Did ya miss me last night?

[nero279]

OK i know it was only one night i weren't on for.

I was just sittin down to do another chapter of study then was gonna come on here when i got a txt - "u still up?"

so i replys -'yep', within a few seconds phone rings "hello mate, how u doin?, how do you fancy comin out to give us a hand pullin bob and dave out?" the conversation goes on along the lines of

"We went out laning, bob's disco got stuck about half way through, so we managed to get through in dave's hilux, dragging bob through aswell, til' the hilux overheated. I didn't have my phone to ring u so called a taxi from bob's phone to pick us up in the middle of nowhere at the junction where the byway meets the main road and take me back to daves workshop to get my 110 and more strops and drawbar and phone"

So i says OK i'll bring my motor and meet you at the petrol station in 10 minutes. I'll not bore you with the exact details but i went out met the fella, he was plastered in mud, head to toe, and had got a taxi like that from the middle of nowhere, to about 12 miles away, also in the middle of nowhere.

So we went out to where they were stuck, they had got the hilux out but the top rad hose had split, the winch had overheated and packed up. Now this hilux sit's on 36" boggers, with about 8" of lift. And had been up and down the lane, a couple of times now spinning and slipping and trying to drag the disco out (Which is on a 2" lift and 31" a/ts), and left rut's up to about 18"+ deep in places. The disco is belly down in the ruts all 4 wheels spinning freely about 120yds away from the road still. The road is the main road from Ashford to Teneterden, and very busy, the lane comes out opposite a junction, on a slight bend just before the brow of a hill. Traffic regularly going in both directions at 60 mph plus.... TBC

[madcampbell]

Lets see have the other half, sound like fun

[Woodzie]

Come on type quicker ,,,,,,Any photos too???

[nero279]

...continued

sorry got no pics, had to go do something


..... so just as we turned up, another friend had just got there no 4x4 though just a 5 series bmw estate. Police car turns up and sees this massive hilux covered in mud, the bmw, a yellow 110, and my surf parked on the verge in the junction opposite the lane. and says "whats up? are you lost?" to dave, who replies "nah, me mates stuck down the lane, we're just helpin him out". The policeman looks over his shoulder, to see bob's rooflight's and headlights down the lane, laughs, closes his window and drives off.

So we walk down to have a look at just how stuck the disco is, and yep as we had been told, belly down all 4 wheels spinning freely. Bull bar bent and buckled, towin eye ripped off the chassis on one side, other recovery point still good. One broken strop. and about 120 yds of deep ruts before the black stuff. Another friend on the way. With a 70 series LC with a good old trusty Ramsey winch on the front. So we waits for him to turn up.

About 20 minutes later after discussing how we're getting this disco out, the LC turns up. At this point we've decided digging the disco out so he can climb out the ruts is a no go as it's only gonna slip back in 10 ft further along. Chain of vehicles isn't going to work as it's so heavily rutted we'll just end up with more vehicles stuck. The options are dig out the fence on one side of the lane, drive into the field the other side and drag/winch from there. Or drive the LC into the lane as far as possible without risking it getting stuck, then strop that to the 110 with it's full difflock and transmission brake, and if necessary to me and the hilux. We chose the second option. And drove the LC into the lane in 2 WD so as we still had 4WD if that started to get stuck. Drove in about 15 yds and was already in the soft stuff. Payed out full winch cable, not enough length. Strop on the disco, then a second strop from that to the winch hook. Reverse in the 110 and double a strop between that and the LC and it's just clear of the road. So no more room to add extra vehicles to the chain. Started to winch, and very slowly the disco rocks forwards then stops, the 110 and the LC start to creep down th lane, then the LC headlights dim, the revs drop and the gearbox/clutch in the winch starts to slip.

Idle up to 3000 on the LC, headlights and worklights off so the winch can have as much available power from the alternator as possible. But now we got to work in the dark, apart from what little light is available from the torches we got. It's already gone midnight now. Go again. and slowly but surely this 15 year old+ LC and the old faithful ramsey winch begin to drag the disco up the lane before the winch starts to struggle again. Ok slacken off the cable give the winch and alternator a few minutes to cool. And go again....

[plumb bob]

Can't wait for te next episode! (it's like LOST)

[nero279]

........

.... Again the winch powers up and again the LC and 110 creep a foot or 2 down the lane, then the disco begins to move, not sure if any wheels ave made it to the floor by now or not, but there' still 2/3rds of the distance to go and the deepest section of ruts too, which the discos just about to fall into, and despite the drivers frantic attempts to try and climb out the ruts for a few feet it's just not happening, so in it goes. And at this point i reckon all 4 wheels were at least 2 or 3 inches off the ground, and the winch starts to struggle again, pulling a disco through the mud on it's belly. But slowly but surely the disco slowly creeps towards us and the winch keeps going. Out the hole but still 50 yds of ruts to go, so again we have to break and let the winch cool down.

Off we go again and now the disco is through the worst of it but still unable to drive out. Making good progress at this point and all of a sudden there's a loud "clliicksssscchchtttt" sort of noise and everything stops....

[Ballibeg]

Off we go again and now the disco is through the worst of it but still unable to drive out. Making good progress at this point and all of a sudden there's a loud "clliicksssscchchtttt" sort of noise and everything stops....

and out pop Jeremy Beadle and shouts............

[plumb bob]

.... Again the winch powers up and again the LC and 110 creep a foot or 2 down the lane, then the disco begins to move, not sure if any wheels ave made it to the floor by now or not, but there' still 2/3rds of the distance to go and the deepest section of ruts too, which the discos just about to fall into, and despite the drivers frantic attempts to try and climb out the ruts for a few feet it's just not happening, so in it goes. And at this point i reckon all 4 wheels were at least 2 or 3 inches off the ground, and the winch starts to struggle again, pulling a disco through the mud on it's belly. But slowly but surely the disco slowly creeps towards us and the winch keeps going. Out the hole but still 50 yds of ruts to go, so again we have to break and let the winch cool down.

Off we go again and now the disco is through the worst of it but still unable to drive out. Making good progress at this point and all of a sudden there's a loud "clliicksssscchchtttt" sort of noise and everything stops....

Oooh, oooh winch broke, no cable snapped, or winch bummper pulled right off???

[Woodzie]

This is like the old Flash Gorden in B&W.......Every episode ends in a cliff hanger

[MattF]

I'd like to know how he got the disco that far in, if the wheels were off the ground for that distance.

[nero279]

..... the saga continues

....... I know you're all thinking it's something stupid and all that and that's why he's left a gap and started a new post........





























....... damn you you're right. Working in the dark we've now forgotten that the winch cables been extended with the strops, well it was about 1 and a half hours ago we hooked it up. Yes the winch hook has been winched straight into the fairlead, and it's proper stuck and ain't coming out despite kicking it yanking it and whatever else. Well eventually we free it up take the extensions off pay out the cable which needs re-winding as it's all loosened on the drum trying to free the hook. and put the winch straight to the disco. And about 1 o'clock this morning the disco's finally on solid enough ground to unhook. So everything's de-rigged and the 110's unhooked and parked the other side of the road. The LC has to be guided out as he's reversing in the pitch black onto the main road. And the disco's finally free, so after a few minutes chatting and whatever the BMW sets off. The drawbar is hooked up on the back of the disco, which is still running sweet and other than the bull bar and towing eye, and a little bit of damage to the door bottoms, steps, etc appears to be still in pretty good order. And they set off towing the hilux behind them. It's arranged that the 110 driver's calling in back at mine for a cup of T so we turn round and set off, him following me. And you might think this is where the story ends, and it does. Until a mile down the road and at 50 mph, something looking like a crushed red bull can hit's my windscreen and luckily bounces off. At which point i remember i drunk a can of redbull when we first got there, part crushed it and shoved it between the bull bars and bumper. At the same time i laid a big old 3D cell maglite, lighter and cigarettes on my bonnet! Ohhhhh SSSHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!TTTTTTTT! Hazards on, ok layby there, bugger missed it, can't do anything too sudden or that torch is gonna break something, ok calm down, calm down, can't stop here it's on a slight bend and a gentle crest, if i can make it there there's another layby in 400 yds on the other side of the road i'll pull across to there. And that's what i did, maglite still nicely sitting on the bonnet resting against the wiper where i left it. Lighter and cigs fallen off but never mind. 110 stops to see what's up, and i walk round to tell him what i've done. and as i walk round i notice there's still a strop attached to his recovery bar and just starting to slip off the rear door mounted spare wheel. Anyway all sorted and off we go back to mine and walk in at 01.35 this morning.


Here endeth the story. Just thought i'd share it to keep a few of u amused for a while.

[Apache]

Come on! I'm on tenterhooks! (Tenterhook - instrument used to stretch canvas - common useage to describe unbearable tension))

<edit> Odd, your final post wan't there when I wrote this... am I time travelling?

[nero279]

I'd like to know how he got the disco that far in, if the wheels were off the ground for that distance.

I Should've explained :-

It was driven in from the other end which wasn't as bad but we still weren't taking all of us round there to try and recover him from soft ground and drive a mile and a quarter(ish) through the lane to get to him risking getting more vehicles into trouble. Plus he was so close to this end of the lane, we did it from this end.

Most of the rut's had only been dug out this deep by the hilux as he was trying to drag the disco out before his rad hose split, and the winch packed up.

I think we would have gone in from the other end to recover him, if he hadn't already been dragged this far (about 500 yds further on from where he first got stuck)by the hilux before we all got there.

edit: Might be less than this, i wasn't there when he first got stuck but yeah you see what i mean anyway?