Official 200 Series Chat and BS Thread

[Markuson]

Ridge Grapplers didn't make the list I see - darn it!

My reaction too... Was hoping for a Ridge G sale. I have a feeling Ridge Grapplers are eating into Trail G sales and Terra B sales. Exos, Dune and Mud comparatively niche but Trails and Terras are not.

 

[KLF]

What are you guys doing for trailer hitch balls? My truck had the factory hitch insert still in the box sitting in the back when I bought it, unused, no ball installed. The hole in the insert will accept a 1-1/4" shaft ball, but there is a sleeve included that takes it down to 1" ID. I found a ball on Amazon that has a 1-1/4" shaft:

Amazon.com: CURT 40090 Trailer Ball: CURT: Automotive

Rated for 10,000 lbs. Seems like a no-brainer, but I can't figure out how I'm gonna get 450 ft-lbs on the nut.

 

[Romer]

I use the Revis Hitch. I have two, one with a ball if I rent a trailer and another with my Tregg hitch for my Kimberley

 

[mcgaskins]

My exact reaction too! I have a feeling Ridge Grapplers are eating into Trail G sales and Terra B sales. Exos, Dune and Mud comparatively niche but Trails and Terras are not.

That's probably true and for good reason. I've had mine now for 2.5 months, 3k miles, highway/city/trail, and I've been thoroughly impressed. Probably the best thing about them is how quiet and smooth they are, and the traction in Moab was incredible. If you shop around you can get these for a much better price. I bought from Tirebuyer.com, and right now they're running a 7% off sale including free shipping to an installer and another $40 to ship to one of their installers. With those discounts applied, you can get them for about $265/tire shipped before tax and install. That's even less than I paid a couple of months ago, but if the price was higher now I would still have bought them again for more.

 

[Markuson]

That's probably true and for good reason. I've had mine now for 2.5 months, 3k miles, highway/city/trail, and I've been thoroughly impressed. Probably the best thing about them is how quiet and smooth they are, and the traction in Moab was incredible. If you shop around you can get these for a much better price. I bought from Tirebuyer.com, and right now they're running a 7% off sale including free shipping to an installer and another $40 to ship to one of their installers. With those discounts applied, you can get them for about $265/tire shipped before tax and install. That's even less than I paid a couple of months ago, but if the price was higher now I would still have bought them again for more.

View attachment 1465465

Great info. Thanks! That is a major savings.

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

So I'm really curious about these Ridge grapplers and their off-road traction. Moab is like Velcro and street tires do good.

I saw a lot of ridge grapplers at an event recently, and they were slipping, a lot. But I haven personably ran them yet, has anyone put ridge grapplers in loose gravel hill climbs, mud, and general broken apart surfaces?

 

[Desert Nomad]

What are you guys doing for trailer hitch balls? My truck had the factory hitch insert still in the box sitting in the back when I bought it, unused, no ball installed. The hole in the insert will accept a 1-1/4" shaft ball, but there is a sleeve included that takes it down to 1" ID. I found a ball on Amazon that has a 1-1/4" shaft:

Amazon.com: CURT 40090 Trailer Ball: CURT: Automotive

Rated for 10,000 lbs. Seems like a no-brainer, but I can't figure out how I'm gonna get 450 ft-lbs on the nut.

There are some special "spanner head" torque wrenches which you could use also they'll be extremely long to make high torque figures easier

 

[Markuson]

So I'm really curious about these Ridge grapplers and their off-road traction. Moab is like Velcro and street tires do good.

I saw a lot of ridge grapplers at an event recently, and they were slipping, a lot. But I haven personably ran them yet, has anyone put ridge grapplers in loose gravel hill climbs, mud, and general broken apart surfaces?

What do you attribute that loose gravel slippage to? Voids too narrow? Rubber too solid?

 

[mcgaskins]

So I'm really curious about these Ridge grapplers and their off-road traction. Moab is like Velcro and street tires do good.

I saw a lot of ridge grapplers at an event recently, and they were slipping, a lot. But I haven personably ran them yet, has anyone put ridge grapplers in loose gravel hill climbs, mud, and general broken apart surfaces?

There's more to the area than slickrock which I agree is crazy grippy. We did Top of the World which has lots of loose rocks, ledges, boulders, and sand. There was an uphill obstacle with kind of a two tiered ledge surrounded by loose sand and rock that gave a lot of trucks trouble. There was a 4runner in front of us that tried for at least 20 minutes and tried many different lines and couldn't get up, so they had to hook up a winch to pull it up and over. My 200 absolutely walked up it first attempt, and I think a big reason why was the grip on the tires. My wife took video of it because she didn't want to ride over that obstacle, so I'll see if I can find it on her phone. I only have 1 pic on my phone from the trail which doesn't exactly do it justice, but it's definitely not the typical smooth face Moab slickrock like Hells Revenge or Fins. If you're used to wheeling in the south with lots of mud and shale and stuff, I'm probably never going to be able to relate because out here pretty much everything is dry and rocky.

 

[Markuson]

There's more to the area than slickrock which I agree is crazy grippy. We did Top of the World which has lots of loose rocks, ledges, boulders, and sand. There was an uphill obstacle with kind of a two tiered ledge surrounded by loose sand and rock that gave a lot of trucks trouble. There was a 4runner in front of us that tried for at least 20 minutes and tried many different lines and couldn't get up, so they had to hook up a winch to pull it up and over. My 200 absolutely walked up it first attempt, and I think a big reason why was the grip on the tires. My wife took video of it because she didn't want to ride over that obstacle, so I'll see if I can find it on her phone. I only have 1 pic on my phone from the trail which doesn't exactly do it justice, but it's definitely not the typical smooth face Moab slickrock like Hells Revenge or Fins. If you're used to wheeling in the south with lots of mud and shale and stuff, I'm probably never going to be able to relate because out here pretty much everything is dry and rocky.

View attachment 1465483

That spot gave me some trouble with slippage too... No one else around though, so it was either get up it or go home.
Finally engaged crawl control, and it went up immediately. I think it was more of a locker issue (I don't have lockers yet), so crawl stood in for the missing lockers and it was a piece of cake at that point. Although...somehow crawl feels like "cheating" to me...

 

[tabraha]

That's probably true and for good reason. I've had mine now for 2.5 months, 3k miles, highway/city/trail, and I've been thoroughly impressed. Probably the best thing about them is how quiet and smooth they are, and the traction in Moab was incredible. If you shop around you can get these for a much better price. I bought from Tirebuyer.com, and right now they're running a 7% off sale including free shipping to an installer and another $40 to ship to one of their installers. With those discounts applied, you can get them for about $265/tire shipped before tax and install. That's even less than I paid a couple of months ago, but if the price was higher now I would still have bought them again for more.

View attachment 1465465

My Ridge Grapplers are getting mounted tomorrow as my long MIA wheels were delivered yesterday (7 weeks from order LOL). $1475 for 5 tires mounted and balanced out the door with tax etc. They were $262/ea before taxes etc. This is at my local guy who is now a TirePros affiliate FWIW.

 

[Romer]

And that 4runner was my daughter who didnt have a locker. That spot was actually an error by the trail leader. We were supposed to go to the right and go up a series of ledges rather than hit that spot

My daughter now has a GX470 and is getting a rear locker installed. I didn't use the locker on that spot, but a 200 is heavier, longer and wider which makes that spot easier for a 200 than a 4runner

And yes her tires were getting on in years

 

[Markuson]

And that 4runner was my daughter who didnt have a locker. That spot was actually an error by the trail leader. We were supposed to go to the right and go up a series of ledges rather than hit that spot

My daughter now has a GX470 and is getting a rear locker installed. I didn't use the locker on that spot, but a 200 is heavier, longer and wider which makes that spot easier than a 4runner

Ah. Then you're talking about a different spot than I thought... I took the right side on the way up, and the other side on the way down. Far more screwy on the left side facing up...

Super cool that your daughter was driving with you! What a view up there, aye?!

 

[mcgaskins]

And that 4runner was my daughter who didnt have a locker. That spot was actually an error by the trail leader. We were supposed to go to the right and go up a series of ledges rather than hit that spot

My daughter now has a GX470 and is getting a rear locker installed. I didn't use the locker on that spot, but a 200 is heavier, longer and wider which makes that spot easier for a 200 than a 4runner

And yes her tires were getting on in years

I wasn't going to mention any names And yes I agree with you 100% - the trail leader was not doing a very good job spotting people right there, and someone else was standing behind yelling pretty conflicting stuff as the trail leader. That's why when it was my turn my buddy spotted me instead and asked the trail leader and the other guy to just be quiet

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

Well... on the traction, ridge grappler thing, I did Top of the World in the dead of winter with a foot of snow on BFG KO2s. That's not to sound like i'm one-uping anyone, but having wheeled extensively across the world, and I love Moab, but it is grippy everywhere. Plus the rocks typically don't like to move around there, for the most part.

I guess i'm looking at the worst wheeling surface I have seen, east coast mud covered rocks that can also move around, and did I mention they are slippery. For old school guys, Tellico.

I really want these ridge grapplers to work for me, because I want to run 285/75r17 (even though I don't think they will work with RWs and no sway bar relocation) but from what I saw recently, I wasn't impressed, but again, just seeing if anyone has put them in clay/rocks, mud/rocks, hill climbs that has endless loose crap to them.

 

[Markuson]

Well... on the traction, ridge grappler thing, I did Top of the World in the dead of winter with a foot of snow on BFG KO2s. That's not to sound like i'm one-uping anyone, but having wheeled extensively across the world, and I love Moab, but it is grippy everywhere. Plus the rocks typically don't like to move around there, for the most part.

I guess i'm looking at the worst wheeling surface I have seen, east coast mud covered rocks that can also move around, and did I mention they are slippery. For old school guys, Tellico.

I really want these ridge grapplers to work for me, because I want to run 285/75r17 (even though I don't think they will work with RWs and no sway bar relocation) but from what I saw recently, I wasn't impressed, but again, just seeing if anyone has put them in clay/rocks, mud/rocks, hill climbs that has endless loose crap to them.

Along with my bumpers in a few weeks, I'll be installing KDSS relocation bracket in anticipation of larger tires. So...I might have an answer on 285/73/17 with RW soon. Just still debating if it's going to be RG's or perhaps another. STMax are only 11.1" tread width at that size but other contact points might be an issue...

 

[tabraha]

Well... on the traction, ridge grappler thing, I did Top of the World in the dead of winter with a foot of snow on BFG KO2s. That's not to sound like i'm one-uping anyone, but having wheeled extensively across the world, and I love Moab, but it is grippy everywhere. Plus the rocks typically don't like to move around there, for the most part.

I guess i'm looking at the worst wheeling surface I have seen, east coast mud covered rocks that can also move around, and did I mention they are slippery. For old school guys, Tellico.

I really want these ridge grapplers to work for me, because I want to run 285/75r17 (even though I don't think they will work with RWs and no sway bar relocation) but from what I saw recently, I wasn't impressed, but again, just seeing if anyone has put them in clay/rocks, mud/rocks, hill climbs that has endless loose crap to them.

Man I miss Tellico. But yeah, I had 34" Swampers on my 100 for back when it was open! That was waaaayyyyy back before many 100's at all were going offroad and I'll never forget the look on the Rover guys faces when they met my shiny LX on the trail plowing mud like a tractor on those old bias-ply TSL LTB's.

 

[kreiten]

Well... on the traction, ridge grappler thing, I did Top of the World in the dead of winter with a foot of snow on BFG KO2s. That's not to sound like i'm one-uping anyone, but having wheeled extensively across the world, and I love Moab, but it is grippy everywhere. Plus the rocks typically don't like to move around there, for the most part.

I guess i'm looking at the worst wheeling surface I have seen, east coast mud covered rocks that can also move around, and did I mention they are slippery. For old school guys, Tellico.

I really want these ridge grapplers to work for me, because I want to run 285/75r17 (even though I don't think they will work with RWs and no sway bar relocation) but from what I saw recently, I wasn't impressed, but again, just seeing if anyone has put them in clay/rocks, mud/rocks, hill climbs that has endless loose crap to them.

I roll 285/70 R18's in the BFG KM2 flavor with no relocation bracket, mathematically damn near the same size and no rubbing! Different tire brands/wheels etc may affect it a bit...

 

[Taco2Cruiser]

@kreiten, but aren't you on a 20mm offset? I am really tight in there with my 295/70r17 and 50mm offset, and I love a tight fit, but I don't think i have even a half inch to spare.
@Markuson, dude, if you could test that future set up without your wheel spacers, I would do questionable things for you... like let you drive my 200.
@tabraha, respect! but you know what i'm trying to say about the traction surface where we are, it's... well its just a mess, but i like the challenge.

 

[Markuson]

love a tight fit, but I don't think i have even a half inch to spare.

LOL

My inner pig wants to comment. :hillbilly[/USER]