The whole weekend had went smoothly without as much as a hiccup (to my knowledge at least) and then the Saturday night run was just around the corner. We ate at Zeno's early just to make sure we made a night run. So after seeing Dutch John going down it yesterday, I figured it would be dried out by now and fairly easy. Add Falls Dam to the mix and I figured a Falls Dam to Dutch John run would be easy with no problems.
So we went out and got all the way to the hill climb on Dutch John (near the end of the trail) with no problems. Some of the group even played in the mud holes on Falls Dam with no issues. So I was trail leader so I was first one up the hill climb. I didn't even remember I hadn't aired down all weekend. I had mentioned it on the way there, but when we finally got to the hill climb it magically slipped my mind to air down. So my bias ply TSLs were essentially like those toy bouncy balls you played with in the house until they broke a window. Mistake number 1. Having seen the hill climb just yesterday I assumed it would be dry, Mistake number 2. I have run the hill climb enough times (even once with a failing carb that crapped out the next day) I had an idea of what level throttle to use etc, but that information was based on it being dry and with aired down tires. Mistake number 3. So I get going up the hill climb everything is going smoothly till I get to the corner. Its more rutted out on the left than I remember and I didn't see the rut on the right had returned so I hugged the right (taking the wrong line) and the bouncing began. I never bounced like that before ever and before I could make it past the rutted area it bounced so hard it died out.
I rolled back down the hill all the way down with no brakes. But I didn't just slide I bounced between the walls on 2 tires, hit one side with the drivers front and rear passengers on the ground then slam the other way with the passengers front and drivers rear on the ground. I thought we were going to roll backwards end over end down the hill, that is how high in the air we were bouncing. We finally came to a stop and not hearing any noises to tell me I had my passengers outer tie rod end come apart I took stab number 2 at it. I got to the turn in the hill climb and tried to turn. To my horror (not exaggerating) instead of turning the truck headed straight and my drivers side tire started climbing the vertical wall in front of us, but before I could think another thought we dropped/slid 4-5 feet off the wall angled just enough to go around the corner and we bounced far enough up I thought we are going to make it. But I was wrong, we bounced and died out just before clearing the rutted section. Again we slid back with no brakes but this time I got wedged at an angle right after the turn. My front passengers turn sign in the right hand side wall, and the drivers side turn signal wedged into the left hand side wall.
I wasn't getting out of the truck, and it felt like I was about to roll down the hill if I made one wrong move. Van came up the hill and started to winch my rear end around so I could come down the hill. As he winched the rear passengers tire started to leak air/come off the bead. So he had to stop, that meant I had to go back up forward a couple feet some how to get angled correctly to roll back down the hill. At this point I still didn't know my tie rod had come apart on the way down from my first attempt up so when I heard talk of my tire being messed up I figured my rear passenger tire that was leaking got messed up. Wrong. By the time we rolled me down to the flat spot I found out my tie rod was no good. I had a heavy sinking feeling wondering how would we get my truck off the trail, I am stuck between a hill climb and a switch back. Someone (Ron or someone else) said something about using wire to wrap around the tie rod to hold it together. The bailing wire I had put in my truck to help a co-worker get their muffler held up off the ground turned out to be just the ticket. Ron flipped the tie rod over on top of the castle nut and Van wrapped the wire around it.
At this point I have no want to drive up the hill climb in any shape or form. Let alone be dragged up it with a tie rod wrapped in wire. We unlock my hubs and van drags me up the hill climb me pushing the gas just a little. My truck I guess didn't want to quit all the way so after the ruts it drove up the last short span of the hill climb to the flat area. At this point I almost fall out of the truck my heart racing just happy to be past the hill. Then the reality of how am I going to get home sets on me. Finding parts for a rare vehicle on a Sunday didn't give me any hope. But on the way back I tried to be positive, and we joked over the CB about it all. I said something about my truck bouncing around like a ping pong ball. Ron said no, more line a pinball. The Pinball Wizard song popped into my head, and I said yeah like the Pinball Wizard. And since then it has kind of stuck. Turns out my decision to let the tie rod end go a little longer when the grease fitting got bent and I couldn't grease it was another mistake. Mistake number 4 to be exact. The tie rod was completely dry on the inside, so if it hadn't gone on the trail it probably would have been on the way home on the highway. It was the grace of god that things didn't go much much worse.
A big thanks to everyone that helped me, including a huge thanks to Van, Kenny, Ron, Ernie (?), and Janet. Without the help from everyone I would have been stranded on the Dutch John trail.