It was foreseeable......

 7:36 am - Sunday - January 29th - GNHS - 43° F, humidity 76%, wind 5 mph out of the south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 65° F.  On this date in 2017 we arrived at Crossroads Campground on the California side of the Colorado River on the Parker Strip......↴

We began Saturday with one booking, and then had a walkup....4 young guys aged 21-22.....not a good formula for success.  We were advised only one of the 4 young guys would be driving, and took the required $3,000 deposit, plus the rental fee.  They left around 10 am for a 4 hour tour.  Just after 11 am we got a call from them.....I knew it was coming.....the RZR was making funny sounds back in the clutch housing area.  We told them to sit tight, and I would come out to see what the problem was.....I suspected it was a broken, or damaged drive belt.

It took me about 25 minutes in the Kawasaki Mule to reach them, and about 5 minutes to remove the outer half of the clutch housing.  I immediately confirmed that the belt was about to break, so I reinstalled the clutch housing and prepared to tow them back to the office....about 12 miles.....without a tow I could be there in 25 minutes, but with a tow it took almost an hour.  By the time I returned it was almost 1 pm. When we tow these UTVs we put them in neutral.  I had instructed the driver to do so, and he said he did....I should have checked, because about 1 mile into the tow the belt exploded damaging the outer clutch housing....that is on me.....I think he put it in 'LOW', which is right next to neutral.....I should have checked to confirm it was, indeed, in neutral......

.....we always explain to everyone that when they leave the office in the rental they become responsible for ALL damage to the UTV, including a damaged drive belt, or flat tire.  Tire and belt insurance is available for $110, but more often than not it is declined by the customer, as it was in this case. They always say they understand, but when the drive belt breaks, or they get a flat tire, they blame it on poor maintenance, or bad tires.  The only way these belts break shy of 3, or 4 years of use is if they are abused....period.  The only way you get a flat tire is if you leave the trail and drive through brush, and rocks....period.  The drive belt on this RZR was inspected less than a week ago, and found to be in excellent condition, and Saturday was the first time it has been rented since the inspection.  When we returned to the office we advised them we would be retaining $300 of their $3,000 deposit to cover the new belt and installation thereof.  As expected they began to contest that saying the belt must have been bad....blah, blah, blah.  We did reduce their rental charge down to a 2 hour charge, instead of the 4 hour charge.  Needless to say, they left unhappy....just like I told them they would if they broke a belt, or had an accident.  For me, this outcome was foreseeable.  I just knew they were going to hammer it a few times off the line, and there is no doubt in my mind they did just that. I was 22 once, and I know I would have done just that.

Once they were gone TLE and I pushed the #1 RZR onto the concrete slab in front of our office so I could remove the clutch housing, and what remained of the ruined belt......

Before installation of the new belt

....up until Saturday I had been unsuccessful in installing a new drive belt, and had to have Kyle's help to get it finished in each case.  This is why I did not attempt to change the bad belt in the field, but  I was determined to figure out what I was doing wrong.  Using my new drive belt installation tool for the first time (I wrote about the tool previously) I successfully, for the first time ever, installed the new belt all by myself!.....

Success!!!

.....our other rental was a 5 hour RZR rental beginning at 11 am.....three retired, mature adults (two men, and a lady) who spend part of the winter here at GNHS each year.  They listened attentively to my instructions, thanked me for being helpful, and left on their 5 hour tour.  As we both expected, they returned 5 hours later without event....no accidents, no broken belt, no flat tires, and all were smiling.

Fortunately, Kyle, our mechanic, happened to be down in El Centro when I called him about the broken belt news, so he stopped by COYNE and bought some new belts to replenish our stock, plus a new clutch housing (outer half), so I'll be able to install that on Sunday, and RZR #1 will be back in service.  By the time TLE took care of her end of day paperwork, and I put away the RZRs it was 5 pm, and time to call it a day.

After a quick shower I headed out to the 'lido deck' to light the Sea-B-Que in 0rder grill a couple of sirloin tips for dinner. While I was busy with that task TLE prepared smashed potatoes, and a side salad of avocados, and tomatoes with some lime juice, and salt. To chase the food we enjoyed a bottle of Catana Malbec....

.....I pulled the sirloins off the grill when they hit 125° F, and was rewarded with a perfect medium rare.....4 minutes per side....

....we sat talking about the day, and lingered over our food for about an hour.  After dinner I got a fire going in the portable fire pit, while TLE cleaned up the galley, and then we enjoyed the early evening balmy breezes until almost 7 pm before we headed back inside the night....

.....so, for the first time in a month I had to go out on a rescue.  Now that I can install a new belt on my own, I can now do that in the field, not have to take Kyle with me to change the belt, and will not have to tow the side by side back to the office.

Thanks for stopping by!