Hey you serious off road guys...

[CG]

Are you crazy? I just watched a dvd I got with a Petersons 4 Wheel Drive Magazine. They take a select group of their readers on week long, on and off-road trek through several states. I guess they do it every year. They hit a bunch of off road parks with darn near impossible trails.

Anyway, I can see where it may be fun trying these crazy trails, but the constant breakage of parts on these rigs would make me not want to do it. You spend an awful lot of time just trying to get your trucks back together so you can limp home. Luckily with so many people participating and the big BF Goodrich support semi they were able to do most of the repairs they needed.

Now if a small group of weekender trucks went out you wouldn't have the luxury
of all that help...doesn't it get discouraging having to do all those repairs all the time?

[68K20 x Drill]

Just try to see every mangled part as a trophy.
Each breakdown is an excuse to find a better way.

Of course unless you have a ton of cash laying around, you will tend to chose survivable trails.

[vtblazer]

Originally Posted by CG

Are you crazy? I just watched a dvd I got with a Petersons 4 Wheel Drive Magazine. They take a select group of their readers on week long, on and off-road trek through several states. I guess they do it every year. They hit a bunch of off road parks with darn near impossible trails.

Anyway, I can see where it may be fun trying these crazy trails, but the constant breakage of parts on these rigs would make me not want to do it. You spend an awful lot of time just trying to get your trucks back together so you can limp home. Luckily with so many people participating and the big BF Goodrich support semi they were able to do most of the repairs they needed.

Now if a small group of weekender trucks went out you wouldn't have the luxury
of all that help...doesn't it get discouraging having to do all those repairs all the time?

Did ya notice the bright green Tracker in the vid?
Well, that's Jon from here in VT and yeah, that's who I wheel with.

Not really sure how to respond to the post, you seem to put a negative twist to it somehow, it's not that way at all.
It's a hobby and what hobby doesn't get expensive when you reach the extreme limit's of it?
Yes there's breakage but part of the process is building a truck so it won't break.
(that's the challenge anyway)

BFG does zero repairs for those guys, their on their own completely.
Sure if some parts need to be overnighted there's help but that's about it.
It's all about "can your truck do it"
Can it run the gnarly trails and still drive to the next one down the road.
That's why they call it the Ultimate Adventure.

[CG]

Originally Posted by vtblazer

Did ya notice the bright green Tracker in the vid?
Well, that's Jon from here in VT and yeah, that's who I wheel with.

Not really sure how to respond to the post, you seem to put a negative twist to it somehow, it's not that way at all.
It's a hobby and what hobby doesn't get expensive when you reach the extreme limit's of it?
Yes there's breakage but part of the process is building a truck so it won't break.
(that's the challenge anyway)

BFG does zero repairs for those guys, their on their own completely.
Sure if some parts need to be overnighted there's help but that's about it.
It's all about "can your truck do it"
Can it run the gnarly trails and still drive to the next one down the road.
That's why they call it the Ultimate Adventure.

Well I guess its no different than racing or something along those lines. But breaking your rig on the middle of a near impossible trail out in the middle of nowhere would get to me after I had to deal with that a few times.

Im not putting it down, Im just saying its gotta take alot of love for the sport to play like that. These guys seem to take it all in stride though.

Im at work now looking at the DVD and its called the Ultimate Adventure. I think this one is from 04.

[Burt4x4]

Breakage or carnage is all part of the build process. If you want to do the more xtrem trails you have to have the right parts were the weak links are. Finding the weak links in your rig is all part of the game. When you break on the trail most of the time you can repair and keep going, then at the end of that trip you figure out what failed and then get the BEEFYist part you can find and upgrade...eventually you will get your rig built to survive and at the same time you learn how to drive YOUR truck without breaking it.
Some folks use shortcuts and research then shotgun the truck with all the best parts..but they don't get the experience that is needed to wheel your rig. You have to know were all 4 of your tires are going at all times.
It has taken me over 12years to get mine to the point were my rig WILL survive without breaking. My style of driving is a survival type driving. I don't put my rig on or in places I'm not willing to go, in most cases the MOST EXtreme obsiticals on a trail there is useually and go-around or bypass, the hard core rock buggys love thoes but for me I go around and get my winch cable ready if anyone needs a line.
I don't compete against the other rigs in my group, I only compete against myself to keep my rig alive...I ain't getting any younger and I did my time as far as trail repairs are concerned so nowa days it's all about No Breaky
This is what happens when you let your guard down, even an easy trail can surprise you:


Having a GREAT group of friends with like trucks (parts source) make ALL the difference in the world! Wheeling with a bunch of pavement pounders that are not preparred is never a good experinace for the more extreme wheeling.

[Zoomad75]

I love following the Ultimate Adventure, but in no way feel my poor little K5 is up to that type of abuse. (I put it through enough on my own)

I look at it the same as Burt. I drive it in, I better be driving it out. If I know most of the limits of my truck and know what the consequences are if I try to exceed them. I like hitting the mountains and getting away from everything and getting the heart pumping on a good trail. But I also know breakage can and will happen and come prepared for it. I need to get some spare axle shafts to be even better prepared but since I'm unlocked I stand less of a chance in breaking them. Still, having trail spares on hand usually means I won't need them.

The other thing is going with people that know what they are doing. Both driving and when something breaks. Two heads ARE better than one in a crisis. When DrityLarry and I hit the mountains for the weekend I'm confident if we did break something we can fix it and get back to civilization. Even if it involves some "MacGyvering" with bailing wire, duct tape and a shoestring. I haven't had the pleasure of breaking anything major on the trail, but DirtyLarry lost a Water pump out in the boonies. It spoiled a day they could have been wheeling/Fishing but he fixed it (now carries metric sockets with him too!).

If your rig was built to the extreme could you take it on the UA? Sure. Would it/Could it break? Yep. But what you don't know about the UA is not everybody breaks. Guys go with fairly tame Jeeps drive them safely and make it out with little to zero damage. The articles in the magazine report on how each truck did and a lot come through unscathed. Guys that do break are trying the hardest lines with heavy throttle to get some of the wheel's up action that looks good on TV or in the magazine. Besides how boring would it be to watch an hour long video of trailrides without any action or carnage?

I look at it this way, I've got no problem taking a week off or a long weekend and hitting mountain trails and driving back home. I'll drive smart with the intent of driving back home. The key is you can have fun without breakage. You just need to prepare the truck right before you go and be prepared for when something does happen and fix it.

I can proudly say on our last big mountain run, the only part that broke between My K5 and DirtyLarry's K10 was a Window crank. It was on Larry's but I had a spare in mine.

[CG]

I guess I never thought of it like your talking about Rob. For some reason I was thinking that Ultimate Adventure was the norm when actually its the extreme. And the extreme of anything can often be costly.

[bigtruck81]

yup, there's a reason some of us go for the big build right off the bat... so we dont have to worry about breaking. often times though, you'll get someone who will extremely overbuild their limitations as a driver. there was a kid on CK5 who bought a truck partially assembled, stuffed a dually 60 under the front, welded the spiders in both ends, bolted on a set of 44s and decided that it was going to be his trail rig. he proceded to trash the truck in like 3 runs. just didnt know how to drive it. (and welded fronts on a trail rig are a BAD idea)

[johnnywagon]

I've had drag cars, nasty street cars & show cars. None have been near as fun as my 4x4. Also, I think the 4x4 is no more expensive than the others, maybe even less in my case. Different strokes......

[jetboat]

I cant remember if it was the 04 or 05 UA that they ran Il/IN but I run the same trails at "The CLiffs" and "Badlands" that they ran on UA...Funny thing is no one and I mean NO one takes the areas they took. I think for the show/video they take the worst obsticles they find out on the trail and try to make it look as impressive as they can on the video. Allot of the guys on UA are shop owners, pro drivers and park owners that are out there to see exactly how far they can go because they have the support to get them through.

[Prerunner1982]

I have quite a few of the UA and Top Truck Challenge videos... Some are better than others..but over all they are fun to watch.

Infact this is one of my favorite UA builds.....

[fun in dirt]

Ultimate Adventure was here at our old riding spot in Starkville, MS back in 2003. Only a few made it through the course without any help. It was fun pulling a $50,000 yankee truck out of the mud with a $5,000 redneck truck But for some reason those clips never got put on the video!