Overland Rally at Hollister Hills 9/23-26/10

[VWhead]

Wow I heard the news from Bill this morning and now I'm seeing the damage.Thats too bad.Glad eveyone is ok. I told him I got a spare stripped Syncro body if he needs body parts....
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81' Single Cab Syncro 1.8T GMW
88' 2wd Westy 1.8T GMW
www.gmwerks.com
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[syncrodoka]

Good to hear that you can possibly help him out.
Bill is a really good guy.

[Tristar Eric]

Bill, you earned you t-shirt! sorry you had to join our club...

[chimivee]

[syncrodoka]

[SyncroChrick]

Thanks for all of you guys who came to the Rally.

It was extremely nice to have an event that was not focused on one specific brand but rather based on people sharing a similar passion, regardless of what they are driving.

We will do it again for sure next year. Unfortunately my own Syncro is back in Montreal but I sure was glad to see a few Syncro on site.

Christian
www.expeditionportal.com
www.overlandrally.com
www.2aroundtheworld.com

[syncrodoka]

Seemed like a nice event, I am already planning on being there for the whole weekend for sure next year. The couple hours that I was there was just a teaser for me.

[Astro Guy]

Saw it on ExPo and had to check out the vids here.

The hills never look as steep on video or pics as they are in reality...and that one looks steep as hell! Glad is wasn't worse.

What an incredible relief it must have been to have Thor from Viking Offroad in charge of the recovery. That had to give him some relief.

Edit: Oh, hi Christian. Looks like a great event. I may have to make it down next year.

T.Low Tom
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'03 Chevy Astro w/ NP233C 4x4 electronic shift transfer case, 4-5" Overlandvans lift kit, 4:10's w/ Detroit Locker, Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks w/ in-dash remote & onboard air compressor, 255 70R16 AT's, GTRV pop top w/ sleeper, Carefree Awning, Guacho couch, Coleman Fridge, and tons of Thule

[Jon_slider]

Thanks for the recovery pics..

it looks like the winch line that went thru a block, and used to bring the Van upright, was anchored somewhere on the climbers right side of the hill?

Does anyone know what they anchored to? Was there a vehicle there (on side hill in the bushes) too, for a total of 3 vehicles doing the recovery?

I wonder if there would have been any way to anchor Bills Van until help arrived, so he would not have had to try backing down the hill.. for example a pull pal? http://www.pullpal.com/

The issue was that Bill did not think he could not keep his foot on the brake without his muscles fatigueing or cramping before help could arrive..

[Syncrozilla]

Only 2 vehicles were used in the recovery. We placed a tree saver around the base of the "B" pillar and fed that thru a snatch block that we anchored to the base of the largest bush we could find. The other winch was attached as a straight run. The straight run was first tensioned to hold the van. Then it was righted by the other line.

Moral of the story; bushes are stronger than you think. Stock CV's are weaker than you think
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Please do not message me on TheSamba. Use my email, [email protected]

[Jon_slider]

a description of the recovery, from the thread chimivee linked to above..

"Harold and I set the anchors to the base of two stout bushes using choker chains and a short strap that was connected to a snatch block so that we could perform a lateral pull to upright the vehicle. This afforded us a redundant system in case either of the bushes uprooted.

Perhaps a really large wheel chock would have worked, but the hill was very steep and slippery. The best solution for a hold would have been a winch line or a choker chain and a long static strap. Bill may look into a winch line extension even if he has no plans to add a winch in case this issue should arise again in the future.

There were two vehicles used in the recovery, and we used a third vehicle as a land anchor. The Heavy work was split between the Power Wagon and the K30, but the K30 was also anchored to a JK that was parked behind it. Once the vehicle was righted and up the hill a little, we re-rigged the second winch line and performed a complicated dual pull orchistrated by Thor. Once near the top, we re-rigged again and moved the Power Wagon back up the trail a bit in order to achieve a direction change in the pull. We had to keep the line from the K30 rigged for this step, due to the likelyhood of the Synchro tipping over again on the off camber primary line pull. Once on relatively safe ground, we attached a tow strap and pulled the van onto level ground where the damage could be assessed and minor repairs done in order to drive it back down. Initially, it needed a little help from Harold's Jeep to get it up to the main trail, and then it made it the rest of the way under its own power"

[Jon_slider]

Overview, Thankfully my Santa Cruz Mountain Bike was not crushed.

[IdahoDoug]

Jon - what happened? Picture's hard to make out but looks like a Jeep towing a trailer that flipped?

On the Syncro issue, would a well adjusted parking brake have held? I've done this on the Cruiser, though it has a very effective dedicated set of drums (4 wheel disc service brakes) with offroad use in mind where the Syncros may not have the power. Very steep uphills with a tire in the air and fully locked up it will hold.

DougM
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1993 Toyota LandCruiser, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[syncrodoka]

The P/S trailing arm nut sheared off. But of course this has no vanagon content unless someone has seen one being towed by a syncro somewhere. With a starting price of $6k for the base model, I doubt it.

[Alaric.H]

I wonder if something like this could have helped.

http://www.mico.com/products/images/102_docfile.pdf

[cvbill]

Good idea, Aleric. I have seen valves used to lock the rear brakes on buggys with rear disks in lue of the parking brake.

There was no way I could have stayed on the brakes 'till help arrived, I had me body jammed between the seat back and my leg strong arming the brake pedal. Anything less and the van started to slide. I knew I had only a few minutes to decide what to do.....oops!

[Inlet]

maybe a line lock wouldve done the trick?

[Jon_slider]

Since the parking brake was not an option, next best would be to have the passenger anchor the van to a bush.

I'm just glad the tip over did not roll.

Still wondering how Bill slipped out of his seatbelt without cutting it.

Yes brake line locks to all 4 wheels should work, since Bill managed to stop using his foot, just long enough for me to exit.

He was very calm, I had no idea of the intensity with which he was applying the brakes. But I could barely stand on the hill, it was steep enough where the van tipped that I started sliding myself, could not stand still on my own two feet at that spot. [/b]

[Texxxxx]

[Jon_slider]

Update photos..
here is a shot that sort of shows how steep it is on Truck hill

and here is the repair progress