Rock Crawling Ranger

[charwest]

Would you recommend staying away from trails like this without a skid plate? I want to go towards Sedona in a month but reading this thread made me a little more nervous since I have a basic lariat with no fx4 just 4x4. Really new to off roading beyond washboard and some minor rocks, nothing crazy.

i'll chime in. we have been offroading and crawling around in a stock truck. the skid plates get a lot of action. but only when we are really offroading, not dirt-roading. now granted its hard to know whether we would really be taking transmission/whatever strikes (the skid plate does lose you some clearance in those areas), but for the price i cant imagine anyone offroading begrudging the purchase. i have heard the stock plates are pretty reasonably priced from the dealer. or you could buy some fancy heavier aftermarket thing im sure.

Thank you so much for all this information and tips!! It is very helpful. I ended up pulling the trigger on some bilstein 1500's and the skid plate, and the transfer case skid plate since I didn't want to risk hurting the baby. Just need to figure out what tires exactly with the 1500's, it's a lot of new information and I definitely need to research more. Is there a tire you recommend? A lot of people mention k02's. But, I really appreciate the very helpful response already. Thank you.

we chose the goodyear wrangler duratrac and have been really happy. there is one or two long threads on it ive posted to. its expensive, but we feel gives us the best balance of offroad-capable/road-friendly tires otherwise. im not a tire evangelist, but since it wasnt on the list posted previously i thought i would chime in.

Wow, very good video. I can see where a skid plate would be very helpful. Although, that trail specifically seems very daunting to a newbie at off roading. I am not sure if I would choose too many stupid lines, perhaps I need to watch more off roading videos to learn more. Thank you for the tire suggestion, I will take a peek at it.

well, my wife and i (newbies ourselves) did that trail. and it was totally doable, if you can tolerate some clanging as the frame/plates take some hits. there was no damage of concern. but it was spicy on that drop and maybe we just got lucky. we were told repeatedly out there by other trucks and jeeps "you wont make it" but we made it. fwiw.

and after that trail and many subsequent others, i feel that one of the reasons that my wife and i can safely grapple with some trickier trails on our own despite our inexperience is that when it gets tricky you can just get out of the car and have a spotter. if the spotter can pick a line and communicate, the driver in a stock ranger can manage all kinds of stuff easily that a lifted jeep on 37s would just drive over without the same kind of attention.

and what makes the ranger so good for that kind of driving is the incredible 4-lo and low range torque, so that if i tell my wife to drive one inch forward, one inch back, turn left, two inches forward, three inches back, on a stiff incline with one wheel in the air and whatever, the ranger just DOES IT. the power in the low range makes it all so controlled and straightforward and gives us the confidence to poke our noses into the unknown.

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[dondonbabyraptor]

i'll chime in. we have been offroading and crawling around in a stock truck. the skid plates get a lot of action. but only when we are really offroading, not dirt-roading. now granted its hard to know whether we would really be taking transmission/whatever strikes (the skid plate does lose you some clearance in those areas), but for the price i cant imagine anyone offroading begrudging the purchase. i have heard the stock plates are pretty reasonably priced from the dealer. or you could buy some fancy heavier aftermarket thing im sure.



we chose the goodyear wrangler duratrac and have been really happy. there is one or two long threads on it ive posted to. its expensive, but we feel gives us the best balance of offroad-capable/road-friendly tires otherwise. im not a tire evangelist, but since it wasnt on the list posted previously i thought i would chime in.



well, my wife and i (newbies ourselves) did that trail. and it was totally doable, if you can tolerate some clanging as the frame/plates take some hits. there was no damage of concern. but it was spicy on that drop and maybe we just got lucky. we were told repeatedly out there by other trucks and jeeps "you wont make it" but we made it. fwiw.

and after that trail and many subsequent others, i feel that one of the reasons that my wife and i can safely grapple with some trickier trails on our own despite our inexperience is that when it gets tricky you can just get out of the car and have a spotter. if the spotter can pick a line and communicate, the driver in a stock ranger can manage all kinds of stuff easily that a lifted jeep on 37s would just drive over without the same kind of attention.

and what makes the ranger so good for that kind of driving is the incredible 4-lo and low range torque, so that if i tell my wife to drive one inch forward, one inch back, turn left, two inches forward, three inches back, on a stiff incline with one wheel in the air and whatever, the ranger just DOES IT. the power in the low range makes it all so controlled and straightforward and gives us the confidence to poke our noses into the unknown.

Very detailed and appreciate the comments. I will have to look into those tires and you gave me a little more confidence in the trail. of course jeep purists can't believe the ability of other cars ahaha. the whole one tire in the air still frightens me a bit haha. I do truly believe the in the ranger's ability, just not mine