Do you have fun when you break?

Stinky

Stinky

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Many moons ago, I had a flat at Buttercup.  We were near the "Big-Bowl"....just a little South of "The Bowl."  It was right at sun-down.  The dunes are pretty hard in there.  We went and got my truck, and left my rail jacked up, on 3 tires.  I went to Yuma, and drive all over the place and finally get the tube patched....late at night.  We go back, drive back to the rail and put the tire on.  While we are fooling w/it, my father-in-law is all frustrated.  I tell him, you are the only one not having a good time.  The others agreed.    

Shortly afterwards, we had another flat, in Buttercup Valley....like a mile away.  We go and get the trailer and put it on.  I get stopped by the Rangers, before we get to Comp...if I remember right, I forgot to hook up the lights on the trailer.

While there, my nephew pulls up, alongside and talks to me and takes off (Bad, the Ranger was in the middle of a traffic-stop)....when he does, he spins his tires.  The Ranger says something like....who was that, that guy needs stop w/the "Power Display" (an AZ offense that gets teen-agers in trouble w/the law, not sure what the CA offense is called) or I'll arrest his ass (my translation) and take him to El Centro (being as he was a juve). WE laughed about that for years.  Could you see dat...your honor, this here juvenile spun his tires while accelerating from a stop....Judge: Ranger, that is what the whole ISD is out there for, for that kid to spin his tires....next time, find another offense.  There was no ticket given.

Anyway, we broke, and the buggy stayed on the trailer till I replaced those "May-Pop" tires (at any time) for the next trip.  It was frustrating as hell.

But, we didn't consider the trip ruined, we had a great time.  

Does it match any of your trips?

 
If I am not stressed out by getting to camp or back home its just part of the adventure. Camping with family/friends is where its at, no one got hurt and everyone got home ok it was a great trip.

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Depends on the severity, and location. Breaking down in the local desert where help is all around might end your weekend, but is not stressful to ruin a weekend of camping. 
 

Breaking down a few hundred miles South of the boarder with little to no help can be stressful. 
 

But in my experience the trips when we have had issues or one of the other buggy’s having an issue, while stressful when it’s happening. Those trips later become the most memorable and the ones you share and talk about. I’ve got dozens of Baja trips and the ones that go perfectly, eventually flow together in the memory. The ones where we had added adventure or challenges, like towing a buggy for 20 miles, getting stuck in the silt, sleeping in a barn, get help from a rancher or pulling into the hotel 5 hours late, in the dark or rain & freezing are the ones you later talk about. 

 
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It's a difficult thing staying positive while broke down. Its a "MUST" to have fun. I've been broke down all over the country. And enjoyed every dollar spent (LIE). What else can we do? Bitch about it? Better yet, call someone and bitch at them (Thanks Robert L). I feel like there's a bill coming in the mail for all my whining and complaining. If you can't have fun, stay at home! Peace

 
On one of the last trips with my old group. I woke up late looked out thru the trailer door and saw everybody was already dressed and ready to ride. I got dressed quickly and when I went to put on my jersey something happened in my neck. I strained a muscle or something. Couldn't move my head right or left more than an inch without severe pain. Couldn't ride that ride and sat in camp all day.  With that group all trips were short, Friday afternoon till Sunday afternoon and they were not much for drinking. I would bring a six pack of beer and bring four home, but go thru 30 gallons of fuel in a banshee.  That was the first trip I didn't bring home any beer, and neither did anybody else :lol:  

Another first trip of the year in W11 I had the rear sprocket hub strip out and I was done again on the first ride of the season and again I was sitting in camp.  This time I had enough beer to just hang in camp and relax, when our neighbors arrived.

Our neighbors had shown up while we were out on that ride. They had a old broke down motorhome and a bunch of trucks.  Like 10 guy's on quads. So any way they have a girlfriend in her Honda Civic goes to leave and she gets stuck. They jump in this one truck to try and get her un-stuck but instead get stuck trying to get there. 

It took three different trucks to get everything un-stuck and moving and I was about half way thru my beer when the ice cream truck rolled into their camp and got stuck, The first thing they did was jump back in that one truck again and it all starts again.  I reached into my cooler at that point and said, Nope not enough beer for this much entertainment.

BTW yes I would of walked over and helped them get un-stuck or not get stuck in the first place but they seemed to be enjoying themselves and had way to many people who knew exactly what to do :lol: , me walking over there and telling them what to actually do, They didn't actually need. 

 
If I think back,.. The MLK trip when I shattered my heel in GLAMIS wasn’t stressful at all.. I had some old Vicodin pills 💊 in the trailer and an extra dude from our group to drive my truck and TH from GLAMIS straight to Saddleback ER (1 mile from my house).. I just drank beer, popped pills and we even had in-and-out… my group packed my stuff… and the Eagle Scout made a temporary cast.

My 2-4 SXS belt breaks per trip upset me more than that…

.. I just never want to spend the night broken down in the dunes.. hence the 2 rides.

Do this game long enough and all of it beats working.. even break downs… so long as there isn’t a really bad injury or death in your group.

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Nope not so much.  My last buggy was a VeeWee powered, 002 Trans, no-travel 4 seat car & we beat the crap out of that thing trying to keep up with the long travel V8 buggies.  in 3 years we did not go through a single weekend without breaking something.  I put it up for sale, not knowing if we were going to buy something to replace it.  My boys & I loved that car, I taught them how to drive a stick in it, they drove the crap out of that thing in OW & we put a lot of miles on it, but it was just not up to the task of hanging with the big cars.  there was a LOT of sweat equity put into that car. 

I did buy a buggy from a local guy & broke a wheel on it, & that was pretty stressful, but after staring at it for 5 minutes, it ended up being easy to get out (swapped out the wheel with a sand jack.  I scratched the powder on the trailing arm which pissed me off, but that was my fault.

 
Fun when I break?  Not at the time, but afterwards the troubleshooting, fixing, drinking and BS'ing is the best part.  I really like when I can help someone else get through their challenge.  Having the right pulley when theirs locks up in the dunes, having relays, o-rings, you name it and I always bring my welder on big trips such as T-Day.  Don't want a frame crack to end the weekend.  We've used the welder the last three years from frame cracks to fifth wheel hitches to spring hangers.  One time welding a buddies car and didn't notice the ground clamp was by a steel braided brake line which the clamp decided to use for a ground - while working to fix one problem we caused another... 

Our group always seems to have what we need or something we can use to get by unless it's a catastrophic failure.  And we've had those too...

But like @NIKAL said, those are the times you remember most - and laugh about now.

 
I used to have a chenowth buggy that had some gremlins in it for sure.

I was towed more times than I can count. Never enjoyed the tow jobs. I even had to be pulled out a small bowl by two V8 cars chariot style 1 time. Must have added 1000lbs of sand weight to the car by the time we got back to camp.

A lot of funny stories involved with it though.

 
Possibly my best memory in the dunes would be losing a Jesus bolt on my rail’s steering link and hitching a ride with a buddy to the Glamis Beach Store for a replacement. Must have been April or so it was hot so we got ice cream. On the way back to my stranded buggy next to Olds, smashing through the whoops on sand highway one hand on the wheel, eating ice cream with the other. Two grown a$$ men just giggling like little kids thinking that was the coolest thing ever, while the rest of our group was out sweating in the hot sun which made the ice cream even more awesome.

 
I don't mind fixing stuff that breaks, it's just part of what you get and sometimes fun. Especially if you can make it better when you fix it. But I do get stressed if one of our rigs breaks down in the middle of the dunes in a difficult spot to get it out. Once I have it safely back at camp and I know I can just load it up to go home then I relax much more. 

I did not like break downs when my kids were younger. We used to have several of the Chinese buggies (Joyner, Carter, etc). Those POS were broke more than they ran. I hated the look of disappointment on my kids faces when they broke down. It was like they were saying "really, again dad ?" but without uttering a word. I can tell you, having more reliable stuff is way more fun!!

 
Always fun and when the real creative mind engages. Drive them out always, This time not only did I wreck the front but blew rear tire off as well. Car hit hole with right front and flew spinning in air until left rear impacted the side of the same hole.  Was told that when rear tire hit there was a huge explosion of sand. 

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Our group seems to be able to make the best of it when we break.   Nobody wants to be the one to go back to camp to get parts/fix it stuff.

 
I've lost count of how many times I've towed.. or been towed.. something broken.. lots of crashes.. have a video of my wife rolling her 400EX down China wall.. I drove it back with 2 flat/crumpled rear tires and handlebars bent like 2"-3" from the gas tank.. but made it back.

Once at Silverwood lake with a HS buddy, me on my Raptor 700R and him on some 450, a SXS coming the other way (buddy was leading).. almost hit him head on, .. they just clipped rear wheels and broke his off at the hub. They were jerks and wouldn't help us back to where we parked (maybe 10-15 miles away).. we got creative.. I had that 6 pack rack on my Raptor, so we turned his bike backwards and put his little rear bumper on top of my six pack rack bumper. I held his tire on the gas tank and we rode back .. really slow with his 3 wheeled ATV (no left rear tire) and him facing the same direction as me with his hands behind his back (rear steering the front).. took about an hour and a half to get back,.. bummed we never took photos.. was a hilarious wreck/tow.. etc.... .. we used a tow rope (cut tie down) I would keep under my seat to tie the 2 bumpers together.

Yeah, usually they're funny to look back at. Towed my SCU and my buddies Buckshot with my stock 2005 4x4 Suburban from way WAY far away in the dunes more times than I can count. 

As long as there are no injuries it's part of the sport. Last season I blew up my 2014 RZR motor in KOH (hit a rock, cracked the case, all the oil out killed the motor), then the next week, I blew the motor in my '19 Velocity (put it on it's lid, was upside down for 30 minutes, motor got cooked).

Was close to throwing in the towel .. Season was finished in mid Feb.. sucked.. I'll be 50 in March.. I think maybe 5 more years in this game (at most) .. and then it will just be easy vacations.. rentals.. beaches n' cocktails.. etc. 

I carry as many tools and recovery gear as I can.. always have. 

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 The unexpected break downs never got to me, it was always an adventure. It was guys that would break down every trip for the same thing that wore me out. These were the guys that wouldn't do basic maintenance on their toys, show up with the bandaid on their toy from the last trip expecting the quick fix to last the rest of the season, etc. Most of them have left the sport so not much of an issue any more.

 
1tonfun said:
 The unexpected break downs never got to me, it was always an adventure. It was guys that would break down every trip for the same thing that wore me out. These were the guys that wouldn't do basic maintenance on their toys, show up with the bandaid on their toy from the last trip expecting the quick fix to last the rest of the season, etc. Most of them have left the sport so not much of an issue any more.
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Our group doesn't put up with this for long, a little pestering in  camp and in bewteen trips either gets them motivated or find another group.

Breaks in the dunes are a good time, we make the most of it, when the weather is good.

 
When we get ready for a ride, we do a count of who's coming. Once we see all the riders and machines they're on....."You're OUT" The look on their faces is devastating. We're not pulling you back. Quick way to ruin a good ride. Allow a SQUID on a clapped out machine to join ya. Peace

 
Surround yourself with good people and who cares what happens.  I've broken down...had a great time.  I've broke bones, refused to go to the hospital because I was having a good time and didn't want a cast to ruin it.  (Broken wrist...still rode for 4 more days, broken ribs...now that sucked, dislocated pelvis...still rode for a few more days, broken hand...rode for 2 more days...it's probably why I deal with chronic pain now... :lol:  )

On our rides, someone breaks down we all jump in to help and get back moving.  We even pick up stragglers and help them out too.  Shoot...last season Hozay nearly killed a guy towing him back to camp...we were dying the whole way.   :lol:

 
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