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MomJeans420 posted:Calico looks pretty cool, my local bike shop just did a group ride there recently but I wasn't able to go. It's hard to tell from those photos but I'm not sure if even a built GX / 4runner could get through that, maybe the photos make it look tighter than it is. Based on the track width of the Jeep I think that the two videoed obstacles are fine for a properly built GX or 4Runner; the off camberness isn’t great but it’s nice and dry so the tires should stick and keep the vehicle from getting wedged in the ‘Vee’ but that’s just from watching the video, the situation on the ground might be totally different. However, the photo showing the Jeep’s front axle drooping and angle opposite the rear axle would make me look for a bypass, a flatter line or some rocks to stack if no alternative presented itself.
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Jun 26, 2021 05:38
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There are waterfalls here and there that could pose an issue if you don't have the approach/departure angles, however I've never been wheeling with a GX/4Runner so I don't know their capability. Honestly I think the biggest turn-off for people would be that it's high risk for body damage. If there's a capable rig in front of you who can pull you up obstacles then you'll be able to escape any situation.
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Jun 26, 2021 06:07
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Vampire Panties posted:I feel like the only misstep was the SPC UCAs - the shop manager gave an impassioned 10 minute speech about how SPC weren't meant to be used in lifts, they're designed to be used in wrecked cars to bring them back into alignment. After his speech, reading the website descriptions again, and seeing the SPC UCAs on the truck, I have very little confidence in them and I'll be looking to upgrade them ASAP. I've been running SPC UCAs on my Sequoia for a year and a half and I don't have any complaints. I wouldn't worry about it.
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Jun 28, 2021 05:21
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Trampus posted:I've been running SPC UCAs on my Sequoia for a year and a half and I don't have any complaints. I wouldn't worry about it. I’ve had my SPC upper control arms since Jan 2018 and they’re still going strong. Just in case I bought a spare upper ball joint as that was one of the most common failure points on SPC’s products, but regular re-greasing has kept those spares in the box. The only reason I would change now is if I threw caution (and money) to the wind and went long travel which is kind of a waste on a 4Runner because of other reasons (approach and departure angles are pretty low). I do need to do something about the front coils as the truck is awfully spongy with a full load of belly armor and a front slimline bumper plus winch on board *and* I’m probably adding a second battery to the engine bay in the next year to power accessories. I’ve waffled back and forth over committing to a permanently installed ‘hotel’ battery vs a removable box and I think that the deciding factor is keeping the trunk clutter to a minimum. Getting back to suspension I’m looking at going from what are essentially Billstein 2.0” with 650lbs progressive coils to some kind of 2.5” shock, preferably with adjustable valving and either same springs or 700lbs to account for the added weight up front. That should restore the factory rake (it’s down about an inch from the factory -1”) and cut down on the sponginess. What do you guys think?
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Jun 28, 2021 08:53
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Arishtat posted:I’ve had my SPC upper control arms since Jan 2018 and they’re still going strong. Just in case I bought a spare upper ball joint as that was one of the most common failure points on SPC’s products, but regular re-greasing has kept those spares in the box. The only reason I would change now is if I threw caution (and money) to the wind and went long travel which is kind of a waste on a 4Runner because of other reasons (approach and departure angles are pretty low). Thanks, but I already ordered JBA UCAs. I think I can flip the SPC on Facebook to offset most of the cost. The SPCs just look too thin on the truck. Re: suspension - You should absolutely upgrade the springs in your truck with all of that extra weight. 4runners are good for ~1k in payload capacity, and you probably have at least half of that in steel. As to which shock to get - what are you looking to accomplish? go fast on washboards? climb up rocks better? a better daily ride? I had Bilstein 5100s on a Jeep Wrangler and it was great for day-to-day pavement with light offroading, but they were worthless on washboards. On my Tacoma now, I went with Fox Factory 2.5 with reservoir. I chose Fox over King because Fox has more durable components but I honestly couldn't say if there is a large performance difference between the two. Did you have a specific manufacturer or model in mind?
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Jun 28, 2021 23:02
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Aren't wranglers naturally awful on washboards? Anyway, Bilsteins are digressive while the Fox are linear, iirc. Bilsteins should lean more towards on-road stability and cornering, while Fox should be better off road bumps and whoops. I would stay away from a progressive shock unless its a fully dedicated off-road vehicle that will see little to no road use.
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Jun 28, 2021 23:47
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The idea that SPCs aren't supposed to be used in lifts sounds made up to me. I believe on Toyotas at least, the UCAs don't receive much of the vehicle load, so I wouldn't be concerned with them not being strong enough (and they certainly seem stronger than OEM). FWIW they were redesigned a few years ago as a one piece cast rather than being welded and new bushings. Main downsides IMO are the proprietary ball joint (rather than being able to use something you can buy at any auto parts store should you need a replacement ASAP like you can with some UCAs) and the adjustability (alignments are now more complicated). The adjustability is also a pro of course (can dial in your caster/camber rather than the one-size-fits-all approach of non-adjustable offset UCAs).
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Jun 28, 2021 23:56
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xposting from the rv thread in TGO. Amateur hour logging, downed trees blocking a road. Looks like someone tried to drag them out of the way but didn't have the mass or the winch to do so.    This came after about an hour and all of like 3 miles of the most rutted out steep power line roads possible courtesy of loving Google.... with an air-over-spring suspension bag out.
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Jul 3, 2021 22:52
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Vampire Panties posted:Thanks, but I already ordered JBA UCAs. I think I can flip the SPC on Facebook to offset most of the cost. The SPCs just look too thin on the truck. I’m on the road this weekend so expect a reply by Wednesday once I’ve gotten to a device with a real keyboard.
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Jul 4, 2021 03:14
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Well, didn't really need 4 wheel drive to get out to the rockhouse in Clark Dry Lake, but it was (sort of) fun nonetheless. In person, Meth Fortress was an anti-climatic methshed Re: suspension chat - Truck soaked up desert road at 50 mph like it was nothing. I hit 60 for a spurt, but slowed down because I'm worried about cracking the fiberglass shell on the back. Overall I'm very satisfied with the suspension, although I'm very meh on desert stuff. I'm already thinking about larger tires for more serious trails  
Vampire Panties fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Jul 7, 2021 |
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Jul 7, 2021 00:47
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Dumb question but I'm sure someone on here has dealt with this before. If have a 4'x7.5' flat roof rack like this am I better off with a 4x6ft cargo net that stretches to 8x12ft, or a 3x4ft net that stretches to 6x8ft? I'm pretty sure 4x6 is the better option as if I have cargo boxes on the roof it'll need to be at least 4ft + 2x the height of the box (or more accurately 2x the length of the hypotenuse, so potentially not much more than 4ft if it was angled just right), but then I worry about it being too loose if I don't have enough tall items up top. I don't need it to stretch the length of the rack but it does need to do the width of the rack. I'll have proper ratcheting straps to hold everything down, I just wanted a second layer of protection and something that can hold light but large items. I don't have that much faith the cargo nets I've seen on Amazon though so I wonder if it's pointless, but I'm moving a bunch of stuff on a long drive next week and I'd rather have it and not need it then try to find one at the last minute. *edit* is there a story behind the obvious for meth fortress? and have you checked out Font's Point yet? Not really a challenging offroad experience in the slightest, but very cool views. MomJeans420 fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Jul 7, 2021 |
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Jul 7, 2021 01:36
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I'll say that I never met an elastic cargo net that was worth a drat. Just use ratchet straps and you'll be golden.
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Jul 7, 2021 02:02
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Drove up to Santiago Peak on Sunday. Stock everything. The other people at the top were on 35"s or better. It's a fire road, nothing technical. Most trouble I ran into was young kids in much more expensive vehicles than mine driving way too fast coming up the hill.  
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Jul 7, 2021 02:03
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Atticus_1354 posted:I'll say that I never met an elastic cargo net that was worth a drat. Just use ratchet straps and you'll be golden. That seems like the correct answer, I looked into them more and they really aren't good for much weight at all. Not enough for me to feel like they'd add anything of value at high speeds with a non-aerodynamic load.
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Jul 7, 2021 02:36
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Speaking of high speeds and aerodynamics, put a twist in your straps to stop them fluttering/vibrating in the wind.
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Jul 7, 2021 02:48
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FogHelmut posted:Drove up to Santiago Peak on Sunday. Stock everything. The other people at the top were on 35"s or better. It's a fire road, nothing technical. Didn't know you were near me. I drove it 2 weeks ago and a new white range rover passed me going down. Had to do a double take. Trails going to the SE were closed due to fire hazard.
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Jul 7, 2021 04:11
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MomJeans420 posted:Dumb question but I'm sure someone on here has dealt with this before. If have a 4'x7.5' flat roof rack like this I've only had one cargo net work for me in that scenario, and I put it on top of a heavy tarp. It worked beautifully in a cross country drive through an ice storm in Iowa: https://smile.amazon.com/ROCKET-STR...25627879&sr=8-5  Thats covering a 6x8 tarp and three, 27 gallon HDX totes from Home Depot, if that helps you visualize the size. No story on the meth fortress; I'm not sure how i even picked it out. Chrome auto filled 'rockhouse by clark dry lake' when i was searching for places to check out in the Borrego area and the Google Maps pics looked interesting. I'll have to check out Font's Point, although now that its summer I don't have a lot of interest in the desert.
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Jul 7, 2021 04:27
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Evil SpongeBob posted:Didn't know you were near me. I drove it 2 weeks ago and a new white range rover passed me going down. Had to do a double take. Yeah I'm in south OC. That whole half of the mountain has been closed since the Holy Fire in 2018. I hear rumor that it may open back up this fall, but who knows.
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Jul 7, 2021 04:50
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Mind pointing me to other trails similar in difficulty in our area? I'm weird and usually drive alone since my wife and kid find offroad too bouncy.
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Jul 7, 2021 06:22
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Pretty much anywhere there's a mountain that has fire roads. Like I said the whole southern half of the Santa Ana/Saddleback mountains is closed. Otherwise you got to drive a few hours up to Angeles national forest or San Bernardino national Forest, or out towards Anza Borrego. Most of the fire roads can be done with a 2wd sedan. AllTrails is an okay resource, but there's a lot of clutter with hiking trails. https://www.alltrails.com/ TrailsOffroad is pretty good - https://www.trailsoffroad.com/states/CA onX Off-road has a great map but I think it's all user submitted? so it may be limited https://www.onxmaps.com/offroad/app Always very important to check the forest service website for road lists and status: https://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/cleveland/alerts-notices/?cid=stelprdb5340229
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Jul 7, 2021 15:09
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The main part of Santa Rosa Truck Trail 7S02 is easy and doesn't seem to be on SBNF's closure list. There are some great views and interesting checkpoints. Some of the offshoots to the yellow post sites might be a little tricky, but you can skip those.
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Jul 7, 2021 21:59
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MomJeans420 posted:Calico Calico should be doable with most decent 4x4's, even Odessa canyon if you run it downhill [uphill can be a big slog and will need lots of winch action so I'd reserve that for bikes]. I managed to blunder through it with a stock H1 with poo poo articulation with 1" to spare on the sides very slowly with no damage so a nicely equipped FJ with good observation should be ok. The only problem I had with Calico area is having up to date trail and map info... I had a tripped planned one year that had our group exiting onto Ft Irwin's access road so we didn't have to loop back around. Worked well one year but at some point there was a landslide in a canyon which blocked a trail so we wound up having to do a 180 and go back the way we came. The spot around the old collapsed Bismarck mine is really neat. On a plus note, It's been 3 years since I moved to Texas, the lack of public wheeling here.. I can just understand the plight of east coast 4x4'ers now with a lack of lands/trail access. It looks like I'm moving back west in 2 months.. so I'll be in Las Vegas.. back in the middle of all the southwest trails.. I can't wait 
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Jul 8, 2021 15:01
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Have any of you all ever driven the F26 or F35 in Iceland? From what I've read, the F35 is supposed to be the milder of the two. If I rented a Toyota-pickup-based 4x4 camper, would the F26 be very difficult, or would the F35 seem like a dawdle?
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Jul 9, 2021 15:50
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I've only seen a portion of the F26 and nothing on the F35 but I've been on a handful of other F roads in Iceland and they were all non-technical. Just extremely rough, slow going. The busier roads will be constant potholes so your head is gonna be bobbing around all day and your ears are gonna get tired of the rattles. Make sure to clarify if there's any river crossings too, because the ones I've seen were pretty drat deep. And read the fine print on the rental contract, they can be pretty nuanced in what's covered and what's not, they feel engineered to rake you over the coals if you do something wrong. Search the road you're interested in on youtube, guarantee there's a dashcam video of it.
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Jul 9, 2021 16:19
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Also Google Street View. Even if there isn't real street view imagery, people will upload 360 panorama shots. Check the panoramas not for road conditions, but to see what other cars are in the pic. See a Corolla? Then it's not a very technical road, heh. See only backpackers with trekking poles? Watch out! There aren't a ton of panoramas on F26, but the ones I saw with cars were just normal sedans and small SUVs, often super dirty. It looks more muddy than technical.
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Jul 9, 2021 16:47
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ryanrs posted:Also Google Street View. Even if there isn't real street view imagery, people will upload 360 panorama shots. Check the panoramas not for road conditions, but to see what other cars are in the pic. See a Corolla? Then it's not a very technical road, heh. See only backpackers with trekking poles? Watch out! This is going to result in a bunch of suburbanites getting their cars stuck on your trails, you realize that right? Most people: "I mean the picture has a loving sienna in it, I'm sure we can make it there in the Civic just fine"
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Jul 10, 2021 17:00
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I got a couple good posts out of the last Civic that did something like that.
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Jul 10, 2021 23:47
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This is how the locals get new cars.
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Jul 11, 2021 02:45
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It's also a windfall for rental companies in Iceland. The contract almost always forbids taking a two wheel drive on an F road, so if you get caught out there it instantly voids any insurance you bought. They also have a reputation of going over returns with a magnifying glass looking for damage because it's free profit.
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Jul 11, 2021 03:36
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kastein posted:This is going to result in a bunch of suburbanites getting their cars stuck on your trails, you realize that right? The amount of poo poo I've seen on the Forest Roads in WA are amazing. Lots of confused priuses and Teslas, deep deep into wooded and rutted areas. There was an instance where I ran into a Hyundai Sonata on a very rough ridge trail ~ 6000' up. They had no idea what to do on a one lane road so I had to get out and guide them backwards to a place where i could get around them.
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Jul 11, 2021 22:01
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Cross posting from the hiking thread. A week ago I drove a long way to get close to Yellowstone The road was closed beyond this so I brought the bike  The Yellowstone border from the Idaho side  No roads, paths, not even game trails  A bearing tree to help find my way  The Idaho Montana Wyoming tripoint, significantly harder to get to than any of the other tripoints I've been to   cursedshitbox posted:
Google is not infallible. Google Maps tells me the road to the left here is definitely the way to go  The Forest service made drat sure no one used it, there were multiple 15 foot tall piles of dirt along it and many others as I trekked deeper into forest
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Jul 12, 2021 01:48
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Hotel Kpro posted:Cross posting from the hiking thread. A week ago I drove a long way to get close to Yellowstone
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Jul 12, 2021 11:09
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I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I'm looking to replace my current car (a sad 2011 Ford Fiesta) with something a little more rugged . All I'm really looking for is something that can carry poo poo and survive BLM/Forestry Service roads, is as mechanically simple as possible and has a practical enough size for living in a city. My budget is roughly 6k +/- a bit. I've been looking at late 90s/early 2000s Honda CR-Vs and Toyota RAV4s. Most of them around me have 150-200k on the clock. Depending on how good shape they're in, I reckon they would last forever with regular maintenance? Thanks! Combatace fucked around with this message at 18:23 on Jul 22, 2021 |
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Jul 22, 2021 18:01
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Combatace posted:I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I'm looking to replace my current car (a sad 2011 Ford Fiesta) with something a little more rugged . All I'm really looking for is something that can carry poo poo and survive BLM/Forestry Service roads while being as mechanically simple as possible. My budget is roughly 6k +/- a bit. I bought a 2002 sequoia with just about 200k miles on it, service records of its whole life at the dealer, 309k now and it works perfectly. I really like the car, good offroad, good for camping, good on the beach, i can tow a car trailer with it, i can daily drive it. one of the best all-around cars i have ever owned,
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Jul 22, 2021 18:08
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chrisgt posted:I bought a 2002 sequoia with just about 200k miles on it, service records of its whole life at the dealer, 309k now and it works perfectly. I used to work at a boat dealership, and a few of the guys had Sequoias or similar year Tundras. They seemed like good capable and reliable vehicles for hauling and towing. That said, I think the fuel consumption would be nearly half of a CR-V (14/18 vs 24/28 as returned by a basic Google search), if that's something they're concerned with.
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Jul 22, 2021 18:19
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I should probably also mention I live in a city, so something a bit more compact and reasonable fuel economy are also on the list.
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Jul 22, 2021 18:22
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If you want decent gas mileage, you're gonna be stuck in AWD SUV territory. Subaru, Honda, Toyota, whatever suits your fancy. None of these will be rock crawling mud running offroad machines, but they'll be able to handle a good chunk of FS or BLM roads. Just be willing to turn around if a road ends up getting too lovely.. if you see loose boulders or a knee height ledge, leave it to the 4x4 dudes. Deep snow or sand dunes are a no-no too.
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Jul 22, 2021 19:04
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I went out for a day trip on a nearby trail and on the way down I ran into two Jeeps in the middle of a one lane path surrounded by dirt embankments. They were coming up and I knew no one was behind me so I tossed it in reverse and backed out to the opening. The one Jeep tried passing me by driving up the side of the embankment and tearing it up. I stopped to talk to the second Jeep to make sure no one else was coming up behind them and the older couple inside just gave me a look of scorn and tossed me a business card/ trail etiquette guide and said, “Here take this.” Of course the first thing the etiquette guide said was to stay on trail. I also appreciated the fact that if the one Jeep hosed up they would have rolled right on top of me. I took a detour on the way down and less than a quarter mile from the trailhead the same two Jeeps came barreling up my rear end giving me like a few feet of space. I just ignored them while airing up but I overhead them loudly talking about supposedly smacking the poo poo out of someone (not me) who was annoying them. A good day besides that nonsense. Certainly not interested in signing up for their guided Jeep tours.
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Jul 22, 2021 19:05
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Handing you a card is pretty lol considering the first rules everyone learns is to signal how many vehicles are in a convoy and downhill traffic is supposed to yield. gently caress 'em, they're just mad at you for existing.
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Jul 22, 2021 19:10
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GentlemanofLeisure posted:I used to work at a boat dealership, and a few of the guys had Sequoias or similar year Tundras. They seemed like good capable and reliable vehicles for hauling and towing. That said, I think the fuel consumption would be nearly half of a CR-V (14/18 vs 24/28 as returned by a basic Google search), if that's something they're concerned with. Yea, my biggest gripe is that the 26 gallon tank is way too small. 36 gallons would be nice. My second biggest gripe is that the first gen of 2uz, with fixed cam timing, is a little bit gutless. But this is picky, it's fine the vast majority of the time.
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Jul 22, 2021 19:25
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