oh....you'll need them- even learn to RELY and USE them to help you...If you don't have them, your going to mangle your rockers. Period.

I was lucky, I only wheeled a handful of times w/o them and was lucky. If your into "mudding" - it's true you won't need them. If your into ROCKS, you're going to LOVE them!

i UNDERSTAND re: funds....MIGHT try keeping an eye out for USED tires...that or when you get it lifted up, you can borrow my 33's...

1" BL will be plenty to clear 33"s - but do you ever want to run 35"s? I don't think I will until I'm SUA.

i will tell you what i learned (and prolly mentioned) go bigger and heavier-duty than you think you'll need. Because, you WILL end up needed it.

sorry for so much chime-ing!

 

They look neat, but I'm not convinced they do anything. My tires are the only thing I don't mind rubbing on stuff. And I could see the kickout kicking the rear of the vehicle away from a tree just so it could get more momentum and come back and whack the rear quarter harder! Guess it's just all luck of the bounce... and if that's what you rely on wheeling, expect body damage [insert pictures of Cory's new sheetmetal work here]

I have rock sliders on my crawler... the result is the rockers are the only non-dented thing on the vehicle (yes, even the roof is wrinkled). I know all about the bounce The only place I use them are playing in large rocks, or seeing how far I can climb up downed trees. Both of which are optional activities (no one else in our group follows me). And hi-lifting to change tires/reintall suspension pieces. I think front and rear bumpers bumpers and gas tank protection are the most important trail armor you can get. Once those basics are covered then you can start adding things like sliders.

But don't let those things keep you from wheeling. There are plenty of trails you can run without hitting things. My current wheeling truck is the first vehicle I've damaged the body on wheeling, and I've only had it for 2 years. Many years of wheeling prior to that without any damage.

 

On the same note, I only damage mine because I'm not as picky as I used to be. (or smart, your choice). Hans is right, there are several trails that you can go on without any body damage, its all in driver's skill and how much you want to push your vehicle.

I also second bumpers over sliders. If I had decent front and rear bumpers, three of the however-many tree kissings I encountered this last trip could have been kept to just bumper contact rather than sheetmetal contact. However, I have dented a rocker way back when that could have been prevented through the acquisition of sliders, however the need for them have been far outweighed by the need for bumpers, at least for me.

 

Yup... Cory's on his 3rd? stock front bumper (and this one has been through several collisions), and I've seen him whack his rear bumper an easy 20 times since he got it about a year ago. Contrast that with a single rocker panel incident.

On my 85, which I've wheeled in about 10 different states in the 8 years I've owned it, I have front and rear bumpers which I've used a lot, but have never hit a rocker panel. This vehicle is dead stock except for 31" tires and a rear locker. It's seen more trails than I can count, with no body damage to show for it.

But if you lack the self restraint to not go "Get'R'Done" and floor it.... body protection is in order.

 

Yay chiming! I've been trying to figure what's what for a year and a half now, it's GREAT to get opinions from people who wheel the same trails available to me. Thanks guys!

Nah, I'm ok in 4lo....the foot's lead, but it's learning. I prefer regular size rocks over mud, loved the trail from Ouray up to Engineer Pass, and then the upper parts back towards Silverton, to give you an idea.

I was kinda hoping I could trash the original bumpers first, then get new ones but y'all are right about them not being much in the way of protection. Oy!
Gas tank protection also makes a heck of a lot of sense.

I'm thinking 33's are good. I'm still leaning towards the A/Ts. Dumb move?

Sorry, I seem to be diverting this thread.

 

A/T's arent that bad for a DD... I used M/Ts for a DD for about 25K miles... (still running on them BTW). A/Ts will be a lot quieter and smoother, and for a mostly DD/ weekend wheeler rig, not too bad of an idea. That is unless you want the extra traction and can tolerate the noise, then get M/Ts. (plus you get the "bling" factor... )

Ah, and dont worry bout hijackin the thread. no biggie, at least I dont care anyway. If you still feel guilty, just start your own thread in the Ozarks section... we're all here, we can find the new thread

 

Yeah, I'd 3rd the need for bumpers over anything else.
You might get by with a trailer hitch in the back for a while, it will help when you drop off a ledge, but not backing into stuff (like I did twice last fall).

Your front bumper (and please get one with a grille guard, not just the bumper) will allow you to nudge things like trees that are leaning over the trail, trees that are planted in the middle of the trail, rocks, and Hans's undented rocker panels without denting your hood/grille/etc.

And a good bumper will really help if you ever have to pull, winch, or jack up an end of the vehicle. Trust me, lifting the front with a Hi Lift, without a good bumper, is a little iffy. I did it this last trip, but don't really want to do it again.



For tires, you can do fine with A/Ts, but look for something with more than 2 ply sidewall. I've blown sidewalls last two times out with 2 ply A/Ts. First was with 33x10.5 BFG TA/KOs (I really liked the 33x10.5's, btw), and last was a brand new Firestone Desitnation A/T. I was impressed with the traction of the Destination A/Ts but I'm planning to (try to) keep them off the trails from now on...

 

AT tires will do fine, but I'd lean to the more off-road oriented AT's rather than Duelers or Geolanders. BFG AT's are good. I'm not sure MT's are a huge advantage around here, the most important is getting something that will stick to rocks and tree roots good. MT's are nice when things get a little slimey, but I don't think they grip wet rocks and trees any better than AT's. That is until a lug catches.

As far as toughness, as long as you're running radials, you have to be careful of tire placement. John, that BFG you punctured was a 3 ply sidewall.

I don't think the grill guard portion of the bumper is required. Most wheeling bumpers stick out from the front of the truck enough to keep things away from the hood and lights without any additional protection. Make sure your bumper is designed to not hook on stuff. Hooking is bad, it leads to part laying on the trail, rather than being on the vehicle.

 

Well, I have a dent above my passenger blinker and Cory has part of a tree above his driver's blinker, both of which would have been avoided by having a custom bumper with a grille guard. Or by more careful driving. But you could just go without a bumper if you are that good....

I think my dent is from nudging a tree to see if it would move, before I got out to move it. And I didn't notice it until I washed the truck when I got home, or I woulda showed you guys.

 

Yeah, you can dent those areas easily with with a factory bumper. But most aftermarket bumpers stick out 3" or so and do a good job of keeping 99% of stuff away from the parking light/headlight area even without a brush guard. If you get a bumper that hugs the body lines real close, then yeah, a brush guard will help a lot. I have had a smittybilt front on two Runners ran them into a lot of stuff in order to come to that conclusion.

I had one of those cheesy bolt on brush guards on the 92 didn't like it since it really seemed to block a lot of the light from the headlights.

Hey, I'm running without a bumper, and I ain't that good

 

For anyone interested, there is a small group from Little Rock AR heading up to Disney for the St. Patties day weekend, Hogan said that the whole park was rented out. So we will see.

 

hmmmm that may not be a bad idea, except for where am i to park and camp?

 

Your running without a bumper is BECAUSE you ain't that good!


Or you could just mount a big in front and forget the bumper.

 

ok, ok, bumpers, I need bumpers! Tires, gas tank protection, bumpers, tiny bit of body lift maybe, sliders (so the kids can still get in), locker(s), lift maybe....

...and a Mountain Tandem (bike)!

Or apparently I could skip the front bumper and go with one of these numbers...


I need a job.

 

There's a big run at Disney on the 17th/18th. Lot of people are going to be there, but it's all FREE! Looks like there will be several people attempting to kill themselves... I want to go watch

 

That sounds like so much fun I really want to go I just don't know that I'll have the time.

 

Hans I'm all for it, but the question is, where to camp, and tow rig parking, etc.... It sounds like everything is going to be swamped... (i do wanna go though )

 

I'm sure there's somewhere around there to camp... if not we can just drag the trailers across the river and make our own camp. Or just do a day run. Or spend the night paddling your boat around Grand

 

Not a bad idea

 

Wheeling season is gearing up:

March 2-4: Superlift
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=557629

March 17-18: Disney
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=549153

March 23-25: D-day
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=555614

I need this weekend to recoup and redo my driveshaft. But I'll probably go to Disney and D-day if anyone wants to come.

Probably try for Superlift in April.