23B96A-A294-44FE-9E9F-48598F1696EB.jpeg
60B7C61A-8446-4701-B18A-A51BD37D3485.jpeg
6C70CF9F-92EE-420D-97EA-E584EEEDCF6D.jpeg
A184BBF8-3844-4011-8CF5-69D1BFDDAB94.jpeg
WINTER IS HERE
Cylvertip
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Mar 19, 2018 3:06 pm
Location: Granite Falls by way of Rainier/ Tenino

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Cylvertip »

We did a quick run up to the top of the 4020 Rd off of Mt Loop Sunday evening. There was about a foot of snow at 2800' up by the Boardman Lake Trailhead. Pretty icey underneath in the tracks. Not much snow below 2500 ft. We hit the 4021 on the way down and went over to the Ashland Lakes trailhead. There was 4 or 5 inches of snow there.

Was good to get up on the hill. The special needs kiddo loves bouncing around and being in the truck. The 14 year old was not too sure about things when we slid 20 yards down a hill backwards due to the ice. All was good though.

This is up near the top of the 4020 on a landing there.
Attachments
4020 Jan 24, 21 .jpg
User avatar
Nobody
Site Admin
Posts: 1140
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Stanwood, Wa
Contact:

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Nobody »

Made a quick snow run on Saturday to check out conditions. Lots of wet snow at around 3000'. I couldn't quite get out of the rain, pushing quite a bit of snow. Hopefully this cold air coming in will firm things up a bit so we can get further up the mountain.
Attachments
B8405CCC-49AB-446C-B55C-C630FE7E1FD1.jpeg
WINTER IS HERE
MTWheeler
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jan 04, 2022 2:14 am
Location: Laurel, MT

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by MTWheeler »

Nobody, how do you like the soft top for winter wheeling? Plenty warm enough?
1977 CJ5 - main family trail rig (work in progress…)
1948 CJ2A
1942 MB
User avatar
Nobody
Site Admin
Posts: 1140
Joined: Fri Aug 07, 2009 6:58 pm
Location: Stanwood, Wa
Contact:

Re: Trip Report: Snow Wheeling 2020/2021 season

Post by Nobody »

MTWheeler wrote: Sun Feb 27, 2022 6:39 am Nobody, how do you like the soft top for winter wheeling? Plenty warm enough?
I've never had a problem with being cold, the only time I really turn the heater on high is when I need extra defrost help. Then again I'm always bundled up. Usually if temps are below 20F, the snow isn't great anyway.

I like the weight savings of a soft top. My biggest concern has always been with trees and branches. I've got almost ~18 years on my current soft top, but it's garaged most of the time.
WINTER IS HERE
Post Reply