What's Your Scariest FSJ Experience?

[grand_wag_85]

grand_wag_85, that looks BAD, man. I cringed seeing those pictures.

It was. Jeep spun 270* and nearly flipped. Walked away without a scratch.

[Carnuck]

Wasn't scared at the time (other than almost hitting the horse and gas leaking inside with the motor still running)



Not too long before that a brake line failed (steel line, no rust but it was rubbed through by the cab moving around) as I was going down James Street in Seattle towards first ave (picture a hill in San Francisco with people at the bottom) I laid on the horn and people stopped moving so I swerved around them, ran the red light and spun the truck into a parking space (360 plus 90) on a one way street and slapped it in park. Nothing hit but nerves were frayed!

[gsmikie]

i got you all beat ...... the day i brought my 3rd wife home in my SJ

[HOOT]

Colliding with a motorcycle head on at 50 MPH 1300 miles from home in NM. Got the truck airborne jumping it over him. Truck was totalled and no where near drivable. Motorcycle broken in a thousand pieces. The guy walked away from it once he came to and continued their trip home on the back of his wife's bike. I had the j20 towed and rebuilt over the following 3 weeks then returned home. That was my first trip to Ouray,CO 2006, the J20 has still never made it there.
Trying to take it to Ouray in 2007 resulted in a blown brake line as I was heading over a hill going down to the Ohio River bank. The line failed as a result of landing on the motorcycle the year before.. His handle bar went up inside my frame rail right next to the gas tank and nicked the line.

[brushawg]

Had just gotten off work,going home in the j20. Picked up speed to get on the curving frontage road for interstate 35, as I got into the curve the steering wheel just started turning while the truck was going straight! Across 2 medians and 4 lanes of highway. Got it stop before the creek by popping the clutch. Steering linkage had come loose

[goldhammer]

gsmikie----got to give it to you man, you win

[threepiece]

I have an unusual story that happened about fifteen years ago. It does not involve my well-being but scary nonetheless.

I bought two FSJ's that were parked perpendicular to each from a salvage yard up north. One was a 1975 Cherokee, the other was a J-200. It was early spring and the ground was very soft. The plan was to pick up the Cherokee with the articulating Cat loder and set it on my trailer. The operator lifted the Cherokee first but as he tried to turn in reverse the loader became stuck in the ruts with the Cherokee positioned over the J200. He could not set the Cherokee down so he tried repeatedly so squirm and shake his way out with the Cherokee teetering on the forks of the loader. For a minute or two I did not think this was going to go my way but he managed to get out without droping the Cherokee atop the truck.

[CustomWag]

Had just gotten off work,going home in the j20. Picked up speed to get on the curving frontage road for interstate 35, as I got into the curve the steering wheel just started turning while the truck was going straight! Across 2 medians and 4 lanes of highway. Got it stop before the creek by popping the clutch. Steering linkage had come loose

Lordy! Sounds like a really bad nightmare that you wake up from to find is real.

Oh, and gsmikie, one definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result

[pyro]

having a trailer push you downhill and off the shoulder of the road into a tree line at 40mph...

[Red20]

That's an awfully clean truck to be denting up like that, pyro. That stinks.

[goldhammer]

It does, but the decal on the t-gate fits in this instance

[orangecherokee]

the roll that took the top away for me. in the winter months and rain I sure do miss that extra weight.

[threepiece]

I drove my freshly restored Wagoneer and trailer down to Little Rock Ar from Mi to pick up a J truck. I was alone, it was in the middle of summer durring a nationwide heat spell, I had no AC and it was the first time I ever towed with a Wagoneer, but that was not the scary part.

I had the trailer positioned in front of the J truck, which did not run and was parked on a slope. I had a cable come-along puller riged and was pulling the truck onto the trailer when I heard a strange sound. I stoped for a bit to think and look but I did not notice anything unusual so I continued winching. On the next pull of the lever the entire assembly of vehicles began sliding down the slope. As soon as I realized this I jumped off the trailer to the Wagoneer. Lucky for me I had left the driver door open as there was no time to open it before the Wagoneer would hit a tree. There was no time to stop or jump inside either as the speed was increasing so I pulled a hard left on the steering wheel which sent me in the direction of another tree about thirty feet away. I was then able to get inside the and push the brake which stoped everything.

I should have known to block the front wheels or engage the front axle first as I have experienced this condition before although not nearly so dramatic.

[badaboom]

What a trend........
Dropped rear axle twice over the years once at 55 mph fighter pilot going down, plus once in parking lot 8 mph just dropped to the ground.

Had a group of deer bump up in front of the truck snagged one right up front thanks for the grill guard came out ok, 55 plus MPH.

Off-Roading up in the rockies MTNS on a pretty tuff step rocky road following in a group bell crank stud sheared fell to the floor at the time. in I believe 4 high first gear.

I think that's about it over 25 years for major confrontations

Trend here - Check you AMC model twenty rear axle bearings regularly !

[Billygoat]

no comparison to GSMIKIE or Ristow

I was just laying by the trouble light....


The jackstand in the forground was in my hand, I was going to raise the truck and and support under the frame, there were 2 under the axles (you can see a little bit of red under the driver front hub, that is the remains of 1 stand)
I notice it starting to wiggle while I was under neath and got the heck out of their. It had been sitting on the stands for a few days, only thing I can figure is the weather was warming up and the ground thawed.