Forevers off-road adventures

And here’s how the truck sits after day one with the new lift and tires.

Due to the front spring perches being cranked up to account for bumper weight, it sat very nose high unloaded. There was a very sizable gap between the tire and the top of the fender, and that was with new 33s on. Hard to tell from the photos of course.

Squatted truck anyone ?

 

Day two. This consisted of installing the whole front end, so to speak. Bumper, winch, light bar, raptor lights, LaminX fog covers, pro grill, etc

 

First step, taking the bumper off

 

Gf and I working on cutting the bumper after endless measuring and remeasuring. Two hands and two sets of eyes are better than one. I wanted to get this as precise as I could.

 

Cut, test fitted, re cut and trimmed, further test fitting, etc.

that was the process. Here’s the final product. No turning back now.

 

Used a jack to position the bumper, here it is all bolted in. It bolts right up to the frame in substitute of the factory crash bar by reusing the bolt hole locations. Feels very sturdy and solid once bolted up.

 

Well, here she is. I’ll spare the boring details of getting all the lights wired up, which was a headache within itself. Pro tip, not every relay wiring kit on Amazon that says it will work- will in fact work. Had to do some modifying.

But, everything is good to go. Last step, putting on the “oh so essential to every 5th gen build starter pack” black out badges

 

Oh yeah, last thing. The roof rack.

I painted the roof rails black to match the blacked out theme for the rest of the truck. If you do this, be very careful taking off the end covers of the roof rails. Get a set of pry tools.

next step, installing my cheap roof rack. Online reviews said to watch out for rust, so I sprayed the connector ends with a coat of clear, and then gooped over every joint and hardware screw with silicone sealer. Been a few weeks since the install and so far, no rust.

 

Time for the newly built up runners maiden voyage!

I headed up to lolo pass near Mt. Hood Oregon. This was the first time I’ve ever taken the truck in “deep” snow. I’ve been through some lighter dustings and half melted stuff before. But never into anything that looked risky.

initial status report; I’m very impressed so far. The truck did well, and the Kendas just chewed through everything. I had to break trail multiple times to get around other people, and even going through bumper deep snow, they wouldn’t quit. and that was at normal psi, no airing down.

 

Putting the meaning behind rugged terrain to the test.

 

How are they working out? Road noise? Big weight difference? That looks like the perfect size

 

@Cleazy so far I’ve been very impressed. There is a weight difference from my stock 265s, not a huge one but it’s noticeable when picking them up. Both the Kendas and my old tires are E rated.

road noise is hardly noticeable, more of a mild background noise at best. No where near what I’d call intrusive. My old worn down ATs were far louder while being far less aggressive.

I’ve put maybe 1000 miles on the tires since getting them. Road tripped them 600 miles from the bottom of Washington state on up past Seattle, through a mountain pass and back all during a blizzard. No problems or issues to report, for an aggressive tire they are drama free on the pavement.

Off road wise, I’ve only been in snow and a little bit of mud. I’ll post those adventures here soon. They do well in all types of snow. From week old icy layered crap snow to 3 foot deep powder, the kendas will chew through it. We just got a big snowstorm where I live, and the tires are predictable and competent on groomed worn snowy roads.

 

Out looking for more snow. It was ICY here, there was maybe a few inches of fresh powder covering a layer of ice. Decided to turn around and call it a day early.

also, does anyone have experience with the Cooper AT34S?? My dads F150 (second pic) had a brand new set on, and for a 3PMS rated tire, they were ok at best. The older all seasons he used to have on did far better in the deeper snow, probably better than my kendas dare I say it.

 

Road trip photo dump

Headed up to Index, WA with the gf to stay in a literal treehouse. Now I have it stuck in my head that I need to build a treehouse of my own.

drove through a blizzard up at Stevens pass, down into Leavenworth WA,
(Highly recommend checking this town out if you’re in the area. It’s built to replicate a Bavarian alps town.)
Headed back home through eastern WA and another blizzard.

I was very thankful for my light bar the whole trip, as gimmicky as some people make them out to be.

 

[getting stuck in the snow]

Washington had a rare snow day, one that comes along every few years. Where I live, we typically, we get a few light flurries a year that end up melting by noon. This time around, we got pretty decently dumped on.

So, naturally, I headed for the local mountain trails to find the fresh deep powder. Snow was piled DEEP up there. Some drifts were well over my head.

ended up getting stuck. The passenger side of the rig had slid into a ditch and was buried up to the doors.
I had lent my traction boards to my neighbor the night before as he ended up getting stuck in his driveway, so I was out of luck there.

This ended up being a good opportunity to test out my Smittybilt X20 winch. I lashed the synthetic line around a group of saplings maybe 5 feet tall at best. Not good winch practice, I know. But I didn’t have any other options for where I was. It was all clear cut on the side of the trail and I had to make do. Luckily, I pulled right out.

 

Beach trip photo recap

headed out to the Oregon coast last Sunday, which gave me a chance to test out the Kendas in the sand. They performed overall, although the aggressive tread wanted to dig in 2WD.

 

Found some snow. The trail was pretty chewed up at this point. Also, the new wheeler my buddy picked up. 40s, twin stick transfer case, this things sweet. I feel way outclassed now lol.

 

Went out again to a popular off road spot called “North Fork” near Washougal WA, for those who are familiar with the area. It’s got a few trails plus a ton of deep mud pits. It’s only around 1100 ft elevation so I was hoping there was little to no snow.

that didn’t turn out to be the case, got up there and about 20 min later, it started snowing HEAVILY. Which is unusual for April at a lower elevation compared to the rest of the local mountains surrounding north fork.

Played in some mud and snow. Had a bit of fun. I’m itching for drier weather and the chance to find some actual OHV trails. Having to turn around cause of the deep snow is getting irritating at this point.

 

North fork photo dump

 

LIFE UPDATE: moved from Washington to Colorado. I forgot about this forum for a minute there. Been in CO for about a month now. Currently living near the Denver/Boulder area. I’ve been venturing into the front range every weekend so far. I’ve done a few hikes and checked out a few OHV trials.

I look forward to checking out all the legendary passes Colorado has to offer, along with all the great mountain biking/ dirt biking there is as well.

If anyone reading this thread is from Colorado, drop a trail recommendation!

 

Found a dirt road about 10 min away from my place. It’s interesting to see random dirt roads scattered about connecting paved roads throughout the prairie. Definitely didn’t see that back in WA.

Also, the mud here is no joke. It sticks like peanut butter mixed with a clingy ex girlfriend. You casually pull over to the side of a road after it rains? Guess what, your car is covered in this clay like stuff. Very different than the dirt in Washington.

 

Some updates since arriving in Colorado:


Checked out a local trail called Boulder county road 68J. I got about 20ft into the trail and promptly got crossed up on both axles, rocking back and forth like a playground teeter totter from my front to back wheels. It was raining earlier and the trail was slick. Hit the magic button and good ol ATRAC started pulling me up and through the rocks and dirt moguls… onto a heavily slanted dirt hill, where I slid sideways and ended up about an inch from bashing my door into a rock. Seeing as I still don’t have sliders or skids (yeah I need to get some), I backed out and decided to try another day when it was dry.


Pic of the trail from the very beginning

 

Switzerland Trail review:

Ventured up to Switzerland Trail right outside of Boulder about a month ago. Overall it’s an easy 2WD trail at best. A few water crossings are the most exciting part of the trail. It also doubles as a dirtbiking OHV trail. Saw plenty of bikes out, makes me miss riding mine.

 

Went camping toward the end of may near Breckenridge/Bailey CO. Spent the night at 10,000 feet or so in a meadow. The elevation that you experience in Colorado is still hard to comprehend. Back home in Washington, 10,000 feet landed you on the summit of a volcano, towering above everything else. In CO, 10,000 feet lands you casually in a field or meadow, completely unassuming in appearance, with many mountains eclipsing you at an additional 4,000 feet taller.

Another thing I’ve learned about Colorado, is that if there’s a trailhead or dispersed campsite worth getting to, any and every car turns into a jeep for the moment. There’s been numerous times I’ve been bouncing down a rough and rocky forest road, flexing through heavy washouts and ditches, only to find a Prius or some sedan at the end of the trail. Definitely made me realize that most vehicles are far more capable than their image would suggest, and that I’m playing on easy mode in relation to them. I’ve since reframed my mindset to “if you’re still going, then you’re still going”

 

Yes, getting to backcountry trailheads in rental sedans is great training. I learned an awful lot about picking a line with 2WD and no ground clearance. Another big lesson is how much more progress you can make on most access roads just by moving a few rocks here and there.

 

I’ve never taken a sedan offroad before, but I have been down a fair number of trails in my gf’s Mazda CX30, which is a small hatchback/crossover, similar to a crosstrek. Honestly, it’s pretty capable. Rough forest roads are totally doable with careful line choice. It handles better in most snowy situations than my 4Runner, and even has an offroad mode (AWD power split reacts much quicker and has some rudimentary form of ATRAC on the rear axle I believe). For most younger couples like us who are looking for a vehicle they can take into the mountains, it’s all the car anyone would really need. Plus the Mazda is leaps and bounds ahead on the pavement compared to my tank. Which is really nice when having to road trip hours before you even hit dirt.

 

During the last camping trip mentioned, I stumbled upon the locally famous Webster pass. Pretty neat trail overall, not very challenging though there were a few rough spots. Mostly just bumpy. Got about an hour up the trail from the south approach till I hit snow. Should have gone from the north approach. I definitely look forward to completing Webster at some point.

 

Did a quick excursion up in the mountains west of Fort Colins in the beginning of June. My goal was to check out the Moody hill trail, but it was closed due to weather damage/erosion. Ended up cruising around buckhorn road and some side roads. There was a lot of washout, with some being more than 6 feet deep. All in all a cool area that I look forward to exploring more of in the future.

 

Headed down to Colorado Springs toward the end of June for a weekend camping trip. Explored the rampart range area and some of the offshoot trails from the main road. Camped out near Palmer lake. All in all a fun weekend

 

This little fun occurrence happened on the last day of exploring rampart. I Zigged when I should have zagged.

in all honesty, it wasn’t that bad. I dipped my right front tire into what I thought was gonna be a small mud patch at best. Turns out, it was a solid foot drop into about a two foot mud hole. Next thing you know, the runners pitched way over on its side, feeling like it was gonna tip over at any given moment.

Getting out;
first thing I did was wrap my winch line around a few trees to the left of the vehicle, and connected the hook to the rear tow “eye” or whatever it’s called via shackle. This was to cinch the rear bumper down to help ensure the vehicle wouldn’t roll over completely. I had another car keeping tension on my back bumper via snatch strap, ideally limiting me from sliding further forward if backing out attempts didn’t go smoothly.
The most surprising part of the whole experience was how easy it actually was to back out of this mess. Put it in low, ATRAC engaged, and I just popped right out. I was anticipating a tricky “Matt’s off-road recovery” style effort, but all in all it was quick and effortless. No damage done. I was very lucky.