This past weekend I went down to the mountains in Virginia for a good bit of off roading (technically a couple forest service roads and a dedicated OHV/4x4 trail). The first day was driving on a "road" (called, varyingly, Skidmore Fork or Dunkle Hollow Road) from Switzer Lake to Flagpole Knob. This was tight, barely a road, with tons of washed out areas, some shallow water crossings, and some rocks, corrugations, and decent obstacles. At the top you are rewarded with great views of the range and the valleys below. The second day was Peters Mill, which is a dedicated track of approximately 5 miles. I have not been to either place in a few years, and Peters Mill was much rockier than I remember it, particularly the first 1-2 miles when traveling south to north.
Some thoughts and anecdotes:
Some thoughts and anecdotes:
- The Raised Air Intake itself is robust; the grate/grill attached to it? Much less so. Mine is now somewhere deep in Virginia, and apparently Ineos does not sell the grate/grill separate from the upper bit, which--apparently--is a $500+ item. Given the tight tracks and trails in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic, I don't think this grate/grill would hold up even with a replacement, so I am replacing the standard RAI with the Cyclone Pre-Cleaner, which has a collar and is hopefully a bit more robust (although it'll be in the way of a whole lot more stuff more frequently given the obvious size differences).
- I found a very random, mostly clean, and clearly unused hanger bolt hanging out of my...fuel tank skid plate? No idea how it got there, but all hangers seem accounted for?
- On narrower roads the LDW system is useless and way more annoying than it should be. I turned it off for stretches at a time because I found it more distracting than simply paying attention and driving.
- I have no idea where the grounding point is under the hood and the manual says nothing; I didn't want to start clamping on bits of frame and whatnot so thankfully a friend helped when we needed to air up.
- I've a random squeak in the rear, probably mud/dirt.
- I did not scrape once (pending a full cleaning/inspection) but I think a rock bounced up underneath somewhere. I was very wary of the plastic oil pan under the transmission and cannot wait for the Rival skids to arrive.
- The diffs being off center and to the left is a godsend in picking my lines.
- Speaking of, the checker plates were great in line picking--they contrasted with the white and I chose lines and placed wheels with supreme confidence.
- I did not encounter any terrain, including a good bit of corrugations and rocks, that I could not handle. Rocks, corrugations, various bits and pieces that really tested articulation--all handled well and without really pushing the truck. I would love to be able to disconnect the sway bar, I think it'll really shine with it disconnected, but I did not have any traction issues outside of one fairly aggressive bit where my right rear wheel was in air.
- I locked the center diff as soon as I left tarmac, always, without exception (well except for maybe a short runoff).
- I went into 4L ~6 times, and once--despite the L lamp being lit, the t-case shifter being in the correct position, and the transmission showing neutral--caused grinding when I shifted to D. I put it back into neutral, took it out of 4L, put it back into 4L, let it coast a second in neutral, shifted to D, and no grinding. No idea what on earth that was but my guess is neutral wasn't really neutral and L wasn't really L despite all outward indications and lamps indicating otherwise.
- I did not use the axle locks although I probably could have used them at least once.
- The plastic surround on the 70 door is rattling and, based upon seeing a few other IGs, that's not uncommon. It is wildly annoying though.
- Those mudflaps are tough as nails.
- I've got a few well earned pinstripes, some more prominent than others, but overall the white works well in hiding them. The mirrors seem to show the most, the fender flares and everything else look mostly fine.
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