No Tundra section on pirates, so I thought I would share this story here..
Tuesday morning of last week we get a call from Joe, a V8 Tundra customer, who is up on Rubicon. "I think I broke your Crawler, Marlin!"
In his usual fashion, Marlin requested time off and after a short shop meeting, was granted permission to help the customer on the trail. Marlin checked his truck over and began loading it. At this point we are not sure what broke, so spare parts were gathered including a good used chain drive t/case.
Late Tuesday afternoon Marlin is finally ready to leave for Rubicon, about a 6 hour drive. A customer and family friend James "Craftsman" joins Marlin and they head north in Marlin's 1980 Crawler Truck towards the con.
Marlin arrived at Rubicon around midnight. The initial report was that the customer had broke down at the north end of the Bowl. So they aired down and headed for the bowl. When they got to the Bowl, the customer was no where to be found. At this time it was very late, 1 or 2 am, so they decided to call it a night and out came the sleeping bags. Marlin said it was cold and wet up there, raining Tuesday on the con.
The next morning (Wednesday) they decided to head towards Ellis Creek. On the way in, they ran into a Jeep in the Bowl with a broken D35 rear axle. Out came the tools and Marlin and Craftsman quickly got to business.
Here is Craftsman welding on the rear axle shaft:
Throughout the entire day, Marlin and James exercised proper safety precautions. Here welding in a large open area far from any fire hazards. They brought oil spill kits, two fire extinguishers, and hauled more trash out than they brought in with them. Thanks for that guys!
The axle fractured before it broke, so there was ample surface area to weld to. The Jeep had a detroit rear locker, so the decision was made to grind down the splines turning the truck into a 3WD, and have the C-clip hold the axle and tire in place. Everything went well and Marlin and Craftsman were soon on their way.
They got to the creek, but there still was no sign of the Tundra. Continuing on they finally found the broken rig just beyond Walker Hill. The customer was very grateful when he realized that Marlin had drove his Crawler truck all the way from Fresno to help him out!
Tuesday morning of last week we get a call from Joe, a V8 Tundra customer, who is up on Rubicon. "I think I broke your Crawler, Marlin!"
In his usual fashion, Marlin requested time off and after a short shop meeting, was granted permission to help the customer on the trail. Marlin checked his truck over and began loading it. At this point we are not sure what broke, so spare parts were gathered including a good used chain drive t/case.
Late Tuesday afternoon Marlin is finally ready to leave for Rubicon, about a 6 hour drive. A customer and family friend James "Craftsman" joins Marlin and they head north in Marlin's 1980 Crawler Truck towards the con.
Marlin arrived at Rubicon around midnight. The initial report was that the customer had broke down at the north end of the Bowl. So they aired down and headed for the bowl. When they got to the Bowl, the customer was no where to be found. At this time it was very late, 1 or 2 am, so they decided to call it a night and out came the sleeping bags. Marlin said it was cold and wet up there, raining Tuesday on the con.
The next morning (Wednesday) they decided to head towards Ellis Creek. On the way in, they ran into a Jeep in the Bowl with a broken D35 rear axle. Out came the tools and Marlin and Craftsman quickly got to business.
Here is Craftsman welding on the rear axle shaft:
Throughout the entire day, Marlin and James exercised proper safety precautions. Here welding in a large open area far from any fire hazards. They brought oil spill kits, two fire extinguishers, and hauled more trash out than they brought in with them. Thanks for that guys!
The axle fractured before it broke, so there was ample surface area to weld to. The Jeep had a detroit rear locker, so the decision was made to grind down the splines turning the truck into a 3WD, and have the C-clip hold the axle and tire in place. Everything went well and Marlin and Craftsman were soon on their way.
They got to the creek, but there still was no sign of the Tundra. Continuing on they finally found the broken rig just beyond Walker Hill. The customer was very grateful when he realized that Marlin had drove his Crawler truck all the way from Fresno to help him out!