Had a great day on the trail. There was a group of 10 built Jeeps out of head of us. I was bumming out that I called for a 10am start. I usually start at 930am here. Which would have put out ahead of them. There were just 4 of us. Brady, EJ, Brad and myself. Everyone was built and were good drivers. So no trail issues. After following 13 jeeps for a while. We were backed up at the optional obstacle in the gulch. The jeeps were still getting the last of their group thru. Fortunately, they kept the main road open and let us by. So then we easily were able stay ahead of them.
The first mile or so of the trail was certainly a lot more difficult. But didn't give us any problems. With it being dry I found I could stick my lines just fine. I just had to tap on the front locker at a few key moment to crawl up things. Up the middle right of whale rock, sideways up the double slab and take the S turn thru sheps revenge. Honestly those obstacles seemed about the same. I have taken those same lines so many times so it seemed pretty easy. Having new tires helped also. Brady's new gen BFG AT's seemed to hook up well also.
Coming down EJ's 40 blew a radiator hose and hot water over his feet. We was able to fix the hose quickly and we all chipped in with water. He water wasn't topped off and need to stop often. So I went down to get a 5 gal jug of water for him. Couldn't find water around the gunsmoke. So I went to Doug's shop and he he promptly filled up our jug. We passed Brad at speed going back in but didn't see EJ. So we drove all the way back up the trail to the S turn looking for him. Turned around and saw him leaving the Gunsmoke. Not sure how we missed him. Glad he make it back ok with Brad's help.
I wish my lower hose was the only problem that day. Thanks for trying to get water back, and everyone chipping in. I'm guessing we easily added 3+ gallons of water to the rad and block, and I still had to add almost another 2 when we got back to the Gunsmoke. I knew that hose was eventually going to bite me in the ass, and it did. I have plans on trying to keep a bit cooler on the trail, but that will be happening once this is driving again.
Driving home went great until it didn't.
Due to my foot, my mom offered to drive, and I begrudgingly accepted. Brad was kind and offered to follow us back to make sure nothing else happened, and I'm really glad he did. About 2/3 of the way home, right before Wilkerson Pass, we started smelling something burning occasionally. It kind of smelled like coolant, so I thought that there must have been some dripping of the block onto the exhaust and the wind has shifted, causing us to smell it. Pretty suddenly, Brad sped up and motioned for us to pull over, as we were really burning something. I hopped out, and all that I saw was a stream of oil pouring out of my exhaust flange. I thought for sure we had toasted the motor. It was really strange, as oil pressure was great as we pulled off, and there were no other signs of something failing majorly. I start looking around, and everything is covered in oil. It soaked my cab under the mats and everything from the bell housing down on the left side was covered. I start feeling all of my cases, and they all feel exceptionally warm. I pull the fill plugs to see if there is any oil left that I could reach. Nope. Somehow, my Trans/Toybox AND transfer case all managed to lose oil. I'm really glad Brad was behind us, as my mom would probably have not felt/heard the change in the cases as she was driving, and they probably would have gotten to the point of grenading.
I'm completely hypothesizing here, as I have not had time to start the autopsy. Finals week and preparing to move is killing me. Now, the Trans/ Toybox is expected. They partially share Oil. The NV4500 should still have some oil left when I drain it. I have no idea what to expect from the Toybox. The Split case is very unexpected. Here is my theory. I've had very small amounts of oil slowly go missing from my split case. I had no idea where it was going, and assumed that there was a small amount going out of the flanges when they started spinning, as there was a small oil ring above the rear flange. I'm now betting that the seal between the Toybox / Split case failed at highway speed and that it was probably slowly leaking, causing me to lose the oil in there. I have no idea why that seal may have gone bad, as they should have been rebuilt by a VERY reputable builder (Valley Hybrids). I've heard that the toyboxes absolutely hate being overfilled with oil. When they get overfilled, they puke oil out of the shifter. So, I'm assuming that the toybox got overfilled, got angry, and puked oil everywhere. What that doesn't explain is why so much oil came out. I easily watched half a quart flow off the exhaust, I probably have another 1/2 quart in the cab, and I have no idea how much I lost on the road / everywhere else on the car. I wouldn't expect that an overly fully toybox could purge that much oil that quickly out of a shifter hole. Even if the boot came off, I'm not sure how easily that much oil could get out of a quarter-sized hole. Who knows how much came out, my panicked state of mind was probably not thinking that clearly. I'll have to measure when I drain everything. I'm sure that it is either the Toybox or NV that had a majority of the problem, as it was all the super expensive synthetic gear oil that the NV requires that was draining everywhere and was coating the cab.
The really strange thing is that there were no symptoms at all leading up to the failure. There were no strange noises, whining, clunks, vibrations. Nothing. I could see that much oil coming out if cases started to separate, but I would assume that there would be several holes in whatever case started to separate. All the cases were torqued and loctited as well, so I'm pretty sure they aren't coming apart. All the drain/fill plugs were tight and accounted for, so I'm doubting one fell out and replaced itself. Even if a gasket fell out, which is pretty much impossible, I doubt that that much oil would come out that quickly. Anyways, I'm not 100% sure what fully happened, especially since there were no symptoms before the problem. I'd love some other theories or ideas to what failed if you have them.
Anyways, Brad, being the great guy that he is, helped me limp to a turnoff, and then drove us home to grab the truck and trailer, and was even kind enough to go back and help me load. 11/10 I would break down with Brad again. Also, major thanks to everyone that donated water and everything else to help get me off the trail.
So, the cruiser drives, and it drove on and off the trailer and through several gears getting off the highway just fine, so I don't think that there is any major damage in any of the cases. Once I get up to Proffitts, I'll probably drop everything and inspect just to be safe, which I'm REALLY not looking forward to, but at a minimum, there is probably going to be a new seal going into the Split Case, and I'm probably going to be isolating the Toybox from the NV, as it really doesn't need to share the oil. It's a 1:1 straight through to the Transfer, and only really builds heat in Low, which is really only used for short periods on obstacles.
Anyways, it was a mostly fun day with some disappointment mixed in, but it could have gone a lot worse.
-DJ