Go for it??

[Shark_LR3]

We were up a mountain on a logging road and about 1km from the top. An excavator had taken out three culverts (to replace i guess). The first two holes, soft dirt we got through with just touching the front skid plate. no biggie.

this one I was concerned for the tires. copper discoverer HT plus. sharp rock edges etc, plus some gaps in the rock base. late in the day, so we turned around.

should I have gone for it?

Oh Man!!

 

[roverman]

Heck, I coulda gone for that on a 10 speed bike. If you were concerned about the sidewalls you could have had your little spotter in that second picture tell you if you there were any sharp edges aimed at your sidewalls as you went through.

 

[Houm_WA]

Pictures never do an obstacle justice...but it looked quite doable. Airing down would help with the tires ability to withstand the rocks, too.

 

[Shark_LR3]

I never thought to use spotters for tires - that's a good idea.

No depth in the pix so it's a bit deeper than it looks. gaps in the rocks are pretty big. Now we could have filled them in with extra rocks with about 10 min work.

Had a full crew there - 3 sons, 1 daughter and the LR3 owner (my wife!). Oldest son was worrying - um freakin' about it. I just wasn't sure how tough the tires are even in the tread area. But now that I check it out again they are rated for off-road use.

Side note: wife was dead against getting the LR in the first place. Not to be swayed, I pressed ahead and picked one up despite the protests. Few months later wanted to head up trails, she said "no way we are going to do that with MY truck". Now she's got into geocaching and it's like " I want bigger wheels and tires"

Master plan worked!

 

[roverman]

LOL, chalk one up for the fellas, nice work!
Airing down might help the tread handle rocks better, but it also puts the sidewalls closer to action, doesn't it Houm? Guess it depends on the situation.

 

[Houm_WA]

Well I don't really know the concensus on this but it seems to me that having less air in the tire would make it more pliable. Think of a balloon. A really full balloon is much more susceptible to popping when it comes into contact with a sharp object than one that is less full of air.

Shark...I know what you mean about how the offroading bug can bite a person. I knew I'd take the LR3 out and that's why I bought it....but it has become my 2nd biggest hobby (college football is #1) to the point that I've bought skid plates, bigger tires, 18" rims, armor for my running boards...and every year I will add something. Next year will probably be the 2" lift talked about on here.

It's addictive.

 

[roverman]

Houm,
I'm not sure where the trade is on this, maybe others can chime in. I think it's true what you say about the balloon popping example, but it also makes the sidewalls more vulnerable. This is a real good read about airing down, and other things like chains. Interesting read for anyone interested anyway, page 24. http://books.google.com/books?id=X9...=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPA24,M1

 

[nwoods]

Definitely go through. Go slow, and you would not even know there was a dip in the road

 

[drzjoint]

same for me with the wife but I have to put magnetic body armor on the lr to keep her quiet
I would have tried it.

 

[Shark_LR3]

there was another truck went up the same road today to get the "antler cache" and they didn't attempt the first two gullies - got out and walked it.

this aft we went to different area of our lake today, crawled up a washed out road to a plateau, that was fun.

will go back this week again, probably give it a go.

oc-rovers looks like they are doing alright.