Trail Running

[Squatting Dog]

Get in reverse, and try again. The Raptor is great climbing hills, foot hills, mountians. You just have to learn the feel of the truck going up the hill. Balancing that thin line of spinning your tires and losing momentium. To me the Raptor has great terrain feeling to it, it is very predictable and you can litterally feel it start losing traction. Always back down and never try to turn around on the hill. Even with the wider stance it will still roll like a 7000# jeep.

 

[JP7]

Get in reverse, and try again. The Raptor is great climbing hills, foot hills, mountians. You just have to learn the feel of the truck going up the hill. Balancing that thin line of spinning your tires and losing momentium. To me the Raptor has great terrain feeling to it, it is very predictable and you can litterally feel it start losing traction. Always back down and never try to turn around on the hill. Even with the wider stance it will still roll like a 7000# jeep.

Yep - "hill descent" is a default, but knowing the hill you attempted to climb is paramount to success. Straight on hills are great, but the ones that have "S" turns in them are the most challenging.

 

[Squatting Dog]

Some of the more challenging (technical) hills, I will get out and walk/climb it. Not only for the fresh air, to see some of those nasty surprises. Deep ruts from some yahoo redneck with 44" tires powering his way up in the mud. To fallen trees that were not visible from the bottom of the hill. Hell, one time there was a abandoned isuzu pup that was crossed up across the trail. It looked like he made it half way slid into a deep rut in the mud and just burried it up to the frame. Tried to dig it out and said screw it, and never came back. So the jeepers made a bypass around it through the trees. Too narrow and rocky for the Raptor to attempt sideways on a hill.

 

[JP7]

Some of the more challenging (technical) hills, I will get out and walk/climb it. Not only for the fresh air, to see some of those nasty surprises. Deep ruts from some yahoo redneck with 44" tires powering his way up in the mud. To fallen trees that were not visible from the bottom of the hill. Hell, one time there was a abandoned isuzu pup that was crossed up across the trail. It looked like he made it half way slid into a deep rut in the mud and just burried it up to the frame. Tried to dig it out and said screw it, and never came back. So the jeepers made a bypass around it through the trees. Too narrow and rocky for the Raptor to attempt sideways on a hill.

oh hell yeah! Jeep trails are a major challenge for Raptors as we are almost a foot wider. I've been on such trails that i was riding a tire outside their ruts 90% of the time, and it really sucks ass when going down mountain sides!

But, we must travel where the legal trails permit and deal with the scratches the Jeep trials provide us with as they are the Commando's that forge the trails. Sometimes I miss my Suzuki SJ410.

 

[All The Way]

The A/T's aired down do fairly well on the trails. If its wet and soft they down right suck. I've had to be pulled out of a few situations before.

 

[Squatting Dog]

It's not stupidity, the A/T just do not self clean no matter how much horse power you have or wheel spin.

 

[All The Way]

I've already started looking for M/T's.
Since I race the truck more then run the trails I like the tread pattern the the wrangler's. I have run the Firestones before when they were made under the Dayton name.

The list I've started.

PRO-COMP XTREME MUD TERRAIN TIRES
Hankook Tires Dynapro MT RT03
Goodyear Wrangler MT/R W/Kevlar Owl D
Firestone Destination M/T
Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ
TreadWright GUARD DOG M/T