Beginning to off-road and camp tips/gear

Hey guys, I’ve been a member for a while but never posted anything. I have a 2015 double cab, short bed with a 4” lift and 33” ridge grapplers. I put them on for clearance and off-road capability. I have yet to use them in anything but sand...lol
My girlfriend and I are going to an off-road park in Ocala, FL called HardRock. I want to start crawling and doing serious off-roading and camping but not “over landing.”
I’m wondering what kind of set up I’m gonna need to do well by myself for the time being. I’ve got a portable air compressor and mule tape but that’s about it.
Any tips from the pros are greatly appreciated!

 

It's okay to turn around. Don't push your luck. know your limits. Watch videos and research the trails. That's my tip

 

make friends who can teach you as you go. things like lines, approach and departure angles, spotter duty, what and why to do stuff.

Sure you can teach yourself, but since it's safer with another truck there............

With your desire for hardcore offroad and rock crawling, armor, lockers, m/t tires, recovery gear, and the knowledge you are going to break stuff


What do you plan to do with mule tape?

 

I don't know what I'm going to do with the Mule tape but its got higher tensile strength than anything else I have so it doesn't hurt to have some handy.

 

Read the Off-Roading & Trails forum.

 

Best to heed the words of Mike Nelson "Never dive alone". Make friends with an old guy who's off roaded for a couple of decades. What they can teach could never be put on paper.

 

If you plan to do some wheeling and camping, that's "overlanding". That's simply a relatively new-ish term that hipsters and retailers have latched on to in order to post to instagram or sell you overly expensive products.

So, with that in mind... toss a tent and some camping gear in your truck and go out for a weekend of fun.

No need to modify your truck just yet. The more you go out on your adventures, the more you'll figure out what mods make sense for you.

 

A winch and recovery gear (snatch blocks, tree savers, shovel, etc.) are a must as well as knowing how to use said recovery gear. It's not "if" you will get stuck, it's "when" and "how bad"! No worse feeling than being stuck alone in the woods!

All other gear doesn't really matter if you are stuck!

 

Thanks for the tips guys. I am looking at recovery gear now before I do anything so that WHEN I get stuck I can get out. We went on our first camping trip this weekend and I realized I don't need anything crazy yet. If I'm being realistic you're all right about just waiting to see what I need as I go further out instead of being that douchebag that buys everything and never uses it.

 

Go as fast as you need to and as slow as you can.

 

I could spend days looking through everyone's build threads and piecing together my own masterpiece eventually. I need to garage space to do it haha

 

It can be addicting and watch out for you wallet.

I got so into it I took the bed off my truck and replaced it with a camper I've been building for about 14 months now. I think I'm somewhere around 450 hours of work into the camper alone.

 

good attitude. Maybe read up on recovery techniques. An ancient army manual (FM 20-22) is still very useful, lots of great knowledge that doesn't change
https://www.bits.de/NRANEU/others/amd-us-archive/Fm20-22(62).pdf

 

Jeez lol. I just bought a truck bed tent to use it. I am gonna have to be careful I don't end up spending another truck's worth of money on it and having a garage full of spare parts.
This truck is still my daily driver too so I need to keep it highway-worthy.
Are there any "old" guys here in Florida that wanna learn me how to properly 4x4?

 

If you want to be a true "overlander", that's pretty much what you end up doing.

The rest of use throw a tent and some sleeping bags in our 4x4s and go driving somewhere.

For a daily driver, I would suggest putting as much of your "stuff" in boxes as you can. I have a couple of those yellow top boxes from home depot and store most of my stuff in those. Then, when I go on a trip, I just toss them in the bed and strap them down. I see a lot of folks that are driving to work (daily) with all their "gear" strapped and bolted to racks, and their RTT, and all that stuff permanently mounted to their truck. That's just a lot of extra stuff to be carting around all the time for no real reason (plus theft issues).

As for the driving part, nothing can replace experience. Just get out there and drive. If you come up to an obstacle you're uncomfortable with, just turn around. No harm there. Going out with more experienced people is great, so look for some local 4x4 clubs in your area, or check the regional forums here.

I *always* bring a shovel, a hand saw and trimmers, and a few other odds and ends for recovery gear. A tow strap and/or snatch strap, and even a come-along probably wouldn't hurt. The shovel is #1, IMO. It's amazing what kind of crap you can get yourself out of when you need to if all you have is a shovel and stacking rocks/logs. A winch is just faster. A winch and all that is less important when you go with people more experienced, but definitely don't assume they will have everything.

 

I was just thinking about this the other day as I’m strongly considering selling the house and going full time overlanding in my truck. I almost went to the 2018-2019 Overland expo and paid the money for the classes but had to work.

 

Rule #1 is to never go out by yourself.

I would go by myself if I had a winch, lockers and adequate recovery gear.

but the thing you can’t prepare for is shit breaking and being stuck out there by yourself

 

I'd rather buy the stuff and not have to use it than vice versa. It took me about a year of dragging the maxtrax boards around before I had to use them, but it sure saved me from one hell of a tow bill. You only have to use stuff once for it to pay for itself. Although I don't recomend ponying your equipment around town to show off, theres no harm in owning the equipment you might need one of these days.

 

I would buy traction boards but not maxtax branded ones. Imo they're too expensive when you can get another brand for cheaper than works the same.

 

Can't argue with that, there are other good brands, but stuff like that I like to go name brand. Just personal preference, but whatever brand you get I'd highly recommend some boards one way or another.