Where will a bone stock FX4 Ranger go?

[AzScorpion]

You guys are great!

But I just can’t see taking a brand new truck and doing what you guys are doing to it. I mean if was a very wealthy, sure no problem. But for my everyday vehicle that I am still paying on, no way.

I do a lot of motorcycle track days/ amateur racing and I run across folks who have brand new financed motorcycles out on the race track all the time and just scratch my head.

As long as you're careful and don't try and go over your head you'll be fine. If possible I try and watch some Youtube videos of trails I'm going to hit. Besides I didn't buy it to be a mall crawler. ?


I can go from this:

To this:

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[mapco]

Death Valley NP, CA:
Lippincott Road (easy, with a short technical rock crawling section. no skid hits)

Sedona, AZ:
broken arrow trail (handful of skid plate hits)
van deren cabin trail (no problem)

Colorado passes:
Imogene pass (maybe brushed the skid once or twice, straightforward)
Black Bear Pass (dicey. took a few heavy skid hits)
Ophir pass (cakewalk)

on none of these did we come even close to getting stuck (never used diff, didnt use traction control, wasn't spinning wheels, etc). wheelbase was not a problem. a little more clearance would have made broken arrow and black bear pass far more comfortable.

I drove up Imogene on the Telluride side with a stock Subaru Outback. Made it up to the huge gold mine but then we couldn't make it up a steep section so had to turn around

 

[Philb]

Did the first half of fins and things in Moab a couple weeks a go. Light scraping here and there and my exhaust tip is no longer round. I did use the locker. I can drive much more gently when I use it instead of having to come at things hard. I have 265/70 17 KO2's on. Will be putting new coil overs on soon.

 

[jerrywin]

I was able to make it through Medano pass out of the Great Sand Dunes in colorado.

 

[GTGallop]

I'm in a stock XLT 4x4. No Fx4 package. No locker. Just 4-Hi, 4 Lo and a good line. I've done some amazing things in mine.

I learned how to drive off road in 2wd vehicles and could often get them places where 4x4 drivers couldn't go. Not because of the vehicle but because of patience and understanding how the terrain unfolded under the truck and how the truck responds to that terrain.

So to answer your question..... A bone stock Fx4 Ranger in the hands of the right person can go a LOT of places. But a kitted out Jeep with all the bells and whistles in the hands of an idiot won't go nearly as many places as the Fx4 will.

The mind of the driver is the chief limiting factor limiting factor in how well your vehicle can perform off road. After the rubber between your ears, the rubber on your wheels is the next big factor. Nothing is accomplished without grip. You can easily upgrade your tires when the time comes to replace them. I'm almost scared to think of what the Ranger can do with just slightly larger tires and a significantly improved tread pattern.

 

[Gizmokid2005]

I'm in a stock XLT 4x4. No Fx4 package. No locker. Just 4-Hi, 4 Lo and a good line. I've done some amazing things in mine.

I learned how to drive off road in 2wd vehicles and could often get them places where 4x4 drivers couldn't go. Not because of the vehicle but because of patience and understanding how the terrain unfolded under the truck and how the truck responds to that terrain.

So to answer your question..... A bone stock Fx4 Ranger in the hands of the right person can go a LOT of places. But a kitted out Jeep with all the bells and whistles in the hands of an idiot won't go nearly as many places as the Fx4 will.

The mind of the driver is the chief limiting factor limiting factor in how well your vehicle can perform off road. After the rubber between your ears, the rubber on your wheels is the next big factor. Nothing is accomplished without grip. You can easily upgrade your tires when the time comes to replace them. I'm almost scared to think of what the Ranger can do with just slightly larger tires and a significantly improved tread pattern.

This I can confirm, going from the stock Duellers to 32" Wildpeaks was a night/day difference in everything. People tend to forget that rubber makes a huge difference with off-road performance.

 

[charwest]

I'm in a stock XLT 4x4. No Fx4 package. No locker. Just 4-Hi, 4 Lo and a good line. I've done some amazing things in mine.

I learned how to drive off road in 2wd vehicles and could often get them places where 4x4 drivers couldn't go. Not because of the vehicle but because of patience and understanding how the terrain unfolded under the truck and how the truck responds to that terrain.

So to answer your question..... A bone stock Fx4 Ranger in the hands of the right person can go a LOT of places. But a kitted out Jeep with all the bells and whistles in the hands of an idiot won't go nearly as many places as the Fx4 will.

The mind of the driver is the chief limiting factor limiting factor in how well your vehicle can perform off road. After the rubber between your ears, the rubber on your wheels is the next big factor. Nothing is accomplished without grip. You can easily upgrade your tires when the time comes to replace them. I'm almost scared to think of what the Ranger can do with just slightly larger tires and a significantly improved tread pattern.

this is exactly the upgrade we are looking for. where can i purchase the GTGallop module?

 

[dtech]

I drove up Imogene on the Telluride side with a stock Subaru Outback. Made it up to the huge gold mine but then we couldn't make it up a steep section so had to turn around

That's a nice drive up to Imogene Pass - fair amount of mines and equipment up there, Tomboy was once bigger than Telluride during the mining boon. A bit of historical info , might start a rush of people driving up there, but that's life in CO today. My son lives in Telluride so I get there several times a year.

https://welovetoexplore.com/the-tomboy-mine-ghost-town-in-colorado/

 

[GTGallop]

this is exactly the upgrade we are looking for. where can i purchase the GTGallop module?

It comes with a lot of defects and bad habits. You don't want the Gallop Upgrade. It's also the same upgrade that rolled an 84 Ranger one time. So Caveat Emptor.

I learned a lot from the guys I was hanging with, from an old forum for the Nissan Xterra called "Xterra Firma," and from Matt's Offroad Recovery on YouTube. Ronny Dahl too.

 

[txquailguy]

Here's one of the good comparison videos between the Ranger and TRD Pro....A MUST watch...lol

 

[RedlandRanger]

I think they're end results are always about the same. If you want a dedicated hardcore off-road truck, then get something like the Gladiator or Taco TRD Pro, but the Ranger holds it's own off-road and is much better on the road than either of those two. As with any decision you have to decide what you want to prioritize.

And yet, in the first video the Taco had to turn on its rear locker to get up the hill whereas the Ranger did not. I've always considered the TFL stuff more entertainment than actual unbiased reviews. They do have some good info in them, but they are mostly opinion and subjective data.

 

[charwest]

Oh agreed, for sure. I used to enjoy TFL more, but lately they've started to get a little repetitive and stuck in their ways. They're clearly biased and that gets on my nerves sometimes. The most cringey for me is when Tommy tries to reign his dad in and keep him on track. haha

My favorite discrepancy in their testing I like to bring up is when they immediately put it into 4L and lock all the diffs to go up a bumpy rocky road. And then praise the amazing abilities with all the fancy tech when in reality none of it is really needed for what they're doing. The videos I shared, and the comment you made, are good examples of that. Basically both trucks in each comparison did everything just fine, but clearly the one with more off-road tech is better no matter what to them.

Agree here too. My wife and I watched seemingly days worth of TFL videos when we were choosing which truck to buy. Their ‘tests’ are uniformly bogus, featuring single runs with no attempt at any degree scientific leveling of the field. I suspect this is partly because that would take more time, partly because they are not confident off-roaders, and partly bc they are borrowing trucks they are not allowed to beat up.

That first video was the only one where I had seen them do any leveling comparison, where they switched drivers for the track speed test. But the off-road comparison was pure BS- for too many reasons to count, and not helpful for viewers to make good decisions. And that is par for the TFL course.

 

[dtech]

clowns and embarrassed to say they reside in the same locale as I . They clearly are biased and reviews are more favorable to makers who provide them the most freebies. Haven't looked at their reviews in yrs but from what I recall few if any of their testing was instrumented or even standardized.

 

[txquailguy]

TFL has done a handful of good Ranger off-road videos.

From way back when at the beginning of 2019 sales:



Against the Gladiator:


I think they're end results are always about the same. If you want a dedicated hardcore off-road truck, then get something like the Gladiator or Taco TRD Pro, but the Ranger holds it's own off-road and is much better on the road than either of those two. As with any decision you have to decide what you want to prioritize.

IMO....if you spend a couple of grand...maybe 3k, you could build a Ranger that would blow the Gladiator and TRD Pro away both off road and obviously on the street. For the money there is no way you can beat our Rangers. If you gave me the difference between what my 2019 Lariat cost and the Rubicon Gladiator, I could create a RANGER BEAST that could keep up with anything off road!
Update: Think about that for a minute....what if you bought a Ranger and put 20K to 25K into that vehicle. Just imagine what you could end up with! That's a lot of bejamin's to buy aftermarket performance gear. It only cost me about 2K to get my Ranger smoking on the street. If I had another 18K to do the suspension, wheels/tires and lots of lighting and overland stuff. Heck I'd still have a ton left to get back on the engine and do a new intercooler and probably a bigger turbo. We are talking Ranger Beast Mode Sema Truck....lol. Well maybe we'll get more money from the government

 

[Shaun Harlan]

IMO....if you spend a couple of grand...maybe 3k, you could build a Ranger that would blow the Gladiator and TRD Pro away both off road and obviously on the street. For the money there is no way you can beat our Rangers. If you gave me the difference between what my 2019 Lariat cost and the Rubicon Gladiator, I could create a RANGER BEAST that could keep up with anything off road!
Update: Think about that for a minute....what if you bought a Ranger and put 20K to 25K into that vehicle. Just imagine what you could end up with! That's a lot of bejamin's to buy aftermarket performance gear. It only cost me about 2K to get my Ranger smoking on the street. If I had another 18K to do the suspension, wheels/tires and lots of lighting and overland stuff. Heck I'd still have a ton left to get back on the engine and do a new intercooler and probably a bigger turbo. We are talking Ranger Beast Mode Sema Truck....lol. Well maybe we'll get more money from the government

Lets put the same money in the other vehicles....and the ranger would be last place or close to it. I can tell you have never been in anything more capable than a ranger. The rubi gladiator and ZR2 will walk the ranger offroad stock for stock.....mod for mod. It wouldn't even be a competition. Ranger lacks several things but the two main things are suspension travel and mechanical grip via a front locker......those two things make a huge huge difference

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