Tastes Like Burning
My dad and I were going to the back side of our place to go shooting when he said, "I smell gas."
I replied, "We'll take a look at it when we get back to the house." Moral of the story: Always listen to Dad.
Toby Roderick, Ignacio, CO, Oct. '07
Cliff Notes
The sun was glaring off my windshield, making it impossible to see. Instead of getting out to see ahead of me, I inched forward ever so slowly. The next thing I knew, I was rolling off an embankment. A cliff on the other side made getting out difficult, so a Suburban had to drag my Bronco about 20 feet on its roof!
Harold Ray Ashcraft Jr., Fort Worth, TX, Nov. '99
Stout Tank
This Chevy truck was hit by a train. No one was hurt, but the truck didn't have a straight panel on it. Even the engine block and tranny weren't any good. But the gas tank was fine-you can see it dragging on the ground as I towed the truck away.
Randy Schultz, Whitemouth, Manitoba, Canada, Aug. '95
Hooray for Duct Tape
Too much throttle, not enough road. Now I know that Fords really are "Built Ford Tough." After a quart of oil and a little bit of duct tape, our '76 Bronco was back on the road.
Tom Jacoby, Oakdale, MN, Mar. '94
How's the Ice Fishing?
While plowing snow off our pond, I drove over a little too far and the front end of my '78 Ford F-150 fell through the ice. It stayed there overnight until I could get a semi wrecker to pull it out.
Dennis Hoyer, West Branch, MI, Oct. '97
This Time, the Coyote Wins
We were trying to get to a field to track some coyote. We didn't get very far. After an hour of scooping snow by hand, we were able to drive home.
Jedd Jensen, Exira, IA, Sept. '96
Going Great Until...
We were successfully four-wheeling in our '93 Wrangler until this little mishap. Luckily, my brother-in-law was following us, and we had the Jeep out and running a few hours later.
Keith Dixon, Kingsland, GA, July '96
Not Quite Anything, Eh?
I'm from Michigan, and my brother lives in New Brunswick, Canada. He kept telling me that his truck could drive through anything, so I went up to Canada so he could show me. We drove all through the backwoods until we came across this pond that he said he'd been through before. Well, all we found out was that his stereo doesn't work well under water. We walked several miles for help and had a logging skidder pull us out. It was 19 degrees that day, and the driver had to break down the dam so we could get to the rear bumper to hook up the tow cable.
Darryl Hanscom, Detroit, June '94
Freeze Frame
We were out four-wheeling in Moab when our friend came down White Knuckle Hill a little too fast in his Toyota Land Cruiser. Amazingly, rather than rolling he just came to a sudden stop. A quick tug with a tow strap got him on his way.
Jennifer Brown, Salt Lake City, UT, July '99
Who Has the Tow Hook?
I've tried to get through this mud bog twice. The first shot was with my bone-stock Wrangler on street tires. The second time, the Jeep had been modified with a lift kit and 33-inch Dick Cepek tires. Wrong again. I got about 5 feet farther than the first attempt, but at least this time the engine didn't drown. My biggest problem was that I didn't tell my buddies that the tow hooks were mounted on the bottom of the bumper.
Dave Levine, Roslyn, NY, Sept. '94
Right Tire is Wrong
After tugging at the front to no avail, we hooked to the rear and this is what we discovered: While pulling forward, we had wedged a log above the right tire. Each pull put more pressure on the ball joints until they gave out. We ended up pulling the Jeep out and loading it onto a tow dolly for the rest of the weekend.
Miles Brown, Fargo, ND, Apr. '95
Look Right
We were out on a trail looking on our left-hand side for deer and elk. We ended up in a wash that was on our right-hand side. It took a Hi-Lift jack and a lot of rock-stacking to get our '82 Ford F-250 unstuck.
Terry Gasser, American Fork, UT, June '96
Low-Mileage Unit
For sale: '85 CJ-7 Sub., A/C, recently cleaned interior, spotless paint, low highway miles.
Greg Aud, Little Rock, AR, Sept. '94
Between a Rock and a Stuck Place
Here is my Whoops! submission taken at Moonrocks, Nevada. Obviously I didn't make it.
John Buzzell, Reno, NV, May '03