April 15, 2005
Lots and lots of 4x4 trucks are heading out of town since this is Easter weekend and the weather looks promising. Snow has been coming in - adding to the thrill.
Our aim is for Langjokull and many others have similar plans.
Sometimes a simple day tour turns into a challenging stream of minor and major troubles. This trip is a true trouble trip.
The offroad part starts just north of Thingvellir where another group has got this F-350 is hopelessly stuck in mud. We help them pull it out and it takes three trucks to do it since we haven't go a winch.
Soon we head further north through Kaldidalur. Usually a nice route to take at the summer time but this time it is filled with snow and takes a while to get through.
Oli and his dad on the Explorer have the bigger 44 inch wheels on.
4x4 Off Roads!
My Sport Trac is here of course.
Simmi and his girlfriend Agnes on the flaming red Toyota Landcruiser is trying out the new 37 inch Toyo tires. It has a 350 Chevy under the hood - so no lack of power.
Jon Arni and his grandpa Jon on the Ferrari red Ranger on 38 inch Monster Mudders.
All four 4x4s at the hut by Langjokull.
Looking up from the hut you can see just how many have decided to try this route. All the black dots are 4x4 trucks on their way up the slope. Clouds on the ice-cap are making the visibility poor.
Thick layer of fresh snow is making this slope difficult to traverse for all. The Ranger seems to be doing pretty good though.
The Landcruiser on the 37 inch Toyo tires is not doing as well. The Toyo tires are brand new and also have hard sidewalls. Simmi has to go pretty low in air-pressure and soon after a tire falls off the rim on the inside. This calls for jacking the Toyota up to get air back into the tire.
This is probably the best vehicle to use in these conditions. A full size snowbus.
View over to Husafell in the distance.
The Toyota is not going to make it on its own up the slope and Oli hooks it up for pulling it on with slight assistance from the LC.
BANG!
Oli's rear air bag bursts and the truck falls down. Rear tire is scraping the footstep.
Lucky enough Oli has a spare air-bag.
The high lift jack is used to raise the Explorer and the Toyota serves as an anchor to make it stable.
Here is the problem. The upper radius arms have bent the brackets inwards enough to touch the air-bag and punching a hole. The strength of the brackets is obviously not enough to stand up to the 44 inch tires.
To access the bracket the rear tires are removed one at a time.
As you can see by the position of the air-bag, the rear axle does not sit correctly.
Meanwhile, Simmi is having his own trouble. The transmission is not working as it should be.
Here is the problem. A small rubber fitting is busted and there are no spare parts close at hand.
Weather is getting worse and the best decision now is to head back.
Oli can only drive forwards since backing up will strain the four link suspension in the wrong way. Simmi has to start in first gear and change gears using without the clutch!
The Ranger had shown some problems in the transmission also. On the way back it can't make it through the deep snow up a small slope. Jon Arni asks for help and I hook it up. As it turns out I pull it all the way to Reykjavik.
More trouble!
The LC has lost air from another tire. This time on the outside. Jacking it up and getting some air into it is almost like a routine now.
As we continue our way I begin to hear strange noise from the front of my Sport Trac. It is in rhythm with the tire spinning. Finally I hear that something has broke. It turns out that the front left axle universal bearing has broken. This means I have to pull the Ranger using only three active wheels.
This has been a long day. It is getting dark and cold and wind is increasing - also the fix for the Explorer is not holding out.
Brackets are hitting the gas tank but the air-bag is still holding air. We are on paved road but still a long way to go. This time Oli is able to straighten the brackets without removing the tires.
Four out of four trucks had some trouble. Still, all the trucks made it back.
Back home some axle work has to be done. Oli helps out with that.
Here is the broken front axle and bearing along with the new replacement axle. Original Dana 44 has 27mm axles. Newer and stronger 30mm should prove much more durable.
Despite all the trouble this trip has it was a great learning experience. I wouldn't like to repeat it but you never know what is going to happen in a demanding offroad trip.
