level 5 or level 6 build list ?

[Ghillie_Ohio]

What if question .

If you wanted to travel on level 5 or 6 trails / roads what would you do to your truck to get it ready to handle anything the trail had ? tire size ? lift height ? suspension ? xxxx ? Just watch the latest episode of mountain state overland .

 

[Arktikos]

What truck you talkin' about?

 

[Ghillie_Ohio]

After rewatching last night episode . The 80 model land cruiser seem to have the most problems . The tacoma did scrape the rocks a little . If you watch last night episode . What mods would you have done to help get over that rock that manage to scrape the slider ? or not .

 

[Dalko43]

Not an easy question to answer. What is level 5 or 6? I didn't know there was a universal ranking system for all roads throughout the US or the world.

Figure out what you want to do with your vehicle and where you want to go and let that determine what mods you need to put on your rig. Contrary to popular belief, most true 4wd vehicles can cover 99% of the terrain and roads out there with a simple tire swap and some basic recovery gear. The rest of the gear is more of "nice-to-have" rather than a "need-to-have" item, not that I don't want a lot of it on my own vehicle.

 

[Ghillie_Ohio]

I was thinking of maybe airbags in the rear to lift the body for those situation where you need a couple of inches more of clearance. The best i can do is to read more builds to get more ideas .

 

[plainjaneFJC]

Air bags seems to be more trouble than they are worth Imo.

 

[proper4wd]

A winch and the knowledge to use it safely and effectively.

 

[Lucky j]

Sliding armour is one of the thing that help for rocky situation. Heavy bumper are more an option if you have recovery point, but slider that can be scrape on rocks do make it easier.

Or you can always modifiy the trail or road layout with rocks and stuff.

Btw, I am also a winch type of guy, I have one in front and one in the rear for solo trip that you do not want to turn around (yep, a little overkill, but that is just me) but if you are with others that are willing to help, you might be able to go w/o for a while. But a winch will not protect you from rubbing the quater panel on rock that you have to climb and are well rubbing against your quater panel.

 

[Ghillie_Ohio]

This might be an overkill and $ . Use combination of triple rate shocks coils - spring (shocks) and airbags (inflate and deflate) - depending on whether you are going up hill or down hill .

 

[Lucky j]

In my mind,,raising and lowering suspension is only good until you reach a bigger rock or boulder. Protection and ar,or is always good. But it all depend on what type of wheeling and the type of obtavle you want to tackle.

 

[Ghillie_Ohio]

Totally agree . I'm still trying to learn what type of access i will have when i want to go fly fishing at particular location . Will i need a 4x4 or not ?

 

[crolison]

Rear locker, sliders, skids, decent tire

 

[camodog]

Rear locker, sliders, skids, decent tire

Yup, what this guy said.

 

[slomatt]

Trail ratings are pretty vaguely defined, so I'd take them with a grain of salt. Ultimately the best way to determine if and how you need to modify your truck is to start on easy trails and work your way up to the point where you start running into the limitations of your vehicle. You'd be amazed at how far a stock truck can go. I'm assuming you own a Toyota since you put this in the "FJ, Hilux, Tacoma, 4runner" forum, but it would be helpful to know what exact truck you own.

I don't think there is anyway to specify a generic build list for level 5 or 6 trails. Some things to consider...

Driver skill
An experienced driver can run a more difficult trail with a less prepared vehicle.
An inexperienced driver may have issues on an easy trail even if they are driving a very capable vehicle.

Stock vehicle specifications
A stock Wrangler Rubicon (and many other Jeeps) are "trail rated" and with a good driver can go through the Rubicon trail with minimal risk of damage.
Other vehicles may require extensive modification to have the same capability.

Willingness to incur body damage
If you are willing to damage your truck then you can run harder trails than you can if you want to avoid damage.

How to handle getting stuck
If you often go with friends who can help you get unstuck then you can run harder trails.
If you go by yourself and need to be able to self-extract, or not get stuck in the first place, then you need to run easier trails or build a more capable vehicle.

Trail ratings are not consistent
Here's an example rating system for Moab.
http://cruisemoab.com/trail-rating-system.asp
I've driven a truck on 32" all terrains on several of the 5/6/7 rated trails with no issue.


My recommendation is to keep your truck stock and only modify when (and if) you need to. Aftermarket modifications are expensive can often be the source of reliability issues. If you post some information about your truck, your driving experience, and the specific trails you are interested in then people can give you some more useful advice.

- Matt