I'd like to hear a bit more from the folks who have experienced or indulged in expedition-type wheeling in contrast to the hardcore rockcrawling that seems to dominate the airwaves here.
I find myself constantly having to fight the buying impulses generated by reading the great mods done by folks here, having to force myself to analyze more objectively whether I would indeed or not need such and such mod for the expedition type wheeling that is my goal.
By expedition type wheeling I mean driving over dirt or gravel or sand or even rocky roads, but with the purpose of getting someplace, not going over the biggest rock I can find just for the fun of doing that. I mean I would try to avoid such rock if I'm in the middle of nowhere. That doesn't mean I would not encounter obstacles, of course, but it's a different set of practicalities.
This suggests to me that maybe the typical mods we hear about here may not be the most appropriate. For expedition type wheeling, for instance, I would think that reliability should be first priority. In particular, I'm thinking that the high lifts we see here may not be that necessary for expeditions. I'm thinking that after good tires, a good skid plate underneath should maybe be first choice. This to get you out of there. I'm starting to think that sliders may not be as high priority as I thought originally but maybe still second in line. Are lifts even really needed? What about bumpers?
Anybody cares to comment, especially those of you with some Western US / desert / Mexico type of expedition under your belt?
I find myself constantly having to fight the buying impulses generated by reading the great mods done by folks here, having to force myself to analyze more objectively whether I would indeed or not need such and such mod for the expedition type wheeling that is my goal.
By expedition type wheeling I mean driving over dirt or gravel or sand or even rocky roads, but with the purpose of getting someplace, not going over the biggest rock I can find just for the fun of doing that. I mean I would try to avoid such rock if I'm in the middle of nowhere. That doesn't mean I would not encounter obstacles, of course, but it's a different set of practicalities.
This suggests to me that maybe the typical mods we hear about here may not be the most appropriate. For expedition type wheeling, for instance, I would think that reliability should be first priority. In particular, I'm thinking that the high lifts we see here may not be that necessary for expeditions. I'm thinking that after good tires, a good skid plate underneath should maybe be first choice. This to get you out of there. I'm starting to think that sliders may not be as high priority as I thought originally but maybe still second in line. Are lifts even really needed? What about bumpers?
Anybody cares to comment, especially those of you with some Western US / desert / Mexico type of expedition under your belt?