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Black Bear Road Story on Hemmings

December 6, 2020 • CATEGORIES: Features, videos This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
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Bill shared this link from Hemmings published today showing jeeps going over Black Bear Road.

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2020/12/06/these-jeepers-make-black-bear-road-the-most-dangerous-road-in-the-country-seem-like-a-sunday-drive

 

6 Comments on “Black Bear Road Story on Hemmings”

  3. David Eilers Post author

    Robin: Don’t think I ever heard that C. W. McCall song.

    Ron: Likely someone in that group hasn’t upgraded their brakes, but if they have the 5:38s, they are probably crawling so slow that the brakes aren’t as critical. Personally, I always believed in upgrading the brakes on my offroad vintage jeep. That measure of safety just makes me feel better. My DJ-3A still has the 9″ brakes, which isn’t bad around town, but it’s a light vehicle.

  4. Tom Jones

    Yeah Dave, I’ll second that. I just took my CJ3A to an off road park and even though I did switch out to 11” brakes I never needed them on the steepest hills. First gear low range was more than adequate, in fact I was usually on the gas just to keep moving. I was impressed.

  5. Terry

    I saw the video – what do you do if your engine stalls out or your drive line snaps, I say upgrade your brakes .

  6. David Eilers Post author

    Terry, I’ve never heard of a driveline or u-joints snapping from engine back pressure, but that doesn’t mean it’s never happened.
    One reason I really liked jeeping with a Pinto engine was that, at least in our jeep, that carb-fed engine kept running no matter the angle. Unlike our Chev 350 before it, which had dependability issues, the Pinto just kept going and I drove dad’s CJ-5 (post front and rear and T-98 tranny) on some rough hills that scared the sh!t out of me!

    I do know that drivelines have broken under power going up a hill. That happened to my father back in 1974/75. He subsequently totaled his CJ-5 rolling down a hill. Fortunately, he’d installed a full cage and only suffered a minor scratch (though mentally, he could no longer enjoy four-wheeling).

    Side note: After the Alaska Trip was completed, Rob and Diana Stafford were driving down a gravel road in a remote part of Alaska when he lost his brakes (he discovered later that his customized brake master cylinder had lost the nuts and was hanging from his firewall). Without brakes and heading downhill at 30-40mph, he shutoff the engine and let the back pressure bring him to a stop.

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