Hi -
I'm an Off-Road newbie with a 1989 4cyl Toyota PickUp, 5spd, 4wd, stock, old shocks, BFG All-Terrain KOs. Runs great (hey, it's a Toyota!)

It's the support vehicle for a Moab, UT mountain bike trip, so it will drive the White Rim Trail. It's arid prairie and desert - fairly sandy, some rock. No mud or trees.

I'd like to be a responsible off-road driver and wanted to ask for suggestions and advice.

What should I do to prep it for this kind of 4WD adventure? What should I check?

What spare parts and tools would you recommend?

I've got a Hi-Lift jack. Where do I attach the lift point on the stock vehicle. Suggestions?

Do I lower the tire pressures? To what?

Any recommended Off-road / 4wd primers? I saw this - http://4x4now.com/4wht.htm - from another post which looks helpful.

Thanks in advance,
Boulder G
Boulder G 2003 - at - yahoo dot com (remove spaces,etc)

 

Here is a good collection of introductory articles:
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/index.shtml#Introduction

 

Lets move this to the off road section, I think it'll get better exposure here.

 

Nice link 4crawler

 

well i dont know what kinda things you need to be stocked up on being a "support vehicle" but the website noted above is very usefull for 4wheeling.

Living in Utah, i have the privilage of going to moab at least twice a year.
The White Rim Trail isnt the trickiest of trails, but it is do able in a stock vehicle. i hope you arent a newbie to the whold 4wheeling world, but maybe a newbie to the toyota world. from what i gather you are a newbie period.
there are a couple of spots on that trail that require at least some kinda basic knowledge of how to drive a 4x4, but i think you will be alright. i hope you like heights! this is a long trail too by the way. about a 100 miles or so i think.

 

Hi,
ALL your questions can be answered with a few searches that will provide plenty of information to each one.

check out this link for ideas of what to bring....
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f123/please-add-my-pre-roadtrip-list-95509/

Based on what you've said, tire pressure should be anywhere from 12-20psi depending on the difficulty of terrian, what type of tires you have, and driver skill. Lowering pressure just a little will help a lot.

 

Thanks all for the the responses. The links were excellent.
Rocket, you're correct - some more searching would have had great results.

Did some practice off-roading today with a skilled friend coaching. As we exited the trail, we pulled over to unlock the hubs. Lining up for the trail were a half-dozen seriously prepared Jeeps - exo cages, central airdown, custom bumpers, etc.

Made me feel great about my stock Toyota! We even forgot to air down the tires and the truck worked great!

 

The first rule is NEVER WHEEL ALONE. The second rule is NEVER WHEEL ALONE.

The White Rime trail is 120 miles of VERY remote terrain. If something were to happen, it could get VERY ugly before help would get to you.

The best way to learn to 'wheel is to hook up with some folks and actually do it! On here, Rocket, Ric, Flygtenstein, AxleIke, Lysmachia, and myself are all near you and wheel pretty frequently. Also, check out www.cottora.org - they wheel ALL the time (something happening pretty much every weekend).

 

Yup I second what TC says.... I too am in Boulder, so email me if ya want to go out :-) Are you heading out as support for 24 hours of Moab? That is next week and If i remember correctly NOT on the white rim trail but rather in the "behind the rocks area" I actually had to drive through all the cyclists 2 years ago when comming of pritchett.

TC and I are heading to Moab as of Monday so if you are gonna be out there next week let us know because there are going to be 30 Toyota's for the Moab TTORA Takeover...

Welcome to the wonderful world of wheeling where you will break and you will go broke (both of which i currently happen to be ) But I wouldn;t trade it for the world!

 

1: stay on the trail.

2: go fast enough to make the obstable, but not faster. (momentum is your friend until you have too much.
3: when things start hopping up and down, stop. A good rule is that things break on the 3rd hop.
4: try to put tires on top of rocks rather than straddle them. the idea is to keep the bodywork off the rocks.

5: White rock rim trail is easily do-able in your truck, but the bikes might make better time than you do.

6: Drive Rasta. Be smooooooth on the trail. don't worry about anything.

7: do not jump out of truck until the engine stops and you can leave it in gear and the brake on. think about which way it is going to go if it decides to take off and leave the wheels turned accorindingly. I've seen more than 1 unmanned truck roll off on it's own on the trail.

8: bring extra water and you will probably just make it on fuel. I'd bring and extra 5 gallons of gas just so you don't have to sweat it.

 

Hey, I'm from boulder too!

I ran support for white rim bike trip last year in a rental jeep. If your tires are in good shape, thats all you'll need. You wont need to bother with tire pressures, but definitely bring a spare tire. Its really a pretty easy drive (most of it is sandy road, no biggie) There are only a few sections where you will need to put it in 4wd.

Other than that, just make sure you're up on all your maintenance, check fluid levels and go for it.

 

BoulderG,
heres a rule that I learned long time ago....
"Plan for the worst, if it happens, then your ready for it". if it doesnt all the better.
if your wanting to go wheeling sometime, keep an eye in the trip planning.

 

Momentum is seldom your friend when you're wheeling in the rocks (maybe in mud).
SLOW, did I say SLOW, is the only way (the vast majority of time) to wheel rocks in a properly setup vehicle.





Fred

 

Not if you're open/open - but maybe that's what you meant by "properly setup vehicle".

If you've got open diffs, momentum/skinny pedal is about the only tool you have at your disposal. And yes, that often increases the chances of vehicle damage.

 

That combo, especially with a manual tranny, is a receipt for disaster....

I wouldn't even use open/open, rocks, in the same sentence, paragraph, thought, etc.

Almost any time that the use of the skinny pedal has to be used with big rocks something isn't going to come of it that's any good.

There is a DIRECT link between the skinny pedal and the wallet....





Fred