Off Roading Four Wheeling in Snow

[CVR222NV]

As many of you know the Thanksgiving weekend ushered in a major winter storm. While we are used to this amount of snow it does not usually arrive until January or February. I had been hunting Elk the week before but headed back to Vegas to have Thanksgiving with my daughters and grand kids. Headed back to the ranch at 4:00 pm Thanksgiving day. I hit blizzard conditions 75 miles north of Vegas so slow going. When I pulled off of Highway 318 to head to the ranch the snow was 15" to 18" deep. 16 miles to the ranch on county maintained dirt road up over Shingle Pass. I was impressed with the Toyo M-55's and hoped I would not have to chain up on the way in. Made it up over Shingle Pass thinking I was home free but when I got to the bottom of the valley the snow was even deeper! I was following half filled in ruts and the snow was blowing out the sides of the truck like the wake of a boat and when I would hit drifts the snow was blowing over the top of the truck. I was just praying I did not have to stop and chain up. Made it to the ranch to finish the Thanksgiving holiday with my brother's family. Snowed off and on all day Friday with mountains socked in. No hunting. Chained up all four corners. Woke up early Saturday morning to clear skies. From prior experience I knew the ATV's ad RZR's would be worthless with this amount of snow. We had one tracked RZR but it was not mine so it was the truck or nothing. Headed to a basin North of the ranch. I was impressed how well the truck performed in the deep snow.

 

[CVR222NV]

Brimming with confidence decided to head to Long Canyon Saturday afternoon. We were getting close to our destination when I hit a snow bank which stopped the truck dead in its tracks. Backed up and went around the drift. I was getting close to our glassing spot when steam started billowing out of the hood. My Edge CTS started beeping and noticed the EGT's at 1400 and spiked at 1600 for a few seconds. Temperature gauge was almost pegged at 240 degrees. Let the EGT's cool down to 300 degrees and shut the truck down. Popped the hood to inspect the engine and discovered the top radiator hose had blown off! My Buckstop bumper was completely impacted with snow. Got the hose back on and filled the radiator with all the water we had in the truck. Cleared the snow from the bumper. Got the truck turned around and headed off the mountain.

 

[CVR222NV]

Sunday morning tried to get into another canyon. Even though it was a lower elevation the canyon was choked with drifted snow. The truck came to a stop when the snow was almost to the top of the tires. Not even close to our intended destination.

 

[CVR222NV]

On Monday we headed South trying to see if the snow was less deep. We were getting around fine when I came upon a wash I had traversed many times before. The road brought me in at an angle and when I turned to drop into the wash the front of the truck disappeared and I was looking through the windshield at the bottom of the wash! I had dropped off a four foot ledge that was likely from the prior year's record runoff (200% of normal). Not good!

 

[GrantP]

I was out there during that storm, also on an elk hunt in 7E. I got stuck in a drift so deep I couldn't see the top of a 37" tire. It wasn't that cold but the amount of snow really screwed up our hunt.

 

[CVR222NV]

Wednesday afternoon, the last day of the Elk season, we tried to get back to a spot that we did not have any worries. I had removed the chains to go into Ely to get fuel but the snow level was less than what we had been dealing with so we did not chain up. That was a mistake! The road was running up the side of a small wash and as I entered a section that was sloped down toward the wash the rear of the truck slid off the road and took out two small trees and buried the truck. I was able to winch the truck out of the hole and chain back up but now no time to hunt. Didn't really matter because it started snowing again.

 

[CVR222NV]

I guess you could say I found the limits of the truck in bad snow conditions. One thing I learned is you have to keep the bumper and grill snow free or really bad things happen. Sometime during this week the truck started performing poorly and I noticed I had no boost. When I got home we assessed the damage and determined the following

• turbo grenaded
• blew out both front shocks (Bilstein 5160 remote reservoir)
• blew out steering dampner (Bilstein)
• both front sway bar links are toast

While we did our best to salvage the Elk hunt a 1 ton truck is not the best choice. I'm going to purchase tracks for my RZR!

 

[Ozymandias]

Get the THUREN sway bar, it will greatly improve the offroad abilities of your truck.
And the links are as rigid as they can be.

 

[CVR222NV]

Get the THUREN sway bar, it will greatly improve the offroad abilities of your truck.
And the links are as rigid as they can be.

At your suggestion I got on Thuren's website and he recommends staying with the stock sway bar if you have a camper or other high center of gravity load. Since I haul my RZR in the flatbed I thought I better stick with the OEM sway bar but did purchase Thuren's XHD Sway Bar links which are the beefiest I have seen yet. They also have multiple zirk fittings. No issues with your camper set up?

 

[Ozymandias]

I'm perfectly happy with mine, but a also run a King/Fox Shocks setup.
I think you would be fine with the sway bar, from my experience. Remember I run 12000lbs all the time.
But the center of gravity on mine is very low, just shy above were the bed rails have been.

 

[CVR222NV]

I'm perfectly happy with mine, but a also run a King/Fox Shocks setup.
I think you would be fine with the sway bar, from my experience. Remember I run 12000lbs all the time.

I'm going with Thuren King 3.0 shocks to replace the Bilstein 5160's at least in the front. Just trying to determine what stage valving. What is your shock set up?

 

[Ozymandias]

King 2.5 in the rear and Fox 2.0 in the front.
Valving, I would call them, tell them what you do, how you drive, your vehicles weights and so on. That all goes into how the shock you get will be tuned. @AEdelheit is pretty good at it. The stages that Thuren posted are more of a guide line. I think mine are in the Stage 3 Range.

 

[CVR222NV]

I sent a pretty detailed email of my truck set up as well as the road conditions and how I drive. Waiting for a reply. I was thinking somewhere between stages 3 and 4. Not sure on the rear. I have one leaking shock in the rear. The rears do not seem to have been impacted like the abuse that has occurred in the front.

 

[Tractorat]

beautiful country.

 

[Ozymandias]

I sent a pretty detailed email of my truck set up as well as the road conditions and how I drive. Waiting for a reply. I was thinking somewhere between stages 3 and 4. Not sure on the rear. I have one leaking shock in the rear. The rears do not seem to have been impacted like the abuse that has occurred in the front.

Sounds good! I know how terrible expensive such a setup is - but be sure it is worth every penny. You can feel it with every mile driven, no matter if on a highway or in a riverbed.
Best spent money ever.

I still would ask about the active rate swaybar, because the shocks setup is a little different with that. Something I need to correct on mine next year because I added the swaybar later.

 

[CVR222NV]

beautiful country.

We are truly blessed!