Important Survey II, Please Respond

[Toyo_Runner96]

Hey guys, I'm doing some research for a school project and I need to find out what everybody normally breaks on the trails. So if you guys could, please state the following:

1) Make/Model/Year/Mileage Of Your Rig
2) Type of Trails You Drive (Easy, Moderate, Difficult)

Easy - Relatively easy terrain, minimal ground clearance required.

Moderate - Moderate level terrain, rutted trails, with possible clearance problems, ditch crossings.

Difficult - Most difficult terrain, definite clearance issues, large vehicle articulations, possible roll over situations.

3) Name anything and everything that you've broken and how you broke it.

Mods I don't know if it's ok to put this in this forum, but is there anyway to sticky this for just a couple weeks? It's kinda important.

Thank you for your time

 

[Gryphon]

1990 T4R, 220k miles: Easy to Moderate trails (so far), broken nothing at all as yet.

1979 Ford F150: Slightly modded, full range of trails including difficult and a few "whatthehellwasyathinkin' " trails.
Broken parts:Flat tire twice, bent rim once (changed flat under 2 feet of muddy water), sheared rear pinion gear shaft, broken rear drive shaft, snapped axle shaft (yep, broke a 32 spline 9" rear), popped power steering hose, busted radiator (ok, the girlfriend at the time took that out along with three whitetail deer...) smoked clutch, twisted motor mounts, flooded front diff (lake crossings) busted locking hub (replaced stocker with Warn premium hubs...problems solved) broken speedometer cable (85mph speedo trying to read 130mph! Yes, I did beat the Galaxy 500 I was racing:driving:

1985 Toyota pickup: highly modded 22r engine with 33's. Ok, so this was not my truck and technically I was not driving, but my buddy was stuck, hooked the chain to my hitch and told me to drag him back to the campsite as the truck would not re-start. He could not hold a turn as I hammered the Ford thru a mudhole...bent the smack out of the Smittybuilt rear bumper and dropped the tree he hit. We sawed it up and used it for firewood during the rest of the weekend.

1979 Ford Bronco: slightly modded, big block, full Edelbrock intake/carb/cam set. Full range of trails.
Shredded the NP203 transfer case. Lunched the big block. Wore out two sets of tires. C6 held up great, as did the axles. Oh yeah, ripped a trailer house off of it's foundations with it...ok, I did not, but my ex-wife's 5 year old son did.

1973 VW Dasher
Ok, no, not a truck, but it did do a lot more off roading than it should have! Shredded the body, broke windows, but did not break the mechanicals beleive it or not!

Hope this helps! (And you can see why I don't 'wheel the 4R too hard! I am getting too old to be replacing parts in my driveway in the snow and cold! And the Redhead [wife] would kill me...literally!))

 

[KNOBmeister]

Some tales from my 4X4 past: :gaptooth:

Yerington Mountains east of Reno while doing Geophysical Exploration in a Highly Modified Ford Bronco:

Trying to climb mud and snow covered peak, one of the front chains broke [Had chains on all 4 wheels] ..... that chain tore off the drivers side break line ....... slid down mountain backwards without brakes slamming into boulder the size of a house ..... took out the rear glass and back door as well as the bumper ....... drove truck back to Reno for repairs ..... 50+ miles with zero brakes! [Real scarry ..... especially in the city] Cost? Who knows the company always paid!
Later that summer.... turned over that same Bronco into a mine shaft .... lifted the vehicle out with our 'come-a-long' [ only fell about 10 feet into the shaft!]... righted it and continued on the way ... only damage was a crushed roof and lots of paint missing
Later that same year had 3 windshields smashed in driving through heavily forested mountains NE of Yellowstone. Same time lost 2 tailgates over the rough "Roads" [We ran with tailgates down to spin out and retreive wire!]
At the end of the season I got a phone call from one of our summer field hires explaining how he had torn off ALL the sheet metal from the left side of the company's BRAND NEW LEASED TRUCK! [another Ford Bronco] Claims that he rolled sideways into a huge boulder, getting it wedged real good, and instead of pulling the vehicle away from the rock with his come-a-long, tried to power out usng his big V8 ..... Car looked like it went through hell ....... never found out what the lease company had to say! :sobbing:
Weirdist thing was a year later ....... A summer field crew went back to retreive the company 4X4 that they parked on the top of "RedCone Mountain" west of Denver ....... it was missing! They looked over the cliff and there below was the vehicle in a million pieces! [We got what we could recover, instruments etc with a heliocopter!] The lesson learned was not to trust just the parking brake but to keep it in gear and chock the wheels with a rock before leaving!

I have more tales as I spent many a year crashing through forests, climbing mountains, speeding through deserts and crossing streams and ponds where any sane 4X4 driver would not go!
But then I was paid $$$$$$$$$ to! ....and best of all the company
paid to fix what we broke!

I don't do those things now either in the 4Runner or my old CJ7............... I have to PAY to get things fixed and besides my wife would kill me!

Joe
:driving:

 

[olliebear]

Wanderlust.....

Easy to moderate trails.

Goal: to visit old mining towns, ghost towns, Indian reservations and historical sites, etc. No boony bashing. Must have at least trail to follow. Traveling and exploring Canyon De Chelly, Spider Rock, Monument Valley--it has trails all over, Randsburgh, Garlock, Burro Schmidt's Tunnel, Mojave Trail, Joshua Tree trails, etc.

1996 Chevy Tahoe 2 door 4x4 Z71. No big mods. Factory set up. Hello driving lights for greater illumination, BFG ATs.

Nothing broken yet. Just plain wore out after 271,000 miles, two engines, original everything else. Still running as the foul weather beater.

04 4Runner V8 AWD w/Locking Torsen Diff and low range. Have not gone off roading yet.

 

[ToyotaDoodz]

1. 2003 Toyota 4Runner, V8 Sport, 32,234 miles

2. Easy, Moderate, and Difficult trails, but no hard core or extreme. Didn't buy it for that nor do I expect or want it to.

3. Never broke anything other than wallet and VISA limit. I go slow and enjoy the scenery and so my daily driver will get me back home and to the next trail tomorrow rather than wasting time in the shop.

 

[KNOBmeister]

AMEN...........Now!



Joe
:driving:

 

[live4swell]

2003 4Runner Sport, V8

I drive on the beach which is moderate terrain, nothing too difficult but have driven through some deep ruts and mud crossings.

I have not broken anything yet...knock on wood