Dan and I joined some friends for a Helena Brewers' baseball game.. then it was rained out, so we were in need of something to do. I topped off the tank locked the hubs, and we headed to a local trail system to play..
Right towards the beginning, I missed my line, and hit some rock stairs hard.. to my Scout's credit, it powered up and over it still, but there was a moment I was wondering, and it scrabbled for a minute.. then the Scout started bouncing badly.. yep, sure enough, those annoying front shackles flipped backwards again!
We found a decent sized tree, wrapped my two strap around the springs and the tree, and I tried backing up.. gently at first, then a little harder as all four tires spun.. I then goosed it once, heard a snap, and got out.. shackles had flipped forward like they're supposed to. Let's get on our way..
We climbed farther up into the woods, driving over the two-path rocky section I had, at one point, been leery of climbing.. we then moved on to the trail that Steve Strong and I had taken on May 1st, that leads up and over the mountain. I'd driven this trail several times, and it wasn't a big problem any more.. well, I started slowing down in a few spots, and digging holes.. I wasn't getting the traction I wanted. Granted, it was soft and wet, but still..
We finally reached a spot that snakes between two tight trees, some less-tight trees, and a few rocks on the trail combined with the tree roots. I would get in between the trees, then slide and dig.. Back up, try it again.. and again.. and again.. I was getting more and more momentum up each time.. until I finally made it through... only to be stopped by a fallen tree we had to move. I started forward again, along the side of a deep and wide "ditch" that became the trail... Dan and I slid down into the "ditch" and started up the trail again.. but lacked the traction.
I spent 15 minutes pulling forward, backing up, turning the wheels, trying to get farther forward.. I finally worked myself around such that my buumper was against a tree, my nose pointing up hill, some huge rocks in front of my tires, and no traction. Uh oh.
We pulled my Hi-Lift and tow straps out, and anchored to a tree and drug the Scout a foot or so forward by hand, then drive forward a bit more, then re-HiLift winched it.. during one of my trips back to see how things were going, I noticed something about my driver's side hub.. IT WAS GONE. Broken, busted. The "knob" portion of the hub, everything coming up from the mounting flange, had busted off.. I knew that driver's front wheel wasn't pulling like it should have!
We finally pulled the Scout far enough forward that I was able to turn the wheel, back up, pull forward, etc. and get myself turned around.. we picked up our gear (except for Dan's coat..) and headed home. We stopped where I had pulled the shackles out, and found a few chunks of my hub.. after I replace the hub, we're going back up the trail to find the rest of the hub, and to reclaim Dan's jacket!
It was still fun... and at least I know why I wasn't going as far as I KNEW I should be able to go... ;)
-Tom