Need some "X" Off Road stories - Diesel Forum

kendall69 · 03-21-2001, 11:01 PM

Ok, I've read enough about oil, cackle, and tires....lets hear some off road stories. You know, how you went through 4 feet of snow, or 3 feet of water. Cmon guys/gals lets hear it.
As for me ... I pulled out a loaded 26ft box van that was buried up to both axel's in the desert sand. After the second try a 4x4 utility truck said let us try, you wont get it out with that truck, just then my rig pulled the truck sideways and out.
Power to spare. Utilty guys said, WOW.

Now it's your turn

erlong · 03-22-2001, 01:01 AM

This is a pretty lame "off road" story but it was fun while it lasted. I was helping a friend move and had a loaded double-axle trailer, don't know what the weight was, at least 4k. Anyway, I had to get the trailer around the back of his house which only had a narrow path plowed to it down the driveway that wrapped around the house. There was no way I was backing down so I was instructed to pull down forward and use as much of the yard as possible to turn around.

The snow was to my knees and easily at the axles on X and the trailer was acting like a plow. The X didn't break a sweat, it just plowed through everything and easily maneuvered through the yard with the trailer attached. I was quite pleased.

This thing handles the heavy snowfall quite well. I love when the streets aren't plowed. But, I'm getting a litle tired of the snow...bring on the warm weather!

bjornar · 03-22-2001, 02:42 AM

A couple of guys from the logistics dept at a nearby ship outfitting business had brought out their 6-ton forklift to move some stuff. Needless to say, even with two of the double front wheels were chained, the forklift sat down into the one-foot hard-packed snow in the yard. They didn't make matters better with getting out the two-ton without chains to try to pull him out.
I had just sent off a vessel from their pier and drove up to them, chained up the small forklift first and dragged him fishtailing around the warehouse and up on the front side, at least 500 feet steeply uphill. By then, 20-30 of the guys inside had come out to see the event.
I was a little hesitant in hooking up the 6-ton, since pulling the small one was kind of entertaining at times, and they only had a chain, no strap to pull the thing. I didn't want to risk my 6-ton strap, since I knew they probably wouldn't reimburse me any if it broke... The operator basically told me to forget it when I got down to him again.
Gave the thing a couple of teeth-shattering yanks to get him moving (4 lo) and then throttled him calmly around the building and up the same way as the small forklift. The crowd was actually cheering!
When we got up the operator came to thank me, took two steps back and eyed the rig, and said "I'm impressed!".
So was I...

**Beast** · 03-22-2001, 07:48 AM

I have taken my X to a local off-road location a number of times. Its great getting those "what you are doing with that back here". Most think I am crazy taking an expensive vehicle like this off road. But, I just tell them its a truck and its what I bought it for, along with hauling the family.

Anyway, it does suprising well. Mine is all stock and it does very well. The torque of the PSD is great for climbing. I would like to have a little more clearance, which I hope to get someday.

Nothing like going through narrow trails with the pine trees scrapping the sides. Once you except it will probably get scratched and gives you so much more freedom. The only thind I have broken is the mount for the trailer lights. I sheared off the bolt. It sticks out from the hitch a little and catches the ground first on the rear angle of attack. So, its gone now and I have the connector duct taped to the hitch. Someday I will relocate. For those of you that plan on paying like me, I sugest you moce it first before you break the bolt. I now have to figure a way to get it out someday.

**Beast** · 03-22-2001, 07:51 AM

Man after posting the last message, I guess I have to go back to english class. Oh well, I am an engineer and spelling/grammer has never been my strong point.

xr7gt · 03-22-2001, 03:23 PM

In April last year,after an early thaw, I had a tree service come out to chip some pine branches on our property. He proceeded to get his IVECO diesel stake truck with chipper attached placed up to hubs in grass and soft soil underneath. After his buddy with an old Chev P/U could'nt get him out I pulled him out with Ex. up a slight incline.

Last Thanksgiving we had 18 inches of snow. We went to a tree farm to cut an x-mas tree. The Ex. let us venture off plowed trail and up some hills to get to areas not readily accessible. We started something because a 2500 Suburban followed my trail.

We frequent ORV trails in the Black Lake recreation area. I get the same kind of looks, especially from small 4 wheelers coming up hills from the opposite direction. This is where I really noticed front end bottoming out. After hitting one large depression and bottoming out my wife wasn't too happy. The impact actually hurt her so she needed motrin when we got home. The kids were having fun though. Good reason for suspension mods.

H ED S · 03-22-2001, 03:43 PM

Hey Beast you had rather get it thought out and right rather than look or sound good [img]images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

I thought that was funny and I miss the spell check [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img] . Maybe itwont be gone much longer!!

PeterT · 03-22-2001, 04:36 PM

This is in a little bit of a different vein, but a couple of weeks ago I went on the pre-run for an upcoming off-road race in the Pahrump, Nevada area. I met a guy who is prepping an Excursion with a Power Stroke for racing in the stock SUV class. There is an F-250 that runs very well in the stock truck class with a V-10. This will be the first racing Power Stroke that I am aware of.

Peter Treydte
Director of Technical Communications
Banks Power

kflaig · 03-22-2001, 09:58 PM

I've put a few hundred miles on my X running around on BLM dirt roads in the Las Vegas area. Most of these roads are relatively smooth and have always been dry.

The big pig handles these pretty well at 40-70mph, as long there are no big holes. It would be nice to have more suspension travel to handle holes better.

Put into low range 4x4 it can go up things that I would have been afraid to try in my old Expedition. But I'll be the first to admit I'm a wuss when things get steep.

I even have a video of it getting 2+ feet of air at 70mph. It was very stable on landing even though the front end hit hard.

The front end seems pretty tough. I was dumb enough to whack the sidewall of the RF wheel into an 18” square rock at about 25mph last weekend. It hit hard enough and made enough noise to make me initially thing of how I wished I wasn’t so far from home. I went back to the rock later and saw that it had been moved about a 1”. And, that rock was down in the dirt some. My steering wheel was pointing in the wrong direction after that but it drove fine. An alignment put things back to normal.

The BFG tire also surprised me with its toughness. No rim dings tell me that the tire took all the hit. I know that I hit the rock with mostly the sidewall but all I saw was about a 1” cut through the first layer of rubber on the sidewall. Good job BFG!

Put into low range 4x4 it can go up things that I would have been afraid to try in my old Expedition. But I'll be the first to admit I'm a wuss when things get steep.

I even have a video of it getting 2+ feet of air at 70mph. It was very stable on landing even though the front end hit hard.

POLR BR · 03-26-2001, 01:35 AM

We just had a major nor'easter that lasted 2 1/2 days. Just north of Bethel we had 30"+ of heavy wet snow. The power was out even at the ski resorts and mills. The paper company decided not to plough the road where my camp is located -- there is no point because the snow is so deep in the woods they can't cut and get the logs out. The X ploughed its way in, literally. Snow was up over the bumper. I lost the lens off my PIAA lights going in. The next morning, after the storm ended, I got stuck twice, but at least I didn't go off the road. I was able to dig my way out.

On the way out, I saw the top of an oak tree that had snapped on the edge of the road. I knew that if I stopped to move it I was really going to get stuck as it was located at the base of a sharp incline. I didn't see part of a branch sticking out into the road under the snow. I heard a big snap and then a crunch as I went by, but I kept on going. I was going to be da*ned if I was going to walk several miles in 3' of snow.

When I finally got to a ploughed road, I got out and removed the 2" diameter branch sticking out the rear wheel well of the truck. The mud flap was broken and the cladding is banged up. I walked around front, and sticking out the front of the radiator was a 1" branch that had managed to spear its way past the brush guard, break the grill and penetrate the coolant radiator. grrr [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] Amazingly, the point of the stick did not break the coolant lines, it jammed right between them without bending them. Lots of flattened fins and a hole but no leak.

The X is wifeys. If she finds out about the grille and radiator, its summary execution. Even my 11 y.o. has figured that out. Normally he is a tattletale that tells all but this time not a peep. Will be ordering a grill and mud flaps ASAP and will pray that no green shows up underneath. My X days are over. Loved it while it lasted.