Most simple diesel engine

[Dougal]

More power, extra lift, bigger tyres and diff locks can obviously all be helpful when it comes to off-road prowess. (But even here "user-controlled diff locks" are probably the only item to which it is very hard to associate any significant negative effects.)

What's overlooked is that "lift and good-suspension-travel" often equals "rollover" (on side-cambers). And extra weight makes a vehicle more reluctant to climb (out of a mire or up a slippery slope) and less likely to follow the changes of direction to which you steer it.

So what I'm saying is .... Most modified vehicles I see have a mixture of modifications .... some of them are beneficial and some are harmful (and which category they fall into depends a lot on the type of terrain they're travelling over at the time). But the overall result of all their "improvements" is often questionable in my eyes (with vehicle-reliability often seriously suffering).

The biggest factors on why they may go further than me ... are usually "the bigger size of their wallet" (whereas I can't afford to pay for repairs) and the fact they consider their vehicle easily replaceable (whereas I want mine to be still in top condition for my kids to enjoy when I'm gone).

The stock 40-series is a good allrounder I reckon and can in certain circumstances perform better than the modified macho versions (depending on terrain again).

And another BIG factor for me ...The stock 40-series is also very obedient/comfortable on-road (and I very much like driving mine on-road too).

But we digress........ Now what the hell was the original topic

One of the biggest problems these days is muppets with really big tyres. They make really big ruts which make these trails impassible for standard vehicles. Back when everyone ran what the vehicle came with the ruts remained shallow as the ground between them was graded flat by the diffs being dragged over them.

 

[Tapage]

Tapage, just out of curiosity, and because it's relevant to the thread, how many kms are you at now, with your 2H?

Half a million is already quite good. I've seen lots of 2Hs and 12HTs that never made it that far.

Yesterday I made another couple of km on my lovely 2H ( including it being capable of brake my both front inners ) over 511,XXX km ..

 

[canucksafari]

One of the biggest problems these days is muppets with really big tyres. They make really big ruts which make these trails impassible for standard vehicles. Back when everyone ran what the vehicle came with the ruts remained shallow as the ground between them was graded flat by the diffs being dragged over them.

That was one of the key points of contention on the Patrol forum. Interestingly, there also appeared to be a demographic split between the under 40 and over 40 (I'm speaking of age - not tire size ). The older 40 considered those with big rubber to be little better than the "hoons" who go out to tear the crap out of land and trails. The over 40 also tended to voice that it was better to abandon a trail and go back than to have a go at it and risk wrecking it or their rig.

 

[crushers]

smaller tired vehicles do not make deep ruts but as each one gets stuck and winched or pulled out their diffs become plows and the "trench" gets deeper and deeper.
a truck with big tires (read floatation) will not dig deep ruts unless the driver is inexperienced or a show off.
of course the driver does make the difference more than the size of the tires.

a truck with lockers, large tires will leave hardly a track where as a small tired vehicle with open diffs will be more prone to damage to the terrain. it takes a skilled driver to take a stock truck down a trail. a skilled driver will look for ways around a soft spot on the trail, it is called "picking your trail" and contrary to popular misbelief picking a trail around a soft spot is more enviromentally friendly than blasting through displacing more and more water and mud.

just my 30 years of off road experience... accept it or reject it. that is your personal call.

 

[dohcdelsol93]

with my 2" of suspension lift and 31" km2's i'm great at finding ruts showoffs with +36" tires leave behind.

I checked out some new trials with a buddy this past weekend and boy did i find some deep ruts.

I'm all for public trails and riding through the mud. Maybe its because i have a low hp, low reving diesel but i have no use for spinning tires through anything wet just to cover my truck with mud.

It's because of idiots that made ruts like these that so many of our local trails are being closed off.

My buddy dug this rutt pulling me out, i was kind of forced to go through this one after he pulled me through the first.

I'm under 30 and i say no to destructive oversized tires.

 

[crushers]

destructive over sized tires are only destructive in the hands of the aggressive.

you are bing tugged out so your diffs are dragging ... and the difference is?

 

[canucksafari]

One part of treading lightly is repairing the damage you might have to do to get out of a bad situation. However, most are too lazy lazy to fill in holes or ruts they make and others consider it creating obstacles. It does give ammo to certain people who hate motorized vehicles in the back country. And it does damage certain habitats for a long time.

 

[crushers]

agreed and agree...

 

[dohcdelsol93]

destructive over sized tires are only destructive in the hands of the aggressive.

you are bing tugged out so your diffs are dragging ... and the difference is?

the water pic was where i initally got stuck. Made it through about 20ft and got stuck in the last 3-4 ft before i went up on drier ground.

Those rutts in the 2nd pic were, well, was not my choice to go through those.

we used about 30 ft of chain and a strap to link me to a 79 F150 4x4. I was trying to steer to the left of them and avoid the really bad spots but the ground was so soft i slid right into them.

we did spend about 2 hours working on a drainage ditch so water would pour from the puddle (1st pic) right into the river running along these trails instead of retaining 3ft of water. Hopefully that will save someone from the same fate as me. You can see the ditch we dug in the first ditch running from my front door going down hill. When the pic was taken we had not yet dug the last little bit to let the water drain.

the hole i got stuck in for the second pic we left as it was. It's easily avoidable so long as you don't have to get pulled out of the 1st hole. Yes we should have put some dirt/rocks in it but would really need a front end loader for that one. All we had was a little hand spade. the drainage ditch from pic one will also help keep this rut dry.

this whole area is under water when it rains hard and the river floods quickly.