Date: Fri, 29 May 2015 21:38:21 -0600
Reply-To: OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@COMCAST.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: OlRivrRat <OlRivrRat@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Warning to VanagonPilots
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I've been driving the BackRoads of NewMexico for 45Yrs & have, on WayTooMany Occasions, found myself forced to SlippySlide along
on miles of Wet Caliche Surfaced roads ~ This past weekend, while taking the ShortRoute from ABQ to ElVado Dam for a ChamaRiverRun,
I encountered 3Mi's of the LovelyStuff right @ the VeryEnd of that S'R' (the TailEnd of which is 16Mi's of Dirt) ~ I Trolled that 3Mi's @ 1-3
MPH & actually spent 75Yrds of it Clawing my way (miraculously) out of a Ditch & in the end, made it (VeryThankfully), to my destination ~
The next day I drove the 55Mi's to the TakeOut, Parked VDubaru for the weekend, & headed back to the PutIn in a friends truck, Completely
Unaware of the Damage that had been done to my RearTires in that 55Mi's ~ 3&aHalf days later, after a Wonderful 28Mi RioRun (including
8Mi's of Class 2-3 WhiteH2O Solo in my 16Ft Bell Chestnut Prospector) I was back in my VDubaru & heading home ~ After just 5Mi's more
of dirt & 2Mi's of HiWay my RearPass'Side Tire Blew & I had to drive on it for about 1/2Mi to a RestArea ~ On pulling that Tire I discovered
that the EntireArea above the TrailingArm from the Shock to the Front of the WheelWell was a VerySolidMass of DriedCaliche, that had been
been fractured into several pieces by SuspensionAction but remained mostly intact ~ I broke it up with a hammer & got it out of there ~ The
DriverSide was similar but Tire appeared to be Fine so I assumed that I had Damaged the PassSideTire during the Torture I had PutItThrough
while trying to get out of the Ditch back on the 1st day ~ I kept the speeds low the rest of the way home as I was not TerriblyConfident in my
Spare & got home without further incident ~ The next day I pulled the DriverSide to inspect & be sure I had gotten all of the Caliche cleared
away & found that it also had been damaged beyond further safe usage ~
Pics of tires & 1 Chunk of Mud I saved here ~
https://plus.google.com/photos/109991183317103413704/albums/6154147871482117665?banner=pwa&gpsrc=pwrd1
Some info about Caliche here ~
http://azdailysun.com/a-mud-like-no-other-caliche/article_102317ed-73e2-5039-b2e4-0f7dc88159ba.html
ORR ~ DeanB
