ddavey

Get ready, it's a long read.

So I worked til about 9pm tonight, afterwards my jeeping buddy (and PO of my XJ) decided to go wheeling a bit at the lake. His new project jeep is getting some major work done so we took his brand new Z71 along as a worst-case recovery vehicle.

Well we head out on the old 4-wheeler trails and got through some pretty rough stuff, and I am in good spirits. I am no experienced wheeler, but he is, and I know my way around a trail.

All is going great, until the others talked me into a trail I was unsure about. It wasn't rough, but full of deep underwater ruts. They convince me and we head out on the trail. We got a ways down and as we rounded a corner we found a '95ish 2D Tahoe that went off in a hole and sunk the drivers side up to the door handles. No one was around, and it looked like it had been there for a day or two. We took this as our sign to head out.

We turned around and were facing a 100 yard stretch of sunken trail that I was very skeptical about. We fell into some deep ruts for the last 10 yards on the way to where we were, and I feared tragedy was awaiting us. I asked my buddy to take the wheel, as he was far more experienced than I, but he said it wouldn't be bad.

It was bad. Very bad.

Got about 15 yards into it, and the passenger side feel into the rut. It was deep, about a third of the way up the door panel. That is when the water began to come in. We were stuck in a serious way. So we walk the trails back to the Z71 and get it out there. We go to strap it up, and MY BRAND NEW tow strap doesn't have hooks, just loops. As you all know, stock XJ's have very poor forward recovery points. Well my buddy says wrapping it around the stock bumper will work. I beg to differ but he is persistent. He wraps it around the bumper, and you can all imagine what my bumper looks like now. Not really pretty.

After that failed attempt, I happened upon a ratchet strap in my trunk and rigged up a means to use it's hooks for the strap, and hook that into the 'frame'.

30 second later, I am pulled out.

Problem #2- My buddy's new Z71 got it's bumper creased on a tree while pulling me out.

Two bumpers, 25 gallons of water and mud, and a couple of weird electrical issues later (water seems to have screwed up my blinkers) she's parked back in my driveway, doors open to help air her out.
Long night.

troy fritz

Is it just the front blinkers? If so , remove your airfilter box and you will see a wire harness under it. Pull it apart and spray electrical cleaner in it , then put some dielectric grease in it . You should be good after that . Ive done this more than once.

Davidisaho

thats not exactly how I remember it.... but i will let it slide. BTW a bumper is gonna cost me $155

leo3000

lets hear your side of the story

winston427

ddavey, I have to do this buddy. It is a CF requirement with a story like that.

ddavey

Winston, I understand. The only pics are on buddy's cell phone. They are not great, and I haven't gotten them yet.

Nathan, I mean 'DavidIsAHo', what do you remember differently? The part where I said "wrapping the strap around my bumper is a bad idea"?

I'll admit, I trusted you to know good recovery points, as you've owned 3 XJs, that's why I asked you to do it.



Oh well, cost of wheeling. I bent the bumper back yesterday, using 4 low and a tree. She'll do til I can build an Iron Scorpion kit.

NewXJaddict

Hahaha. Sounds like a wild night. Hope everything on your XJ returns to normal!

ddavey

Yeah, blinkers dried out and work fine now.

Why did jeep not design drain plugs in the bottoms of the door panels?

About to fab those myself.

Davidisaho

Might want to correct who bought the tow strap without hooks. My tow strap "with hooks" is in the back seat of my jeep yj. Hope nobody on this forum hunts me down for selling out. But, I have had 3 xj's an 88, 95, and 99 . I have had all three generations with different problems occuring with each. So I might stay around on this forum to offer my assistance. even though I am only 19. On jeep number 4 and vehicle number 7.