Sleeter
New member
Funny you should mention it, I'm already working on the route for a Mid-June trip. It will start where this one leaves off. GRSF to Monongahela National Forest.
Spring "overland" trip George Washington National Forest
- Thread starter Sleeter
- Start date
Funny you should mention it, I'm already working on the route for a Mid-June trip. It will start where this one leaves off. GRSF to Monongahela National Forest.
propain
New member
I have 1 patch, and 1 badge lol, how many more patches do I need to make it official hehe j/k.
Antman
Elite Member
I have 1 patch, and 1 badge lol, how many more patches do I need to make it official hehe j/k.
You need at least 7 patches or 4 if one of them has a picture of Bigfoot on it.
I'm an overlanding MF'er by these standards.
Sleeter
New member
Spring "overland" trip George Washington National Forest
This will be the first local grocery store we pass along the trip, probably around 10:30am Saturday.
The interesting thing is we will pass at least 3 more of these type of stores throughout the day, oftentimes in locations that seem like the middle of nowhere. These are great places to stop and grab a drink, snack, and gas.
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This will be the first local grocery store we pass along the trip, probably around 10:30am Saturday.
The interesting thing is we will pass at least 3 more of these type of stores throughout the day, oftentimes in locations that seem like the middle of nowhere. These are great places to stop and grab a drink, snack, and gas.
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Last edited:
Antman
Elite Member
This will be the first convince store we pass along the trip, probable around 10:30am Saturday.
The interesting thing is we will pass at least 3 more of these type of stores throughout the day, oftentimes in locations that seem like the middle of nowhere. These are great places to stop and grab a drink, snack, and gas.
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I'm gonna close my eyes when we get near these stores and keep driving because Overlanding.
LOL- This is gonna be a really fun trip. We need to air down or 4lo for this?
Sleeter
New member
We may need to airdown Friday morning if its wet, but not after that.
I'll be in 4lo Up to flagpole but not after that. Maybe 4Lo crossing the river.
MountainClimber78
New member
I can't speak for the rest of the trip but I have load range e 255s on my trail and dropping psi to ten makes the ride up flagpole much more comfortable. There's enough room at the end near reddish knob for a fairly large group to air back up also.
Dougthelurk
New member
This will be the first local grocery store we pass along the trip, probably around 10:30am Saturday.
The interesting thing is we will pass at least 3 more of these type of stores throughout the day, oftentimes in locations that seem like the middle of nowhere. These are great places to stop and grab a drink, snack, and gas.
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i've bought beer at more than a few of those places. LOL
Boyds4Runner
New member
Looking forward to this trip more and more!
I had a few things I was hoping to get done before hand like get a transmission issue resolved or at least documented, Nitto Ridge Grappler 285/70/17 C tires and install the Anytime backup camera dongle but they are out of stock on the switch I want. Argh...may just have to ride as-is and pray the stock Nitto's can handle one more offroad err overloading trip!
I had a few things I was hoping to get done before hand like get a transmission issue resolved or at least documented, Nitto Ridge Grappler 285/70/17 C tires and install the Anytime backup camera dongle but they are out of stock on the switch I want. Argh...may just have to ride as-is and pray the stock Nitto's can handle one more offroad err overloading trip!
Boyds4Runner
New member
[MENTION=133021]propain[/MENTION]
Skids are holding up well. After the first offroad trip with them (when I thought the skids made me invincible and care free) I did get a few boulders bashes into the bolts and marred them up a little bit. Since then I have been more careful with the boulder bashing (translation: just not plowing through them) and learned to slowly crawl and pick the high line as much as possible.
I remove all of them after each trip in order to make sure I haven't stripped a bolt somewhere or lost a bolt-head. I also hose them off as well as underneath the truck with the skids removed and if needed, I stomp or hammer them back to as-straight-as-possible. After the washing and a few days later I put the skids back on and put a glob of anti-seize on all of the bolts and just tighten them by hand. I think the factory torque spec is like 21 ft/lbs but I just go by hand until I can't turn it anymore after a good, hard push or two on the socket wrench.
Since mine are aluminum they do gouge quite a bit. The transmission skid, since it is comparatively much lower than what it is protecting, tends to bend up more if the mound of dirt or rock doesn't clear due to the break-over limits.
I don't have a skid on the pumpkin (rear diff). I have scraped that up once and replaced the drain plug bolt but it is such a strong piece of steel that I don't thing a skid plate there protects it that much more. And, realistically since I don't rock crawl so often with this as my daily driver I have opted not to spend the money there.
Skids that I have found are worth it are the front lower control arm skid and the rear, lower shock mount skids. The rear shock mount skids protect that front facing bolt from getting bashed and allow for me to slide worry free off of them if anything gets jammed underneath that lowest part of the rear axle. The front A-arm skids protect in an obvious way as obstacles always hit that first like logs and road-debris.
One complaint about all of the skids is that they make a great place for mud to just pile up and sit and add weight to the vehicle. Front A-arm skids are always carrying a giant glob of mud due to the issues with IFS and basically plowing the mud ruts with them.
So far they have stayed on without rattling. Since the dealer uses an air tool for everything (including turning the ignition key lol) they ripped the front skid nuts out from their tac-welds inside the front radiator lower-support. I had a fab shop cut out the square sections and weld in bigger nuts (same thread size and pitch) and weld the square plates back in place for the lower support so those should be pretty bullet proof. As long as I use hand tools I believe the remaining skid plate bolts should be OK. I now remove all skids as well before taking the vehicle in to the dealer for service.
I can go into more detail while we shoot the breeze around the camp fire!
propain
New member
Boyds4Runner
New member
Thanks Boyd. I'll install them. Don't need a repeat of this:
[emoji41]
[emoji23] that's exactly what the skids will protect against!
First off-road trip I took with just the factor skids I had a stick jam itself in there around the same area. Fortunately it was just a stick-like small branch and I heard it fairly quickly scraping on the rocky surface so I was able to stop and pull it out. Again it was just a stick and not a friggin tree trunk like in your picture!
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Antman
Elite Member
My WIFE is going to hate you.
Dougthelurk
New member
Thanks Boyd. I'll install them. Don't need a repeat of this:
[emoji41]
that's firewood storage right there.
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