ZUKIWORLD Online | Suzuki 4x4 Editorial and Forum
ZUKIWORLD Discussion Forum => Adventure (Let's GO WHEELING!) => Topic started by: TopHeavy96 on August 15, 2010, 12:55:22 PM
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Hey y'all, I just thought I'd start a thread, I used the search to see if there was already a thread like this, but I didn't find one, so here goes!!
Tell me about your scariest, most puckering moment, could be a near roll or flop, hanging a wheel over an unseen ledge, or even swamping your Zuk somewhere you thought you'd need the Corps of Engineers to recover, anything that made ya nervous will work!!
I'll start with (one of) mine:
I was playing in some ATV trails behind the local nudie bar, and had already driven up all the fun hills and back down some of them. Well I made it up a hill that was real rutted up and nearly vertical at the top from the ATVs. When I decided to drive back down, I was coming at an angle and had to turn left to get down the hill. Well, as soon as my left front went into the ATV rut, it just kept sliding down the hill, and then the right front started following it...SIDEWAYS :o Well, I figured, since I'M driving this thing, and not gravity, maybe I should hit the brakes...not the right decision...While it did stop the front from sliding down the hill, it also made the right rear start coming up, while slightly tipping the rig out over the hill. When everything stopped movin, I had the left front down in a rut, the right front on the ledge, and the right rear about 2 feet in the air. At which point, my physics knowledge(none), combined with my off-roading experience(some) told me that I could just sit here with my foot on the brake forever, and not flip over, ::) :P or I could keep the wheel yanked to the left, and give throttle >:D to get started down the hill, and hopefully bring the right rear tire back down. I opted for the latter and it worked!! Phew!!
Here's a vid of the hill on the way up:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1081375091595# (http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1081375091595#)
Well that's my story, with a pucker factor of 7 out of 10, who's next??
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I'll go next.
Well I was 14 at the time, and I went to take my SJ410 out for a drive in the Field (I live on a farm) and I started down are driveway (which is Farly steep at the end of it) when I pushed in the brake and the clutch to stop at the road nothing happend, it just went faster down toward the road I panicked but luckily no body was on the road so I got it to the Field and stopped, I looked at the brake peddle and the arm that goes thru the firewall in to mastercilinder had fell off. Now looking back I could have just used the park brake, but at the time it was scary.
I think it was a 5 or 6 out of 10
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nothing happend, it just went faster down toward the road I panicked
YIKES!! NO brakes huh? Man that's like the worst feeling in the world!! Glad you didn't crash!
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Mine had to be on the old Trail 7 at Windrock. There is a rock ledge at the top of a huge hill climb... well I bumped it a little to hard trying to make sure I did not get hung up and lifted both front wheels off the ground... This
is was a wide open power line (no trees) that had absolutely nothing to keep you from rolling the 420 feet to the bottom if you lost it... The ended up closing the trail due to the death factor.... Did it once... would NOT do it again... I will try to find a pic from the trail...
Zig
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My most puckering moment? When I heard " I think I'm pregnant " the first time. 2nd most puckering moment, Harlen KY, first time there with LilRed, Duane and some of there friends. It had been raining pretty hard the day before turning anything with what passes for dirt down there into a kind of super slick mud. Duane and Lilred led the way up this real skinny trail that didn't look real bad, until it made an abrupt left turn and dropped down through the trees at about a 55/60 degree angle. The turn was so tight even a Tracker was a real tight fit. It was like driving into a tree tunnel, so narrow the trees were slapping the mirrors. NO traction whatsoever, slick as snail snot, pointing almost straight down for about 100 yards, trees literally lining the edges, ending at a road bed on the bottom. I started to make my way down, and just could not keep it going slow enough to control. If I let up on the brakes, to fast, start sliding. A bit too much brake, start sliding. About 20 yards down I finally got into a slide I couldn't control and the passenger side slid off into the trees and banged to a stop with my front bumper just resting against the trunk of a tree, about halfway off the trail.
I couldn't back out of it, just kept spinning the wheels. So I locked the front diff, pulled the ebrake up a bit , and gassed it enough to get the front end to slide, while turning the wheel slightly, and while the rig didn't move up or down the hill, it just slid sideways off the tree trunk and back onto the trail, front first.
I started to move forward again and almost immediately it started sliding again. This time I just said screw it, and I aimed it down the hill and let her roll. I was moving pretty good when I spotted a friend of Duane and Linda's standing directly in the way at the bottom of the trail. I could not stop or even slow down and at the last second he managed to get out of the way as I hit the road bed and slung it sideways to avoid hitting the cliff face on the other side.
I finally took a breath again, and looked over at my wife, who didn't seem to think anything out of the ordinairy had happened. She just said " well that was fun."
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My most puckering moment? When I heard " I think I'm pregnant " the first time. 2nd most puckering moment, Harlen KY, first time there with LilRed, Duane and some of there friends. It had been raining pretty hard the day before turning anything with what passes for dirt down there into a kind of super slick mud. Duane and Lilred led the way up this real skinny trail that didn't look real bad, until it made an abrupt left turn and dropped down through the trees at about a 55/60 degree angle. The turn was so tight even a Tracker was a real tight fit. It was like driving into a tree tunnel, so narrow the trees were slapping the mirrors. NO traction whatsoever, slick as snail snot, pointing almost straight down for about 100 yards, trees literally lining the edges, ending at a road bed on the bottom. I started to make my way down, and just could not keep it going slow enough to control. If I let up on the brakes, to fast, start sliding. A bit too much brake, start sliding. About 20 yards down I finally got into a slide I couldn't control and the passenger side slid off into the trees and banged to a stop with my front bumper just resting against the trunk of a tree, about halfway off the trail.
I couldn't back out of it, just kept spinning the wheels. So I locked the front diff, pulled the ebrake up a bit , and gassed it enough to get the front end to slide, while turning the wheel slightly, and while the rig didn't move up or down the hill, it just slid sideways off the tree trunk and back onto the trail, front first.
I started to move forward again and almost immediately it started sliding again. This time I just said screw it, and I aimed it down the hill and let her roll. I was moving pretty good when I spotted a friend of Duane and Linda's standing directly in the way at the bottom of the trail. I could not stop or even slow down and at the last second he managed to get out of the way as I hit the road bed and slung it sideways to avoid hitting the cliff face on the other side.
I finally took a breath again, and looked over at my wife, who didn't seem to think anything out of the ordinairy had happened. She just said " well that was fun."
Now you know how I got all my dents . . . trying to follow Duane! That was the steepest, slipperest I have been on I think. Snaking it through the trees really added to the thrill! I didn't know what was at the bottom either! I was terrified and after I was able to breath again, my comments to him when we got stopped were not nearly as nice as Rita's to you!
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Mine did not include my zuki. This may not qualify, but I was elk hunting when a snow storm came in. No big deal, but the next day was really warm with a rain. that night a big wind came in, the ground already soft with all the water from the rain and melted snow, could not hold the trees in. At 2am I was awakened by the crash of old growth timber (150' plus in the area we were in, not huge by Oregon standards), as they fell to the ground. Yes, you can hear a tree that falls in the woods. I was camped with a buddy and knew every tree around us was 200' plus which in my mind meant it had seen all nature could offer in 200 years and was fine to weather this storm. At around 4 am I heard a trees roots snap and I knew it was close and coming down. Seconds later it fell through my tent parallel to the ridgeline bending one of the EMT pipe rafters around my buddy pinning him into the cot. I was able to squeeze out in my chonies calling my buddies name while standing in the snow. He finally answered with the manly scream of a little girl that fell off the monkey bars at school. I knew then he was ok. We decided to get the heck out of there and come back in the AM to see what was left, so we grabbed a bit of food and took off in my truck. We got about 40 yards before we met the first blow down, for you flat landers that is a BFT that is laying across the road, went thru both chains we had extra for the saws, the whole time more trees were falling that we could not see but only hear because it was as black as the inside of a cow out there. The whole ordeal took about 6 hours until we were out. I'll share it better over a camp fire at some ZW outing when I have a beer in my hand. still hard to talk about.
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I have a few, driving a fully loaded semi and getting cut off by cars while driving 65+ on the freeway, having a motor home hit the brakes in front of my semi and having to go into the construction zone to avoid it. But the scariest moment in my Zuk (so far) happened while I was trying to climb a hill, 3/4 of the way up my Zuk gave up (I still run a fully stock drive-train with 31" tires), I went to hit the brakes and the pedal went to the floor as I rolled backwards with no brakes I somehow managed to get it sideways and not rollover. My passenger and I then got out to find that the passenger side rear brake cylinder had totally blown out. I crimped off the rubber hose with my vise-grips, filled the fluid back up and not only finished wheeling it that night but drove it around while I delivered pizzas for the next few days till pay day.
I have done some cool (at least to me) trail fixes since I got my Zuk, I once broke a rear leaf spring and had to drive it out like that so I put the stock jack in between the frame and the axle and drove it about 10-15 miles back in to Huntsville, UT till I was able to get a new spring a few hours later.
Once broke the outer cover on the clutch cable inside the engine compartment, right next to the fire wall I took a box end wrench (15mm) and electrical tape (green) and made a splint for the cable it worked for a few days till I could change the cable.
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Medford, that does sound pants wetting scary, a young woman was killed here this summer by exactly that, falling tree in a storm crushed her in her tent where we wheel. Doughboy, I can attest to the sheer number of braindead drivers on the roads, you have to be pretty tolerent. I used to daydream about having a monster truck so I could just roll over traffic clogging idiots. OK, time for my meds now.
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I would love to drive a monster truck down the freeway just need a larger fuel cell in the back LOL
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My most puckering moment? When I heard " I think I'm pregnant " the first time. 2nd most puckering moment, Harlen KY, first time there with LilRed, Duane and some of there friends. It had been raining pretty hard the day before turning anything with what passes for dirt down there into a kind of super slick mud. Duane and Lilred led the way up this real skinny trail that didn't look real bad, until it made an abrupt left turn and dropped down through the trees at about a 55/60 degree angle. The turn was so tight even a Tracker was a real tight fit. It was like driving into a tree tunnel, so narrow the trees were slapping the mirrors. NO traction whatsoever, slick as snail snot, pointing almost straight down for about 100 yards, trees literally lining the edges, ending at a road bed on the bottom. I started to make my way down, and just could not keep it going slow enough to control. If I let up on the brakes, to fast, start sliding. A bit too much brake, start sliding. About 20 yards down I finally got into a slide I couldn't control and the passenger side slid off into the trees and banged to a stop with my front bumper just resting against the trunk of a tree, about halfway off the trail.
I couldn't back out of it, just kept spinning the wheels. So I locked the front diff, pulled the ebrake up a bit , and gassed it enough to get the front end to slide, while turning the wheel slightly, and while the rig didn't move up or down the hill, it just slid sideways off the tree trunk and back onto the trail, front first.
I started to move forward again and almost immediately it started sliding again. This time I just said screw it, and I aimed it down the hill and let her roll. I was moving pretty good when I spotted a friend of Duane and Linda's standing directly in the way at the bottom of the trail. I could not stop or even slow down and at the last second he managed to get out of the way as I hit the road bed and slung it sideways to avoid hitting the cliff face on the other side.
I finally took a breath again, and looked over at my wife, who didn't seem to think anything out of the ordinairy had happened. She just said " well that was fun."
Now you know how I got all my dents . . . trying to follow Duane! That was the steepest, slipperest I have been on I think. Snaking it through the trees really added to the thrill! I did know for sure what was at the bottom either! I was terrified and after I was able to breath again, my comments to him when we got stopped were not nearly as nice as Rita's to you!
It makes me want to do it all over again! Whens the next ride Lilred?
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It makes me want to do it all over again! Whens the next ride Lilred?
Me too! Those guys you almost ran over are riding at Royal Blue TN in a couple weeks. We couldn't work out that trip but I'm seriously considering riding over to Harlan in the street rig, just to watch the Fall Crawl, do a little scenic riding, and see whats changed with the park. So I'll be making plans for sure to get back there soon with the Zuks, might be spring, keep that in mind. Got a local place here we've been playin at. Going out there this weekend, Duane in a stock 4 dr 94 Kick on 235s open open! 240K and smokes but still seems to run stronger than any of mine & wheels great for stock! Beautiful weather!!! Should be interesting. Come on down anytime!!
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8) Got to work on that, hopefully before it snows! What were they're names again? Jerry? and ?
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8) Got to work on that, hopefully before it snows! What were they're names again? Jerry? and ?
Yeah, Jerry in the other samurai.
Cowboy hat = Shane. He bought Papa Smurfs Zuk (Windrock trip), but yesterday showed up in 91 Wrangler he got in trade on it. He was just too big a boy to fit in it. Had it been street legal, I woulda consider it.
CJ5 (I think) at Windrock = Grease
D in stock 4 door could not keep up with me due to limited ground clearance (among other things :)). Ended up overheatiing too. Not enough torque for Duane anyway. . . Dust dust dust here. We need rain.
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Nice stories, careful out there!!! Especially you Zig, try and keep at least three tires on the ground. ;) Well, unless you're teeterin >:D
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Hmmm. Unfortunately, I've only been driving my Tracker for a couple of years, and I don't do nearly as much "fun" stuff these days as I did years ago.
However, I do have a few good ones from my earlier days. They all happened in my first rig, a '93 Chevy S-10 Ext. Cab 4X4. It was all stock, as I never had enough money to mod. it.
The first one was heading out for a little wheeling in one of our local stomping grounds. It was springtime, and it had been raining A LOT (at least for the high desert). Me, and two of my buddies were all in my truck (sitting three across the front, since it never had any back jump seats). We had to cross what was usually a dry, sandy wash a few hundred yards off the pavement in order to get into the hills. When we got there, we were astonished to see that it was rushing with muddy water across its entire 20-yard width. The smart thing to do would have been to get out and try to figure out how deep it was and if the bottom was smooth. However, 17-year-olds are not famous for their smarts, and I was no exception.
I stuck it in 4-HI (figuring speed was better than torque), and gunned it. The truck shot down the bank, and abruptly SLAMMED into a deep channel that the water had cut into the sand, bouncing the front end back up, and stopping nearly all forward momentum. Neither of my buddies were wearing seatbelts, and both of their heads bashed the ceiling, leaving them yelling obscenities. Once out of the hole, the foot-deep rushing water immediately started sluicing the sand out from under my tires, causing a sort of quicksand "sucking" effect. I knew I couldn't stop to go into 4-LO, so I floored it and it was all the 4.3 V6 could do in 4-HI to keep the wheels turning in the sand. We slowly chugged our way across and started up the muddy bank on the far side. Then it was too slick, and it wouldn't go any more. Half in and half out of the water, I managed to get into 4-LO and rocked it a few times and finally made it back up on flat ground. After that ordeal, we ended up driving something like ten miles through the hills to get back to pavement WITHOUT crossing that creek again.
A year later, one of those same buddies tried to take his '71 Ford 2WD across that same spot when it was only MOIST (no flowing water), and sunk it to the axle. It took his dad's 3/4 ton and lots of handyman jacking to get him out.
Another few years later, I was headed back up to college in the rain, and tried to pass a semi on a 2-lane highway. When I was about halfway around, a full-size Chevy appeared in the oncoming lane. I didn't have time to finish the pass, nor did I think I could slow down enough to get back behind the semi. There were no shoulders, so I slammed on the brakes to take off a little speed and then veered left off the embankment. It was really muddy, so my front tires locked up and basically pushed mud down the hill sideways, bouncing off of rocks at 55+ mph. After careening diagonally down the embankment for at least fifty yards, I finally came to a stop on the steep sidehill, inches from the barbed wire fence separating the highway from the rangeland below. Everything I had in the cab had gone flying across to my side and down at my feet. With my heart still pounding, I got all of the stuff out from under my feet, put it in 4-LO, and scrawled it back up the embankment to the pavement. Amazingly, nothing was damaged, but I didn't try to pass anyone else on that drive. I'm convinced that a lower-clearance vehicle would have been severely damaged, and without 4WD, I wouldn't have been able to drive back up to the highway.
Okay, this is a really long post, so I'll save other stories for another day . . .
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Both those stories made my hair stand up on my arms! Glad your still with us buddy.
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The first one was heading out for a little wheeling in one of our local stomping grounds. It was springtime, and it had been raining A LOT (at least for the high desert). Me, and two of my buddies were all in my truck (sitting three across the front, since it never had any back jump seats). We had to cross what was usually a dry, sandy wash a few hundred yards off the pavement in order to get into the hills. When we got there, we were astonished to see that it was rushing with muddy water across its entire 20-yard width. The smart thing to do would have been to get out and try to figure out how deep it was and if the bottom was smooth. However, 17-year-olds are not famous for their smarts, and I was no exception.
I stuck it in 4-HI (figuring speed was better than torque), and gunned it. The truck shot down the bank, and abruptly SLAMMED into a deep channel that the water had cut into the sand, bouncing the front end back up, and stopping nearly all forward momentum. Neither of my buddies were wearing seatbelts, and both of their heads bashed the ceiling, leaving them yelling obscenities. Once out of the hole, the foot-deep rushing water immediately started sluicing the sand out from under my tires, causing a sort of quicksand "sucking" effect. I knew I couldn't stop to go into 4-LO, so I floored it and it was all the 4.3 V6 could do in 4-HI to keep the wheels turning in the sand. We slowly chugged our way across and started up the muddy bank on the far side. Then it was too slick, and it wouldn't go any more. Half in and half out of the water, I managed to get into 4-LO and rocked it a few times and finally made it back up on flat ground. After that ordeal, we ended up driving something like ten miles through the hills to get back to pavement WITHOUT crossing that creek again.
Nice story, kinda makes me miss my '89 2.8L 4x, good times in that beater
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Now that was one hairy trip Tryggvi! We need Pictures!!!!
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Hi guys
I am sorry I do not have any digital pictures of the moment in question, no pictures of that moment at all actually. But I do have pictures on film of the trip. I found some pictures of the western Fjords of Iceland though that I hope will do, so people can get some idea of what I went through :-\ I do hope these pictures are not copyright, They are not mine.
(http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/8922/vestfiririmg8760.jpg)
(http://img839.imageshack.us/img839/2582/vestfiririmg8727.jpg)
(http://img524.imageshack.us/img524/117/vestfiririmg8716.jpg)
Best regards,
Tryggvi
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That is beautiful counrty out there. No wonder you like to go...
Zig
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This is from one of the trails over in Rimrock. The pictures never do the hill justice, as usual. But you get a nice off camber crawl down a steep hill on loose rocks while hugging the rocks with nothing but a nice roll down the hill if you slide off. Most of the time you have a guy hanging on the inside of the rig to make sure you have enough weight on the inside corner.
(http://lh5.ggpht.com/_86HP5-adsWc/SGvnwtHT9YI/AAAAAAAABg8/9QhEZJ5JwoM/s512/DSC00472.JPG)
And this is the only way out on the trail. You either do this or turn around and drive all the way back out. All the interesting moments I had in Moab were self inflicted, so they don't count on the same level as a path you have to take.
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Not the worst but it was up there.
(http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d35/bigzook/Moab%202009/Moab20092726.jpg)
(http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d35/bigzook/Moab%202009/Moab20092730.jpg)
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Well not quite up there with Tryggvi's ride the one moment that always comes to mind when asked about nerve wracking spills is the time in the early 90's when a bad snow storm hit southern B.C. I was heading home in an old stepside GM 4x4 sporting a worn out set of desert dualers trying to find a route up the mountain side the whole town of Mission is built on. Figured I had it worked out and was almost to the top of a small section of a hill with a retaining wall on one side starting at about 3ft. and running up to 18"high at the top when I lost traction. Ok no problem just stop and back down right...ya right... the moment I took my foot off the gass I started sliding back down the hill. Brakes made no difference and the deep snow pulled the truck toward the drop off no matter which way I turned the wheel. My only thought was OGOD this is going to be bad...I just braced and over I went....as luck would have it the drop was only about eight feet at the section I went over. Leaving my truck sitting on the rear bumper with the back tires in the air and the fornt end hung up on the retaining wall just behind the front axle. I opened my door only to find I had a 5" jump to the ground on rubbery legs in the snow, must have looked like a cripple jumping out of the truck.
It took about 45min. with a jack-all and the winch on my fathers 3/4ton to pull the old GM off the wall. The old truck was done for, bent frame, front suspention was buggered, and front tires had been driven up into the fender wells.
The lesson I learned... don't drive GM's (kidding), tires are one of the most important safety items on your vehicle.
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ARE WE ALL JUST ADRENELINE JUNKIES?
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nothing happend, it just went faster down toward the road I panicked
YIKES!! NO brakes huh? Man that's like the worst feeling in the world!! Glad you didn't crash!
How needs brakes in the open field. Just keep tires on the ground and enjoy the ride.
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nothing happend, it just went faster down toward the ROAD I panicked[/quote]
YIKES!! NO brakes huh? Man that's like the worst feeling in the world!! Glad you didn't crash!
[/quote]
How needs brakes in the open field. Just keep tires on the ground and enjoy the ride.
[/quote]
In a field no, but on the road yes.
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ARE WE ALL JUST ADRENELINE JUNKIES?
Yep!!!!
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Here's mine
http://zukiworld.com/month_120104/images/naches_04_final/Zukiworldrun017.jpg (http://zukiworld.com/month_120104/images/naches_04_final/Zukiworldrun017.jpg)
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Here's mine
[url]http://zukiworld.com/month_120104/images/naches_04_final/Zukiworldrun017.jpg[/url] ([url]http://zukiworld.com/month_120104/images/naches_04_final/Zukiworldrun017.jpg[/url])
Nice!!!!
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Dang Poop, I see where your screen name came from, I would poop too in that situation!
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Mine was WAY back, with my 1st ever 4wd, a '75 FJ40.
We used to run atop & around the levees near the river, back when nobody cared. There were trails on top & some 2 track & 1 track (motorcycle) shoots down the sides. I was on top & I thought the one I chose was a 2 track... turned out to be one. Headed down with the right front tire in the low spot of the track. I don't have a pic but I'm pretty sure all but the right front tire came off the ground, before I hit the bottom setting it back on all fours. MAAAJOR butt clench for me & my rider!! I must admit I'm not hardcore & though I've done some decent maneuvers & technical crawls... that's the closest I ever came to a roll or flop.
For new wheelers: If heading down a descent with a V in the middle, NEVER put your downhill tire in the base of the V... put it on the near shoulder. This will keep your rig more level & let you straddle the channel.
iirc, I think that's how the roll happened on one of the Pine Barren Adventures posted here. Bentparts was there & some other members, I think it was SNJSamurai that rolled?