Don't over drive the conditions!

[TurboChrisB]

So as we do every year, Wed I loaded up the Suburban and the girlfriend and her three kids........and headed up to play in the snow. We went to Big Bear. Drove over to the north side of the lake and headed in towards Holcomb Valley to find a nice secluded spot for the kids to sled and play in the fluffly white stuff.







So we're tooling up 3N16 and I come around a slight bend in the road. Keep in mind that the majority of the road is not wide enough for two vehicles to pass....if you encounter someone...someone has to pull to the side or back up till there's room.





So as I come around this slight bend....on a slight incline.....I'm doing about 10 mph...the road straightens out and coming down towards me are tow 80's model Cherokee Chiefs. The one in the lead is hauling ***! Probably doing about 30-35 mph. Well, he sees me and hits the brakes.........and starts sliding..I came to a stop. Waiting a sec to see if he was slowing any.....which he wasn't. And try'd to throw it in reverse. At this point he'd slid about 100-150 ft and I ran out of time.

CRUNCH

He hit me straight on. I'd estimate he was doing about 10mph when he finally hit me. The sound of glass breaking and plastic and metal crunching......then a plume of steam.

Not cool.

I backed up about 10 feet and got out to inspect the damage.




Not good for his truck.

So I glanced at my truck....and wow.





That's IT? Didn't push it back at all, didn't shift anything. All it did was mar the powdercoat a bit. I guess I could have made him pay for redoing it......but he was a kid.....maybe 25 and I it's not like my truck was perfect anyways. Just adds character.

Maybe I should get a sticker of a Cherokee Chief with a circle and a slash through it?

To say I'm impressed with the bumper is an understatement. Kudos to OutDoor Logic for the quality of their bumper build. I'm pretty positive that the money I spent on the bumper is less then what I would have sustained in damage had I not had it.

[RazzB7]

Maybe I should get a sticker of a Cherokee Chief with a circle and a slash through it?

Yes. You should.

[Got Stuff?]

I love it back there! Summer and winter both. No matter the time of year, you gotta watch out for people. Hauling *** around blind corners is not cool lol!

In winter, I like to chain up on all 4 where the road is steep, narrow and sometimes icy. Without the guardrail......it can get kinda scary.

[Wolfie_AR]

I second the Cherokee Chief Kill sticker!!

Glad no one was hurt and your vehicle is all good! That Suburban looks like a

[XDseb]

Dude...that ODL bumper is bullet proof. I guess Jimmy knows what hes doing...

[d4v0s]

Glad everyone was ok, the whole time you were saying chief I was like wth?

Cherokee, chief, Indians, I get it now ha ha ha

[Intimid8tor]

Living in snow country it was quite common to see someone overdriving the conditions.

While living in the bay area we took a trip to ride at Sierra at Tahoe. On the way back down on hwy 50 we got passed by a land rover doing about 50 and it was snowing good with the roads covered.

A few minutes later we came around a corner and there was the accident. An accident had happened already and there was a tow truck in the road (should have had flairs out but didn't.

Anyway, the land rover hit the tow truck and did some serious damage to itself. We were only going 20 or so and slid off the road and bumped into a jeep that had spun before we got there.

[thenodnarb]

I have too many stories like this to count, since I grew up near Big Bear. The funniest/scariest one though, was when I was coming up to a corner and a guy in a POS car comes barreling around the corner. Actually, not really around the corner, but straight since he couldn't turn. He was coming downhill and probably doing 25-30 mph. He slid straight across the road onto my side and slammed into a snow bank and full speed. He didn't even slow down before he hit the bank despite the wheels being locked up. I think "Oh S***!" And before I could even decide what to do(help him, see whats wrong) he backs out of the bank, and gasses it past me on his way. He learned absolutely NOTHING. Maybe he needed to get to the hospital, or maybe he stole the car. I dunno. But if I had been just 2 seconds faster on my journey, he would have plowed right into me.

BTW folks, if you're going faster than 10 MPH and there is snow on the ground, you're going too fast. Especially if you are going downhill. You may think "my truck can do 35 on the snow no problem" but the real problem is when you need to make sudden stops or maneuvers, possibly because someone ELSE is crashed in the road in front of you.

I've been in too many near crashes in the snow to do more than 5mph at any time. Hell, I was a passenger in a near accident that took over 30 seconds to develop. We came around a corner doing about 5pmh, but it was a downhill slope. We saw someone about 100 yards ahead that was sideways in our lane, clearly stuck. We S L O W L Y hit the brakes so as not to slide but to no avail. We were sliding down the hill at about 1 MPH unable to stop. Just inches before we careened into their vehicle, they gassed it and managed to get to the other side of the street. INCHES. By this time we were sideways but actually facing more uphill than downhill so we found some traction and headed back up the hill. If you saw it, it was comical, but scary as **** in the moment.

[astroboy]

Glad to know your ok. Thats the reason why I don't
like driving in snow. It only takes one careless driver
to cause an accident.

[philobeddoe]

Hey Chris, some knucklehead just rear-ended me in the Tacoma up on Mulholland Wednesday night, fully stopped in traffic and a GMC cargo van just clobbered me. Somehow only made contact with the trailer hitch, did a real number on the GMC, and no visible damage to the Tacoma. Wasn't snowing or anything. Unbelievable.

Glad you're ok after your fender bender and the Suburban held up beautifully.

Merry Christmas man.

[VictorFranko]

I hate to admit, I once rear ended a Toyota at a light. The cars ahead of me all went then suddenly stopped.
I was driving my 1968 Dodge 3/4 ton Power Wagon 4x4.
I wasn't going very fast, but totaled the Toyota and only scratched the paint on my stock front bumper, nothing like your bumper Chris.

[thenodnarb]

I think I want an ARB bumper for my tacoma. My front bumper has been clobered since 2001 and I've never repalced it. The ARB looks pretty beefy. Once I found the perfect bumper from a company online but they went out of business before I could buy it. Since then, the ARB is the only one I like. Crumple zones for crash saftey is fine and all for serious accidents, but I prefer beefy steel bumpers for this very reason(OP). Fender benders and slow speed impacts can often result in no damage at all if you have a beefy bumper. The downside is it may result in more whiplash. albeit only slightly more.

[problemchild]

Last time out I pulled a suburban out of a six foot snow bank and 10 foot ditch in WY. The daughter was driving and got too close to the edge and over she went. Burb was laying on its side but the deep powder saved the car from getting screwed up.

Glad everyone was OK. Nice bumper

[TurboChrisB]

Hey Chris, some knucklehead just rear-ended me in the Tacoma up on Mulholland Wednesday night, fully stopped in traffic and a GMC cargo van just clobbered me. Somehow only made contact with the trailer hitch, did a real number on the GMC, and no visible damage to the Tacoma. Wasn't snowing or anything. Unbelievable.

Glad you're ok after your fender bender and the Suburban held up beautifully.

Merry Christmas man.

Hey Brian! WTH? Another accident? Same day as me! No whiplash I assume. Funny that both our trucks killed other cars on the same day. You'll have to get a sticker with a van in a circle with a slash through it.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and all that right back at cha brother!