It’s the weekend early morning has finally come. Time to head up the mountain with our Mud-Snow-Truck Tires for some Spin to Grip – to Grab and Go fun with the trucks, Why You say? well because the truck has new Mud and Snow Tires installed.
It is Spin, Grab, and Go time. It is Tires versus nature’s ground effects (Mud, Snow, Gravel, Etc) We are hoping to experience great traction capabilities and a worry-free day in some rather untraveled, so-called goat trail road areas.
Tire Inspection
Just before heading out, a quick walk around the truck to inspect the new black, bold, gripper tires. I spot a soft, low on pressure-looking Tire on the front passenger side of the truck.
So being that it is Saturday, no problem just drive down to the Tire shop where the Tires were purchased. Open at 7 am the first one in for inspection of the low Tire issue.
A quick inspection, a quick fix, a quick back on the road. The problem was the rubber stem insert was leaking out air. All are covered under warranty along with coffee and donuts for a quick start to the day on a sugar high.
That low tire reminded me to go check to make sure my Air Tool Accessories are still in the same place tucked and secured inside the truck cab.
Up the Mountain
We go easy terrain on the startup, getting to the Mud soon, then beyond that the Snow. It is a two-part Tire test. Tires versus Mud, then Tires versus Snow. On the way up the Tires are spitting loose gravel and some good-sized stones, that are looking for something to connect with.
Must be aware to give the lead truck lots of trailing distance to avoid rocks of all sizes spinning from Tires in all directions. Windshields always attract stones of any size, as do pieces of broken jagged tree branches gravitate towards nice new Tires, as well as good older experienced Tires.
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Into the Mud
we go water spraying and Mud splattering, like chocolate pudding flying uncontrollably out of a blender. The fun has begun, as long as the engine continues to stay running and the transmission stays functioning, then it will be all up to those good gripping Mud spitting Tires.
The trailblazing so far has been good, just don’t forget to anchor down the loose items in the truck cab that have a tenancy to become airborne and turn into projectiles that may or will transport themselves from the rear seating area to the front seat driver’s area.
If these objects do miss You because You are not in their flight path, then good chances are gravity will pull them to the floorboards of the truck and quite likely give You some grief-associated issues.
Like maybe, for instance, your pop cans or thermos of hot soup or your “what to do in case of an Emergency Book”., just happens to find its way into the driver’s control area, under the brake pedal, under the clutch peddle, or even in behind the gas pedal area.
Just be aware of this can and will happen if one does not secure and anchor loose items within the interior of your truck.
Depending on how fast one is approaching and how deep the Mud swap holes are, not only will one have an internal scattering of debris inside the truck, but exterior items will also take flight.
From the time one enters the Mud bath till the time one exits out the other end, the only, as a rule, though is making sure You do drive out at the end of the run. So! it was a good run through the Mud-hole, You are so happy those new Tires so far are proving to be and do the Grip-Grab-and-Go Tires as advertised.
Remember I mentioned something about external items that were in the back of your truck? Like spare tires, chains, and maybe a can of backup fuel in case someone runs out of fuel. You know those kinds of the outback in the mountains and woods necessities for survival.
Just thinking out loud now that a possible occurring event, like a jagged mean-looking broken tree branch that came up out of now where and pole-vaulted into your unprotected exposed gas tank would probably win the battle here.
Unless You had a roll of duct tape or gorilla tape to do a temporary repair to the gas tank, that spare gas would not find its way to your gas tank.
Oh, yeah! don’t forget to secure your days’ worth of food supply, just in case, the unexpected malfunction of your equipment rears its head in surprise.
Hey! after the third mud bog passes through has anyone done an external equipment check, like in the back of your truck lately?
Onward and upward to the snow, the Tires versus the Mud – the Tires the winner in round one. First, before going higher to snow country, the windshield needed to be scraped off the somewhat drying caked-on mud layers.
Who has a mud scrapper anyways? That’s fine, looking out a mud-smeared window is better than a full-on mud-caked window.
Snow country ahead
Waiting for our arrival is test number two Tires versus Snow. It starts off light snow then heavier and thicker the higher we ascend. Okay! finally, the mud is somewhat cleared out of the aggressive Tire tread area, let us keep ascending to the more challenging snow-covered beautiful blanket of Tire track free snow.
First trucks into this area are these good or are they not good to be here? Now the snow is coming down, fun at first now very hard to see ten feet ahead of the truck, behind the truck, beside the truck.
We just know for sure this is an old not used that often logging road, trail, carved out goat trail with a cleared level site up farther. At least it was there in the late spring of the previous year.
Snow is flying out from and around the tread of everyone’s Tires. Difficult to see where one is going, on the road/trail pathway or venturing off the trail.
Still climbing up the mountain, still spitting out some snow from the lugs on the Tires. Mostly the Tires are working well, gripping into the snow for traction to keep us moving forward to the destination, the tree-cleared landing area above.
The first truck to the designated turn-around points. The second truck stalled out 60 feet from the end of the trail turn around the zone. Brakes are applied, so the truck will not roll back down the road/trail, this is where one needs a good emergency brake,
It’s a standard gear shift on the floor. The owner tried to restart the engine with no luck. The engine turned over well but a no-start condition. Okay, pop the hood, and right away the smell of gasoline.
Remove the air cleaner assembly and allow raw gas to evaporate and dry out flooded areas in the carburetor.
We waited for about 10-15 minutes, talked over the situation, and the rest of our plans while the snow was filling in the tracks, we made on the way up here.
Hoped in the truck hit the key to start, heard a grunt and pop then we had a running engine. Put the air cleaner assembly back in place and close the hood.
Starting from a stop on quite an incline did prove to be a bit of a challenge, in the 1-foot deep plus snow. Wheels spinning and digging down into a rut, we had to stop the forward movement going nowhere.
A new plan for getting out was put into play now, the truck needed to back down 45 feet to a much-welcomed level area. No problem backing down, just had to stay on the road, not over the edge. 4-wheel drive still locked in, hit the gas and accelerate forward trying to gain speed without spinning the Tires.
Making new tracks going back up the mountain road was a good decision; the original tracks were now getting icy. Some spin then grip and grab to go the rest of the way up to the leveled off turn around point.
Planning the descent
for the trip back down off the mountain. Lunch and hot coffee now to energize and keep us alert on the way down.
Down we went through the deeper snow than coming up the mountain road, slowly and white-knuckled we made it down to where the snow changed to rain and the Mud pits were growing deeper with the rain.
We opted out of doing the return mud run and went down a branch off-road with fewer obstacles to deal with.
Back to the main roads and heading home to light rain and warmer temperatures. The back of the trucks was filled with about 16 inches of snow and melting. Tomorrow will be wash day on the trucks.
Okay, the next day arrived, snow pretty much melted off trucks so hosed off the mud, then climbed up into the back of the truck to pull out the equipment for cleaning.
Well, we had started out with four pieces of emergency gear (a spare tire- chains- a Jack, and a gas can). Just keep in mind that this could have happened at any time while out in deep snow, see below and have a chuckle
- The spare tire and the jack were anchored down. So, the count in the back of the truck was two, not four pieces of equipment. Guess one could say the good thing is we didn’t need to tow either vehicle or need extra fuel to get out of the bush.
- This happened to be the rear truck in the pack, and no one followed to see when and where the non-anchored pieces went airborne and left the truck.
The Ending
Hopefully, when winter ends and the coming of summer next year dries up the mud bogs the treasure will be found by someone else. Hoping to be used by someone else in an emergency mountain situation. I am thinking about how this would be like a “pay it forward moment”, but just slightly delayed.
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Thanks For Now…Doug
