An unlucky day at work

[frozensparky]

Well forget Friday the 13th, Thursday the 12th was a horribly unlucky day for me. Some of you would have seen this pic I posted yesterday of my truck stuck in the snow. Whiteout conditions and snow drifts made it hard to see the edge of the unplowed road and I slowly slid into the ditch. Dug it out a little and then tried to get it out in 4 wheel drive. My 4x4 fail so I had to wait (about 2 hrs total) before a coworker came and pulled me out.



When I was out I headed to site only a few miles away with only 2 wheel drive. Luckily the operator stayed with me because my truck got stuck in the middle of the site, no hill, no ditch but no 4 wheel drive. (no pic)

Well I figured I better get home and not push my luck too much. Got off the remote road and was heading back on the highway doing about 80 km/hr about 50MPH when I lost my steering. Believe me when I say losing steering at that speed is absolutely terrifying. My tire hit the edge and I was pulled down into the ditch (about 15 ft deep). Snow came crashing over the hood blinding me, not that I could steer if I could see anyways. I came to rest about 100feet down the ditch and 30 ft off the road. I am very thankful the vehicle stayed on its wheels. Luckily there was also a lot of traffic so a bunch of guys stopped and helped me out. In the end I had a wrecker come and pull my truck out, I made it home without injury so I am thankful for that. Today is the last day I have to work (vacation until after new years) so I am staying in the office. Have a safe Christmas guys and gals

[danap3681]

Twice in one day?? WOW! Glad you are okay. Time to invest in a winch??

Enjoy your long vacation. Would be sweet to be off for that long. I only get 3 days for the Christmas holidays

[Get-n-fit]

Dam man, glad you're OK.

[Phattso]

Glad you are ok, sparks. That was a terrifying read. Besides you being ok, what is really amazing is how tough that Ford truck is.

[bustasinclair]

Sounds like a miserable day. I've had a few like that in my lifetime.

Maybe if you'd had a bunch of us deadlifters with you we could have hoisted that beotch out (notsrs)

Enjjoy your holidays, man!!

[frozensparky]

Twice in one day?? WOW! Glad you are okay. Time to invest in a winch??

Enjoy your long vacation. Would be sweet to be off for that long. I only get 3 days for the Christmas holidays

I have a feeling the steering may have been damaged in the first off road experience. Not many guys have winches up here (not a lot to attach too near the roads) so we just carry tow ropes

Dam man, glad you're OK.

I'm counting my blessings for a 100 different things, nothing under that snow, fresh powdery snow instead of hard ice, still don't know how the truck stayed on its feet with the grade of the ditch.

Glad you are ok, sparks. That was a terrifying read. Besides you being ok, what is really amazing is how tough that Ford truck is.

I do like the fords for a work truck, they have a pretty solid front end, which makes them a little rougher but I've had chevs (which I love the ride) and they're front ends just don't hold up in the oil patch up here.

Sounds like a miserable day. I've had a few like that in my lifetime.

Maybe if you'd had a bunch of us deadlifters with you we could have hoisted that beotch out (notsrs)

Enjjoy your holidays, man!!

honestly the worst driving day at work I have ever had.

[mcbourque]

Oh the joy of snow driving...

Seriously, glad to see you are ok. What you went through sound really really scary.

I was in so many snow driving related accidents when I was a kid in Québec (and before seat belts)
Most people not used to snow don't seem to realize the true danger of it.

[Brad805]

I drove to FSJ yesterday and there were lots of vehicles in the ditch. You know the roads are bad when the snowplow truck is in the ditch. I ended up waiting at the top of the Taylor hill for 20min because of all the trucks having to chain up. It seems mother nature is making up for the years we didn't have quite so much snow. It is not supposed to stop until the weekend.

[frozensparky]

I drove to FSJ yesterday and there were lots of vehicles in the ditch. You know the roads are bad when the snowplow truck is in the ditch. I ended up waiting at the top of the Taylor hill for 20min because of all the trucks having to chain up. It seems mother nature is making up for the years we didn't have quite so much snow. It is not supposed to stop until the weekend.

Ang saw that snow plow truck, she said he was lucky that he got it stopped where he did. Next time you come to John PM me, if I'm not working I'll meet up for lunch

[JDizleSwoleizle]

Strong user name to post correlation. Better luck in the future man. People loose it down here in like 2" of snow, looks crazy up there.

[sakustoms]

Sucks to hear. Glad you made it out with no injuries. You guys can keep that snow. Ugh.

[beachguy498]

Oh the joy of snow driving...

Seriously, glad to see you are ok. What you went through sound really really scary.

I was in so many snow driving related accidents when I was a kid in Québec (and before seat belts)
Most people not used to snow don't seem to realize the true danger of it.

Anything over 4" of snow, I stay home or go in later after the roads are cleared. I have every confidence in my driving, but just too many nitwits to deal with. I bought my wife the SUV a few years ago after a really bad winter.

I only had one accident in the snow. I was out with my brother (really bad evening for driving..) and we got hit by a snow plow. Cut open the side of the car like a can opener. Good thing we weren't hurt.

Rob

[Brad805]

Ang saw that snow plow truck, she said he was lucky that he got it stopped where he did. Next time you come to John PM me, if I'm not working I'll meet up for lunch

The CRS guy was close to going over. There was an empty logging truck that almost rolled over at around Mile 65 too. I will shoot you a PM a few days before my next FSJ trip.

[Corbi]

Time to invest in a winch??

I'd say it's time to invest in Airline tickets and a giant moving van to Arizona.

[paolo59]

That is some serious snow!

[Old-Time-Lifter]

Wow.... had similar things happen and it's never fun.

Good you made it through without injury.

[justboo2u]

When you take your truck snow-swimming, arent you supposed to supply the 'nose plugs'?

Glad to hear you (and the truck) survived w/o too much 'snorting snow'!!!

[SteveWright1]

glad your OK frozen sparky

twice in 1 day
snow is great on pictures or when you're safely at home in centrally heated house or apartments etc
but no fun at all, when driving in it or through it

[Whatanejit]

You are a lucky guy.


I am so pleased you lived to tell the tale.

Stay safe!

[StressMonkey]

Ugh. That was hard to read. Glad you're ok.

[DocHoss]

Yikes - glad you are alright! Makes me glad I'm in central California. I have no experience with snow driving (grew up in Hawai'i) - kind of freaks me out.

I love Canada - except that your balmy South is our frigid North!

[Big_Sky_Guy]

Glad you stayed safe! The borrow ditch is better than oncoming traffic!

[VoxExMachina]

What was the deal with your 4WD? You say it failed.

Do you mean it couldn't get you out, or that something in the system broke?

[frozensparky]

Glad you stayed safe! The borrow ditch is better than oncoming traffic!

Your right about that

What was the deal with your 4WD? You say it failed.

Do you mean it couldn't get you out, or that something in the system broke?

Looks like a broken vacuum line not allowing the automatic hubs to engage. That is one thing I don't like about the automatic hubs. I drive a lot in the mud as well and I've had problems with the vacuum lines before sucking up mud which wreaks havoc on 4x4 systems.

I'm guessing a tie rod end may have been the culprit for the loss of steering on the last one. More than likely it was something damaged when I got pulled out the first time. Although I haven't heard from the mechanic yet so I'm not entirely sure.

Thanks everybody for the kind words.