Which one of you was this? $100K Jeep flooded and totaled in the river

[At Risk Ute]

I agree. I had the kaching, kaching, kaching sound in my head while watching this video with all of those crew members getting deep in the mud and the young poor guy who had to sit behind the wheel in a mud puddle for HOURS while they dragged it back to the road! Yeah, that cost the guy a pretty penny!

I think that was punishment for Mr Muscley Arms installing the pintle hitch the wrong way.

Sponsored

 

[gato]

A few questions for those who may shed some light:

1 - Are diesel engines (which have no "throttle" per se) more susceptible to water/hydrolocking damage than gas engines?

2 - Are snorkle mods readily available for the diesel given the air intake is in a different position? (that may have contributed to the owner not having one).

3 - Do people not know how risky it is to ride in a vehicle with a rollbar/cage without a helmet? This jeep had unpadded metal rollbars running fractions of an inch from driver/passenger heads. This can turn even a low speed little accident (e.g. being t-boned on at city speeds) into a fatal accident. Is this not known information in the Jeep community?

4 - What would he had done had he cut a tire on a rock without a spare? Why is spare delete a growing trend?

 

[entropy]

That was George

 

[Hip2u77]

If the JL is as waterproofed as the JK, it might not be as bad as it looks. Back in '17, my '14 JKUR sat for two days in muddy flood water about 5" lower than the door handles. Insurance totaled it and cut a check for $35k. I bought it back for $7500 expecting it to need 10k worth of repairs. In the end, I replaced 2 idler pulleys, a front axle seal, all fluids, pulled the interior out, and pressure washed everything, and put it back together. Took about two weeks. It's been rock solid for 60k miles now. Titled as rebuilt, so it's got full coverage again. (You can see the water line. Those are 35s with a 2-1/2" lift. Even the Flashcal, which was underwater in the console still works.)

 

[digimark]

Not sure why everyone is dumping on the driver. It was clear in the video that the JL's owner is friends with Matt, that he's an experienced trail driver and that there was a flash flood the day before. He just wasn't expecting the water level at that point in the trail. And he could have recovered the JL more easily if the drivetrain wasn't locked up. Yeah, it will be expensive to repair but he knew he was taking those risks. Fun video.

 

[DaltonGang]

I've been in water much deeper than that, in my 3.6 Sport, but, those Diesels might have their e!electronics in a different place. I doubt it though. It's all about the speed and momentum when going though high water.

 

[Jamrock]

A few questions for those who may shed some light:

1 - Are diesel engines (which have no "throttle" per se) more susceptible to water/hydrolocking damage than gas engines?

2 - Are snorkle mods readily available for the diesel given the air intake is in a different position? (that may have contributed to the owner not having one).

3 - Do people not know how risky it is to ride in a vehicle with a rollbar/cage without a helmet? This jeep had unpadded metal rollbars running fractions of an inch from driver/passenger heads. This can turn even a low speed little accident (e.g. being t-boned on at city speeds) into a fatal accident. Is this not known information in the Jeep community?

4 - What would he had done had he cut a tire on a rock without a spare? Why is spare delete a growing trend?

Good questions.

Some time ago there was a post looking for snorkels for the diesel. Nothing existed at the time. The snorkel is on the other side of the vehicle so the ones made for the gas Jeeps wouldn't work.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/snorkels-for-the-ecodiesel.41224/

I didn't think about the safety of roll bars. They just seem to take up too much space in the vehicle. Also having the cargo space full of aftermarket stuff just didn't seem practical to me.

I share your curiosity about tire deletes. They just don't seem logical to me.

 

[aldo98229]

From what I gathered watching the video, the water was much deeper when the Jeep got stuck. It had receded overnight.

At one point the water line appears to have been up to the top of the mirror, halfway up the side windows.

All the electronics have got to be fried.

 

[zrickety]

Good questions.

Some time ago there was a post looking for snorkels for the diesel. Nothing existed at the time. The snorkel is on the other side of the vehicle so the ones made for the gas Jeeps wouldn't work.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/snorkels-for-the-ecodiesel.41224/

I didn't think about the safety of roll bars. They just seem to take up too much space in the vehicle. Also having the cargo space full of aftermarket stuff just didn't seem practical to me.

I share your curiosity about tire deletes. They just don't seem logical to me.

I think most people don't want to spend the money for an upgraded tire carrier/bumper combo for oversize wheels. They can get insanely heavy. I have a spare delete just because I never use it, it's dead weight to me. But I enjoy the performance increase everyday.

 

[IQ_imbalance]

Ouch. Guess I should take a good look at where the intake is on the JL...on my YJ you could get an extra foot or so of fording depth by relocating the axle vent tubes (well, making sure they were extended all the way up!) and adding a few pieces of pipe to the airbox.

 

[Vanburi]

I agree that there is no way that I could lift my wheel/tire combo back to the mounting location.

 

[Hip2u77]

From what I gathered watching the video, the water was much deeper when the Jeep got stuck. It had receded overnight.

At one point the water line was up to the top of the mirror, halfway up the side windows.

All the electronics have got to be fried.

Wow. I must have missed that when I watched the video. That's definitely deeper than what I dealt with. Most of my vent lines were above the water line. Oh well, collect the check and start rebuilding!

 

[viper88]

 

[Jamrock]

I think most people don't want to spend the money for an upgraded tire carrier/bumper combo for oversize wheels. They can get insanely heavy. I have a spare delete just because I never use it, it's dead weight to me. But I enjoy the performance increase everyday.

I agree that there is no way that I could lift my wheel/tire combo back to the mounting location.

So what happens if you get a flat tire? Just curious.

 

[Will]

A few questions for those who may shed some light:

1 - Are diesel engines (which have no "throttle" per se) more susceptible to water/hydrolocking damage than gas engines?

2 - Are snorkle mods readily available for the diesel given the air intake is in a different position? (that may have contributed to the owner not having one).

3 - Do people not know how risky it is to ride in a vehicle with a rollbar/cage without a helmet? This jeep had unpadded metal rollbars running fractions of an inch from driver/passenger heads. This can turn even a low speed little accident (e.g. being t-boned on at city speeds) into a fatal accident. Is this not known information in the Jeep community?

4 - What would he had done had he cut a tire on a rock without a spare? Why is spare delete a growing trend?

1 - You can screw up a diesel just as easily as a gasser.

2 - There are snorkels available but not as many as the 3.6 that has been out longer.

3 - Most people know that steel is hard. Most people also don’t wear helmets while off-road. Free country. The hardcore guys that I off-road with do wear helmets when they are going on extreme trails with rollovers common/expected.

4 - This is a very different question for the daily driver than it is for a wheeler/trailered rig. The majority of hardcore wheelers with spare deletes have their spares on the trailer. The majority of tire issues on the trail can be repaired on the trail and then swap to your spare at the end of the day or just roll it on the trailer and take care of it at home. Plus if it’s a sticky/non-DOT tire then you just keep plugging/patching/vulcanizing until the tire is worn out anyways.
If it’s a daily driver, you will have to make sure your tire repair is safe to roll on the street or I have even seen people bum or buy spare tires/wheels from other wheelers before. That will likely make you an unpopular wheeling companion but I have seen it more than once. Usually after someone shreds more than one tire and they have already gone through their own spare.
If you simply don’t have a full-size spare, whether on the Jeep or on the trailer or at the house…. that’s just irresponsible. Our group has a rule that you must have a full size spare at anyone of our organized trail rides. There are also off-road parks in the southeast that require them as well.

Sponsored