Should I really expect to hang with the big boys?
Hey guys. I've had my LR3 for almost a year now. I'm all stock except for my Hankook DynaPro ATM RF10 (P265/65R-18) tires. I was out exploring a nearby canyon that is very popular with local offroaders. I was reading a local 4x4 forum that lists the several trails in the canyon and their estimated difficulties. I looked at a trail that was rated a 4 and another that was rated a 5. I didn't think I would be able to do either of them. Here's a shot of the milder trail:
I guess it's kind of hard to determine the size of everything in the picture without a reference. But I didn't think I would be able to make it up this without dragging something, so I turned around. This is what the popular trails looked like in the canyon--just trails littered with boulders. A few Jeep Wranglers were waiting for me to get out of their way. Here's a close-up picture of the rock at the top of the previous picture:
Later, I went up to the more difficult trail, I met up with a group of Jeeps. There were all Jeep Wranglers except for one Jeep Cherokee. There were all lifted pretty high with a lot bigger tires than mine. I got out to talk to the last guy in their group, and he warned me that I wouldn't be able to follow them much longer. He told me that I'd be dragging my front. (I wasn't in off-road height at that point, though.) I aired down my tires to 30psi and went over some rocky parts and caught up with them a bit later at this point, where I turned around and went home (sorry, it's a bad picture):
There was also a four-door jeep and a FJ Cruiser with rock sliders (and pretty huge tires) finishing up the trail when I reached at this point.
So, I was a bit depressed after this trip. To be fair, I haven't done much real off-roading. I'm sure there is a ton I don't know, but I wasn't really feeling like I had a "real" off-roading rig... Maybe I don't know the capabilities of my truck, maybe I need some more upgrades, maybe the LR3 just isn't well-suited for this type of trail (but it's what pretty much everyone seems to do around here), maybe I shouldn't expect to keep up with Jeeps. On this trip I only managed to get embarrassed a couple of times, and get some rock-rash on my wheels.
P.S. Here is a GPS charting of my trip if anyone is interested: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=711615
Hey guys. I've had my LR3 for almost a year now. I'm all stock except for my Hankook DynaPro ATM RF10 (P265/65R-18) tires. I was out exploring a nearby canyon that is very popular with local offroaders. I was reading a local 4x4 forum that lists the several trails in the canyon and their estimated difficulties. I looked at a trail that was rated a 4 and another that was rated a 5. I didn't think I would be able to do either of them. Here's a shot of the milder trail:
I guess it's kind of hard to determine the size of everything in the picture without a reference. But I didn't think I would be able to make it up this without dragging something, so I turned around. This is what the popular trails looked like in the canyon--just trails littered with boulders. A few Jeep Wranglers were waiting for me to get out of their way. Here's a close-up picture of the rock at the top of the previous picture:
Later, I went up to the more difficult trail, I met up with a group of Jeeps. There were all Jeep Wranglers except for one Jeep Cherokee. There were all lifted pretty high with a lot bigger tires than mine. I got out to talk to the last guy in their group, and he warned me that I wouldn't be able to follow them much longer. He told me that I'd be dragging my front. (I wasn't in off-road height at that point, though.) I aired down my tires to 30psi and went over some rocky parts and caught up with them a bit later at this point, where I turned around and went home (sorry, it's a bad picture):
There was also a four-door jeep and a FJ Cruiser with rock sliders (and pretty huge tires) finishing up the trail when I reached at this point.
So, I was a bit depressed after this trip. To be fair, I haven't done much real off-roading. I'm sure there is a ton I don't know, but I wasn't really feeling like I had a "real" off-roading rig... Maybe I don't know the capabilities of my truck, maybe I need some more upgrades, maybe the LR3 just isn't well-suited for this type of trail (but it's what pretty much everyone seems to do around here), maybe I shouldn't expect to keep up with Jeeps. On this trip I only managed to get embarrassed a couple of times, and get some rock-rash on my wheels.
P.S. Here is a GPS charting of my trip if anyone is interested: http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=711615
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