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Posted by David Sherman on Monday, June 15, 2009 at 00:58:24 :
In Reply to: Re: M37 locked up transmission problem solved posted by Jerry in Idaho on Monday, June 15, 2009 at 00:17:44 :
The cabin's at 3200', but the pass going over from Wallace is 4700', and there's a shady gulch on the north side of it that just melted out last week.
I've had good luck with batteries surviving the winter there if they're good strong batteries to start with, they're thoroughly charged in the fall, and I disconnect the ground cable. No matter what the rig, there always seems to be some faint load with the cable hooked up. The 2 batteries in the 5-ton wrecker survived the winter too and were strong enough to crank the diesel for the fairly long time it takes that particular engine to start. The thermometer said it got down to 11 below last winter, which is about typical, and any batter that isn't well-charged will freeze and swell up at that temperature. I also have a big bus battery for lights in the cabin, but the solar panel keeps it charged over the winter.
On the way out today I passed a couple guys who had a jeep parked in the road and a rope down into a gulch down a brushy hillside as steep as a cow's face. Turns out the guy's son's Blazer was 200' down the hill and the only reason it wasn't clear to the bottom was it ran into a big tree. I would have never known it was down there. Once he pointed, I saw a tiny speck of blue through the bushes. I had to ask how it ended up going over the edge on a straight section of the road. Turns out the kid and his buddy were drinking last November and around 2 in the morning got the notion to go for a drive over the mountains and drink some more. That time of year, the sun never shines on that stretch of road, and some springs run across it and freeze into a sheet of ice. To make it worse, the road has quite a slant towards the outside there. I've had a few dicey times going across that stretch. They were coming down the road, too fast and too drunk for an icy road. God has mercy on drunks, and the fools not only survived rolling at least 6 times, but managed to climb up the hill and hike another mile or two up the road to where they could get cell phone reception and call (the dad, of course) for help at 4 AM. Presumably the roll sobered them up a bit.
I offered all sorts of assistance, with M35s and the wrecker, but these guys had spent all winter planning their attack and they were determined to effect the recovery using a double line to the wreck, a snatch block 10' up in a tree across the road, and two 3/4 ton pickups for pulling. It seems to me that with the block way up in a tree, and the pickup not much heavier than the Blazer, the first pickup's probably going hoist itself up in the air, but I guess the second will do some pulling. Should be an epic adventure. I may have to go watch. I expect they'll have the road blocked all day, and I expect it won't go exactly like they expect. The Blazer's a total wreck, of course, but the kid wants it back and dad's going to help him get it. The funny thing is somebody else ran off a different straight section of that road a year ago, and he also went about 200' down the mountain. Not sure if alcohol was involved the other time, but it seems like it had to have been. They killed a good tree winching that wreck up. Wish they'd just let me use my wrecker and save the trees.
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