What Do You Look For In An Off-Road Vehicle?

[us920669]

I still love my '88 Trooper - still under 100k and does nothing but run - and it's got the usual features:  good clearance, 4X with transfer and pretty rugged underneath.  Of course, needs are unique.  I drive fire roads and "vehicle paths" I put in myself without much effort, no mature trees removed, but sometimes they're a little tight.  I like the fairly narrow track and front corners I can see easily.  Something else I never hear mentioned, the square windshield means there is no dashboard to reflect dappled sunlight, which can be very confusing.

[Silvertp]

4 wheel drives are great.  Key to keeping them moving is: Clearance, low gears (means a transfer case w/low range, and traction.  Most off the showroom floor 4 x 4's really are reduced to 2 wheel drive in nasty conditions.  Lockers front and rear are important in most extreme conditions along with a good off-road suspension that will keep the tires planted to the ground.

From what you are saying your Trooper is still taking care of you.  If you ever decide you need a new 4 x 4 the Jeep Rubicon would be hard to beat for narrow trails and most any 4 x 4 situations.

My "Honey" is a 1963 LandCruiser with a lift, 4-speed, and lockers front and rear. 

Silvertp

Silvertp

[Empty Quiver]

At this juncture in my life offroad typically means lake driving.


 The truck needs clearance for deep snows. It needs to be light and offer good floation tires, suited to deep snow and glare ice too. I need to be able to pull a 4 place snowmobile trailer, and carry three or four guys and the gear needed for fishing or hunting for several days.


I have a '00 Expedition, it's pretty good for my needs. Could use more clearance, but to be honest we carry snow machines for the far reaches.


Were I to dedicate something it would likely be a Jeep Wrangler with a set of tracks.

[tdoor]

96 Ford 3/4 ton 4x4 power stroke std cab long box  enough said

[Lloyd Smale]

I have a full sized chev truck and have to argue with you about it. One of the first times i had it in the woods after i bought it new i caved the box side in trying to snake around some trees. It was the first long box truck ive owned as i used to buy only short box trucks and its a heck of alot less manuverable in the tight woods. I went home that night and told the wife i need to get a jeep for the woods and for hunting and bought one a week later. the little jeep although underpowered will go places that a truck wouldnt dream of going. It will turn in half the distance and probably due to its short wheelbase and light weight will go through mud and snow much better then the truck too. Know this is even with the jeep having goodrich all terrains and the truck is fitted with bigger goodrich mud terrains. No doubt the truck is more versitile for an everyday unit but there far from a good pure off road vehicle.

96 Ford 3/4 ton 4x4 power stroke std cab long box  enough said

[Hooker]

For real off road driving my Suzuki Samurai will go any where the fullsize rigs can't go and almost any place a 4 wheeler can go.
It's cheap, tough, economical, easy to work on and can be upgraded for very little money.

Pat

[Ron 1]

 a jeep
 i hate to say it but the lil suzuki side kick or sameri are about as good as a over sized quad and will go anywhere with a good tire. the bad is there is about the same amount of room. so  back to the jeep cheroke with lockers and 33" tires. oh and a good winch helps alot..
   rw

[Bugflipper]

I just look for something that will get me back home. I like scouts, nice turning radius, small wheelbase, great gearing, fully boxed frame. Built by a tractor company as their idea of what would make a good off road vehicle. Seems like they got it right. They are like mountain goats, just put it in low and it doesn't seem like anything can keep it from climbing. Can be a truck, suv or open top vehicle. The first pic is how it was stock. The only add on was the roll bar.
Today it's a little stronger than it was back then, but still is just as easy to drive on the road and off. It will pull the tractor out when it gets mired up, gets me to the hunting spot, through the swamp out trapping and through the mountain trails for fun. That;s what I need in an off road vehicle, dependability. That's what purpose this rig was built for and it is my daily driver as well.

[Lloyd Smale]

those old IHs were about bulletproff offroaders. One of the oldtimers at our camp used to buy a new one every other year and ive drove them enough to know there about as unstoppable as a tank. Only thing is they rusted in about 2 years. Youve got to have one of the only ones ive seen in 10 years. Most of them are rusted in the junkyard. cool truck though!!

I just look for something that will get me back home. I like scouts, nice turning radius, small wheelbase, great gearing, fully boxed frame. Built by a tractor company as their idea of what would make a good off road vehicle. Seems like they got it right. They are like mountain goats, just put it in low and it doesn't seem like anything can keep it from climbing. Can be a truck, suv or open top vehicle. The first pic is how it was stock. The only add on was the roll bar.
Today it's a little stronger than it was back then, but still is just as easy to drive on the road and off. It will pull the tractor out when it gets mired up, gets me to the hunting spot, through the swamp out trapping and through the mountain trails for fun. That;s what I need in an off road vehicle, dependability. That's what purpose this rig was built for and it is my daily driver as well.

[Empty Quiver]

those old IHs were about bulletproff offroaders. One of the oldtimers at our camp used to buy a new one every other year and ive drove them enough to know there about as unstoppable as a tank. Only thing is they rusted in about 2 years. Youve got to have one of the only ones ive seen in 10 years. Most of them are rusted in the junkyard. cool truck though!!

I just look for something that will get me back home. I like scouts, nice turning radius, small wheelbase, great gearing, fully boxed frame. Built by a tractor company as their idea of what would make a good off road vehicle. Seems like they got it right. They are like mountain goats, just put it in low and it doesn't seem like anything can keep it from climbing. Can be a truck, suv or open top vehicle. The first pic is how it was stock. The only add on was the roll bar.
Today it's a little stronger than it was back then, but still is just as easy to drive on the road and off. It will pull the tractor out when it gets mired up, gets me to the hunting spot, through the swamp out trapping and through the mountain trails for fun. That;s what I need in an off road vehicle, dependability. That's what purpose this rig was built for and it is my daily driver as well.

My first 4X4 was a IH Scout II, it was most useful for *issing off "Jeepers"  as it would handley pull them out of sticky situations they found themselves in. It was rusty to a fault, I'm talking even the fuel filler neck rusted off.   That old pile was even limited by a one speed transfer case.  The naysayers could only shake their heads as I followed along in the old Binder.

[pastorp]

Guys,

I have owned 2 IH scouts And one pick-up. I believe IH should stick to building tractors, There not very good at vehicles. I'll take a jeep anyday.

 

Regards,

[SHOOTALL]

F-250 4X4 crew cab or ext cab 8 ft bed. gas engine is fine ( I have owned and driven 4 diesels) . I find this great when crossing creeks and such. Good on beach and in snow. I have had a S-10 and a K-5 Blazer and a Ford Bronco. The short stuff dosen't intrest me . The big stuff offers protection on the road when other drivers get crazy. When the path narrows I get on the Artic Cat and its better than any thing else I have tried .

[rdmallory]

99 Ford 3/4 ton 4x4 power stroke club cab
2004 Wrangler " Willy's Edition"
Wife drives a 2006 H3 Hummer wanna be


1966 Sunbeam Tiger Garage Queen.

[NYH1]

What Do You Look For In An Off-Road Vehicle?

 
I need a 4x4 truck to drive mainly in the snow, we average 120 inches of snow a year and just 30/40 miles to the north on the Tug Hill Plateau where I hunt and ride, they get double and even triple that.  We get snow by "the feet" a few times a year with a lot of smaller lake effect snow storms.  I also need it to get into and out of the areas where we hunt, which is mainly seasonal roads from hard pack dirt, loose dirt, loose sand, rocky, bumpy, muddy, hilly, water wash out holes, snow and some logging road that my truck will fit on.  I have a nice truck, it's not a beater so I don't bounce it off trees and things.  I also tow our four place ATV trailer and sometimes a 29 ft. 6500 lbs. camper trailer. 
 
I have a 2007 Dodge Ram 1500, Quad Cab SLT, 4x4.  It has the Hemi, 5 speed auto trans., 3.92 gears with a limited slip rear end, heavy duty tow package (HD engine, trans. and power steering coolers, HD charging system),  basically loaded.  I leased it for the first two years, I liked it so much that I bought it when the lease was up.  Plus the buy out price was better then any other "comparable equipped trucks" at the time by $4000 to $6000.  I have 33,000 miles on it and it has been 100% rock solid.
 
It came with 275/60-20 Goodyear Wrangler HP tires which were 33 inches tall and were the worse tires I've ever had.  So I bought a set of 17x8 factory aluminum wheels and put 265/70-17 Mastercraft Courser A/T 2 tires on it.  What a difference, the new tires work really well for my needs.  I like to stick with one of the four factory size tires, or as close to one of them as possible so I can have the speedometer set for that size tire.  The four factory tire sizes are 245/70-17 (30.4"), 265/70-17 (31.6"), 275/70-17 (32.2") and 275/60-20 (33").  I'm going to put new tires on it before next fall/hunting season.  I might get the same tires I have on it now.  Or get Mastercraft Courser C/T tires.  I might go with 285/70-17 (32.8") and put either a 2 inch front leveling kit or a 2 inch lift kit (just spacers, easy to do).  I'll only gain just over a half inch of ground clearance with the 285/70-17 tires over my current size tires.  Might not be worth the extra money.
 
Those are my needs, NYH1!