Off Road Philosophy

I was wathching a corny tv show but they kept mentioning two phrases. "When in doubt, throttle out." and "Go as slow as possible but as fast as necessary." So I was just curious what your philosophy or approach to off roading is.

 

Im sure it depends on what your doing, crawing, in mud, snow, ect.

 

This can be the case but it really could apply to almost any type of offroading.

I guess another way to word it would be would you go balls to the wall or if it's a more difficult obstacle take it easy and possible winch it up sometimes for the sake of vehicle preservation.

 

if your going to "winch for vechile preservation" then just bypass, winch when your stuck low and slow for me

 

usually when im around a lot of rocks like crawling etc... i just punch it and drift around the corners n stuff.

 

In the infantry we have a saying that pretty much sums this up....

"Situation dictates"

So as to say the situation will always dictate what the solution will be and you will be hard pressed to choose a course of action (COA) without knowing the situation.

 

Rides to Adventure is what it's called.

so you say neither?

What I mean by philosophy is in general what you do not necessarily a rule that you are obligated to follow.

 

I only "Throttle out" on dirtbikes becuase it's the only way to keep the bike up when shat gets hairy... good way to F your truck IMO, except in the case of mud, throttling out in mud could definitely save you.

I'm with gjbonner on"situation dictates". And i'd switch the wording around a bit: Slow as necessary to not F up my truck, fast as possible within reason for the fun factor.

 

Haha. I like that one.

 

Desert - WFO

 

I should have never watched that show Jersey Shore: everytime someone says 'situation' I think of that D-bag guido on the show. FML.

 

"Pin it to win it" yep, I get through most, but it is also how I f'ed my alignment.

 

I did a lot of my initial 4 wheeling in a Subaru Forester in Australia. It was the turbocharged model so it did not have low range. You may all have a laugh, but you would be surprised where it took that thing and it sure looked like it by the time I was done with. They guy who bought it had a laugh that I had devalued my car that much so fast, but he got a good deal and I had to sell as I was leaving the country.

But to get to the point: there was no low range so WOT in 1st was the order of the day in many hairy situations. When it had 1600km on it, I had it in the Snowy River National Park on a remote mountain track. I had already past a downhill section that I knew was impassible for me in the return direction, so I had only one way to go. I came to a long uphil gravel climb that had a lot of large water bars on it and on my first attempt I stalled when the revs dropped too low. 3rd attempt I almost made it, but couldn't stop, so I was skiing backwards all the way back down to where I started.

On the final successful attempt, I put the back wheels on top of the bottom water bar, revved to redline, flicked off the clutch and the car was spitting gravel everwhere. I kept it fully pinned and was catching air off the water bars on the way up and when I reach the last one the revs dropped to 1000 just as the nose edged over the crest; I was safe.

The funniest part is that shortly after I ran into a pathfinder coming the other way. He was concerned that the road ahead may be a little gnarly for him, as he said it was pretty bad where he had come from. I was scared for what lay ahead, but assured him that he should continue, because my suby made it and he had a pathfinder so he should be laughing. As I made my way out on the track he had already traveled and described as gnarly I was greeted with a casual cruise compared to what I had experienced so far. I can imagine the horror of what he was about to face after he passed me haha.

When I got the end of the track, there was a sign facing the other way. It warned of the seriousness of the offroad conditions and that all users should carry recovery gear, an axe and a winch. Oh and water for a few days. Either that or a Suby, and you'll be fine.

So, to get back to the original point of the story; I like the throttle wide open, but don't expect good resale on your vehicle.

 

I love those guys who are 'balls to the wall'.

It's fun to watch the parts fly off.

Sucks to haul their ass back to the parking lot.

 

Just had to ruin it for me. i will probably think about that guido every time some one says this from now on....AAAhhhhhhhhh

 

When in doubt, I whip it out. This is just for all the girls I take camping

 

Welcome to my hell

 

Easy power and nice slow methodical work gets you out.

Great example on why not to mash the throttle: A Jeeper group I went out with had a younger guy who knew enuf to be dangerous. With his locked rear and 4x4 front he drove into an obstacle. Got a bit hung up and instead of trying to move tires and take it slow- he slammed into the skinny pedal. Tore the shit outta his upper and lower ball joints and the end result was his left front tire was hanging off the Jeep by the brake line and he had to get pulled out of the trail with a tree branch lashed to his rig as a ski.

I've heard that "When in doubt throttle out" thing before too- I've also heard "If something is going wrong- Gas it- It'll fix the problem or end the suspense"

 

as fast as necessary

 

After 10 years of offroading, I've wheeled with a lot of people and have seen a lot of stupid shit. Every offroad run I've been in/on, we've conducted a *Saftey Briefing* - typical do's & don't's, etc.

Those type of people (as you mentioned above) can't be told anything. They don't listen and don't take the shit seriously. They'll drive how they want and its usually balls to the wall.

A couple years ago when I was still wheelin - we were conducting a *Wheeling 101* trip. A guy in a NEW Jeep Rubicon (only 700miles on it) decided to go balls to the wall through a pretty deep mud hole. I'm pretty sure the guide told him to take the 'outter edge' of this hole. Well, he went his own way.....throttled the piss out of it, and busted up both front & rear ring & pinions, bent axle tube, and god knows what else. All I know...we had to drag his ass back to the parking area.

All I can say is..... When people decide not to listen and do their own stupid shit, it's always rewarding to see them screw up in the long run. No offense... but damn, "I TOLD YOU SO!!"