Who's charred rig???

[01XJ]

Who's buggy is this? Hope everyone was ok? The word is it was out at lil moab this week? Its a shame to see such a nice rig someone has worked so hard on to go up in flames like this

 

[chadschoon]

It's rawlins rig. Everyone was ok and he will have it back up and running soon.

 

[SAMI]

Very awesome that nobody was hurt (besides some minor smoke and extinguisher chemical inhalation ), and that the wind wasn't a factor in spreading the grass/bushes that were on fire.

Here's what it looked like before the fire...

And after:

 

[01XJ]

What a shame! such a nice rig,but it looks like it came out of it pretty well. Looks as if got put out pretty quick before it gutted the whole rig

 

[SAMI]

Rear shocks and tires are toast. Engine, tires and shocks up front are fine.

Strip the charred remains, blast, coat, new fuel cell, seats, belts, rear tires, shocks, tranny/t-case, dash, gauges, stereo, rear suck down winch, body panels..

 

[jdub]

What was the cause?

 

[SAMI]

What was the cause?

Rear driveline broke which took out a fuel line. Fuel ignited from hot exhaust? Rawlin was in the middle of a side by side rockrace against Casey.. So you know the motor was wrapped out at 7,000rpm and they were scootin as fast as they could..

 

[Herzog]

Rear driveline broke which took out a fuel line. Fuel ignited from hot exhaust? Rawlin was in the middle of a side by side rockrace against Casey.. So you know the motor was wrapped out at 7,000rpm and they were scootin as fast as they could..

Hearing about the rear driveline taking out the fuel lines has me thinking about running my fuel lines or anything in a mechanical path inside of tube or shield some how.

Glad everybody is ok.

How hot do you think that fire got? Think the chassis is still ok to run? Not sure if I would...?

 

[chadschoon]

Not sure on the temperature of the fire, but the tubes stayed very hot for a long time. How hot would something like that have to get to be worried about them holding up to structure?

 

[SAMI]

Absolutely shield your lines, you can never go wrong with that.

As for the chassis, I have no professional opinion on that.. Maybe Kurt has a comment from a mechanical engineers standpoint? It burned for maybe 5-10minutes and wasn't a super hot fire IMO... But, I didn't touch it after the fire was out. After the fireball (fuel cell exploding), the fire seemed to be feeding off of the seats and other small items... There's not a lot on a buggy to fuel the fire other than the gasoline I suppose; not like a regular vehicle with carpet, interial cloth panels, etc, etc...

Personally, I'd have it blasted and powder coated and rally it some more.

 

[Corban_White]

If it is just regular steel tube then the heat probably didn't damage it-especially if it was allowed to cool slowly (ie not doused with water).

 

[01XJ]

Fuel ignited from hot exhaust

I know this is a tad off topic but i seen a Myth busters almost like this where they tried to ignite gas with a heat source with no open flame and they never could get it to ignite. They tried dropping a lit cigarette in gas that had been poured out on the ground and different heat sources and never did get it to ignite so they called it busted and said you couldn't ignite gas with out a open flame. Looks like they may need to do that show again OK enough of that sorry to throw this thread off topic.

 

[1995zj]

If the driveshaft broke, my first thought is not the exhaust igniting the fuel, but the sparks created by the spinning driveshaft bouncing off of metal and rocks as it thrashes around....?

Like 01XJ said, I didn't think you could ignite gas without a flame/spark....although I'd think a cigarette would ignite it, so that's strange. Maybe they used diesel in the testing haha

 

[SAMI]

It very well could've been a spark from broken metals.. I was pretty shaken up after the adredaline dump from catching Casey with my Xterra, then extinguishing fires... It was all a blur of insaneness... So, I didn't poke around and investigate the buggy much..

 

[chadschoon]

Rawlin and rob said they were stopped and went to plug the leak and it ignited. So from that it sounds like nothing was moving. I recall rawlin saying he even had the rig shut down.

 

[4x4_Welder]

Sounds like a good argument for driveshaft hoops, or at least a few crossmember-like guards.

 

[SAMI]

Rob did say that he hopped out of the rig when he noticed it leaking. At that point he told Rawlin and Rawlin shut off all electrical, while at the same time asking if it could be plugged. Rob said that right as Rawlin asked that, that there were flames.. So Rob helped Rawlin make a quick exit. Seems to me that the flames made their way into the fuel cell to explode the way it did?

 

[SmokinCamel]

Rob did say that he hopped out of the rig when he noticed it leaking. At that point he told Rawlin and Rawlin shut off all electrical, while at the same time asking if it could be plugged. Rob said that right as Rawlin asked that, that there were flames.. So Rob helped Rawlin make a quick exit. Seems to me that the flames made their way into the fuel cell to explode the way it did?

That how I remember it. Rig was stopped and they were trying to figure if it could be plugged when it went up.

 

[Corban_White]

Any good shots of the fuel cell?

 

[SmokinCamel]