Alabama Off-road/ Mods/ Meets Thread

Good, maybe we can scope out this new OHV park in pell city Alex. I know you will want to ride when you come down. If it's nothing but mud I won't be interested and we can go to Stoney and ride for the rest of the day!

 

If I gots the time....

 

I passed it on my way home from the beach so I know exactly where it is! Sounds good to me, but I'll have the check with the GF lol..

 

You'll have plenty of time. It's only a day. Haha. I looked at their website and it's mainly mud. I want to plan a ride for Stoney while your down here

 

Hey guys my name's Ben, I'm relatively new to the forum, just got my 2010 4wd Tacoma a month or so ago. Completely stock, although I'd like to lift it a little and put some more capable tires on it in the next year.

I've been reading a lot and I'm really getting interested in doing some mild offroading and trail riding...my wife and I both grew up camping and hiking, now I'm thinking the Tacoma could take that in a new direction.

Has anybody heard of or driven the wildcat ridge loop in Georgia? I know nothing about it, just saw it here:
http://www.southeastoverland.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6&Itemid=11
I've been looking around trying to find some mild trails we could explore. Any other trails or areas you guys would suggest? We live in Birmingham, but I'd totally drive a few hours for some good trails/scenery/weekend camping. I have absolutely no offroading experience although I grew up working on trucks and in the outdoors. And I'm guessing my truck would limit us to pretty mild trails right now.

 

Hi Ben!

 

Ben, your truck is more capable than you think it is. Stock tacomas have a decent approach angle and can get in and out of places fairly easy. Idk how you are with mud but for something free, there is a place in montevallo called the slab, we go there frequently. Mainly mud though. There is Stoney lonesome with some good hill climbs and rock gardens. Where I went this past weekend I wouldn't do it without sliders and skid plates but it's called Morris mountain.

If your wanting to do some off-roading, I would look into protection before lift and tires. It's easy to mess up an oil pan and differential if you don't know what your doing. They come from the factory with skid plates but they are thin and don't protect much. Look into a set of sliders first, skid plates, then I would look into lift and tires. That's the order I'm doing it. It's your decision. I just thought I would put in my .02

 

Good advice right here! Well said Floor.

 

Thanks for the welcome and input guys!

I sort of expect to find the Tacoma is more capable than I expect...so much lighter and smaller than my F250 I'm still surprised by it. And the advise for going towards protection first makes sense. It will give me some time to experiment and play around in the meantime.

Would we be safe exploring stoney lonesome by ourselves or is it still better to stay in a group? How extreme are the trails?

 

I can do most of the hill climbs in my stock 4runner. All I have are sliders and a leveling kit. Haha. My main issue is ground clearance. The rear chunk gets hung up on everything due to not being high enough. I said most. Haha

 

What year and body style? I might have some sliders for you at a great price

 

Sliders and skid plates are for sissys. Remember Matthew, CHICKS DIG BODY DAMAGE! I dented a fender yesterday. Wanna know what I did? Took a cut off wheel to both fenders. Looks good as new!

Don't forget the gas tank! It touches everything! Lol




Welcome to the forum F250! Mac(insert numbers) is right on. It'll take you a little while of wheeling before you find the need for more lift and tires, but until that point you might as well be safe and protect your vehicle. There's no way I wouldn't have skids and sliders on a newer vehicle. My '81 just doesn't care and neither do I!

 

The gas tank is actually quite safe in the second gen. That is one of those pieces you can save for very last. After lift and tires and whatever else you might want.

 

2010....dclb
Probably going to start looking at sliders very soon anyways. Gator, if you have some for a long bed I would def be interested. Since its pretty new, and my wife probably won't dig body damage...

I think we will be doing a Saturday at stoney lonesome in a few weeks to play with the truck!

 

I was talking about Matthews gas tank because he hit it about 100x's on Saturday.

 

I was actually going to ask about that....

sliders are obviously first priority, but after that which skidplates would be most important? the front one that goes under the oil pan and front diff?

 

Exactly! Sliders are always number one priority not only for protection but offroad recovery and jacking point if you find need to have to change a tire! Plus granted the stock skid is thin, id rather get my use out of it before I upgraded it, im unsure of the 2nd gen skids but my stock 1st gen one took quite a beating when I finally upgraded..

Protect the things Toyota doesn't from the get go then upgrade their tinfoil

Too bad half the crap I get myself into my sliders don't even help



Had rebar around the rock.. slid down the hill to my right wedging my tire between a railroad tie and this rock.. it was either destroy my front fender and let front bumper save my lights or destroy the door and bed all the way down.. I chose fender until while backing up I got wedged between a concrete pole

ended up with this



But it doesn't look soo bad now
Still wouldn't want it to happen to a brand new truck though

 

haha, I stop in for a peak in the thread and I see that you have done the same thing.

and yes to what everyone has said. armor armor armor. I've got every skid you can get on my jeep and I still manage to boop things on rocks every now and then.

If only I could come up with a way to not knock off drive shaft zerks everytime I go out. I would just buy a plug, but the damn plugs cost as much as the zerks.

 

My gas tank skid is pretty banged up from Saturday. Lol.

 

I put a small dent in my passenger fender! So I cut em.. I'll post up a picture to my build thread eventually.. Lol