[DirtyJeepJK]

What was originally planned to be a nice easy New Years Day Run got sideways on me very quickly.

I believe what happened was that my drivers front tire caught the tip of a fallen tree that was laying paralell to the trail and it kicked it up or turned it in such a way as to jump up a bit and i was travelling at just the right speed and and at just the right angle ( i think the tree missed everthing but the brake line before it hit the firewall ) to drive it through the firewall upwards between the clutch and brake pedal grazing my groin and hitting me in the left side of my stomach pinning me to the seat. It happened really fast and very violently and i think the driver behind me had a better view of what happened but that's the best i can describe it. i've driven over logs and branches before and never even considered the idea of one coming up through the floor. i guess like any time i get hurt i always think that i could have been more careful, but it still seems like a one in a million type thing ( everyone who witnessed the accident seems to agree ).

Thankfully I was wheeling with a group and they were able to transport me out to get medical attention. They also took care of my Jeep and have made it so much easier for me to concentrate on healing. I am forever grateful for there help. Thanks again Ian, Tom, Blair, Martin and the rest of the guys.

I wasn't being careless, but in the future I will certainly be more careful. I've heard of other incidents similar to mine since it happened, but never before. Please be safe on the trails.

As you can see in the pics, i have some damage to my torso ( my " boys " also took a hard shot and are swollen to 3 times normal size and are dark purple ). There was internal bleeding that stopped on it's own without surgery, and i have damage to my kidney and bowel that require another visit to the trauma Doctor. In the meantime i have some time off work to heal, I am very swollen/ bruised/ stiff and sore but everything seems to be working OK.

here are some pics...
...there is a small peice of tree missing from the pics that i had to break off to exit my Jeep.

[DirtyJeepJK]

[JSBlu974X4]

wow. thank god your ok.

[rirrgang]

Man, I'm glad you are ok. Isn't this the stuff Jeep dreams are made of?

[triplep]

Glad to see you are recovering. It's secondary to your health, but what is needed to repair the damage to the Jeep?

[BuzzHog]

Oh man... Thank God you're alright bro... If that's not a gratitude moment, I'm not sure what is...

[carracer]

Man! I have never heard of anything like this! From the looks of the pics could very easily been more serious and even fatal. Glad to hear you are ok. Makes me wonder about how much protection there is or is not with the floor board area.

[Bob134]

Holy S*** Good thing you were not going down hill!! Glad to see no one got hurt to bad.

[BigJerm]

ive seen this posted on a few other fourms and its great to find out you are ok! sounds like you ride with a great group of guys as well

[BirdsFanVa]

Originally Posted by BigJerm

ive seen this posted on a few other fourms and its great to find out you are ok! sounds like you ride with a great group of guys as well

x2 Glad all is well and shows why you should never wheel alone.

[ZX14Rider]

Wow !! I've never seen that happen before, glad your weren't more seriously hurt..

[TurtleMacLeod]

Damn! Glad to hear that you are okay! Looks like that could easily have been even worse!

It does make you re-evaluate the "weak spots" on your Jeep . . . Never would have considered a need for firewall armor!

[DirtyJeepJK]

Originally Posted by triplep

Glad to see you are recovering. It's secondary to your health, but what is needed to repair the damage to the Jeep?

drivers side brake line

slave cylinder for clutch

patch firewall

Total Cost = approx $300.00 which i will pay out of pocket

one of the guys i was wheeling with is storing it in his back yard until the parts come in ( he ordered them while i was in the hospital ).

[Deschain]

That sucks.

Look at it this way, you're ok for the most part and now you've got a cool *** story to tell.

[MiamiPaco]

Hard to do to me, but the pics left me speechless. Freaking out at how it happened, the (apparently) low level of protection as it pertained to this situation......Holy S****!!! Count your blessings man, among them the friends you were riding with. I'm glad you are holding up well....