Trail noob

Ive never done much off-roading besides what I've done with military vehicles so that doesn't really count.

For out here in Arizona what are some of the bare essentials I should have in my taco. Or upgrades I should get done to the truck? Just ordered rock sliders this morning.

I really don't know what to expect on trails In Arizona so I'm asking what's the things at a bare minimum I should have so I can enjoy myself, protect my investment, and not break the bank doing so?

 

It really depends on the trail... have you seen trailsoffroad.com before? That should give you a good idea of what you need for each trail.

https://www.trailsoffroad.com/states/AZ

Full disclosure, I also write and map trails for them.

 

This is probably overkill for your needs but a very good and informative read nonetheless.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/going-alone-single-vehicle-wheeling-safety.454083/

 

Air down.

 

Go out and drive some. You will learn what you need. You don't need a lot of stuff people will tell you that you need to start learning.

 

I don't know man, SAS might be more important than you're letting on

 

Hahaha true very true. Lol

 

Sliders are a very good start! Make sure you have yourself a decent set of tires as our rocks here can be relentless and will chew through tires. A decent set of recovery gear can pay for itself pretty quickly as well; recovery strap, hi lift Jack, shackles, gloves, shovel and even a cheap air compressor. Airing down when you go out will help save your tires, your back and make it a little easier on your suspension. Always go with a buddy if you can and if your just out for a solo ride than get yourself familiar with the area first, Google maps etc. The more familiar you get with your truck, the more you will want to push it. People are always amazed at what these trucks can do stock when you pick the right lines and that will come with experience. Over time you will find out what mods you want to do to serve your driving characteristics, everyone is a little different. Just get out and have fun and you will learn quickly! Experience, even in a very stock truck, can often get you much further than the guy with a heavily modded truck that has no experience! Good luck! This forum has a wealth of knowledge and information to answer almost any question!

 

I ran my truck on stock suspension for 4 or 5 years before I changed anything. The extra height is nice but figure out your driving characteristics and do your research before you buy. You could spend a few hundred bucks or a few thousand dollars on suspension upgrades so imho, I say wait until you figure out what you really want to get out of your truck first.

 

If you wanna off-road it mildly, just throw some 5100s all around. Best bang for the buck IMO.

 

Or 5160s and Headstrong add a leaf for the rear... Oh, I happen to have a set for sale. Haha

 

Honestly, good maintenance is key, you NEED your truck to run. "Kick yourself" things like belts, hoses, water pumps, tires, spare tire... Keep your old belts and hoses under the back seat or in a truck toolbox.

With our heat, personal survival is more important than most realize. I never leave home to go play without a cooler full of water, drinks, and granola bars at the least. Enough to last that day, a night and the next day at minimum.


There are quite a few of us on the AZ page with fairly built trucks(lockers, full armor, heavily trimmed fenders and big tires, full blown cages etc) that like some gnarly stuff. But no one generally starts out there. Use your truck and find what kind of wheeling you like. No reason to cut your truck all up if you just wanna enjoy scenery on fire roads.

Sliders are a good start as they are useful for lots of stuff even for recovery stuff.

Just lifting for height isnt the best either. A suspension that works together is much better than some top heavy turd.


Get yourself a good jack( high lift or floor jack with skid plate mod)

A set of truck tools,

A good recovery strap and a way to securely connect it to both front and rear of your truck. No trailer hitch balls allowed.

A quality spare tire

And always let someone know where youre going and when they should expect to hear back from you. Even if its here on the BS page as some do here who are often alone. Atleast than SOMEONE can know where to start.

 

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/az-trail-ratings.420477/


Also read through that. Its input from trails that we as a group have done over the years with input from many different drivers and skills levels, along with Ryan's personal write ups that are true to the trail, and the usual standard for those trails.

 

IMO...no.

Wait to see what trails you enjoy running stock, and until you begin to stretch the limitations of your current set up, put the extra $$$ into solid vehicle maintenance, maybe tires, and pieces from the recovery kits mentioned above. Learning how to properly "un-stuck" yourself is a critical element to Off Road 101...which also spring boards you into looking at expanding your rigs capability...which opens your wallet to MODS.

One personal note to you one recovery gear...after wheeling for 10 years with a Hi Lift, I just sold my whole kit to get one of these:

https://safejacks.com/collections/b...ack-bottle-jack-recovery-kit-with-bottle-jack

So many people use them, recommend them, and have safe recoveries...but, IMO, a bottle jack with the contemporary adapters is a much safer option utilizing hydraulics rather than the "pin in-pin out" mechanism of the Hi Lift.

And, most Hi Lifts lift from the slider/bumper which articulates the suspension facilitating a higher lift than necessary (safety) for a standard tire change.

Good luck in your off road pursuits, and thanks for letting us help spend your $$$

 

That looks like a nice little kit.

 

While I like the option of the bottle jack (and it probably solves the issue for most people), I don't think anything besides a hi-lift and a shovel would have gotten me out of this.

 

This is so true.... I can only think of 1 or 2 outings in my life where I have ever seen something with the potential to be that burried...

Every time I use my hi lift I wonder if I'm going to lose a finger or put the shank through my bed side... I just dont like them much. Although they are definitely useful when needed.

 

If you want to see how I got out here's my video of the trip. Lots of digging and stuffing small branches under the tires not shown.

https://youtu.be/wG6VW4UgQ-U

 

Wow...that's a helluva stuck! Just curious, what tire pressure were you running? Looked pretty sticky, and while I totally agree a Hi Lift came in handy for this application, I'm thinking (possibly, obviously I wasn't there) airing down and a couple of sets of tread boards mighta helped.

Great video too, we rarely get mud like that here in SoCal!

 

I think I was at 25psi before this and 10psi after. Honestly it was so goopy tire pressure wouldn't have solved it much at all. The whole truck was almost floating in that. I could drop the clutch in 2nd gear without touching the gas and the wheels would spin, it was really weird. Traction boards would have helped, digging them out would have sucked though.

It didn't help there was a small stream of water flowing under my truck and this was during a torrential rain, we picked a great day to wheel.