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Jeep Stranded in Tillamook

2K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  atreggie 
#1 ·
Went out to Brown's Camp in Tillamook today. My Jeep didn't make it back though - clutch burnt out and just slips now. Problem is that it's at the bottom of a steep gravel hill. Tried a couple of rigs and could NOT get her pulled back up the hill. Also fried my winch and battery trying. My insurance will tow it back to Portland, but I can't find a local towing company that has 4WD. Any suggestions? Anyone got a rig tough enough that want's to help for $$$? Kirk, 530-736-8911
 
#2 ·
Sorry you are stuck. Was just there until about 7pm but I don't have anything to get you out. Good luck.
 
#5 ·
Jeep is out of the woods!

Just a follow up - I did get the Jeep out on Sunday and got it to a repair shop. In the end I blew a whole weekend on this, which isn't the best way to spend my time off, but it all worked out fine.

I have towing insurance through Geico and to my amazement they agreed to go get the Jeep. They hooked me up with Speed's Towing of Vancouver, who came and got me at my house. I guided the driver to the Jeep, we loaded it up, and then he could NOT get up the extremely steep hill it was at the bottom of. His truck wasn't slipping, it just did not have enough power. We unloaded the Jeep and his rig could barely, barely make it back up the hill on its own. So we used the winch for loading trucks on his flat bed to pull the Jeep up the hill 20 ft at a time. It took almost 2 hours just to get it up the hill, but eventually we got it up, loaded it back on the truck, and cruised back home. The driver, Joey, was very patient and determined to get me out of this bind. I tipped generously and wrote positive reviews for him on FB, Yelp, and Google.

Lesson learned though - I frequently wheel alone. This is a bad idea. If I had just had one buddy with me with a winch we could have gotten the Jeep out much, much easier. But the same is to be said if my own winch had not gotten burned up in the process.
 
#6 ·
So glad you made it out. Where is this steep hill? I can't recall seeing any roads that steep in the TSF but want to now!
 
#7 ·
So glad you made it out. Where is this steep hill? I can't recall seeing any roads that steep in the TSF but want to now!
If you look at the Tillamook State Forest OHV map it was exactly at the marking "4C" for Powerline Trail #4C that my Jeep failed.

I was going down this really steep hill in 1st gear, 4WD Low. When I got through the steepest part it was straight and flattened out. I pushed in the clutch and coasted down the rest of the hill. I did not know that there was a potential to overspeed the clutch and damage it from doing this... I smelled burning clutch and stopped, but it was too late. My clutch was completely, totally gone. No "explosion", just a burnt clutch smell. Oh well, it was probably time for a new clutch any way, and I learned something very valuable here - do NOT coast downhill in 4low. I did not know this...

Exploding Clutch - Tech Tip
 
#9 ·
The winch is a Smittybilt XRC 8,000 lb. It was on the Jeep when I bought it and it's pulled a buddy out once and helped me with tasks around my land - pulling dead trees into a burn pile, etc. I was pretty happy with the winch up to this point. The winch motor didn't seem to get that hot, but the positive lead from the battery got so hot that it melted the lead lug off the battery. I tried hooking it to a different lug (Optima Yellow Top battery) and the lead immediately started glowing red with very little pull. My conclusion was that although it was still working it must have a short in the motor to cause it to pull so much current. Maybe the incline was just too much for it. My Jeep is heavily loaded with 3/16" steel armor, full rack, roof top tent, cabinets, fridge, stove, etc. It's a full camping setup.

Even if the motor is okay, the winch clearly was not enough in this situation. Looking back, maybe I should have hooked up one of my snatch blocks and tried a 2:1 pull. I will probably just buy a new battery for now and hook the old winch up until I scrape together the funds for something else. I'll probably go the route of a nice Warn 12,000 lb winch and forget about ever having any more trouble... I really want to have a bomb proof rig that will get me out to adventure (hiking, mountain biking, snow shoeing) AND get me back again.
 
#12 ·
Wow. And I thought I was the king of stuff! :worthy:

I'm guessing the weight contributed to many problems this weekend. Time to use it to strengthen things up.

Are you sure a new battery is in store? Sounds more like a winch problem than a battery problem?
 
#15 ·
The root problem with the winch is indeed the motor, but I will probably get a new battery though just because of the damage done to it. I will need to check it out when I get the Jeep back. I use the same Optima Yellow Top in the rear to supply power to the fridge, so I may just swap them around as the fridge battery is not critical.

I like the "Gadget" name... I might have to use that.

After two weeks the shop finally got a chance to look at my Jeep and verified that the clutch is "shredded", but fortunately no other damage was done. They are resurfacing the flywheel and I have ordered a new LUK 05-065 clutch package from Amazon.
 
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