Disaster! They oiled the gravel road again today, and my wife was attempting to drive on the side in the un-oiled swath. She missed. She called me and I dashed down with the (V10) truck and a tow strap. I arrived to find the car nearly completely off the road, and at a very precarious angle in the "almost tumble sideways down the hill" attitude. Very scary. She was frozen. I added my weight to the uphill side and had her stop the engine and put it in Park, then gently let loose the brake. It lurched a bit and then stopped. I opened the door and held it open so she could climb out of the car. Once she was out we could both breathe easier. We called down the neighbor so that we had a second set of eyes available, to help guard against mistakes. Jill was pretty rattled.
I had a look underneath at the front, and I couldn't find the tow hook. It looks like it had been broken off, and long enough ago that there was nothing there but rust. Huh. On to Plan B. I wrapped the strap around the lower control arm on the uphill side, the steering was already cranked over to 'drive' back onto the road. We tied off to the truck and I had Jill and the neighbor climb into the bed for additional traction, and forward enough to stay away from the strap if it should snap. I then put it in first and 4wd and eased out the slack, then slowly pushed on the throttle until it was floored. It didn't move, but I don't think we could build RPM enough to get maximal torque. I then backed off and put it into low range and tried again. This time it walked forward without any fuss, dragging the car completely back onto the road; there was no slipping, even on the oily gravel surface. After that we just unhooked and everybody drove home. Jill then washed the car, and I washed out the truck, whose carpets had gotten filthy with road oil. (Not petroleum, I believe. Sticky, black-ish, and smelly.) I used orange Goop and a scrub brush, and a hose. The Shop-vac did much of the drying, the sun is finishing the job. I believe that a taller vehicle, like the ubiquitous SUV, would have probably rolled under these circumstances. This is the second time that I believe this car's low center of gravity has prevented a worse accident. (Though to be fair, if the convertible _did_ roll that would be Very Bad.) -- Jim _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
