What are the off-road must haves?

Great thread. Anyone have some favorite plate bumpers for the '16 yet?

 

In aviation, its called a Flight Plan.
Let people know where you're going, and when you expect to be back in contact.

 

Yup.
Remember this guy?

 

You likely got an alignment after the lift. If they raised the caster just 1 degree that could be the difference between rubbing and not.

 

Had it aligned the same before though. It was when turning. You can't put 285s on a stock truck without rubbing. I've never heard of anybody doing that.

Now it rubs when the suspension is compressed and I'm turning. That's the same height as riding without the lift.

 

I think he is saying when the suspension is full compressed the lift doesn't give you any extra clearance

 

Good info! Currently have skids on, waiting on the sliders and lift. Already made the mistake of doing some offroading at J-tree and scraping the bottom of the truck lol

 

Yeah. I was trying to clarify that I meant you could not drive on 285s comfortably without a lift.

 

Looks like a chainsaw would've come in handy. I would've fell that tree on the left of the pic and kept on going

 

I'm on 315s with no lift.......

just have to do a lot of clearancing. far more than just the standard cab mount chop. what I was getting at is that I'd have to do identical clearancing to fit these 35s at where I am now, and with a 3'' lift.

for the alignment, say you had 3 degrees of caster at stock height. when you lifted, you had it set to 3 degrees to match. however, when you wheel, and the suspension gets compressed down to where it was at stock height, due to how our trucks cycle, it won't maintain 3 degrees throughout the cycle. that is why, with identical alignment numbers stock and lifted, you rub in different places and different amounts.

 

tread lightly.

should never cut down a healthy tree to save some dents in your truck. we don't need any more trails getting shut down because wheelers don't treat the land (public or private) with respect.

 

I hear you. I'm a sawyer on a wildland fire crew and conservationist but if it was between cutting down a tree or being stranded the tree would have to go.

 

100%, if it's for your safety, cut what you need to get out and home safely. in my case, I was not at risk of being stranded, just at risk of some body damage.

 

Good man.

 

In your case you are completely right. No need to cut and you made it work. In a more extreme situation you got to do what you got to do to get home safe. Nice recovery by the way!

 

Best $20 dollar off road upgrade you can get.

 

Any thoughts on best kind of tow straps? I am by no means building a rock crawler but just want a capable truck to get out and enjoy the outdoors. I had a winch on my last vehicle (07 fj w arb bumper) and only used it a few times. Again I'm not a serious wheeler but like having the tools needed to conquer some off-road situations. My new truck won't have a aftermarket bumper/winch while waiting for some good options to surface. So what kind of straps should I pick up in the meantime?

 

I have always been told to stay away from straps with metal shackles on the ends. Because if one breaks it becomes a lethal projectile.

 

Great info guys! I'll me here reading it all in my comfy camp chair next to my beer cooler. Can't wait to have my 4x4 and go play.

I've don't tons of research and have a massive wish list on Amazon. It will interesting to see how it matches up with your suggestions.

 

I purchased these on AMazon :

$46 SmittyBilt TOW STRAP 3IN X 30FT - SBCC330

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CF4UXU?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s02

I've never used them, just got them yesterday, but they are heavy and feel super heavy duty.