Gorman 9-30-2001

"Bronco Hungry Valley"

The actual name for Gorman's OHV park is Hungry Valley. Those of us who went to Hungry Valley now know exactly why it is called Hungry Valley... the hard way.

The day started simply enough the alarm clock went off I got up, took a shower, gathered Belle the truck hound and headed out the door. I then hopped into my trusty steed and proceeded to Gorman, CA located at the top of Tehon Pass otherwise known as "The Grapevine". On the way up I babied my truck who's transmission was not in the most stable of shape, frequently shifting between 3-4-nothingness-3. But I got there in plenty of time to meet everyone who was coming up. Actually I was about 45 minutes ahead of schedule. After filling up the tank and getting a bite to eat I hoisted my flag and waited for the gang to show up. About 20 minutes later Rafael with his nephew Anthony and his best friend Carl (MORS) and showed up in Bronkzilla. After looking at each other's machines and inquiries as to why Carl didn't bring his Bronco up we waited for the rest of the gang. And waited... And waited... And well, waited. We got tired of waiting at about 10:30 AM (a full hour after Big B and his gang were supposed to arrive) and decided to head up the hill to the mouth of Hungry Valley.

We then checked in with the Ranger at the gate and headed up the road a bit. We then pulled off to the side of the road to air down, lock hubs and discuss our strategy for the day. The strategy of the day ended up being "The road goes that way, so will we." :) So off we went just tootling down the road looking for something to play on. The first thing we came across was a rather steep hill that I recognized from the photos Raf shot from his first outing there. After seeing Rafael (Bronkzilla) run up the side of the mountain I decided to give it a try. I started my run in 2WD at first taking it easy, but when I started to slip I hit the 4x button and just walked up the side of the hill. Once up there the hill looked a little more scary than it did when I headed up. So down Raf went and I soon followed, keeping locking up to a minimum and just easing down the mountain. After doing that I decided to try a tougher run up the mountain with a little more loose stuff and a little more of an incline. Each time I attempted this run I would get all the way to the top just to lose traction at the top. After several tries and several different lines I finally got to the top. What a rush! Well shortly after that Raf and I decided on going further into the interior of the park after flexing on some rocks.

Things got a little more normal after this since Raf didn't want to lead and I didn't know the area we thought about just going up the mountain to see what was there. So off we went kind of rallying around the windy mountain road up to the top where we both decided to take a little break and once again, flex. This is where the first (that we knew of) carnage of the day occurred. After taking some photos of Bronkzilla on top of a rather large tree, Raf had Carl back the truck off the tree. Normally this wouldn't be a problem except Raf's front ARB was still engaged. So as Carl backed off of the tree he turned the wheels and gently rolled 'zilla off of the tree, in the process of doing ripping apart a U-joint and the outer axle shaft. After discovering the problem, unlocking the hubs, disengaging the 4wd and turning off the front ARB we were back on the road. As we were coming down the mountain everything was once again normal except for when I came around a corner a little hot and found a Chevy Pickup in the middle of the road, so I stuffed my Bronco into the shoulder where there happened to be a low hanging tree. Well the tree broke off my flagpole and I tried in vain to patch it using zip ties but that soon failed. So I pulled out the flag from my Hi-Lift and put it in the back of my truck. So down the mountain we continued when we heard a faint call from BigB. We then stopped and listened for any other calls and at that point tried to raise Brian on his cell phone but that failed also. It ended up being a good thing we stopped since 'zilla's front pads were just about on fire. While waiting for them to cool I took the time to shore up my broken flag pole and hoist the flag once more. After 10 or 15 minutes we felt the pads had cooled enough and continued back on our way, this time with a new destination. The 4x4 obstacle course. Once there we started driving around until I saw the mud pit. Since I had soooo much fun in the mud in Azusa Canyon I just went for it. Splish splash back and forth up and down I was having fun. 'zilla was also having a ball too. Little did we know this fun would have a considerable cost. So after playing in the mud a little and taking pictures the whole way, we took a little breather and got shots of our engine compartments which were just soaked in mud. Soon after closing our hoods another gentleman in a Bronco drove over and mentioned that Brian had blown his tranny and was sitting at the front gate.

We packed up everything and I decided to do one last run in the mud pit before embarking off to the front gate, against the judgment of the little voice in my head saying "DON'T DO IT! SOMETHING IS GOING TO HAPPEN!" But why would I listen to that? So off I went into the mud puddle and halfway through I started getting that sinking feeling. More like the "Distributor is sinking" feeling. So I almost made it out of the mud pit when the motor died and I popped the hood. Knowing the engine was just covered in watery mud I knew immediately what the problem was my distributor had water in it. So I changed into my work shirt and started drying. After a couple of times of attempting to start the truck again I finally got the water out of the distributor and got the coil connectors cleaned out. After getting the truck started again I then headed to the front gate with 'zilla behind me. Once we crested the hill where we had locked hubs before we could see the wounded Black Beast plainly. Brian was under the hood checking things out and trying to overfill the tranny a little when we finally rolled up. Apparently Brian had tried to climb a sand hill and got stuck and in the process of attempting to get unstuck he blew all forward gears in his tranny. He ended up having to be winched off of the hill and had to drive backwards to the gate before he could try to diagnose his problem.

The group decided to have some fun and headed off to the 4x obstacle course since they had come all that way just to break on the first hill. So Brian driving backwards led the way, with Shelly (Sister Bronco) and Raf following behind while I stayed and cleaned out my intake and continued to get the water out of my distributor. Once I got everything back in one piece I headed down the road looking for them. While I was looking for them I noticed my Voltage gauge being a little low, but I figured it wasn't anything of concern. I ended up being wrong... Once I found the group I headed over to them to see what was going on. There wasn't a whole lot except for one brown bronco in the middle of the mud pit turning its starter. Shelly had attempted to cross what's now known as the Mud Pit of Death and shorted out her coil. In the process of attempting to restart her choking Bronco she hit a flat spot on her flywheel. Since I was already muddy I waded in there and started to get her running again. After getting the hood up I turned her engine over using one of the fan belts to get her off that flat spot, then I struggled with her distributor cap just to find it dry as a bone, then I started on her coil. I found the connectors quite muddy and after a little bit of cleaning she was up and running again.

I visited for a while then played around a bit running up and down some of the other obstacles and doing a doughnut or two. While I was playing I noticed my volt gauge was reading rather low, approx. 10 volts so I parked and started doing things to try to get the alternator to charge again. All attempts were unsuccessful so I told the others of the problem I was having (Rafael and Shelly KOed their alternators that day too) and bid my farewells. I headed up the road to the exit to find an alternator. Once in town I located the first mechanic I could find to see if he had any alternators, he didn't but told me of the parts plus down the road a ways. Said if I had a good battery I should make it. At that point I was already running on 7 cylinders (the computer shuts off cylinders as the voltage drops to save what's left in the battery) and on the trip over there I went down another 3 cylinders. The truck was gutless but it got me where I needed to be. I got to the parts plus just in time before they closed and convinced the counter guy, John to stay a little bit so I could get my $65 core charge back. Fortunately he did stay for a couple of minutes while I yanked off the alternator (took me abut 8 minutes) and got my core charge back. While I was buttoning up everything I called AAA to get a jump and just as I finished picking up my tools they came charged my battery for a bit then I was ready to head back to Corona. Little did I know I was the only one to make it home under their Bronco's power, Ironically mine was in the worst condition going there (the tranny was dying).

As you know Brian (BigB) lost his tranny that fateful day but there was more carnage! Shelly (Sister Bronco) went through the mud pit of death once again and lost her alternator and possibly her Engine. Both she and Brian had to be towed back to San Diego. But the carnage did not stop there either! While being towed the Black Beast somehow shifted into gear and grenaded the transfer case(Ouch!). Rafael (Bronkzilla) on top of losing his U-Joint, alternator and draining his batteries now has a cooling problem. His Bronco overheated 3 times on the way home before he finally threw in the towel. As for my total losses, an alternator, flag pole, overdrive bezel, and my arrooga horn. All quite petty compared to my fellow My Big Bronco members.

What a fun but expensive weekend!

Pics supplied by Bronkzilla