Car Trouble

I left Laguna Salada, driving east on a track over the mud flats, towards Highway 5.

I've taken to sometimes wearing earplugs, rather than letting myself getting annoyed by the constant clatter, squeaks, and whumps as the van bounces along. As I approached the paved Highway 5, I popped them out of my ears, and was dismayed to notice a new loud metallic clanging sound! I stopped and peered under the van, and immediately identified the trouble. I must have hit one of those bumps in the road a bit too hard. The left-front top leaf spring had snapped!

I needed to investigate the damage. In front of me was a bridge where the highway crosses a little channel of briny water and soft mud. I carefully pulled the van in down under there so I could get myself out of the intense sun. This might be a while. Clang clang clang, went the suspension.

I discovered the only reason why the van hadn't collapsed was that Sportsmobile had placed a second leaf under the top (now broken) one, with a partial military wrap that was still holding it in place.

Using my bottle jack to pry things apart a bit, I managed a little field repair using ratchet straps to tightly hold the broken leaf spring ends in place. However, it slowly sunk in for me that I needed to admit my adventure vacation was most likely over.

I did have that second intact leaf down there, which was still holding up the van. I figured my repair was stable for gentle driving. Still, there was no way I would trust it solo driving rough roads far from civilization.

When I got back into cell service range, I called Sportsmobile West and learned that my broken leaf was a custom part that they no longer stock. I would most likely need to get a replacement custom fabricated.