Stuck Stories...

[Imstuck89]

I know some people in here have some good stories.How about this one.

I got my Tracker yesterday, and about 30 minutes after i got it, i decided that i wanted to go out and see what it was capable of. I didnt bother to call anyone cause i wasnt planning on going wheeling very hard. I was going through a set of ruts that i go through quite often in my **** (which is alot bigger) and have no problem with. I guess i forgot which car i was in. I got high centered on the center section, and when i tried to claw myself up onto the center section, i got up onto it and though i was free and then it collapsed on me, sinking it up to the framerails. I tried to get unstuck to no avail and called a friend that has a 4X to pull me out, he was in Norfolk. Called another, he was at work. Called another, her husband had her truck at work. She told me to call him, when i did he said he would be home in about 30 minutes to pull me out. this was at about 2PM. He called his son and he came and picked me up at the trailhead and took me to their house to wait. I was there until about 8PM and we drove down the trail at night and pulled me out, and then did a little night wheeling.

Hope you had a little laugh. I know i thought it was funny.

[louthepou]

Good one indeed! And it serves to prove what many consider one of the two main flaws of the Sidekick: ground clearance. I think the other main off-road shortcoming is engine power. On twose two counts, for sure your YJ wins, if we compare both stock.

But on the other had, that Sidekick (OK Tracker) is reliable, cheap on gas, fun to work on (basic engineering), etc etc...

So... Getting a winch on your tracker?

Louis

[Imstuck89]

See, i think wheeling with less power is more fun cause its more challenging. My **** is a CJ though. I just got another story.

Me and a buddy were wheeling about 15 minutes ago. In the truck with me was my mom and a friend that had to be home in about 10 minutes. We were about a mile in to the trail heading back out. There were some tracks and i had gone through them so many times that i decided that i wanted to make some new ones off to the left. The mud there was a little bit softer than i had counted on and i sunk in. There was water right up to the door sills all the way around us. I tried to wiggle back and fourth a bit, but i was too far into it. After taking a couple pictures, I hooked up to his truck and was out of there in no time. The funniest thing about that was the kids that were back there watching us coming out to the trailhead when we were unlocking our hubs screaming "Do it again!"

I was thinking about getting a winch but my wallet contracts painfully at the very thought.

[Lucy]

No offence here Lou, but I've been wheeling for over 12 years now (hardcore) , I have wheeled with more then my share of heeps, I have seen kicks and Sammy's (which have even less power) walk all over heeps on many occasions ,and I have to say that horsepower is highly over rated. The power of a kick is not a short coming as long as you drive them properly. The only advatage the extra hp gives a heep is the ability snap parts at an faster rate:. when you compare the power to weight ratio of a kick and a heep the kick wins hands down;).

louthepou said:

Good one indeed! And it serves to prove what many consider one of the two main flaws of the Sidekick: ground clearance. I think the other main off-road shortcoming is engine power. On twose two counts, for sure your YJ wins, if we compare both stock.

But on the other had, that Sidekick (OK Tracker) is reliable, cheap on gas, fun to work on (basic engineering), etc etc...

So... Getting a winch on your tracker?

Louis

[Imstuck89]

See, my ****, or "Heep" as you called it (i will never speak an ill word about it, except some that i cant mention here) only has a slightly bigger four popper. It has never had a big parts breakage problem, and so far the tracker hasnt either (knock on wood). But my **** is slightly modified and has All Terrains on it, while the Tracker is still running stock sized road treads. I wasnt saying anything bad about it, simply telling a story. How come im not getting anyone else with any stories? Are we too embarassed to share? I know someone has one.. Spit it out.

[louthepou]

No problem Lucy, none taken

I gladly take your word for it. I am also not a fan of huge engines, I only assumed that sometimes, a little more power can be useful... as long as one knows how to use it!

As for the more regular use of my 16v, I sometimes find I'd like to trade the peak HP for some of the low-end torque of the 8v, when I tow a trailer with crushed stones for example. Anyway, can anyone let me know if indeed the 8v has better low-end torque?

All for now,

Louis

[madtrack1]

I like your story and I can relate. I just recently aquired a 1990 tracker 4x4 and like you did took it out wheeling almost as soon as I got it. I also have a bigger toy that I am used to driving(http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/716395) and boy what a wake up call. Although my tracker is an automatic it can do some pretty amazing things in 4L. I took it out to the local OHV area and was driving in to the play area when I guess I forgot which truck I was driving. Next thing you know I'm stuck in the river crossing. !! Anyhow, the guys I was wheeling with yanked me out and we continued on. During the day I really had to concentrate on where I was driving and man we had a blast. I even got to pull out a 78' bronco on 38's. Man was he embarrassed!!! Just thought I would share that story. Good times!!! ;D

[NMc]

mostly I can get my 90 tracker out of anything I can get into, this may have to do with lack of earnest trying (until now). I live in Utah where the snow gets pretty steep especialy off the plows edge. So of the times I have slid off the road I can usualy dig/kick at the snow supporting the little rig untill my tires get contact. Today however I decided to go play in the snow. Before I got to the trail head I slipped off of a gravel road, over two feet of the rain/sleet soked snow into a ditch. I managed to make the huge error of forgetting my shovel, & was left to dig. Having two wheels 1/2 inch in the air prevented me form getting out. after a half hour or so I finnaly bit my pride & went for help. The moral of the story is that I need Lockers, and a checklist. Noah

[NMc]

Last summer My Girlfriend Lili & I loaded up the Tracker to go from Ogden, Utah out to San Francisco Up high-way 1 & 101 along the coast, and back throgh Portland. The trip was a blast, the 2.1k mi we had charted out turned up closer to 2.8k. Only a couple hours into the trip wile driving past the Bonnivile salt flats, I look out and see cars on the salt! Woohoo Speed Week! convincing Lil it wont hurt our time much she concedes to looking for lake bedders. But as we get out we can't find the cars. The tracks I was following scatterd before me. After searching in vain we decide to get out & play on a levy. Avoiding the soft shoulder I park twenty feet out. When we get back in I put the car in reverse only to bury 4-5 inches at all four wheels! With Lil in the drivers seat, and I pushing, all four wheels spin in the brocken salt, from our vantage point we can bearly make out semi trucks inching across the horizon.(the potential tow bill being well in excess of the $800 purchase price) . On my hands and I scrape salt away from the tires and eventualy free us. All but one car wash in Wendover is inopperable, so I spend $6 or so and still couldn't get all of the sticky cursed stuff out. Three weeks after the incedent most all of it had finaly fallen off or been srapped off with variouse screw drivers. My instructor awarded my story "Best Stupid Pet Trick" for getting stuck on the Flattest place on Earth. Noah

[3wheelerdude]

This story happened two years ago. My buddy had just bought a 1990 Pathfinder and called me to go trailling with him. When I got to his house he said to hop in with him because we were not going deep in the trails and no hardcore stuff. So i left my 2wd 92 Ranger at his house. After 30 minutes of trails we end up stuck with sloppy clay up to almost half of the doors. The clay is creating such a syphon that there is no way we can get out by hand. Its getting dark by the time we hitch a ride home so we go back the next day to pull it out with 3 more pick ups. My Ranger, a S10 and a Nissan PickUp 4x4. Well with the 3 of us pulling the syphon was still too strong. So I pulled the Pathfinder sideways with my ranger and a winch, as the 2 other trucks pulled backwards. That was the longest rescue ive been in. And i now keep myself away from clay.

[Imstuck89]

Ok, this one is fresh. I was just fourwheeling in my tracker on 31s in this little place we know of. My buddy was taking his stock cherokee. Running parallel to the trail that we were on is this ditch that was about 6ft deep, 12ft wide with what looked like about 60 degree angles on either side. Normally, i think i wouldve been able to make it, seeing as how i have made similar things in the past, but it has been raining all day and the night before so the mud was extremely slippery. I said "I think i can make it." Those famous words. I went down the one side and it went pretty good until i noticed that the water in the bottom was alot deeper than it looked. It came over my hood and was probably at my headlight when i was in it. Well, i started to go up the other side and almost got my front tires to the top of the incline when i stopped moving forward. I tried to rock the wheel back and fourth, but i started sliding back down. I tried throwing it in reverse to get back up the other side and get some momentum going to get up the other side. Needless to say, i didnt make it out. So, i got it as far up the side i came in from as i could and stopped the truck. I looked down in the creek at my truck and noticed that i could actually see half my bumper at the surface of the water... Thats not right. I hooked up to my friends truck and wanted to see if he could pull me out. The thing didnt even budge. I tried throwing it in reverse and stomping on it while he was pulling me out. After about 30 fruitless attempts, i finally got out but not before getting mud inside the truck through the gap between my hardtop and tailgate. I had no light coming in through any of the windows and the rag that i had was already saturated with mud. When i got to the trailhead, i had probably about 60lbs of mud on the truck, and a front bumper that was hanging halfway off. Since i couldnt see through any of the windows, i had to drive home with the windows down and the back window open to i could see what was around me. Keep in mind that it was raining and about 28 degrees at the time. Needless to say, i had a blast.
My girlfriend wasnt happy with me though, i had some of her clothes in my truck. They got some camo on them.

[bikemon ("Trent")]

Nothing treacherous or crazy, just my two cents, who can top a story like that?
This is the reason I haven’t given up on my trackers.
This is my first day with this thing, actually running and all. The license place wasn’t open, but “hey, I tried officer, I was just a little late” that was going to be my excuse, if he stopped me. God I hope he doesn’t stop me, he’ll probably know the people I bought it off of. I’m in deep shit. So I stop off at napa incase they know of anyplace else that’s open, I can get my inspection sticker.
So while I was in there I asked about some parts too. Like that goofy exhaust gasket that keeps coming loose and making the car all noisy and sh.. like that. The previous owners told me it was only a couple bucks, and you gotta replace it all the time, cuz he’s real country, he don’t know what he did with all the exhaust hardware when he put it back together, so he didn’t fix it right, and now I gotta decipher all his country ebonix hieroglyphics that he left me, in the form of temporary repairs. I thought I was country, b.s. that boy has duct tape over half “my” tracker! And his old lady swears she never had it in the creek. Not like I’m looking at the evidence or nothin!!, I like my tracker, that’s what it’s for! I had it on a lift the morning after I picked it up! I know she’s been taking my tracker on all the right trips, but she never cleaned her up after wards, no fresh grease, no light oil, and all the rubber boots could have been saved, a whole lot better than that. But that’s ok, cuz I like this little geo, and I’m gonna make it all better. “I’ll take away all the bad stuff that bitter cranky lady did to you”. Cuz this thing and me are gonna have some fun.

All this stuff goes thru my mind when I’m at the parts counter. Some other customers are talking and they heard a lot of good about them trackers. So my thoughts are being confirmed about my little purchase. Them guys actually come outside to look at it to see what I can do to help the little thing run better. For their favor, I bought them a 6pack.
We can talk about all that, but we really want to get to the trail. Three hours later, we’re drinking at their house, finishing work on the tracker and putting her back together. Still missing, still no power, what the hey, lets take her on some trails and see what she can do anyway!!! I only had one drink. (liar) and the trail is just right here! We don’t even have to drive near children. Lets do it! We hit about 5 trails just a puttering along. And it dawned on me. This trail is about as aggressive as the ones I mountain bike on. I need to get more aggressive on the bike! This little broken car is doing pretty good through here. Boulders were in the trail that I would normally roll around and I’m clobbering them. Going right through the middle. Durn, I might have had to get out, or really hop hard to get over that root if I were on the bicycle. Bounce bounce bounce…the steering is pretty quick in this thing, no wonder you don’t need the power steering. Lol the rear end is so light it’s actually all over the place, maybe I should slow down, them rpms are up there pretty good. Maybe I should try locking in the hubs to see how much real fun this could be! this is great!! “click” bmmm, bmmm. What was that?
Oh shit, I shouldn’t slow down, it wont go back into gear. Ah man, I’m in trouble. The other guy tells me, “nah, turn the engine off, just put her in reverse, turn the key back on, the starter will move us until the car kicks on.
I ask, “do you think this little broke tracker firing on 2 cylinders can really do that?”
He said, “Or we can just sleep here if you don’t want to find out”
I replied, “I’m not that drunk”
The little tracker backed up just like he said, crazy trail, between trees and stuff, we backed up off the trail, there aint no trail here, and the lil bugger is doing great. Now lets get this thing going before we do get stuck and it gets dark. So we made it back, and I drove a little slower, cuz it was getting dark and I couldn’t see with these little bitty head lights.
Hey dude, do you know anyone that sells extra lights for these things, like them cool ones that mount on the bumper and shit. I don’t care if it looks cool; I just want to be able to see to get out of these woods. How did we ever make it all the way back in here anyway? This little geo is a keeper.
He said no, but now it’s broke, and it’s my project, cuz I had a lot of fun. And I cant wait to save up for this thing when it’s running. Who needs a girlfriend, I got the worlds coolest little dirt buddy ever, my lil geo tracker. I can’t trust my big chevy up there on that tiny trail. Turn around? Are you out of your mind? That thing wont fit between two trees, unless it’s stuck. The girls might like my big chevy better, but I like my geo better. It will go anywhere. And maybe she likes that stuff too. She’ll see. My car is an extension of my personality. It does not represent size, rather it’s the rugged reliable go anywhere any time, get in tight places, lil suv, that’s appealing. And I I have some of the scratched paint and mud right there to prove it.
I watch to many mcGyver re-runs. I’d like my tracker to be there for me like his **** was always there for him.

[odinsrageSS]

I havent done much because my sidekick is relatively new. Its a 90 2dr softop, 5sp, 4wd, with A/C but not power options cept side mirrors wtf lol?

I ventured out a few times this winter during the BRUTAL snowstorms we had and it was awesome! The car has some standard goodyear allegra? tires, which are M+S rated, and do ok.

I got centered trying to go over a median-center deal in the road. It was as wide as the sidekick front to back
So I got centered on it because the snow was so high, all 4 spinning. My pal just got out and we pushed and it came right off, darn thing is so lightweight!