What’s broken while offroad?

My talent. Priceless.

 

One day it will pay off.

 

I bent my driver's spindle hitting a pothole in a parking lot!

I like this post OP, timely if nothing else, I just watched an episode with those dorks from Top Gear going down the Rubicon. I have just been wondering, "I would like to drive the Rubicon and...is my truck capable and, what are the weakest parts on my truck and what should I bring with me?"

I have 33's, lift, winch and I'm going with 4:88 or 5:29's most likely anyway. Will also add skids and sliders this year. Can I do the Rubicon in a DCLB with these basic mods and only 33's? I'm thinking that with a good spotter and taking the by-passes as available, it is absolutely doable. Most of my off-roading has been fishing/hunting/camping but I can find a line...usually. Sheet metal damage be damned!

 

I've yanked off the front bumper cover, most of the clips have broken. I fastened it back up with some pan head screws, it's been some time now and I've had no issues to date.

 

Invest in a stump bumper.

I’ve got an aluminum one, only 45 pounds.

 

20 years ago I went into the woods with my new Frontier. I came back out an hour later with the entire passenger bedside caved in. Looked like I had been T-boned, except there were no scratches, paint was 100% intact. It was just from bumper to cabside, the rear fender was now obscenely concave. I had the windows down. I never heard a crunch, the truck never walked sideways in the mud. I didn't think I even got close to anything.

I had to live with it for 6 months while saving up for a new fender.

 

Wrong oil and too long of a change interval

 

Wait you have the dam still? Mine came off along with the mud flaps before I drove it off the lot!

 

It’s all about knowing your truck and how hard to push it. There’s a guy that does some crazy shit mapping all the old missions in Baja and he’s in a mostly stock first gen. I’ve been witness to a 2wd 90s ranger mostly stock keep up with a K5 blazer on trails. It all comes down to the link between the drivers seat and steering wheel. The only thing that having a longbed is gonna hinder you on is obviously break over, and turning. I did a local trail here that had some slightly technical portions and I had to do a 3 point turn where my buddy in a dcsb did it with out and I followed the exact line he took. That extra foot does make a difference…but I don’t see why a DCLB couldn’t do the rubicon

 

Mostly Fords and Rams. You see the GMs well represented as well.

 

Aside from CV’s, tie rods, steering racks, wheel bearings, brake lines. Lately from IFS yotas, diff arms snapping and ADD tube.

 

What a coincidence, ADD just failed on me a couple days ago along with the AC clutch a week earlier after going through a looot of water three weeks ago at 20-30+mph.

Apparently racing through a foot of water is more expensive than I thought, atleast i hope it was the water, and not something getting into the wire harness. :/

 

I second this!! $$$'s come out of the account just as fast as they go in!!

 

The sheet metal core supports are made of pretty thin steel. I have a massive crack in mine and have seen other owners crack them with heavy use and weight right under the battery. Definitely keep an eye on that area if you do a lot of desert wheeling and high speed washboard. Not looking forward to the repair

 

I am off road every week for the 6 years I have had my Taco. Well over 600 off road trips in the past 38 years with different 4x4s. Off road a lot more now as I am retired.

My previous trucks suffered no real damage despite very bad remote trails. I take it easy and no interest in testing my trucks limits. I see pics of rock crawlers and such. Looks cool, but for me that would be too boring. My trucks are used to search out small remote fishing lakes throughout BC. The new exploration and solitude of nature are the draw. It is pretty special when I find a way into a lake that other fishermen won’t drive to.

With my Taco, I am on my third swaybar link passenger side. Tried an aftermarket heavy duty link with grease fittings, and it lasted not half as long as an OEM link.

Driver side I am on my third inner needle bearing. This time put in the ECGS bushing. So far ok with that.

The first failure on that inner bearing also blew out my CV axle and wheel hub. By accident hit a very deep washout at speed. Truck exploded and came to a full stop and shredded the front skid plate. Had gone through many washouts that day trying to get to a new lake, and just did not see that one with the sun in my eyes. What an explosion when it hit. Throught my back and my jaw would break when I stiffened up on impact. No other damage to the truck, just those front left components. Lucky I was able to drive out of the bush.

Had another driver side wheel bearing go again just recently. Very hard to diagnose after a few months of shops looking for my vibration on cornering. Wheel was tight, no noises, etc. I jacked up the truck at home every week for 2 months trying to find the issue.

Finally I heard the issue. Had it jacked up and when very slowly turning the tire by hand forward and back only a few inches, I could hear a faint squeak/groan from the wheel. I knew it was the bearing at that point. A shop would never hear it, as they have noisy work environments, noise from traffic going by and such. My neighborhood is semi gated, and on a dead end street and out of town. Spooky quiet.

Had a shop replace the bearing, and smooth as silk after that.

Rear bumper all messed up from bumper dragging on each trip. Trailer hitch bent out of shape. Over a hundred truck length scratches from driving 5 and 6 foot wide overgrown trails. Cut polish hides those pretty well except when the sun shines a light on them.

The back roads off around the Okanagan are so bad. On a typical outing, I will drive many miles of brutal washboard, the truck just hammering up and down. I air down to 20 psi every trip. Pretty grim roads.

Most trips driving through at least several hundred foot deep potholes that in the shade of the trees and sun are not visible until you hit them. It is pretty exhausting but gets me to remote fishing spots. Driving in 4hi or 4lo on small trails in washouts and such is so relaxing compared to some of the nasty 2wd drive sections.

Considering the truck is off road so often in these conditions, it has held up pretty well.

 

This doesn't really pertain to rock crawling or anything like that but it does to the higher speed off road driving. After watching a bunch of Baja racers race in the stock classes it seems to me that if you want to go off road with any speed and want your truck to survive, then you shouldn't let the tires leave the ground. A bunch of those desert racing guys that finish longer races seem to go as fast as possible without jumping, like jumping is where all of the wear and tear comes from.