Running a Stock Rig ???
- Thread starter swrider
- Start date
keep in mind repairs and longevity of suspension, steering, driveline, and brakes. Big tires put more strain on these parts and could lower your mpg. Also big tires will effectively increase your axle gearing making towing and hauling a load a little harder. A lift will increase your center of gravity and increase you drive shaft angles. This will prematurely wear your u joints. Also keep in mind replacement parts. If you break an aftermarket part, you most likely be in a world of hurt. what if the company that made the part goes out of business? Now your really screwed! Stock parts can be found at a junk yard.
Also keep in mind that modifications cost money. Money that could be better spent going places.
Also keep in mind that modifications cost money. Money that could be better spent going places.
I had to chuckle when I read this thread. I have been using my little 17 year old Chevy Tracker (2dr no less) to do quite a bit of back country hunting/exploring/camping, etc.
I am able to go as many places as I really want to go in it.
So my point is, your truck should be plenty good to take you where you want to go. The key is to just get out and go!
Yes, it is fun to have new and cool things. I think a lot of folks build up their off road rigs because the build itself is part of the fun.
So again...pack up that truck of yours and hit the trails.
Here is my little explorer...if it can do it.....
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I am able to go as many places as I really want to go in it.
So my point is, your truck should be plenty good to take you where you want to go. The key is to just get out and go!
Yes, it is fun to have new and cool things. I think a lot of folks build up their off road rigs because the build itself is part of the fun.
So again...pack up that truck of yours and hit the trails.
Here is my little explorer...if it can do it.....
image hosting more than 5mb
Happy Joe
Apprentice Geezer
Not pointing any fingers, but another aspect of off roading a near stock rig is the trail damage that spinning tires do...
Every year more trails are closed due to the damage that people with ignorance of proper driving techniques, poor attitude and poorly prepared i.e stock & near stock vehicles do.
Although with care, good driving and low air pressure some moderate trails are do-able with little to no tire spin (vehicles with modern electronic traction control definitely help and can nearly eliminate tire spin).
Unfortunately care and common sense has always been a rare commodity.
Just an opinion; if your tires are spinning, something needs an upgrade.
...If your tires don't spin you are likely pretty well set up for the driving you do.
Enjoy!
Every year more trails are closed due to the damage that people with ignorance of proper driving techniques, poor attitude and poorly prepared i.e stock & near stock vehicles do.
Although with care, good driving and low air pressure some moderate trails are do-able with little to no tire spin (vehicles with modern electronic traction control definitely help and can nearly eliminate tire spin).
Unfortunately care and common sense has always been a rare commodity.
Just an opinion; if your tires are spinning, something needs an upgrade.
...If your tires don't spin you are likely pretty well set up for the driving you do.
Enjoy!
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DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
Not a bad point at all. Skill overcomes quite a bit and there are great drivers getting stock stuff through just about anything (or acknowledging their limit and bailing or taking a strap). On the flip side there's a lot of questionable drivers who look like heroes because of 35", lockers and flexy suspension who never really learned to drive and to be good stewards. Not to suggest that everyone need to bounce a low riding IFS truck on 29" tires before moving up, but I do think there's a gap in knowledge that goes along with plopping down the credit card at 4Wheel Parts to outfit your Wrangler with temp tags. Point is trail damage has always been present but a stock truck IMHO can do /less/ damage than an unskilled or obtuse driver in a well built truck can do, too. The salient point is realizing that it's not necessary to put tire tracks every danged where and knowing that turning around sometimes is better than proving something.
Clutch
<---Pass
You should read the dust light thread....a guy with highly modded truck, with poor trail etiquette. I dunno, see more guys with modded vehicles out there tearing it up than I do guys in stock vehicles. Like what Dave is saying many go buy their first 4WD then bedazzle the living Hell out of it, before it even leaves the pavement and have no idea what they are doing, than the guy who drives a stock vehicle.
p nut
butter
Not to pile on, but poor driving habits are poor driving habits. On most trucks out there today, you can spin a stock 29" HWY tires as well as 33" MT's off-road. I actually see the MT's tearing up the trail a lot more than the smoother treaded tires. And RZR's (and the like) can churn up a ton of dirt as well.
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Trail damage is inevitable, though. Key is good education system in place, as well as a good trail maintenance crew.
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Trail damage is inevitable, though. Key is good education system in place, as well as a good trail maintenance crew.
DaveInDenver
Middle Income Semi-Redneck
This ain't no kidding, seems Baja 1000 and KOH are what people think typical 'wheeling is.
Long Rifle
Observer
Started driving off road in the '60s when most vehicles were stock-if you were lucky enough to have one limited slip differential and mud tires you were usually head of the game. Over the years with many different vehicles, I have always modified them to be a little more capable than I need. On rare occasions this has been very beneficial. I have never considered myself to be a "four wheeler" but have viewed whatever vehicle I owned at the time as just a tool to get me into the backcountry and away from crowds. Sadly, used to be much easier in the old days and back then most people practiced "tread lightly" before it was a phrase just out of common sense and courtesy. Okay, enough of an old guys rant!
donaldcon
Adventurer
Stock
Stock
https://vimeo.com/195827209
Stock and a hybrid.
Yes you can overland in Stock vehicles
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
Clutch
<---Pass
I blame Ken Block and BJ Baldwin...
Those SideXSides....man, I tell ya....guys run out and buy those things as their first offroad vehicle, and pretend they are those said guys.
Can't tell you how many times I have almost been taken out by one of those things on the bike.
Fun to watch, but really bad for the off road community's image.
p nut
butter
Clutch
<---Pass
Says the guy on the MX bike.
ha ha! Oh... I try my best to Tread Lightly and be a good ambassador to the sport. Run a dual compound, trials, or hybrid tire depending on the terrain so not to have any tire spin. Why I like those 300 2-Strokes...you can really slow 'em down and tractor up a hill.
That Bro-Hoon-Eye-Gan mobbing BS doesn't belong on public land.
Want trails to look like this for years to come, and not rutted out messes.
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p nut
butter
Yeah, my 4wheeler is an old Suzuki 300, manual. It's got High, Low, and Super-Low range. Definitely doesn't have power to spin wheels, even if I wanted to, but I can crawl up a wall in that thing.