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I went to Death Valley this weekend...

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I went out alone. Occasionally I came across some really steep hills, and some really narrow sections. If you look closely at the monitor you can see the (3) things displayedL: the path in front of me (which is awesome when you’re facing the sky and cannot see what’s next, and riding solo; and then what is up in front of each front tires, so that you can see if you are going to scrape a tree, or a rock, or drive over the edge, which again is amazing if you are solo.

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The final section was really sketchy. It was REALLY steep. The pics don’t do it any justice. But the Goat crawled up like it was nothing. However, when I got to the top, I noticed that I was sitting on a really sharp rock. You can see it under my passenger tire. I missed it when I walked the hill. I didn’t think the Goat would make it, so I really didn’t pay as close attention as I should have. So I decided to back down, and take the parallel, less steep route. Backing down was REALLY sketchy. The truck wanted to keep sliding, no matter how slowly or how little I let it reverse before trying to stop. It too a LONG time to get down.

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The danger was that if I continued to drive past that rock, it was likely that my passenger tire would slip down towards the center of the trail a bit. If that happened I would have absolutely wrecked my rocker panel.

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You can see how nasty the rock was.

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Then, what goes up must go down! So on the back side, at the end, I had some really narrow paths, with sharp turns, off camber, and really tight between trees.



First off, the power folding mirrors were priceless.



Second, on one ocassion, the folder mirror functioned like a bumper, keeping the rest of my truck off the tree. I would slide down a bit, and rest against the mirror. Then, back up, swing a bit wider, and then when I slid down, I had an inch to spare. A 20 foot section took me probably 20-25 minutes.



All in all I was amazed by the capability of the Goat, and how well the tires performed. Blown away.
 
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Awesome. Just awesome @Chrisleduc1

When I grow up, that's the truck I want. Just like that. The winch fitment worked out so damn great too!

I really do love these Falkens, and what they will do in the wet and cold. Even in 20" wheel fitment, they are seriously capable.
 
If you get a chance, try to use the crawl when backing down. It is as effective in reverse as it is in forward, maybe better. I found it amazing on wet, slippery snow.
 
If you get a chance, try to use the crawl when backing down. It is as effective in reverse as it is in forward, maybe better. I found it amazing on wet, slippery snow.

I actually tried using the crawl control going down/forward a really wet and steep hill with a sharp turn at the bottom with trees on either either side. I set it to the slowest speed. Without Crawl, after I would let off the brakes just enough to move a few inches, and then reapply the brakes to stop, I would slide another inch or two in the mud.

But I found that with the Crawl on, it would override me holding the brakes, to some degree, and then the brake pulsing was actually causing me to slip down the hill when I did not want to, even though I had the brake burried and was sitting still. Something about the brake pulsing was causing me to slip every couple of seconds, whenever it pulsed. Maybe it wasn't overriding my brake, but it was definitely causing enough pulsing that it was forcing me to slide! It was really odd...

I think if I had this happening when I was backing down, I would have smashed a tree, because as I was backing down, I was off camber and as I would try to turn to follow the trail, my truck wanted to keep going straight down towards a small cliff/edge, instead of following the trail. So I had to keep going up and around, so that when I would slip while backing down, I was starting from high enough that when I slipped I would then slip into where I wanted to be. I suspect that if the pulsing of the Crawl was causing me to slip like it did later, I would have kissed the tree.
 
Went up to Mendocino National Forest this weekend to do some camping and get the truck dirty. We took the trail up to Hull Mountain and nearly made it to the top except there was a fair amount of snow on the northeast facing sections of the trail which caused problems for the group ahead of us. Somebody got stuck and there was a bit of a traffic jam. Beautiful weather though and fun trails.

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I don’t think that crawl works if you’re applying the brakes. I can see that where you were wasn’t the place to experiment with crawl but my experience with crawl was the same as yours until I took a leap of faith and didn’t touch the brakes. Before using crawl I would release the brakes and try to re-apply them but I would lock up the fronts and slide. Once I took my foot off the brake I could back down in control on a very slippery hill. Try it when you’re in a better situation.
 
I don’t think that crawl works if you’re applying the brakes. I can see that where you were wasn’t the place to experiment with crawl but my experience with crawl was the same as yours until I took a leap of faith and didn’t touch the brakes. Before using crawl I would release the brakes and try to re-apply them but I would lock up the fronts and slide. Once I took my foot off the brake I could back down in control on a very slippery hill. Try it when you’re in a better situation.
Wait, you mean try using it like it was intended? 😂 I guess I hadn’t considered that 😂
What I really need to do is get a strong feeling for what the lowest speed really is. I “feel” like it would have been too fast, but when I actually consider it, I don’t really know just how slow the lowest speed is. I know I needed slow going down/forward because of the sharp turn and the trees, but it is quite possible that it really would have been slow enough to let it do it’s thing... and quite possible it would have worked wonders backing down too. I need to go test the speed on some open hills...
And I really need to get my bumpers, sliders and armor done so that I can take a few more risks..
 
I may be mistaken, but I believe the speed is 1 km/h (lowest setting) to 5 km/h (highest setting. Also, crawl puts a lot of heat on the brake system, so it is meant for short jaunts or situations. It will protect the vehicle and turn this feature off if the brakes get too hot IIRC.

Side question, did you remove the Lexus symbol in your grill? If so, are you keeping it or would you part with it? =D
 
Wait, you mean try using it like it was intended? 😂 I guess I hadn’t considered that 😂
What I really need to do is get a strong feeling for what the lowest speed really is. I “feel” like it would have been too fast, but when I actually consider it, I don’t really know just how slow the lowest speed is. I know I needed slow going down/forward because of the sharp turn and the trees, but it is quite possible that it really would have been slow enough to let it do it’s thing... and quite possible it would have worked wonders backing down too. I need to go test the speed on some open hills...
And I really need to get my bumpers, sliders and armor done so that I can take a few more risks..

What are you considering for the front bumper? I haven't seen many options for the 16+ LX.
 
Side question, did you remove the Lexus symbol in your grill? If so, are you keeping it or would you part with it? =D
So, on the Lexus logo. I own a business and put myself through 4 years of seminary (had to learn ancient Greek and Hebrew in a masters level program, at +30yrs old after being a H.S. dropout) and now I’m pastoring a small church that can not afford a pastor. I work there full time, 100% for free. And I’m in a tourist town. The thing is, my congregation knows this, but locals, visitors, etc., do not. And we all know how judgmental *everyone is. So I’ve de-badged it, as nobody needs to know what I drive. And I’m getting some custom badges made, to reflect the build name, The Mountain Goat. So, all of that to say, yes, once I send them off (hopefully next week) so that the size can be copied, then I no longer need them.
 
Was wondering when I would see the next round of updates. Can’t wait to see the finished product and hopefully check out both rigs in person soon!

We’re going to be wrenching all day Saturday and likely Sunday, so you should swing by if you want. I’ll text you the location. Lots of changes - bumpers, winches, snorkel, etc are going on!
 

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