Having just arrived home the day before from another successful visit to the Scoliosis Care Center, my Lineman buddy calls me and asks for some help. Not having a clue what he was talking about I replied,
“Sure Man, What’s up?”
His family had rented a cabin up in the mountains for the weekend. As he was turning his 2000 Ford Excursion around to load up to leave, he heard a loud POP… then no steering at all!! You see he has 6 of his 8 kids with him and needed help bussing the family back home, while his Excursion hopped a ride on a tow truck. I scarfed down some food, filled up my Lincoln Navigator and headed out… after all what are friends for right?!?
I have never been to this section of the Blue Mountains. I hear people talk about it all the time and how beautiful it is. I know there is snow up there but they should have the main road plowed. The Lincoln Navigator has 4 wheel drive so it shouldn’t be an issue. Looking at the map on how to get there I notice one route is shorter in distance and faster than the others…
That’s a no brainer… I’m going that way. Well I soon found out about 6 miles after passing a sign that said,
”Road Closed December 1 thru March 1”
That there was a reason why. The gravel road was dry and in great shape for the first 6 miles or so. Then a little snow here and little more there… then… OH CRAP IT’S GETTING DEEP!! The Navigator doesn’t sit that high off the ground unlike my Excursion or my Lineman Buddy’s Excursion.
The ruts in the snow from previous vehicles were pulling my car all over the place. I just maintained a good speed and plowed through it. Snow was scrapping along the bottom of the car and I began to second guess if this was the right way to go.
”Don’t get stuck… Don’t get stuck…”
There was no turning back now!! Mainly because there was no place to turn around on this one lane road with snow piled up everywhere. Unless I wanted to do the Austin Powers turnaround…
I stopped in a place where the snow wasn’t so deep because of the over hanging pine trees and gave him a call.
”How deep is the snow up there? I’m scrapping the bottom of my car!”
“The road is plowed up here, which way did you come?”
“The shortest fastest way of course… I’m only a mile from you… The ol’ Navigator has got this!! See you in a minute!”
Sure enough about a 1/2 mile up the road the snow plow had cleared the way. After having 2 Great Pyrenees dogs running next to me barking for a 1/4 mile, I made it. Yes he called me a Dumbass for going that way but I just told him, I ain’t no sissy and I just…
I can’t believe what had broke on his Excursion. His whole steering linkage was on the ground, well he had it tied up when I got there.
The shaft coming out of the steering box that connects to the pitman arm had sheared off completely!! WOW!! This is a picture of my Excursion just to show you what I’m talking about.
He is so lucky that this happened in the driveway and not on the highway. Super scary when you step back and think about it. I’m a little freaked out at this point. My Excursion has 50k more miles than his does… is mine gonna just gonna snap off too?!?!? He sent me some pictures of it and it looks like it has been cracked for a while due to the rust.
He was just turning around on a snowy/icy driveway so there wasn’t that much friction fighting the steering… mind blowing…
The tow truck finally got there and we watched him load it and haul it off back to his house. It was a Sad Day in Man-Town as we like to say…
<sub€My Buddy Crying As His Excursion gets hauled off
That giant Excursion on the back of that tow truck looked hella funny as it took off down the mountain. His Excursion has a 6 inch lift with 37 inch tires and Mike has a 4 inch Lift with 35 inch tires. We both love this beast of a rig and having that legendary 7.3L Powerstroke diesel under the hood… make these rigs a very sought after vehicle. Plus they quit making them in 2005, which is stupid from my point of view.
I’m just happy that this big family made it home safe after a great weekend in the Blue Mountains. This could have been an absolute disaster if that thing would have broke anywhere other than the driveway. That’s super scary to think about it. Losing steering going down the road… I will pass on that experience.
I tried to inspect mine for any cracks but it’s pretty much impossible to see in there. Especially when you are trying to see a hairline crack. I’m gonna change mine out ASAP!!
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