Where Have You Off-Roaded Today? 3rd Gen

Made our way to Shelf Road in Colorado. Just a dirt road but a nice drive. Also had a chance to see the ice carving competition in Cripple Creek, CO.

 

Took her out to the local OHV park today to play in the dirt and wade through some water crossing .

 

Southwest Colo.

 

Like Daohaus I went to Azusa but wouldn't really say I went off roading as i didn't want to go into the silt/sand before shooting the truck today. But I did go into Azusa with my buddy and asked him to romp on his raptor.

 

Good to see you and Brian today @blackohio

 

Excellent scenery.

 

Great view.

 

Those wheels are awesome!
Amazing pics as always too

 

Went out and looked at some hunting land a buddy recommended for the upcoming turkey season.






Figured it'd be a great time to lube the 4x4 system.....








Washouts & swamps will make this some interesting terrain by March/April. Snakes & gators will be out sunbathing by then. Hell....it was over 70 degrees today. Won't be long and I'll have to be much more careful of where I step.



















Was a little apprehensive to go too far with these stock highway tires......called a buddy to see if he was off work and available in case I got stuck. He gave me the green light to have fun and try to get stuck.


Fun times ensued.

One thing is for certain.....this Taco has better seats than my Frontier 4x4 did. Those were soft and unbolstered and let you sling around like a fart in a skillet. Truly needed the "nut setter" that @Easthill Bob described. This Taco held me in place as I jiggled and giggled all through the clay, mud and stuff. I had an absolute blast. I needed this day in the woods. Fun times. I kid you not about having fun. There was one spot I found that was a wide open clay puddle about a foot deep. I passed through it a couple times slowly to check it out......then backed up and finished my coffee.....and stomped on the pedal and ran through it.....cutting the wheel at times.......doughnuts through it....roostertrail coming up. Damn fun. Therapeutic fun.


My offroad impressions of this 3rd Gen are nothing but positive. Truck did great. I did some stupid shyt....with gusto....and couldn't get stuck. Fun time !!!!

Even with these clay-packed highway tires she did well. Looking forward to the day when I get some proper rubber on her....won't bother to make the phone-a-friend call prior.

























Durtygirl, she was.


Put on some good tunes.....popped a top and got all up in her undercarriage.


















Today was a good day.....and it's only halfway over.

Looking forward to hunting season and pulling the trigger on something tasty. Until then it'll be spent planning truck enhancements.....

 

So the other day we were on day 2 of pretty damn heavy rain and I kept getting flood alerts on my phone. So after work I decided to head down to the creek and see if it crested..

I then proceeded to drive into the turnaround area and promptly sunk down (see ruts)!

4 hi..nope, could barley back up (slight hill) and she didn’t want to turn right (she preferred to go straight) even though I had the steering wheel full lock right.. 4Lo, same... but finally got a little traction after almost shitting my self because I kept inching closer to the swollen creek and remember I’m on a slight decline hill! That’s would have been a hell of a way to total my truck! I know it don’t look like much, but it got my heart racing for a few minutes anyway.

I feel silly that I forgot about my rear lockers. Might have gotten me out if there a little quicker and with a little less pants shitting thinking I’m going to end up in the creek. Lol.

 

Do you have Crawl Control? Would be interested in hearing how that would have worked out for you.

Just don't see a lot of reports of folks using their Crawl Control here.

 

Yeah. I have crawl control. I never felt I was stuck and I never did get stuck and it only lasted maybe 5 mins max but I guess I could have tried it. What got me more nervous than anything was every time I tried to turn right it just kept going forward and ever so slightly downhill towards the swollen Creek. I wasn’t really thinking. Like I said I even forgot I had rear lockers which prob would have helped. Maybe.

I was more concerned about trying to make that hard right to get out. Like I said, once I put in 4Lo I also turned off traction control and let it spin ever so slightly and it finally bit in and got some traction, I just never realized how deep I sunk down when I first tried to make the turn which is normally just a dirt turn around, but this time it was super soaked. It really did not look as bad as it was prior to me trying to make the darn turn around.

I seem to always get myself in these stupid situations. Lol.

The Taco pulled through though

 

It's all good. Fun and a good learning experience regardless.

 

Absolutely brother, I would rather be off-road any day than commuting to work into the freakin city!!

 

Santa Margarita Lookout

What an amazing day, here's the background on the lookout point via the wiki:

Margarita Lookout, also known as Santa Margarita Lookout, is a lookout point in the Santa Margarita Mountains, part of the larger Santa Ana Mountains in San Diego County, California. The original fire lookout tower, built in 1935 by the CCC, was later replaced by a new lookout tower and cabin in 1965. In 1986, the tower and cabin were both burned in a wildfire.[1] In 1988, the burnt tower was destroyed in a collision with a Marine Corps CH-46E helicopter. The lookout tower was badly damaged as a result and was promptly removed.[2] Only a concrete foundation remains today, however the site is still accessible via trail (Margarita Road/Truck Trail). The lookout is approximately one mile north of Margarita Peak, and is located in the Cleveland National Forest.

The main trail heading up to bottom of the lookout point was fun...however getting up the hill was pretty extreme for my stock 4x4 Sport - although I do have Cooper AT3's on there...cousin was also with us in 97 Landcruiser with extra lift and bigger tires. I hopped in his vehicle about 70% up the hill...didn't feel like driving a rental car today for work and ripping out an oil pan or breaking an axel...it was some great rocking climbing, the pictures don't do it justice! Took out the camping grill and had some brats while we overlooked Camp Pendleton and watched the Marines complete training exercises in their helicopters....so great. Side note: ripped flag wasn't put up there by us, need to stick a new one up there next time we go! Also, there's still pieces of the helicopter that crashed up there from 1988!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsvglXxgWb8

Big Sur!!

 

Back when she was stock.

 

Stock SR5 4x4. Can’t get enough of Hungry Valley on a slow day. Temps were perfect.

 

Truck looks fantastic with the multi-color decals!

 

Many of us are finding out how awesome the 4WD traction control system is on these 3rd Gens. Good to hear about the 4x4 action from a fellow SRfiver!