Outsideonline article, "No, You Don't Need to Modify Your Truck to Go Off-Road"

[old_man]

Bottom line do what you can with what you can afford. Just get out and explore!

I can't agree more. I started doing this before most of you were born. I grew up high in the mountains of Colorado on the family ranch. I learned in a 2WD 1962 Ford F100 with snowtires and a Detroit in the rear. I have run virtually every trail a normal overlander would want to run in Colorado starting 50 years ago. Most have been run in fairly reasonable vehicles. A Cherokee on 31's with a 3" budget boost was used on most of them. Were they easy, no....that is what made them fun. I have had to rescue way to many noobs that think that buying all the toys automatically makes you a bad ass wheeler.

Skill and patience will get you a lot further than $20,000 worth of upgrades. Experience is the best teacher and you can't buy experience from a catalog or learn it from a blog or forum.

A TV show with Jessie James comes to mind. He fashions himself a bad ass. I have a ton of respect for his fab skills. He built a rock crawler with all the toys and thought that made him a wheeler. He went about 50 feet in a boulder field and totally destroyed a $50k vehicle and then blamed the vehicle. I could have done the same trail with a bone stock Cherokee.

Start slow, watch what others do that works and learn. I had more fun back then with less.

My parting comment is....the skinny pedal is rarely your friend and remember your physics.

I can't tell you how many times I got to the end of a trail and there was a long haired hippy sitting there in a beat up old Datsun B210.

 

[AllAboardTheSidewaysWagon]

Completely agree.
When I first started lurking these forums it seemed like everyone had these amazing, crazy built rigs and I assumed that must mean I need one two.
Now, after hitting some of the more serious OHV trails in the Mojave with a bone stock old Volvo wagon on my last trip, I realize honestly the most important mods you can do to a rig are maintenance and repair.

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[squishware]

Back in the day on the Jeep Rubicon forum I would watch people overbuild thier rig and then complain about "local trails are too easy". The end result is trailering your rig to other states just to have as much fun as you used to on a dirt road by your house.

 

[Milo Mack]

As I prep for maybe my first overlanding experience...have any of you had any experience overlanding with a clutch based "on demand" lsd 4x4 vehicle? Will the lack of locking differentials limit my overlanding opportunities.
Granted I know alot of offroading is based of location and driving style.....
But in general (of course location matters) but in generasl ..do NF and BLM roads demand the ability to lock your differential to navigate?
Sorry for the newbie question...but it's one that has been nagging me.
Thx folks

 

[old_man]

You can do 85% of BLM roads with no locker and that goes up to 95% with a LSD. Skill and experience is the single biggest factor and the only way to get these is to get out and try, preferably with others with more experience to learn from.

 

[Milo Mack]

Very true, and, I would like to add the following;
What kind of Overlanding do you do? From weekend to always on the off beaten path.
From seriously rock climbing to traveling across a dirt path.
From looking for the next challenge or finding scenery and try to be able to go over a little challenge?
All this will give you an idea what you need.

For instance, I have a Rig, Jeep Liberty, which will be build up for the task in the near future. But, we drove this car to and from Morocco in pure stock form. Just a Roof Rack and some drawers.
Oh and mild AT tyres. Falken Landair AT.
It towed a Trailer all the way. Except for the dunes.
And in Spain it did a good job during the trip through the Bardenas Reales half desert.
So, a big Overland journey in a stock vehicle. Duable? Yes it is.

And see this from Andrew St Pierre White
so, I guess, yes, you can do more as you think with a stock car.

.

Electronic lockers 4x4...high torque diesel..
Not bad

 

[Milo Mack]

T

You can do 85% of BLM roads with no locker and that goes up to 95% with a LSD. Skill and experience is the single biggest factor and the only way to get these is to get out and try, preferably with others with more experience to learn from.

Thank you ...that's encouraging

 

[T-88]

[emoji733]️[emoji108][emoji733]️

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[Dilldog]

When I first started into off road I had a 1980 Isuzu KB45 (imported to the US as the Chevy LUV). It was tiny and honestly not very capable. 10 years of research and building and I had it on 30" tires with a LSD in the front diff and a locker in the rear diff. Lots pf people questioned why I would try to build the little Isuzu, my response was its what I have so I will make it work.

I will also say there are TONS of cool places you can get to with a very basic AWD rig (like a Subaru or cross over SUV).

 

[Lepik]

This was a great read and I know there will be people on both sides of the fence. For me this has been something I went back forth on lots of times with every mod I do. Is the cost to benefit worth it? Right now it was a lift kit. I DD my 4Runner 98% of the time and camp/off road 2% so after reading this and thinking “my last SUV was not as equipped as my 4Runner and it did fine without a lift” I have to assume my 4Runner will be fine too. So with that said, mods will be a smarty and needed choice for me. Until I can’t do something I won’t upgrade or mod it


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[Mike W]

I agree with what everyone has said, and the article makes good points. I just wanted to add, that gear is fun. I know that I don't "need" all the gear I have, I rarely put it all to full use. I have good odds that my ARB bull bar will save me some damage from a deer, and the winch may come in handy... but so rarely that its not a need. But it is a lot of fun. As a working professional, I don't always have the time to do a multi-month long adventure, but I do have time (and money) to tinker and build and enjoy the rig. Shouldn't be anything wrong with enjoying that aspect of the hobby or lifestyle. Just look at jeep culture. People enjoy the hell out of jeep mods and you know that many have never gotten dirty. I enjoy different car cultures as much as I enjoy camping, so I don't tend to hate on it.

I do wish my LR4 wasn't so heavy with the mods it has. I am loading up for a trip tomorrow, I think we will stop at the CAT scales to weigh on the way out of town so I can see what its at with current gear, full fuel, water, etc.

 

[KarmaSeoul]

Nice to see other people with mostly stock rigs. Haven’t done much with mine besides tires and an extra set of lights but it gets us there. Plus like y’all have mentioned, helps find your stock limits.


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[megacabcummins]

I agree with most of what the OP said, still working on better protection for mine, engine skid plate and then figure something out for the fuel tank. I will say steel bumpers are a dramatic upgrade from the factory dodge bumpers, they dent and bend just looking at them. I went with a 3" suspension system (it's not a lift kit) and 37's and this does a couple things. The larger tires roll better off road and when aired down help you stay on top of soft ground and soak up a lot of bumps, and the suspension is far more compliant which is also better off road, meaning I am not beat to crap by the time I get to my destination. It also handles better than it did stock, and I also upgraded the brakes. Having followed a few stock rigs off road having the upgrades is nice, especially when you see people get frustrated and start to get into it a little bit with their rig. I agree with Old Man 100%, skill and experience goes a long ways and I would ad to that patience. Patience goes a long ways to keeping you from walking out, stop and look and look again. You HAVE to have some sort of path you plan to go with your rig. When I first got this truck the plan was to build it for drag racing and sled pulling just like my old truck. Then a friend started posting pictures of his truck with Carli suspension whom he worked for and it was all over. It's been a really fun downhill slide ever since. Obviously there are a lot of trails I just can't do because of the size of my rig, but that just means I get to look elsewhere. Some people bring their house with them, others like me bring the least amount of stuff possible and it's all good, as long as you get out there and you are happy where you are at. It can be in a $400 junk yard beetle with traction tires on the back or a million dollar earth roamer....

 

[toxicity_27]

I do and don't agree with most of what was in the article. I'll echo what has been said, just get out and explore. Find out the limits of your rig in stock form, make a plan and go from there.

In the article I found it interesting that he said bigger tires are louder. I just put 35" KO2s on my JK after my 32" KMs were done, they're quieter. I think you have to take a lot of what the author says with a grain of salt. You don't NEED all of that stuff to go offroad, but it can make your vehicle more reliable the farther off road you go (as was said earlier in this thread). I saw the author talked about adding skid plates as a necessity, while I don't disagree that also adds a lot of weight, and on some stock suspensions can bring the vehicle considerably lower. Just another thing to think about.

Like I said, go out in stock form, find your limit, and modify from there so you're able to do more (if you need to), rinse and repeat.

 

[CR-Venturer]

Before I started driving off road, I watched a LOT of instructional and 4x4 fail videos on youtube. I learned a ton, both about what to do and what not to do. I noticed that most of the bad situations were caused by too much right boot.

Definitely the skill and care of the driver is the most important factor. The kit helps, but many rigs are far more capable than people think. Getting to know your particular vehicle is immensely valuable.

 

[Kilo Sierra]

I've read many articles/threads along the way and this is my philosophy for my own needs:

1. Keep it simple mechanically. The farther you go, the tougher it will be to replace exotic parts.
2. Function necessitates "Needs." Weight determines price. To parrot what toxicity_27 said, modify what will make your rig more competent as you go. You might replace your cooling hoses with upgraded silicone hoses to keep it more reliable, or put skids because you want to tackle tougher terrain. In my case, I know I'll need skids, but I may opt to pay more for Aluminum to save weight (yet pay more with reduced strength) like I did for my front bumper. In the case of my bumper, I determined I needed a winch. Winch gives to bumper, Aluminum to save the suspension (stock at the time).
3. Weight before "wants." Overloading with everything and the kitchen sink hurts offroad. Think of ultralight backpacking. Ounces to Pounds to Pain. I love the custom built cargo storage boxes, but can I get away with modular packs in a large duffle or tied down totes? So far yes. Others may say the convenience out weighs the weight. To each his own.
4. Remember you're driving it home. Don't get sucked it by what others think. You should do and don't do what you're comfortable with. Don't risk it if you're not prepared to live with it.
5. Knowledge and Experience are the best mods. Pretty much self-explanatory.

Now I admit that I'm pretty green when it come to it all, but these have worked for me so far.

 

[DreadPirateRoberts]

I've only had a chance to skim the article but I agree with the gist of it. I see a lot of people that get far too consumed with having the latest and greatest suspension, RTT, bumpers for protection and added clearance, and aesthetic accessories out the wazoo. It's a lot of fun to daydream about the "perfect" trail rig. I do it often. But I've found that simply finding a way to go no matter how simple or complicated is most important.

My wife and I have completed a lot of roadtrips together but they were all on paved roads and highways and we were always heading to a specific destination. We've recently decided to start embracing the journey more and seeing what we can by chance and simply enjoying the travelling more than the destination.

The mindset I've embraced for this is finding a fairly capable offroad vehicle but not to such an extreme that highway miles are any less comfortable. For me, outfitting a wrangler with a lift and 35" tires would simply give me a vehicle with an offroad capability that would likely extend beyond my capabilities as a driver. I don't want that. It's wasted money and it's a waste of time. We'll likely end up with something similar to a Wrangler but it's setup won't extend much past its stock form other than our gear and food being packed out on it. And I think that's the core message here that a lot of people that are outside of this community could and should take to heart.

We all on some level (or most of us) want to be the cool instagram star with a rig fit for the cover of a magazine (on some level) but at the end of the day it's just not that important. And once out on the road none of that matters as long as quality time is being spent exploring what you want to. That's the true beauty of this hobby/lifestyle to me. There's no absolute "wrong" way, there's no one "right" way. It's all up to you and what you want to experience and I love that.

I love seeing people here and in other online communities simply doing what they do and getting on the best way they know how and/or want to. Like every niche, there are always going to be posers and people half-committed but the sheer amount of genuine people participating in this and their awesomeness outweigh those negatives by light-years. I get inspiration from all of it. No matter how you do it, I love what you're doing.

 

[CR-Venturer]

I would agree with DPR, as long as the stock tires that came on the jeep are some sort of A/T tires, I would venture to say that a Jeep Wrangler is one of the most, if not the most capable off road vehicle you can buy today, and you'd be well equipped to tackle probably 95-99% of off road driving you're ever likely to encounter. Especially if you buy the Rubicon edition, you've got swaybar disconnects and front and rear locking diffs right from the factory! Even without them, the Wrangler is plenty capable.

Tires are one thing I wouldn't compromise on, though. If your chosen vehicle is fitted with street tires, get rid of them and buy some A/T or M/T, because street tires are garbage off road. Yes, in a pinch you can get away with street tires, and for mild FSR's, you can do okay, but the massive difference that good all terrain or mud terrain tires make off road is well worth the investment. The difference was like night and day in my vehicle.