Bad luck, good luck, still alive

Forthewall · Feb 3, 2007

What can a fella do when the world seem like it's crashing in on you from all sides? That's right, load up the truck and go hunting with your son and your lab. So after the winter solstice I decided to take a little r & r from the world's problems and concentrate on what makes me happy. The last month of the duck season was awesome and reminded me that sometimes you just need to take a step back and do what you enjoy.

Had a run of bad luck with my old computer, lost the power supply and it made my hard drive a little goofy. Then I was cruising my 4-Runner at 75 mph when I lost the driver's side rear c-clip on Highway 880 on a friday afternoon. First I felt the rearend wiggle, then the axle to the lugnuts shot out. I tapped the brakes lightly and the whole rearend swayed 3 feet in both directions. For a second I thought to myself, well this is either going to hurt alot, or I'm never going to feel anything again.

Lucky for me I was wrong on both accounts and with no brakes I rode the shock brace and the backing plate to a stop in the center divide. That was one helluva ride! Never did find the axle/brakes/wheel/tire/lugnuts. The best part of all was that nobody was hurt.

So, how are you guys doing?

RELH · Feb 3, 2007

Forthewall;

We are doing great, glad to see that someone was watching over you. Reading your post brought back memories. I had the same thing happen to me while pulling a 24 ft. trailer on Hwy.#80 while heading for a hunt in Wyoming. My load lever bars saved us from a serious accident, the left rear brake backing plate was ground down to the hub. got it fixed in two days, made the hunt and had a great time hunting with family members.

RELH

eelgrass · Feb 4, 2007

I would say you're very cool under fire. Nice save! I had the differential lock up on me going down the highway once in a Jeep pickup. The guy who had it before me must have driven in the river a lot. Water makes a lousy lubricant.

It skidded to a stop in a wide spot off the pavement, like I did it on purpose. Sometimes it's a fine line between livin' and dyin'!

I'm gearing up for a special late season goose hunt that starts Feb. 24th. Life is good.

Eel