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Razzled posted:anyone have thoughts on a recovery kit to buy that isnt' as expensive as the arb one?
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Nov 17, 2019 21:55
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Drunk Beekeeper posted:Oh I totally agree. AZ is home to tons of Jeeps that are filled with unnecessary accessories which will never leave the pavement. So if you’re adding accessories you’ll never use just to look cool, why not throw in a snorkel? Snorkels do have an advantage in dust- especially if your engine draws air from the wheel arch or leading edge of the bonnet. I know that when my mate went from not having a snorkel on his 80 to having one the dust load we were cleaning out of his air filter when we do convoy trips through the outback dropped by 2/3. The factory fitted snorks on the landcruiser 70’s are purely for dust mitigation- they’re not waterproof from factory at all! It’s also a “what if” insurance policy too- we did a trip in 2005 out into the channel country and fitted a snorkel ‘just in case’ before we left and it was a good thing we did, cos we got an inch and a half of rain overnight and spent three days driving through 3 foot deep water to get out!
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Nov 17, 2019 22:46
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There's a company that makes dust mitigation stuff for military helicopters and recently got into doing dust systems for forced air helmets in offroad racing. Instead of a filter they use some sort of centrifuge as a particle separator. I believe they also make them for engines. It's an American company but I can't remember the name.
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Nov 18, 2019 03:20
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Some googling I think it’s probably this thing: https://www.sbfilters.com/particle-separator/truck There are also prefilters that use cyclonic partical separation that you can plop on top of a snorkel from Donaldson and others.
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Nov 18, 2019 04:24
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powderific posted:Some googling I think it’s probably this thing: https://www.sbfilters.com/particle-separator/truck Dunno what the ones in your link are like but I've got the normal cyclonic snorkel head prefilter on the ute and it works a treat.
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Nov 18, 2019 06:35
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That's them. I'm looking at the forced air for helmets. Might buy in the spring depending on what racing events I join.
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Nov 18, 2019 06:56
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Razzled posted:anyone have thoughts on a recovery kit to buy that isnt' as expensive as the arb one? https://apacheoffroad.com/product/dobinsons-4x4-deluxe-recovery-kit/ I dig building your own tho.
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Nov 19, 2019 03:31
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I had a couple of mates come visit Victoria to do some High Country tracks so I tagged along for a night. I met them at Mt. Buller and we did a tiny portion of the tracks in the immediate area. What a great part of the world! This is Craig's Hut, an incredibly iconic Australian location - not actually historic as it was originally built for a film in 1981!  Every location we visited was better than the last. Amazing camping spots everywhere  This is where we ended up camping for the night, not far from the top of Mt. Stirling  The Patrol on top of Mt. Stirling  Same location, less than 24 hours later! The snow held off until we were breaking camp in the morning, which was nice  My not very off-road weapon in the morning 
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Dec 7, 2019 04:26
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Cruising around Holcomb Valley again near Big Bear, looking for some good sledding spots where there was still some snow left. Some group of about 20 Jeeps was parked in the middle of the trail not going anywhere (probably showing off their gear on the groomed fire road) so I turned around and tried some new roads. My stock height Colorado scraped the skid plates in some of the ruts in the snow, but I had no problems.   
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Dec 15, 2019 00:52
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Haven't really done any offroading to speak of myself, but living up in the Sierras now and definitely interested in doing more of it. My little baby adventure this week: getting a Christmas tree out of the designated cutting area in the national forest. This is after about 50" of snow in two weeks and about twice that a bit higher. Fortunately a few others had gone up the forest road before us.   I'd love some advice on how to get my feet wet with more mild offroading without being an idiot or getting in over my head, for when the snow melts back next year.
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Dec 15, 2019 02:52
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I will have to process the video when I'm not loving exhausted, but a screengrab for now: Suffice it to say that the ground where everyone is standing, as well as most of what is surrounding the rock I'm on, is completely level 
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Jan 19, 2020 06:39
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This is about 10 seconds later. I'm glad I put that sleeve on the winch line before the trip... makes it easier to pick my black TJ out from the other black TJ/LJs. Slightly related, I got one of the fancy ARB valve-core-remover deflators in a raffle. I'm assuming they're supposed to still let some pressure by when you're just checking the tire pressure?  Someone else on the same obstacle who claimed he'd never done anything like this before, and did a hell of a job.
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Jan 19, 2020 22:31
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Nailed it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSUOPvML6YE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wDtCdkb9HM
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Jan 22, 2020 17:41
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My FIL spotted these   
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Feb 8, 2020 18:17
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King of the Hammers? I did 2N02 from Big Bear down to Pioneer Town today. Need a little more than stock clearance on the Colorado for some sections of that, hit my skid plates once or twice. But I drove back up to Big Bear on the roads and went right by King of the Hammers. I saw someone leaving in a Geo Tracker. I don't know where people get the money for full size RVs towing flatbeds full of modified Jeeps and side-by-sides. Also saw a Lexus LX470 on BFGs at Joshua Tree.
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Feb 9, 2020 01:35
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The OG Gambler crew has started doing HooptieX events now too and they were invited to come race at King of Hammers. My homie I codrive with and bunch of other Oregon dudes rolled down for it. https://www.instagram.com/p/B8VJLnro4AT/?igshid=17xsz21z09qbq This IG post has some good shots. The blue Miata was driven by Jessi Combs a few years ago for the OG500. The amazingly awful wire wheels it's sitting on came on a $500 Golf I bought for my son and donated to the Miata. The green/white e34 is the car I'm usually in. Oh poo poo, I somehow missed this post: angryrobots posted:My FIL spotted these Those things are hideous, and are perfect on that car.
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Feb 13, 2020 22:58
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Really eyeballing that Eibach kit Borrego Mountain Wash FogHelmut fucked around with this message at 05:50 on Mar 9, 2020 |
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Mar 9, 2020 05:43
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Is it bad that I like my completely wrong for off-road Canyon so much (crew cab long bed, 2WD) that if I could even remotely swing it, I'd be tempted to pick up a ZR2? A lot of it is that 2.8 Duramax, I think.
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Mar 9, 2020 05:54
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ZR2 comes in gas and diesel, as do the other trims. I couldn't justify the premium though. I got a much better deal on the Z71. I bought the skid plates from the dealer with my accessory credit, and the ZR2 rock sliders off a guy on Facebook Marketplace. Eibach will give me 2", and I'm 90% there. Sure they're not the fancy DSSV shocks, and the auto G80 in the rear isn't a manually controlled front and rear locker, and I don't have the bumper cutouts near the front tires, and the frame doesn't have additional reinforcement points, and I don't have a fancy dashboard showing me off-road angles. But it's pretty capable in stock form. I barely put it in 4WD on the fire roads I drive on. The skid plates are a good idea though since the non-ZR2 Colorado/Canyon has the lowest ground clearance between the it, the Ranger, and the Tacoma. Anyway pickups aren't the ideal layout for rock crawling anyway. The departure angles just aren't there.
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Mar 9, 2020 06:19
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Oh I agree, and I'm definitely spoiled on the tiny size of the TJ. I could see some demand for a bobbed bed, if the rear leaf springs don't need the full length of the frame.
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Mar 9, 2020 10:09
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We took the CJ-7 out on the forest roads near Cedro Peak, just east of Albuquerque. The roads varied between bouldery steepness and dirt with foot-deep ruts. The Jeep took it all like a champ, though. We saw some nice views:  Put down the windscreen for the hell of it:  And then stopped for lunch:   This was my wife's first ride in the Jeep that went off paved roads and she loved it. Now she's talking about going to Moab and I'm wondering if the Jeep would make the drive (or if my little Ranger could tow it...)
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Apr 27, 2020 01:35
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Any recommendations for shocks for a smoother ride off-road? Lift is optional, but I wouldn't mind 1-2 inches. I'm really just trying to absorb all the bumps from the gravel, rocky, and rutted fire roads around here in Southern California. It gets fatiguing after a couple of hours of driving on them. Vehicle is a 2019 Chevy Colorado Z71. I was looking at the Eibach Pro kit, but reviews seemed to indicate it's more road oriented even though it has a lift. Same with the Bilstein 5100. The Rancho RS5000 look like least expensive option, but as they are old school basic monotubes, I'm wondering how much the on-road performance will suffer. But then I'm not trying to spend a ton on a custom tuned Fox 2.5. I know part of the issue is that I have a pickup, and the leaf springs are tuned to carry loads. That can be addressed with leaf packs, but I'm really just trying to take it one thing at a time.
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May 2, 2020 14:34
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Bilstein 5100, road oriented? I mean they're excellent on both paved and rough surfaces, but I wouldn't say they sacrifice anything on either end. 5100s are the only shocks I've ever liked enough to buy twice (WJ, TJ) and I'll buy them* again when my non-Z71 Canyon needs shocks. *technically I guess the ones for stock height are 4600s?
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May 2, 2020 16:45
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I've read them reviewed as providing a stiffer and harsher ride, and using a digressive build, which provides better handling in corners. Whereas a progressive build has better damping against bumps, but is worse at the types of forces seen in cornering. Of course I'm reading various forum posts across the internet so this could be wrong.
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May 2, 2020 17:04
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FogHelmut posted:I've read them reviewed as providing a stiffer and harsher ride, and using a digressive build, which provides better handling in corners. Whereas a progressive build has better damping against bumps, but is worse at the types of forces seen in cornering. Of course I'm reading various forum posts across the internet so this could be wrong.
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May 2, 2020 18:07
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Find something with a remote res on it. I just upgrade to Superior Engineering remotes here in Aus on my 100 series (they’re built by profender) and the upgrade in ride and ability to absorb punishment compared to either twin tubes or monotubes is amazing. You don’t have to spend kings money either- I had a full set for around $400 a corner vs $1200 a corner for kings or icons
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May 3, 2020 02:37
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After many months of saving my 4Runner is finally at the shop getting full fluid service, new suspension, and tires. I was planning to take a week long drive out to Texas to go through San Antonio, Big Bend, and back through Austin in June. We’ll see when that’s actually feasible again.
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May 8, 2020 15:57
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So since Covid shut everything down, I've been using my weekends to go exploring the back woods and back country of Washington State with my wife and husky. We've been travelling to all the different forests around the area and hiking the remote trails there. Its a great way to social distance and we rarely see anyone. We've been using my 2003 Subaru Forester for this and the only modification we had to do was upgrade the tires to some nice Yokohama all terrain tires. Since being in lockdown since March 3rd, we've visited:
Here's just a sample of where we were: Hood Canal:  Olympics:          Mt. Baker area:    Mt. St. Helen's: Side note, Johnston Ridge was / is closed, so this was as far as we could go.    Okanagon-Wenatchee forests:      On Monday, I took my most challenging trip yet. I was attempting to cross over from Leavenworth to Lake Chelan via Chumstick Mountain. Chumstick is neat because you can actually drive right to the 5,810ft summit. This was the only time I wish I had more clearance. I was able to get through all the obstacles, slowly and carefully, but I am also glad I did this trip solo; as the extra weight of other people would have been problematic.   found an awesome campsite:  old geological marker where the lookout tower used to stand on Chumstick Mountain:  The summit:    Heading down to Chelan, the trails were overgrown or reduced to hiking trails so I ended up out by Cashmere:     Love how stout my little Subaru is! Solar Coaster fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Jun 24, 2020 |
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Jun 24, 2020 18:43
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Hi fellow WA goon! I also love traveling on the WA back roads and trails, though I usually keep east of the mountains. Bethel Ridge last weekend:  Blue Mountains east of Walla Walla:  Near Dayton a couple weeks ago (Kendall-Skyline Drive):   Table Rock on Kendall-Skyline Drive:  View of Mt Adams from Athanum Forest: 
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Jun 24, 2020 19:05
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I love the PNW. My truck has developed a bit of a shimmy at 65-70 that I need to address before I go on any serious car hikes. Planning on camping at Bonney Meadows in a few weeks though https://www.outdoorproject.com/united-states/oregon/bonney-meadows-forest-camp
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Jul 11, 2020 19:48
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Not a megapost with beautiful pictures and wonderful instagram stories, just a hard hitting fact from today's trip with friends/new friends and mix of Jeep capabilities with pleasant lunch: It's not even a hard trail 
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Jul 12, 2020 08:39
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This is from last week. Not sure when it opened, it's been closed for maybe two years, but Santiago Peak is accessible from the north side. The road is still closed from Ortega highway. Also on this road, I saw a Mazda, a Subaru, an Infiniti, a Volvo, a Honda Odyssey, a Honda Ridgeline (technically also a minivan), and the only one crawling at 5mph was this ridiculous monster truck. 
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Jul 12, 2020 15:35
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Oh, I'm in OC. Looking for baby trails for my GC trailhawk nearby. Like infant trails as I have no experience. Any suggestions?
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Jul 13, 2020 07:07
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This was Maple Springs Truck Trail out of Silverado Canyon to Main Divide Road. There's a few other ways up through Corona and other areas. But this is dead simple maintained fire roads, you don't really even need 4wd. And I'd say that's true for any of the fire roads around California. If you want to get weird, there's usually side roads and off shoots along the way, but the majority of the main roads can (not saying should or that it would be comfortable or efficient) be done in a basic CUV with street tires.
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Jul 13, 2020 11:48
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Last weekend we took the mountains around the Lake Chelan area to test out a new altimeter as well as check out new spots for camping. Part of Lake Chelan from Chelan Butte:  View of the Wenatchee River from Chelan Butte:   Heading up to Barney Zell Ridge which is around 6,800'. We eventually kept climbing and topped out around 7,200'   The ridge itself:   Some of the wildfire damage from a wildfire about 5 years ago:  
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Jul 13, 2020 18:05
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Very cool, I keep meaning to go up to the Chelan area. We went to Athanum State Forest yesterday west of Yakima and ran the White's Ride 4x4 trail and a couple of smaller trails. We've been up to this place a few times before, but not on these trails. Also needed to test out that new bumper + winch.   
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Jul 13, 2020 19:48
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FogHelmut posted:This was Maple Springs Truck Trail out of Silverado Canyon to Main Divide Road. There's a few other ways up through Corona and other areas. But this is dead simple maintained fire roads, you don't really even need 4wd. And I'd say that's true for any of the fire roads around California. If you want to get weird, there's usually side roads and off shoots along the way, but the majority of the main roads can (not saying should or that it would be comfortable or efficient) be done in a basic CUV with street tires. Great, thank you! E:. Is there any basic kind of equipment I should bring before trying babby's first "off road" besides a partner? Or can I pretty much get by with stock stuff and take it painfully slow? Sad that a guy who grew up in the sticks of GA is afraid of rough roads almost 30 years later. Evil SpongeBob fucked around with this message at 05:59 on Jul 14, 2020 |
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Jul 14, 2020 02:39
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I use a combination of Google maps, and a standalone off road gps with a back track ability as I've been snowed out a few times. If you really enjoy it, look into all terrain tires for your ride. From there, based on your own adventures, you can determine what else you may need. My own little forester is completely stock aside from all terrain tires which I found in my stock size.
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Jul 14, 2020 06:41
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Evil SpongeBob posted:Great, thank you! I'm no experienced off roader, but we drive pretty deep down forest service and fire roads every weekend camping and hiking (and just to explore). A shovel is a basic and useful tool if you end up getting stuck. A first aid kit (not a bad idea in every vehicle, off road or not). Some water and food. More important if there's snow and/or you're heading way out, but it's always possible you could get stuck outside cell service over night. Tire repair kit doesn't hurt, but probably isn't really necessary. There are other things you can start bringing if you start doing it more regularly (basic recovery straps and shackles, traction boards, a small tool kit, etc.). But if you're just bombing around fire roads with a partner, you'll probably be fine. Solar Coaster posted:If you really enjoy it, look into all terrain tires for your ride. From there, based on your own adventures, you can determine what else you may need. Definitely agreed. Decent all terrain tires are probably the single biggest upgrade you can make to your vehicle.
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Jul 14, 2020 15:22
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Evil SpongeBob posted:Great, thank you! You have the Grand Cherokee Trailhawk, yes? You shouldn't have to do anything at all. It already has skid plates, 10.8" of ground clearance, and the Goodyear Wrangler tires are all good enough to do just about anything short of serious rock crawling. For example, I've taken a Subaru Impreza down these fire roads, and that had 5.7" of clearance, no skid plates, and all season tires. I had to be extremely careful about random rocks, but the fire roads generally do not have any obstacles. My current Chevy Colorado is at stock height, which is only 8.2" at the front skid plate. I've only banged it a couple of times misjudging things. Otherwise it also has Goodyear Wranglers and I've had no traction issues whatsoever.  Just go out there and have fun and be sensible. If you do find yourself running into limitations or having difficulty, you'll know what you will want to upgrade. Like I want to do a 2" suspension lift on my truck (going beyond that gets very spendy), which will barely catch me up to you in terms of clearance, but even at stock I've gone a lot of places and done things that didn't appear to me that the truck could handle, but ended up being fine. It's about getting out and gaining confidence in your driving and your vehicle. The road I mentioned is pretty heavily traveled, especially on the weekends. I'd keep my eyes open for other vehicles, dirt bikes, mountain bikes, and even pedestrians - especially on the blind corners on the mountainside. You may not need much as far as safety equipment because of this. If you start going out to some of the further out areas far away from people and cell service, I'd recommend getting more serious about safety and survival. However, at the very minimum, you should carry - 1. Water 2. First Aid Kit 3. Tire Inflator, tire repair kit or a flat base (piece of wood or you can buy a plastic one) for your jack if you need to change your tire If you start going off the beaten path, or expect to go somewhere very sandy or muddy or deep snow you might need to prepare for self recovery - 4. Long handle shovel (short handle if you don't have the space) 5. Traction boards (cheap XBull are fine, but don't expect them to last through multiple uses) 6. Winch - you will know if you need one once you are experienced enough to know if you will need one. These are for serious dudes going serious places, and also Jeeps on 48" tires with LED rims and chrome winch cables. 7. Recovery strap - these are fine to have if you have another vehicle to pull you out, so they're not in the "self recovery" section. Or you can be a hero and pull other people out. These can be very dangerous if used improperly. Probably buy before a winch if you have the space. At this point you can nerd out about tire pressures and recovery techniques and survival gear and plug-in 12v refrigerators and rooftop tents and bear-proof coffee mugs. There's plenty of resources and YouTube videos about how to get yourself unstuck if you do get stuck. The fire roads are just dirt roads maintained by the fire service in order to combat wildfires. They have to be in good condition and accessible by many vehicles, and it's nice that most of them are open to the public. For a good part of history most roads were made of dirt. You're not going to suddenly find yourself in a world without friction because of lack of pavement. Take your time, go easy on the gas, and if you do get some speed realize you'll need slightly more distance to brake, and pay close attention to what's in front of you, and you should never get stuck unless you intend to. 99% of the time you will have no problems. You should be able to just drive onto the fire road as is and have a great day.
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Jul 14, 2020 15:45
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