How much water can you drive through with a snorkel?

Don’t be hatin Tony!

 

With deep water, the first problem is the diff breather. Extend that.

Second problem is water in the cab through the doors/floor. If it's a short river crossing and your door seals are in good condition that will be fine, but park in a lake and it'll eventually get in.

If you're deeper than that you get a bunch of problems at around the same time. The back will get really light and try to float away if there's a current. The bed acts like a leaky fishing boat.. it floats until it slowly fills with water. All of the under hood electronics may survive a short time, but unless they are ALL properly waterproofed you're asking for trouble. And the air intake, which could be solved with a snorkel. Keep in mind most snorkel installs are for dust and are not properly sealed for water so water will still get in the connections at the original air intake location, just a little more slowly.

If you get deep enough to hit that last series of problems your 2wd may leave you stuck without much weight on the rear wheels, so going through the other waterproofing methods won't help much. Around the bottom of the headlights is probably your limit.

 

Just about bottom of doors. Maybe not technically high as fuck but considering it was a state highway it was definitely close

 

i have a snorkel I kinda regret kinda dont, it just brings more attention to the truck, people just stare at it and make comments

 

You got something like this?

 

Lol thats real?

 

Until the engine quits or if the water is moving at any speed until you start floating down stream, usually sideways.

Experimentation is really the only way to find out. In my Jeep, at moderate flow rates I can safely cross water that comes up to the transmission hump. I usually pull out the floor plugs and as I go through, slowly, I watch how high the water comes up in the cab. Why in the cab. It adds weight to the truck.

If you are doing a water crossing and you are either alone or unsure of the depth/flow, do yourself a favor and walk it first. One a couple of occasions I've run the winch line out and anchored it on the far side. The instead or running the engine, winched myself across. In the event you do start to float/drift you are anchored to the shore and can just winch yourself out.

Both diffs and transfer case vents are extended up to the level of the bed sides (it's a CJ8).

 

Wow, great idea

 

I’ve had water to the headlights in dunks with and without a snorkel fine both occasions

where snorkels excel is moving through water for prolonged times at faster than crawl speeds. The OEM intake is prone for water to splash inside to it.

 

Top of tire. Always is the limit unless you have a purpose built off roader.

 

Trying to use some logic here...The right side of the truck dips deep in the water pulling water into the airbox and intake, making it into the cylinder, hydro-locking the engine. 95% of people say that a snorkel won't help anything. A snorkel that is installed to pull air from near the top of the cab instead of the fender area and is sealed to the airbox would not ingest water when the fender is below water. Therefore, the engine wouldn't have hydro-locked under the OP's situation. What am I missing? Alternator getting water in the guts won't hydro-lock an engine. Water in your diff won't hydro-lock your engine. Water on your floorboard won't hydro-lock your engine. If you engine is running, water won't get up your tailpipe and hydro-lock your engine. Seems like a well thought out snorkel install would have avoided a hydro-locked engine in the OP's case.

Sorry if I logic-ed too much.

 

Diff breather or not, deep water tends to turn gear oil to chocolate milk.
Fordyce trail committee crossing 7/1/2017 - YouTube

https://youtu.be/BhqAT2UbG1I

 

Snorkel is for dust not water.

 

Isn't cracking a engine block a concern, when fording deep water like the above video demonstration?

 

Why doesn't the fan hit the water on those deeper fords?

+100 on the diff breathers. I sucked water into my front diff on my first truck many years ago and didn't change the oil. :-(

 

The fan does, on all my old wheelers I ran electric so you can turn the fans off for water crossings. I'll be doing fordyce this year, and will probably toss my carpet out before the trip, and will be sealing off the ecu in a container/throwing an electric fan on for the trip, if the flow rate is higher.

 

I ran Fordyce at Sierra Trek for years with old clubs I used to be with. A member of our group had a flex fan on his rig that took out the radiator about half way through h2o crossing number one. Honestly, it was probably more to do with crossing too fast than the fan, but I've also seen vehicles stalled out from water at the same crossing.

If somebody has never done Fordyce, it's an awesome trail and well worth the experience. Lockers and body armor are your friend. Shorter rigs on 33's can make it with bypasses but 35's+ will make life easier. There are advantages of running the trail during Sierra Trek and I highly recommend it. Lots of help to get you off the trail post carnage, staffed winch hills and reduced water flows to name a few. On the downside, you get to party with 1,200 of your closest friends you have never met.

 

Ask sholo. He posted a thread yesterday called “ Hydrolocked my taco”. He can tell you exactly how much water not to drive through.