Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith Webb
But the story became more perilous on the descent... pray continue, Tony...
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As Keith suggests we had a rather perilous incident on the way down the mountain, which was entirely my own fault I'm afraid. Having done an obsessively thorough job on the resto it seems I had overlooked a simple task during final assembly, and of course, as Murphy's Law dictates, I chose perhaps the most critical part on a blitz, from a safety viewpoint at least, for this single momentarily lapse of thoroughness in the entire project!
The offending article was the clevis pin which connects the brake pedal to the actuating rod, to which I had either failed to fit a split pin (unlikely) or failed to spread the split pin after fitting - perhaps in a tryout assembly, intending to disassemble/reassemble at a later stage.
Whatever the case, the clevis pin worked its way out over the course of several hours driving, and once again, as Murphy's Law dictates, it chose perhaps the most critical moment of the day to fall out - a long steep descent!
Events unfolded rapidly thereafter - all I remember is the brake pedal falling limply to the floor under my foot and remaining there (very disconcerting!) whereupon I instinctively swung off the track and went bush, in the hope that the heavy undergrowth would retard our progress and bring us to a safe halt, or perhaps allow us to swing back uphill somehow. None of this was thought out, it was just a split second reaction out of dumb instinct, and in a state of considerable fright!
With a little more driving experience I would have reached instinctively for the handbrake, which I discovered later was very effective in 4WD. However this was my very first drive and it never occurred to me in the heat of the moment.
Certainly I had no thoughts of staying on the track - the idea of being in a runaway blitz was too horrendous to even cross my mind! That suggests to me now that we should have been in a lower gear, with less reliance on the brakes. Pic 1 shows the type of track as I recall it, taken on the way up.
Another option would have been to jump out, but again, the idea of watching my beautiful new blitz go careering down the hill out of control and crash into a tree was too horrendous to even cross my mind. Besides, it would have been a little unfair to Keith in the passenger seat!
Poor old Keith had no warning at all – one minute we were quietly driving down a pleasant leafy track, and the next instant we were crashing through the undergrowth as we charged off downhill through the bush – saplings crashing down like ninepins in front of us! Of course, in a blitz pointing steeply downhill, with the occupants braced for impact, the action up front is very much in your face. It can be a little unnerving to watch trees rushing up towards you, and see them give way only at the very last moment! Add to that the jolting and bouncing around in your seat as you hang on grimly to the steering wheel, or in Keith's case the cab frame, plus the tremendous racket going on all around you, what with saplings cracking and splitting and snapping off at the base or getting violently uprooted, with their branches and foliage thrashing down from above you to crash down in front and get run over and dragged along underneath – it all amounts to quite an assault on the senses!
Nevertheless, the plan, if it can be called that, seemed to work, with each impact wiping off our speed, and no real damage being done. Except at the very end of our wild ride, where we bumped into a rather more solid tree, which instead of cooperating by allowing itself to be snapped off or torn out of the ground like the others, stood firm and brought us to a somewhat less gentle halt than we would have preferred. Whilst we weren't flung forward enough to be injured, the impact was sufficient to collapse the RH bumper mount slightly, due to one half of the two-piece assembly being absent. In addition, owing to the steep downhill grade, the vertical tree trunk kissed the top of the front shell, leaving a small dent and producing a ripple in the top panel.
Thus we found ourselves stuck on a thickly wooded mountainside, pointing steeply downhill, nosed up hard against a tree! The only way out was to reverse back uphill over the carnage we had just caused – a little of which can be seen in pic 2. Finally, after some preparatory clearing of said carnage, and much throwing of it under spinning wheels by Keith, we emerged backwards onto the track again.
I don't recall how we got home with no brakes – presumably I learned to use the handbrake, like I should have in the first place. After all, it's not called the emergency handbrake for nothing!
Anyway we arrived back at Wayne's sawmill none the worse for wear, after what by any standards was quite an eventful first outing! Apart from my split-pin oversight the blitz had performed marvellously, and if I'd had a complete RH bumper mount there would have been no damage at all. As it was, the bumper moved back far enough for the tree trunk to kiss the front shell, and to rub on the RH wheel during LH turns, necessitating its removal temporarily. These effects of our altercation with the tree can be seen in pic 2, taken on our next outing.