Stock 2010 SR5 off road?
- Thread starter trickster
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Took my Limited with stock suspension and stock skids out to the FJ Summit last year. Had a blast. Was glad I did have rockrails, because I used them. Also changed out the rims and tires.
Offroad is fun, but a couple things to keep in mind. Take it easy until you have a good feel for your vehicle. Stay within YOUR comfort zone; not the guys on the side of the trail with a beer in their hand.
There is a difference between overlanding, offroad, and rock crawling. You are fine for the first; can do the second within limits and are likely not going to come out well with the last when your truck is in stock condition.
As mentioned, don't start out alone. My recommendation would be to take an offroad class to get your feet wet. Rule #1 "as slow as possible as fast as necessary".
Beyond that... enjoy yourself! :tea:
Okki
Offroad is fun, but a couple things to keep in mind. Take it easy until you have a good feel for your vehicle. Stay within YOUR comfort zone; not the guys on the side of the trail with a beer in their hand.
There is a difference between overlanding, offroad, and rock crawling. You are fine for the first; can do the second within limits and are likely not going to come out well with the last when your truck is in stock condition.
As mentioned, don't start out alone. My recommendation would be to take an offroad class to get your feet wet. Rule #1 "as slow as possible as fast as necessary".
Beyond that... enjoy yourself! :tea:
Okki
trickster
New member
thanks for the replies, I'm definately going to be careful until I figure out what I'm doing. One more question... a friend of mine had his car driven through a bunch of mud and enough got up into the engine to warrant them having to clean the engine out. What do I need to worry about/watch for when driving through mud and water crossings?
Water: The big hole that drops the front end and gets you stuck in the middle of the crossing, Dropping the rear in a hole, or behind a boulder. Getting washed away (in fast flowing water it only takes 5 inches to move a vehicle). Getting in too deep and drowning/stalling the engine.
Mud: not having the right tires and getting stuck due to inability to find traction. digging in on all 4 corners and not have madtrax or similar to get out (plus a shovel). Sliding (in any direction) and into an obstacle that will crunch/dent/scrape your $40K truck. Unseen obstacles under the surface of the mud (i.e. you accelerate to push through some mud straight into a boulder). Where there is mud, there is usually a tree stump on the edge that might leave a mark. Trees/brush can leave nice pin-striping on your paint either way.
That's a pretty decent starting list of what to watch out for and worry about.
Okki
Intruder
New member
For water crossings keep slow and steady momentum so you have a bow wake in front of your truck. Instead of crossing perpendicular to the flow of the stream, cross so you're going slightly upstream. Don't stop in the water. Try to avoid anything deeper than halfway up your wheels. Only cross streams at designated crossings.
For mud, avoid it if you can. Nothing wrecks a truck faster than mud that gets into moving parts. If you can't avoid the mud and you get stuck, instead of spinning your tires and throwing mud everywhere while only digging yourself in deeper get another vehicle to recover you. If you have street tires (tires that aren't AT, MT, etc.) you WILL get stuck in mud. In fact you might be surprised at how little mud it takes to get stuck in even with AT or MT tires. I hate mud so much that I don't go off road during runoff or if it's been raining a lot.
If you aren't sure how deep water or mud is, stop, get out, take a look, grab a stick and poke until you hit bottom. Never be ashamed to pull the plug and turn around. Getting hydrolocked will ruin your day pretty fast.
But most of all have fun and TREAD LIGHTLY!
For mud, avoid it if you can. Nothing wrecks a truck faster than mud that gets into moving parts. If you can't avoid the mud and you get stuck, instead of spinning your tires and throwing mud everywhere while only digging yourself in deeper get another vehicle to recover you. If you have street tires (tires that aren't AT, MT, etc.) you WILL get stuck in mud. In fact you might be surprised at how little mud it takes to get stuck in even with AT or MT tires. I hate mud so much that I don't go off road during runoff or if it's been raining a lot.
If you aren't sure how deep water or mud is, stop, get out, take a look, grab a stick and poke until you hit bottom. Never be ashamed to pull the plug and turn around. Getting hydrolocked will ruin your day pretty fast.
But most of all have fun and TREAD LIGHTLY!
scanny
Senior Member
I just wanted to add that if you encounter a water crossing it always a good idea to stop and make sure it's not too deep and doesn't have suprises such as sharp pieces of metal, deep holes etc. If you don't see the bottom clearly you might have to walk through it first just to be on safe side. If water doesn't go over hubs of the wheels it perfectly fine to cross. Deeper water needs some consideration, I'd wouldn't take long water crossing if water deeper than top of the front bumper. If water goes over headlights you'll risk hydrolocking your engine. More experienced folks will correct me if I'm wrong.
edit: just rememebred I have a video of one of mine water crossings, it's small one and not very deep, but I still had my wife cross it on foot and film it on camera : )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a7WMWJkVgg
edit: just rememebred I have a video of one of mine water crossings, it's small one and not very deep, but I still had my wife cross it on foot and film it on camera : )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a7WMWJkVgg
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DannyLlama
Elite Member
In addition to what Okki said, snow! Snow can be tricky and dangerous.
03_4x4Runner
Senior Member
On my 4th gen the biggest problem stock was ground clearance. Once i put a 2.5" lift on it it was much better. I was constantly dragging the bottom stock and approach and departures angles greatly improved.
Infrared013
New member
took my fully stock '12 SR5 off road last summer at Rausch Creek with Jesse1983, Qjake and Phillyd2 and had a blast. We went on some trails that were originally marked as Blue but it had rained quite a bit the week leading up to it and they were definitley tricker than that. The whole key is having a good spotter and listening to them..not trying to think you can do it better, because you cant. I took some minor scuffs and scrapes on the rocker panels and some nice pin stripes but overall it came out fine and had it in some water up to about the front license plate at times. Gotta be extra careful in water because you have no idea whats down there...
The T4R even right out of the showroom is a pretty capable vehicle...just take it slow and a lot of times trails will have an 'easy way' and a 'hard way' at certain points...learn to put your ego aside and take the easy way...it will turn out better for you in the long run trust me
The T4R even right out of the showroom is a pretty capable vehicle...just take it slow and a lot of times trails will have an 'easy way' and a 'hard way' at certain points...learn to put your ego aside and take the easy way...it will turn out better for you in the long run trust me
