01/16/98
This happened 2 days ago.
I was on my way home from work, sitting at a controlled
intersection
underpass. (To those of you who know Phoenix, I was westbound
@ I17 &
Peoria). I'm waiting for the light to change, sitting in the
right
lane, when a hear a BAM!, SKREEECH! from behind me and the left.
I look
over and here comes a 4X4 Toyota T100 sliding down the hill in the
next
lane, all 4 tires locked up. He stops and I put on the hazards,
get out
and walk over to see what's up. This guy is white as a sheet.
It turns
out that he had been driving aound all day (on pavement, in the city)
in
4H, and his transfer case finally called it quits. When it went,
it
locked up both driveshafts, (and consequently all 4 wheels).
His truck
is now effectively dead, and blocking traffic on a very busy
intersection. I pulled my '97 RAM 2500HD V10 around in front
of his
truck, and we ran a tow chain (ALWAYS carry a chain or a strap) from
his
tow hook around my receiver and back to his other tow hook.
Neither one of us had the right size socket (Moral
here, ALWAYS
carry tools!) to disconnect and drop his driveshafts, so he decided
to
have me pull his truck with the locked up tires (the tires were already
shot anyway) through the intersection and up the hill to a full-service
Mobil station. (About 1/4 mile away).
He gets in his truck, I get in mine, the light turns,
we wait for
the traffic to clear, I take up the slack, and start pulling him through
the intersection. I figured I would spin my tires and was prepared
to
go into 4L if need be, but the big RAM didn't even strain. I
look back,
and his truck is just sliding along behind me (all 4 tires still locked
up and making a hell of a noise), so I decide to speed it up a little.
I ended up dragging him up that hill at 35mph!
I dragged him into the Mobil station, and when we
got out he
couldn't stop talking about how cool my RAM was. (Head swelling
up).
Anyway, I drove off feeling good about myself (for helping him out)
and
feeling REALLY good about my truck. I LOVE MY RAM!
TTFN!
Devin.