spyne said:
I went to Paragon for the 2003 East Coast 4 Runner Jamboree and it's a very nice place to go wheeling. However, (isn't there always a however) based on what I saw I wouldn't recommend it for folks with stock 4th gen 4Runners who aren't willing to experience a bit of damage. When I showed up in my stock vehicle they (very politely) informed me that even the bunny trails would probably be removing pieces from my truck. I was offered the chance to ride with someone in a lifted 3rd gen for the morning trip (on green trails) and could then decide if I wanted to take my truck out on the afternoon runs.
Best advice I ever received. The access trails are appropriate for stock 4th gen vehicles, but the green trails I rode are going to (at a minimum) seriously mangle your running boards and you should also expect to get some good dents and gashes in the skid plates and are also quite likely beat up your wheels and scratch the body on your truck.
Don't get me wrong, I think Paragon is a great place, and once I get about 50K on my truck and a lift kit, I'll be there a lot. If this is your first experience on a real off road course and you want to keep your vehicle as a really nice street truck that occasionally goes off road, this is most likely not the place where you want to learn to 4 wheel.
I thought that went without saying.
This isn't a picnic ground with some trees and we go around the corner, then back around the woods, through the puddle we call a pond and then we all have lunch. Its an offroad park, specifically designated for offroading. That being said, I don't see it being this drastic as having parts removed, gashes on the skid plate, etc.
I went on with my 2nd gen, took off my running boards the night before, and went on greens and blues. Ofcourse, 90 percent of it is how you drive and what paths you choose for an obstacle, but when the 4 inch lifted or more trucks were having no problems, I hit once or twice on my skid plate. That was about it.
So yea, he's right in the sense that IF you have running boards, take them off or consider riding with someone else. If you have a lift its preferred, if not then you can run the easier routes. That means you might bottom out once, twice maybe, but not gashes through your fuel tank or oil pan... you won't get insane body damage, not one of us got body damage last time and we ran considerably harder trails than I'm planning this time.
When we were running more difficult trails last time, I was the only one without any lift and with stock size tires for a 2nd gen, and I pulled through alright, NO body damage, NO damage to the truck, NO problems with departure angles, NO problems at all, just a dent in my skid plate and a smile on my face.
One guy got some body damage on a tacoma because of the conditions on a harder trail, where all (except the insanely lifted 1st gen truck) got pulled out of.
