91Laredo

Jake here,

So the weekend started at about 3PM Friday. Left Olympia for Tahuya, and got there around 5.30ish since my buddy and I stopped to eat. Heres some pics of it right before I left, and when i got to Camp Spillman with all of the trucks lined up. The weekend did not go as planned. We'll get to that in a minute though.














After I got there, the buddy who went with me and I decided that I wanted to find some mud. (which wasn't hard)

http://s355.photobucket.com/albums/r...t=DSCN1472.flv

heres a couple pics when we were done







After that, we set up the tent and hung out with the rest of the wonderful SAR group for the rest of the night.

Here's the interesting part...

The next morning my buddies Nick And Jose went with me to go buy some coffee from Starbucks in Belfair (Yeah, Roughin' It, I know )

It was a blessing in disguise though, for real.

I was returning from town, and started to apply the brakes to make the turn onto Elfendahl Pass Rd. I felt a wierd vibration from the rear as I turned onto the road. I made it about half a mile towards camp going around 45/50 when i heard several loud pinging noises as I hit the brakes again, so i immediately let up. As soon as i did, i felt the rear end drop and I watched my driver's side rear tire bounce past me at 50mph and bounce several times at least 10 ft in the air. It went off the side of the road and into the surrounding woods. i gripped the wheel with a white knuckle grip and locked my arms to keep from spinning out, and i feathered the brakes in til i eventually made it off the road safely around a foot from the ditch. heres some pics.









I immediately radioed for help from my wonderful SAR friends, and they arrived on scene minutes later, with cones out and equipment ready. I cannot thank them enough for helping me out with it.

The lug studs were still there, the drum had just moved so you cant see them in the pic. Since we couldnt find the lug nuts (they shot into the pavement like bullets and there were several broken parts where you could see where they hit) We used a jack and got the wheel back and mounted, then took a lug off of each wheel and one off of my dad's jeep, put the wheel back on, and drove to Les Schwab in belfair. They replaced the lugs on all the wheels and torqued them to proper specs for free, as well as replacing my dad's. An hour later, I was back on the road with the only scar being a flat spot in my drum.



30 minutes later, I was on the 4x4 loop.

ONLY IN A JEEP!!!!:b rows:

heres a short vid. couldnt get much since Nick was my spotter too and he couldnt spot and videotape at the same time.

http://s355.photobucket.com/albums/r...rrent=WEAK.flv





After that, there was a call out for a missing 10 Year old girl in McCleary
(story here)
http://www.king5.com/topstories/stor....165195dd.html
My dad is the one coming up behind the reporter to the right.

And it was decided that I remain in Tahuya to monitor the site and help out with anything at the campgrounds.

First, there was a report to me of 5 missing children, who were found about 20 minutes later by Dept. Of Natural Rescources.

Then, I was first on scene to a very serious dirtbike crash. I had a friend with me from our unit who is certified EMT so 911 was called and they had him in the back of an ambulance to Bremerton where the rider could be air lifted to Harbor View in Seattle.

Needless to say our trail riding plans were cancelled, but I was glad that I was able to help out others in need. I hope to go back soon!
Thank you all for reading/watching!

Jake.

BuckB91XJ

Jake, if you switched to those aftermarket rims and usd your stock lugnuts, that is why you lost your wheel. The stock Jeep lugnuts are garbage. You need to switch to an aftermarket all steel lugnut as soon as possible, especially after installing bigger aftermarket rims and tires (much heavier). I had the same thing happen to me only I was traveling at about 75 MPH on I-5 in the mountains near Roseburg, Oregon, heading to California. Had a sheer cliff with a river atthe bottom on one sideand a rock wall on the other. I still thank god to this day hat the wheel and tire never hit a nother car or anybody's house. It shot past me at 75 MPH and across the on coming lanes and departed the hwy. I never did find it. threw the spare on and took a lugnut from each of the other whees just like you did and that got me where I was going. I am so glad you made it threw your excitement without incident. It scared the holy you know wha out of me when it happened to me.

Skreed

Ouch! I hate when that happens...I had that happen to me once on my old 92 but it was my front wheel. My front rotor looked like the letter D after I came to a stop.

91Laredo

Thanks for the kind words Buck,
Yeah I got rid of the stock lug nuts when we did the swap. Les schwab said they were over-torqued and that caused them to come loose. We had torqued them to spec, so we are kinda High and Dry as far as ideas for why this could have happened. Foul play? Idk. But I'm sorry to hear about your incident too. Yeah it was the scariest thing i have ever experienced in an automobile.

91Laredo

That really sucks. Thanks though lol I'm glad that I'm not the only one that this has happened to.

BuckB91XJ

One thing I have just made a habit of doing everytime I take a wheel off of my Jeep for any reason I re-torque all the spacers and all the wheels. I also hit them with the torque wrench everytime prior to any long hwy. trip. 85 FT. LBS. is what I torque mine to.

BuckB91XJ

Jake, one thing I forgot to tell you that I did after my little wheel departure incident, that you may want to do. I replaced the lugnuts all the way around and I replaced the lugnut studs on both sides of the rear axle.

tampaviking

Makes me want to go back to Tahuya, I had a wheel fly off before to. Well not really the lower control arm on the HUMVEE just kinda broke off, and the wheel tried to get at me through the floor.

91Laredo

Thanks Buck!
Yeah, I plan to replace all the pads and the drum and the studs too at some point, just trying to get the money to do it. 18 Years Old + Employment at Jack In The Box= Very little spending money lol.

91Laredo

Haha, damn. That is pretty intense! Yeah Ill be sure to let you know when the next time we decide to go up there is! Or maybe I'll just get a bunch of people from this site to do it?

Richliveshots

Hello everyone! Yes at first look it may seem like we got shorted out of our training and wheeling fun, but in the big picture we were there for our community and our fellow mud loving motor heads and outdoor enthusiast’s. Jake did a great job fielding all that was thrown at him while the rest of the unit was out on the search.
Jake you did a great job and made all the right calls. That kid that wrecked his motorcycle and the lost girls from the 4-H camp were lucky that you were there, we still had some fun. Even know my Jeep never touched the trail. The way the weekend started was one of our ATV team members rolled her Artic cat and severely sprained her ankle. When we got the call out for the search in Mccleary they asked specifically for ATV units and since she could not go she let me take her quad so on the search I was a ATV unit which was kind of cool. I do ride and have cross trained on the ATV team, but just never on a search. Well sorry this turned into more of a search and rescue report than a trail report but…we will hit the trails hard next time.

BuckB91XJ

Jake, search the local junkyards for a set of good drums that still have enough meat on them to get them turned true. That's about all I recommend buying used for this job. Of course brake parts should always be new and the lug studs have to be new. The good news is they are all farely inexpensive at your local Autozone.

91Laredo

Thanks Brian, will be sure to do that as soon as I get some $$$. Monthly insurance bill just wiped me out