Posted by David Sherman on Monday, November 29, 2004 at 11:08PM :
In Reply to: Re: M35 Snorkel kit \\ Fording a 6x6 posted by Paul S. Schmidt From PA on Monday, November 29, 2004 at 10:43PM :
It's no different than fording any vehicle, maybe even easier than ones that weren't designed with fording in mind. If all the seals are brand-new, factory fresh, and all the plugs and plumbing are working good, it probably won't hurt a thing, and it would be fun to drive in water up to your nose. I just wouldn't do it to any truck I cared about, because it's one thing to have seals that are good enough to keep the oil leaks down to a manageable level and keep splashed rainwater out, and quite another to have seals that work 6 feet underwater. Don't know about you, but the idea of repacking 6 sets of wheel bearings after each fording excursion kind of takes the fun out of it for me.
Oh, the other thing I forgot to mention is that remember how they always say not to pour cold water into the radiator of a hot engine? What do you think happens when you submerge an entire hot engine, including exhaust manifold and turbocharger in cold water? Sudden, unequal contraction of close-tolerance moving metal parts is something I wouldn't subject any of my machines to unless I was in the middle of a war.