I hate mud.

I did some off-roading this week and ran into some deep mud in a couple of ravines that I frequently pass through on the trail. We had some rain earlier but usually things dry out pretty quickly.

Anyway, when I drove through the ravine, the trail splits and I tried to go left but the truck just kept plowing forward. Once I stopped, I was able to correct my direction in the desired direction.

I was in 4H and the 4Runner climbed right out no problem. I don’t usually encounter mud just deep powder dust but the 4Runner didn’t skip a beat with the Nitto RG’s.

After two days of off-roading I probably spent $20 in quarters at the spray wash trying to get the mud out of the wheel wells, tires, rims and suspension.

The performance of the 4Runner was marvelous but I’m glad I don’t encounter mud on a regular basis.

 

I hear that statement frequently along with, "I'm not going to be a rock crawler."
Depending on where you live - mud and rocks are part of what you'll find when going off pavement.

I imagine you could live in Florida or Michigan (where the soil is sandy) and never see a rock but you will still find mud.

Yes there is extreme rock crawling and extreme mudding but I've found both (rocks and mud) in normal off roading and find I enjoy both. Mainly because I'm equipped to deal with both.

Usually there will be a bypass around the mud on the trails I frequent. The question is, what fun is that?


Mud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLoDmmBCplU

"Rock Crawling"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snH0Tig8r6A

 

https://youtu.be/cyBPMSiabnM

 

Do you have any pictures from when it was dirty?

I'm not a big mud fan, either.

Like @DRobs , I find mud and rocks are just a part if the trails I run. A lot of times there is a bypass to the worst of it.

Last spring, I participated in a recovery where a 3rd gen had gotten stuck in mud. I really learned the value of proper mud tires that day!

It took a lot of work to get it clean.

 

Doesn't look too muddy, you're not trying hard enough.

 

I thought about taking a picture of the mud trap afterwards, but at the time I was focused on just getting through it.

It is important to remember that although driving through a deep mud pit can be an inconvenience, I am thankful that I have a vehicle that is fully capable to deal with obstacles that we may encounter.

 

I'm constantly impressed what they can do with a little planning and some decent tires.

 

You’ll still be spraying mud off a year later from the underside

 

What an awesome song, I love it!

Thank you

How did you find that so quickly?

 

Welp, that songs gonna get cued up next time Im facing a big mud puddle

 

Now that’s muddy!

 

I knew, We saw him when my kids were young, he is from Maine.

and my son sang that song a bunch, hard to yell at him playing in the mud singing that song.

 

I forgot to mention, when it was time to leave the trail I engaged 4L just to exercise it. I usually don’t use it but I’ve found that it’s very helpful to keep your speed down when driving over rough terrain.

Since I have a spacer lift, I drive very cautiously over obstacles. I’ve never experienced funky or scary sounds from the front suspension but I frequently here large clunking sounds when driving over an obstacle such as a rock or curb. I think the shocks are bottoming out.

 

Yeah that would NOT be my tune as I also do whatever I can to avoid the stuff. I guess it would not be so bad if I could afford to pay someone to do the after cleaning, but likely their cleaning efforts wouldn't meet my standards so I'd be cleaning up afterwards anyway. Nope, don't like the stuff...

 

We had some warm weather this weekend and I hand washed my runner, first time in awhile. Anyway I thought I had careful rinsed off all the remaining mud but I found more today while investigating the mice intrusion on the skid plates that I missed.

I definitely will not make a habit of driving through deep mud. I’ll take moon dust over mud any day.