Old pics of my first off road "oops"

[jg09]

So I was having a jolly good time in the Outback down by the river a few months. I was going through mud, sand, and water and having an overall great time. I got stuck once and buried the car up to the sideskirts in sand, but a friendly Ford Ranger driver gave me a tug from behind and freed me.

As I was deciding to leave, all hell broke loose. A small branch sticking up out of the sand looked safe enough to drive over. Only problem was, that small branch was actually a half buried small tree in the sand. The end of the tree went up into the airdam and smashed the radiator, condenser, and cooling fans up against the block and it made the power steering belt come all the way off, and shredded the other drive belt.

The pics:

From the outside, looks fine

Oh...well that shouldn't be like that

Ouch!

 

[dr k]

Stupid branches!

 

[Real Lyte]

You didn't hit a tree, it hit you. Keep the story straight next time, :lol:.

 

[fandizzle]

ahahhaha **** how much did it cost to fix?

 

[mr turbo]

You didn't hit a tree, it hit you.

Exactly :lol:

Seriously though, there's nothing worse than seeing an injured Subaru. :sad:
Hope it wasn't too expensive to have her fixed.

Regards
Mr Turbo

 

[Bumper]

Ouch!

 

[jg09]

Ok, so now the "after" story. I limped it back home, which fortunately was only a half mile away once I got up to the main road, on the side of the road with the 4 way flashers on. The first thing I noticed (other than the radiator/condensor damage) was a lack of power steering. The battery light was on as was the e-brake light. This obviously meant that I had lost serpentine belts. I got it home and popped the hood. Sure enough, one belt was damaged and completely off and the other had about 2/3 of it completely sheared off.

For the radiator and condensor, I had my uncle back his truck up to the front of the car and attach a ratchet strap to his hitch. We attached the other to the radiator and ratcheted it out like that. I held everything in place with 4 industrial-grade zip-ties. The system didn't leak any A/C refridgerant and it only leaked about a table spoon of coolant a month. That fix was free. The only real money I spent on fixing it were 2 new belts, which were only around $20. Overall, I was pretty lucky to get out with only that.