Saturday, October 26th, 2024, at 5:18 a.m. (PT), we received a request for help with an offroad recovery in Nevada. The requester, Mike Brown, submitted the following information: “He has parts on their way, 3 hours to arrive, and he needs some tools to put it together. (HE IS A VOLUNTEER OF THE PORTAL TRAVELING). He needs to remove the rotter and install new lug bolts. Rotter is fried.
/ I’m with the vehicle“
Our administrator, Al Fontan, contacted the requester and verified the contact information provided, GPS location, and current situation before sending the request to local volunteers. In this particular recovery, we contacted volunteers within an 85-mile radius.
Mike had visited us in Oregon during the summer. This time, he was going through Nevada; his rear tire and rotor were damaged, and all lugnuts were blown. To make things worse, he had a severely sprained wrist.
After going over everything with Mike about what he needed to get the vehicle back on the road, we started looking for help. This was an unusual request, so I released the request to local volunteers and immediately personally reached out to Brian Glicken, who belongs to SNORR and knows everybody in the area who could be of help.
NEED A MECHANIC IN NEVADA?
Call Thomas: 702-542-7008
We extended the search for a few minutes, and then Brian reached out and put us in contact with John, a friend of his, AKA Thomas, who happens to be an amazing mechanic, very resourceful, and a full-time mobile mechanic. We couldn’t ask for more.
Took about 90 minutes to get Thomas to meet with Mike’s wife in the city, where she was getting parts, and then both drove together to meet with Mike. Thomas was even asking in our lobby if Mike needed food or water before heading over.
Mike and Thomas both connected thru our lobby and discussed all the details of what was needed. By 10:30 p.m., Thomas arrived.
Later at midnight, Thomas shared an update in our lobby: “Ok. Here’s the scoop… His jeep doesn’t use press in studs in the rear because of the aftermarket axles. There basically very string threaded bolts.. We managed to install the long threaded portion of the bolts without the heads. And hammered the other end so they don’t come out… we only managed to get about 8 or 9 threads on the nuts for the spacer.. Hese gona attempt to drive it to Pahrump and properly fix it in the morning. I will be following him to pahrump since I have the bigger jack and impact…“
Thomas followed Mike back to Pahrump, and at 3:00 a.m., Thomas announced they had arrived safely there.
We want to thank Thomas for such an amazing job; he is now also a volunteer on our page. And we are very grateful to have him on board. We also want to thank Brian Glicken, who has always helped us in Nevada and continues to do so.
If you would like to receive a text message when we get a request near you, create your account here: offroadportal.org/signup