Well, unfortunately I don't have any pics or video from this trip, because it was raining the entire time we were out. It was the muddiest trip I've been on in a long time, and we had only one mishap.

We got on this trail that had a ton of mud holes, none of which I really enjoyed at all. I hate mud really, but the trails were pretty nice other than that. But, we came up on one that was about 50 ft long and looked to be pretty deep, but when we measured it, it didn't seem all that bad.

So, we started in, and it kept getting deeper and deeper, and then the front right side started going over the tire and into the bottom of the fender flare, so I backed up knowing that there was a deep rut there. So I turned up to the left a tad, which got the front end out of the rut, but the back end didn't quite make it. As a result, the water was up to the top of the rear fender, the muffler was gone, and water was in the entire right side of the 4runner!

Then, I tried backing up with no success. I thought we were screwed, but I put it in reverse, and started slamming the brakes with my left foot while giving it gas, and luckily we slowly started moving out of the mud hole. I couldn't beleive it!

I just have to say that so far, in the mud, rain, clay, slick rocks, etc. the Bridgestone Deuler AT Revos are really good tires. I'm going to step out on a limb and say that so far a mudder or rock tire wouldn't have been able to go anywhere I wasn't able to go yet. I'm very impressed so far!

Needless to say, I've got some serious cleanup of the 4runner tomorrow. My buddy's feet were soaked, and it stinks like swamp crap. Other than that, we had a blast! I just wish I had some pictures and videos of us in the hole.

Chris

 

wow, sounds like my last trip haha! Except I was in a creek. Anyways, looks like you had fun!! Tooooooo bad no pics or vids.

But can I ask you why you slammed on the brakes and gave it gas? What did that do?

 

Yup! When you have an open differential like I have in the front axle, the wheel with the least resistance is going to get more of the power, resulting in nothing but a spinning wheel in the mud. Today, while buried in the water and mud, my driver's side front wheel was stufffed pretty well in the fender, while by passenger side front tire was in a deep rut partially. This resulted in just that tire spinning a bunch with now help to move rearward. So, to answer your question, when you hit the brakes multiple times, like pumping them, but really hard, it will help to transfer the power from the spinning wheel to the non-moving useless wheel, which is what go me out today.

If I was locked up front too, like the rear, I wouldn't have to pump the brakes.

Chris

 

Here's a great pic to show the water line height on the front passenger door. Unfortunately, there wasn't a distinct water line on the rear quarter panel, because once it dropped in the rut, it was probably a foot deeper.



Chris