Stranded and solutions? What would have helped?

[jktowhere]

So on Friday I left to go camping in the Flat Tops Wilderness out here in Colorado. Fun times, amazing camp site and such a fun area. Sat, we go to explore and while on a trail well off the beaten path and before I come up to a boulder BOOM! It was like i was in a car crash! I get out to see what happened and the track bar is on the ground and the sector shaft is sheered off in my 15 JKU due to fatigue. Not good. Zero steering. For two hours I attempt to find a solution.

I come to the point where it is now 2:30ish and its time to decide. Camp in the jeep with the front of the top off still at the camp site 10 miles away or walk for help. It was getting into the low 40's at night at this elevation. I am about 38 miles from a town and cell service. 5 miles on a jeep trail in a valley from the "main" forest service road. And a storm is moving in.

The two of us and our dogs begin the walk. Its a 4 mile jeep trail hike. Amazing views. But my cell has died and hers has 18% left so we have it off. We are in Mountain Lion territory and other fun creatures of the night. We do the walk. Have fun and make the best of the situation. Both aware of the situation and constantly making sure the other is mentally ok and in a good mood. Had supplies we took with us (water, lights etc) in case it turned worse, but we made due. We make it to the service road hours later (mind you its all up hill from the canyon) and we sit with two dogs on the side of the road waiting for a car to go by.

Well, first car tells us they have no service and wish us luck. Mind blown they could care less. Second truck later stops and helps us with a sat phone, but it cuts in and out and led to more confusion. Mind you he was the smell of vodka and a few handles in the bed of his truck made it clear how he rolls. Then a guy comes by with a power wagon and is our saint! He helps us go back to the location grab supplies. Changes his day plans, helps us into the night contact tow companies and then when all else fails drives us to town to a hotel.

11 tow companies later, one will be securing the vehicle tomorrow and dragging it to the jeep dealer. Four days in the wilderness I hope all my parts are still on it and if it rained, things are fine. But really I will be excited to just have it at the dealer and starting that process.

The point of this thread.... What would you do or have you done is a situation that can go sour fast. CB, pointless not one around. Ham radio? I was also told to look into the Delorme Inreach which has a big appeal to me. How do you reach out for help in such a situation. Mind you on a trail I never go on unless I have food and supplies which I had, but I treated this like a short jeep trail which is was and didn't have a winch or communications. As I explore more I would love to avoid this situation or at least be better prepared.

 

[F40]

HAM radio, Delorme In Reach, and a battery pack such as an Anker or Aukey brand to keep the in reach and phone charged. I would consider these my personal minimum for back country travel.

 

[diluted]

We have Iridium Sat phones, they work everywhere. I'm betting he was using Inmarsat or something. I know it's not always possible but I also try to have a buddy / second vehicle when we are doing any wheeling out away from civilization.

 

[kojackJKU]

The reason I am putting in reach in my rigs. Makes so much sense. You can text to get help no matter where you are. Great device. next time, toss in a 8x10 tarp. it takes up zero space but can save you or your rig.

 

[wagex]

ive seen everything from hi lift jack bar's bolted in place of the track bar to limp back with to ratchet straps holding it in place to limp back to camp. i second the tarp, especially with a jeep i always kept one in mine just incase, tucks easily under the back seat.

edit: just noticed the sector shaft bit i thought you broke the track bar. yikes not much you can do then besides use a log to wedge behind the wheels to turn it back and fourth, though wouldnt work very well unless on flat terrain and would be very time consuming.

 

[jk_surgeonfish]

Glad it worked out for and that guy helped. Very cool of him. It is this scenario that I keep supplies in my Jeep at all times to spend the night. Sometimes when it is getting late in the day poor decisions are made as the sun is rapidly setting. Having the ability to just camp the night and the make a plan in the AM is better. I'm not saying you did anything wrong in this case.

I use HAM and most of the time it works but you don't always have reception. Plan for spending the night if need be and make sure that plan covers all passengers in your vehicle.

ALWAYS have a good map of the area. Luckily you knew the trail to hike for help. There are lots of folks that "think" they know the way and get lost and die to exposure. This is especially true in the desert.

SAT phones are probably the best if you have to ensure you always have a way to call someone.

Finally, make the best of the situation is very important. You did good on that part of it based on what I read. Panicking will not help and only make things worse. Breaking down, getting stuck and other things like that are part of the adventure. You will be telling this story for years!

Safe adventuring!

 

[NatersXJ6]

Other than "don't go alone", which I frequently do, I think I would have done almost what you did.

Yes, I carry a tarp.

Yes, I have HAM, but without a specific person to call, what would you do? I've always been lucky enough to have enough off road friends or a club affiliation to know that I could call in a rescue mission.

I once walked almost 15 miles to a phone for that purpose, but that is life.

Unless I was on a really clear trail, I might not have hiked into the night, that wasn't totally clear in your story... better to stay with the vehicle, it will be easier to find by SAR teams (but someone has to report you lost).

The only thing I might have truly done differently is that I would have found a steering box and hiked back in to install it. Been there before...

 

[Weeds]

I have a SPOT but have not used it for an emergency. We us it to let the kids know where we are. I have found that cash also works to influence some people. I had to pay a guy $20.00 to drive two miles out of his way and give me a jump. He wanted to haul me 15 miles to town for a tow truck until I showed him the cash. Then he offered me a beer.

 

[Abe Froman]

Good thought-provoking post.
While I have no answer to your question, I am thinking about what I'd do in that situation.
Hope all works out with the tow and repair.

Always have $20s and $5s hidden in your vehicle......you never know when you'll need them.

 

[Metcalf]

Stuff like that always sucks, I think you did a fine job finding a solution really. I'm sure it wasn't fun....

My vote for comms would be a decent ham radio with a repeater book. If its an emergency I would even think about jumping on some of the USFS/BLM repeaters.

As far as a the JK steering box, that is a pretty well known problem. I believe that PSC might even have an improved design sector shaft out now....

http://www.chassisunlimited.com/sto.../steering-boxes/psc-jeep-jk-sector-shaft.html

There are braces that you can install that will support the bottom of the sector shaft. You could throw a spare sector shaft in the spare parts bag. It wouldn't be pretty to swap that in the field, but even manual steering with a box leaking all over the place would have gotten you to help. A box rebuild kit won't take up much space along with a bit of power steering fluid.

On the fringe. You might have been able to disassemble the box, somehow weld up the broken shaft, grind/file it back into good enough shape to fit back in the box, maybe it would have held long enough to get you out...
You would have needed something like a Premier Power Welder to pull off the welding by yourself most likely unless you had dual batteries. Most battery welding requires at least 24Vs.

In the slightly more realistic, why not overnight a new box, find a ride back in, and swap it yourself instead of having to pay for the tow truck?

 

[proper4wd]

Thats a dusy. One of the few non-redundant failure items that can totally strand you. All the recovery gear in the world wouldnt have made a difference.

I echo the above, I'd have an inReach connected to a network of buddies back home that could scare up parts and recovery in a pinch. And be better prepared to spend the night or a couple days there while waiting. Not much else to do.

You can go back over some of the small mistakes too and make basic changes. Like the cell phones not being charged. You guys were both riding in the Jeep all day, why werent they plugged in? Or, why didnt you wait to leave until you charged your phones fully?

Other than a few little things like that I think you guys did a good job getting out of the situation.

 

[jktowhere]

Thanks guys. I did learn a lot.

As for recovery I did the ratchet strap tricks and it works and works well. But simply to time consuming and I was getting burnt out so simply wanting to avoid it. I know the cost, but think what we did was ideal. It keep our spirits high as opposed to two days to get it off that trail. I have seen a video on you tube with the winch to help.

On trail repair not a option. I had to be back in Denver by today.

I should have had a charger for the phone. Left the cable in Denver and felt we would be ok. Mistake 1. That could have been bad too. Mistake 2, no other communications.

Like I said I learned a lot about myself. We learned a lot about each other and I'm learning a ton from all this input. I made this post in the hopes it will educate all of us. What simply was a 30 minute excursion turned into something much bigger

Thank you everyone!

 

[Fursphere]

On trail repair not a option. I had to be back in Denver by today.

That's an interesting thought in itself. Maybe in the future adjust the schedule to deal with repairs? Like, if you're 20+ miles into the backcountry solo, make sure you don't have anything going on the next day or two? Just thinking out loud. (if you have two vehicles, maybe a different thresh hold comes into play)

I put myself into a similar situation recently. Had to make a 500 mile trip home in my Jeep to be at work the next day. 500 miles in a normal vehicle is no big deal - in a heavily modified crawler it can make things more complicated.... lol Thankfully I only blew up an O2 sensor and was able to make it home anyway.

So I started putting together a list of things that can break, and if it was reasonable to carry spares. Sensors and small electronic items are high on my list of things to acquire A CPS sensor can leave you stranded. Same as an ignition coil.

You obviously can't carry everything though. (that's where traveling with a second vehicle comes in...)

 

[AFBronco235]

That's an interesting thought in itself. Maybe in the future adjust the schedule to deal with repairs? Like, if you're 20+ miles into the backcountry solo, make sure you don't have anything going on the next day or two? Just thinking out loud. (if you have two vehicles, maybe a different thresh hold comes into play)

I put myself into a similar situation recently. Had to make a 500 mile trip home in my Jeep to be at work the next day. 500 miles in a normal vehicle is no big deal - in a heavily modified crawler it can make things more complicated.... lol Thankfully I only blew up an O2 sensor and was able to make it home anyway.

So I started putting together a list of things that can break, and if it was reasonable to carry spares. Sensors and small electronic items are high on my list of things to acquire A CPS sensor can leave you stranded. Same as an ignition coil.

You obviously can't carry everything though. (that's where traveling with a second vehicle comes in...)

I had a similar experience myself on Friday. My girlfriend and I were trying to move from Oklahoma to Indiana using my 91' Bronco to tow a 6x12 uhaul trailer. About halfway through Missouri, the engine starts missing and backfiring. We pull off the interstate and into a parking lot to check it out. I start fiddling around with the engine to find that the distributor rotor was burnt up. I had replaced it 4 years ago so I guess it was just something I overlooked on the trip preparations. Anyways, because of that, the engine was now refusing to stay running and would run REALLY rough. I was seriously considering spending the night in the bronco and hiking to a parts store early in the morning when a VERY nice guy stopped to help us. He gave us a ride to the local NAPA for the new parts and almost two hours after we were stranded, we were back on the road again. The funny thing was, I had spares for everything BUT the part that failed. Just goes to show that now matter how well prepared you are, something is always gonna trip you up. So keep some extra cash on hand, plan for the worst and hope for the best. We got lucky and were able to make it to our hotel room for the night, but that could have been much worse.

For the OP situation, if the sector shaft breaking is a known issue, its probably time to upgrade or reinforce it so it doesn't happen again. That's really the only advice I can give you other than what was already mentioned. Don't take trail riding too lightly, even on a short trail. There's a reason why the majority of vehicle deaths are within a mile of home, and its because the drivers stop being cautious.

 

[proper4wd]

For the record I've been there too. Snapped front pinion shaft left my girlfriend at the time and I stranded in the middle of the Vermont woods for the night, in the pouring rain, after what was supposed to be just a romantic afternoon wine and cheese picnic by a stream.

We spent the night (luckily I always kept a sleeping bag and extra food/drinks in the truck), and hiked 10 miles for help the next morning.

(Luckiest of all, the girlfriend took it in stride and is now my wife!)