ACME ADAPTERS EXTREME HI-STEER
FLIPPED MY ZUK
On Sunday, 26-03-2006 I
flipped my Samurai upside down during a 4x4 event from www.anvt.nl.
We had been waiting for about 20 minutes for a big Dodge W200 to get
out of a big and deep mudhole ( he finally had to be winched out ) and
when it was time for me to go I hit the throttle ( not full out
luckily ) and went down into the mudhole, trying to avoid the tracks
the Dodge had made. When I did hit the Dodge's track I steered to the
right, hit that steep sandy hill with my right frontwheel, the left
frontwheel fell into the track of the Dodge and we went upside down,
all fours in the air.
I must say we never
realised we were upside down, it felt like just falling slowly on our
left side. All we could see were rubber boots running around the Zuk
within seconds. I asked Cora if she was alright - which she was -
turned off the ignition and released Cora's seatbelt, causing her to
fall down against the bikinitop ( full of mud ).
The guys from the organisation and a lot of spectators pushed the
Sammie back off it's roof on it's left side so we could climb out.
After which is was time to look at the damage and see how we could get it back on it's wheels again
It was decided to put a rope from the winch on the car on top of the sandy wall to the front of the chassis and one rope to the winch of the LWB behind me and get it back up that way
Worked perfectly and within minutes it was on it's 33"s and I could pick up all the lost parts from the deep mudpuddle and throw them back into the car
....and be winched out of the mudhole ( I didn't want to start the engine untill I was sure it was oké )
to the parkinglot......
..where Dave ( of Suzi's Place ) pulled the plugs and checked the oil ( both no problem, just a little oil on the inside of the hood from the engine-vent ).
The interior was covered in mud up to the top of the dash, ventholes, radio everything
Left door was crashed beyond repair, windowframe and rollbar too, right door was all wrapped up because of the rollbar and windowframe pushing upon it. A big dent in the left rearpanel too.
Here you can see the mud and damage to the body, when I'm driving to the other parkinglot......
.....where - again - some guys from Suzi's Place did some bodywork on the Zuk, with professional equipment ( a ramp from the trailer, big hammers and a winch ).....
....So we could go back into the mud :
Remon ( of - of course Suzi's Place ) called the owner of SP and told him what had happened and after they had all stopped laughing I was told they still had a good body for sale of off which Dave ( of........indeed ) wanted the frontclip anyway, so we bought it over the phone, I called my boss to ask a day off on Monday ( no problem there ). When we were all done riding we screwed a frontwindow frame off a Zuk that had to go on the trailer, bolted it on mine and Cora and I drove home, very windy but luckily no rain.
The donorcar:
it had just been apart for a repaint, so all the bolts came out easy ( like mine, which also had just been apart for a repaint ). It was Hamerite Black too, so hardly any diference with mine.
I started at 9.00 working on my Zuk after hosing it down with the waterjet ( inside and out )
Some very minor hammering/welding had to be done to the tops of the rearpanels just underneath the rollbar where it had pressed hard on these panels causing both nuts to be torn loose.
I had help from Nico, who actually only came in for some parts and coffee ( thanks Nico ;-) ) and besides being a busdriver he knows a bit or two about panelwork too, so out came the press and hammers. I must admit that Nico wanted to go on untill it was perfect but I saw no use in that, knowing I will probably bang into a tree or something next time I go OffRoad.
I was proud to show everybody these pics, within 24 hours of the flip it was back home, with only minor work to be done ( like cleaning the chairs and interior and put back in all the Diamond Plate interiorpanels )
I like the doors black as
they are now, so I'll have the "Official Hummer 2 Recovery
Vehicle" decals made in white. The green stripe doesn't bother me
at all.
Now it time to order a "Chicks dig body damage" decal
too ;-)
Luckily Cora nor I were
hurt in anyway, not even any pains the day after. All we could do was
laugh at it, from the time we were upside down and all through the
ride home ( I should have taken pics of the faces of the people
passing us on the highway ).
I was already working on an exo-cage, so that will be on soon, shows
it's a valuable addition to my Zuk
Further "damage"
to the car appeared some days later, when I drove it around for a
longer time and it seemed to steer "lighter" and was a bit
"searching" for tracks. I went by a garage to have the
wheels aligned and they were off by 1 ° !!!!
Incredible that it was such ablow to the steeringcomponents !
After adjusting it still wasn't what it used to be and on further inspection we found the cause:
which was easily repaired:
