Off Roading Off roading with your CTD!

[Big_Daddy_T]

4wheelin

Thanks for the new forum steve. Im gonna try to go dig up my stuck pictures but i went through some rough times and a couple of moves since last summer. I bought this truck specifically for what laid in wait for her after 100k. All the power mods i could afford a big lift kit and some mudders. The only downside is I live in Alaska and you guys aint seen bottomless mud unless youve been in a rain forest or Alaska. Having a heavy motor has its downsides but all that power will keep you movin if need be.

Well the story goes like this. I had spent all day buffin my perdy pickup and afterwards decided to go poke around the local trails a little. It was about 2 in the morning when I swung a little to the left to avoid a paint scratcher and boy she started to sink. I plotted my course and gave her some go juice. I made it about 30 ft before she said whoa. I called for a tow and sat. After a minute or two I decided to see if I could rock it out before the tower arrived. I was runnin her back and forth about 25 feet or so and not quite makin back up the small embankment. Well finally I got her back up on solid ground and was ever so carefully turning around when plunk right back in. I was being so gentle cause I knew shed fall back in. Well I said I got her out once. I run it forward about 25 feet pop it in reverse give it some juice and kissed my sun gear goodbye. Who put that o/d back there anyways. 2 thousand dollars later some extensive buffing (which is what started the whole thing anyways) and about 3 weeks down time and she was ready to roll. I video taped the truck, all that was visible was about 6 inches of windshield glass. Watch out fer them swamps.

 

[JR2]

Big Daddy - was you out playing at Knik?? If you have that video we might be able to find someone to convert it to MPEG and get Midnite to put it on the web for us??

 

[Texas Diesel]

Great new forum!



This is Freeport, TX. Sugar sand still makes me nervous, I didnt relax the whole weekend until we were back on the hardpack but the truck didnt have any problems.

 

[Texas Diesel]

This was outside Phoenix, AZ. The Chrysler proving gound was visible in the distance from this hilltop.

We found an old jeep trail and had a blast scratching our way to the top. The little bushes can really scratch your paint ( AZ pinstripping?) and the truck had to visit the paint buffer :{ but the view was worth it. Wonder if the truck can make the climb from Lake Pleasant up to Crown King the BACK way???

 

[bfinn100]

My first gen got a whole lot more off roading than my 2000 QC. I must say that the old leaf sprung design had some major pluses over this new coil design. Im not too crazy about all the creaking and crunching I hear from the back doors on the QC. If I'd known I probably would have stayed with a reg cab design. Has anyone diconnected the sway bars to see if it improves much? Also, has any one done a starter lock-out disconnect. I wish that was one of the items that always seems to go bad. I'll have get out my camera and post some pix of my CTD in action.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

When you say a starter lockout disconnect do you mean making it where you can crank the truck in gear or in neutral with the clutch out? If so then yes, and it's REAL easy to do. There's a switch on the clutch master cylinder rod inside the cab. Follow that to the connector that is just to the right of the clutch pedal. Unplug that connector and make a small jumper with spade connectors on it and put it in the connector (the harness side, not the switch side) - wala done, takes about 2 minutes including making the jumper.

 

[KPhillips]

Thanks for the off orading section, the reason I got my Dodge in the first place was to haul my Jeep around to wheeling events (ehen I get it complete that is). here is alink to pics. I don't really plan on wheeling my Dodge that much, but I wanted 4x4 in case I needed it whil towing and my opinion is that the solid axle up front holds the weight of that diesel better than the front suspension of a two wheel drive, but thats just my opinion... . plus 4x4's look cooler... . heehee



Kerry's Pictures



I have been too lazy to post pics of my truck to the site yet, but just picture a plain jane white long bed dodge and thats it



kerryp

bastrop, tx

 

[Big_Daddy_T]

needed a camera then

My first bad stuck was in glacial silt on Knik river. I had my 4th inline 6th about then. 96 Ford sb xlt. Nice rig bad mileage. Spent most of the time in the shop getting the seals fixed(also my last ford). Well I cant see the floorboards anymore in the stinkin quag and she is actually sinkin the longer it sits. Im starting to count how many feet to solid ground cause they charge by the foot to extricate. its gonna be about 400 bucks if it doesnt sink completely before they get there. luckily the tide comes in occasionally and makes the mud real soft so that it can dry up like cement around your axels and tires. along comes a dodge d-50 diesel drivin right on top of the mud that ate me. he pulls me out in about thirty minutes and gives me a beer to soothe my bruised ego. this truck had the cancer so bad it had to weigh around 1500 pounds. flinstones city. I decided maybe lighter was better so i bought a 7200 pound diesel. some of us just have to learn the hard way. like tim the tool man taylor says "more power" so i rewired it.

 

[Big_Daddy_T]

re to jr2

nah man i was just pokin around on some of the easier local trails. nothing epic you know.



speakin of that my truck pops into neutral on steep ascents. Does this happen to anyone else? it also pops out if I powerbrake it and nail it. so i got in the habit of holding the it in gear when launching but some of these ascents you need both hands to make it and a priest if you dont.

 

[cmckinney]

Gear Popping out

I take it that you are referring to the 4x4 actuator on the floor board? In my 01' 1500 Off-Road it did that quite a bit and it was a pain to put into gear. I could not shift on the fly like I can in my 02' CTD 4x4 seems like my 02' is much better at this.



Another question comes to mind. Do we have a vacuum operation that connects our transfer case to the transmission or what? I feel gears turning if I have just came to a complete stop and then try to operate the 4x4 Hi.



BTW these CTD do not mud well seems like you just follow the ruts no matter what. I guess I need more aggressive tires and a 2 1/2 lift. Anyone had any problems with the SkyJacker Coils concerning the alignment or rubbing?



-CM

 

[Big_Daddy_T]

transmission problems

The transmission pops into neutral under very heavy acceleration. Its a real pain in my arse.

 

[merryman]

I have a "why" question; can any one explain--other than my CTD weighs a whole lot more than a Jeep wagon.

I tried to go into a remote lake out of Unity Oregon a few years ago with my 1st Gen. CTD. 4X4. It was a dry hard rocky surface with lots of loose stuff on the surface, but VERY steep. I tried several times; I tried it fast, I tried it slow, I tried it with minimum power to try to avoid spinning the tires (they were OEM all season) and I tried lots of power. I could get no more than 1/2 way up till I would be just sitting still turning the wheels.

A Jeep Cherokee, went right up with minimum trouble.

What are the dynamics that explain this difference? Is it the amount of tread on the ground per pound of vehicle weight?



Vaughn

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

What did you have your tires pressures set to on both vehicles? Pounds per square inch on each tire is the name of the game when off roading. That's different front to rear on each vehicle as well. In my experience correct tire pressure's are the #1 difference between experienced off roaders and those less experienced.

 

[BK]

I totally agree with Steve.

If the tires were up to hard, they wont be compliant to the rocks and such. Kinda like trying to pickup a basket ball without wraping your fingers and palm around it to palm it.



Other thing. . gravity. you'll need more speed - momentum - to make the same loose grade as a light truck (all else being equal). It takes more energy to get a heavier object up the same hill than another lighter object. And you need to get that energy to the ground. Since your heavier truck needs more energy to get up the hill , the quality of that traction becomes even more important. (just think of yourself trying to carry 50lbs up the hill compared to 10lbs).

 

[merryman]

I had not thought about the tire pressure, and since this was about 3 years ago, I don't have any recollection of what the tire pressure was; I suspect it was fairly high as it was a side trip while camped with the trailer at Unity reservoir. I never seem to go off road by plan. It always seems to come up as a spur of the moment thing. In the case I mentioned, we just heard about this mountain lake and decided to go fish it and did not make it up the steep part---seemed like about a 25% grade. My feeling were hurt when the Jeep went right up where I had failed.



Vaughn

 

[JWhitcomb]

First time I put my new truck in 4WD was when on a fishing trip we woke up to two feet of fresh snow. We were the first vehicle out and drove 18 miles in that two feet of snow with a heavy camper. My wife spent the time very silent and worried. All the time I kept telling her the truck could do it but in fact I had no idea if it would. Next time I might chain up under the same conditions. The truck did great. When we got near town the local cops said to park it until I told them where we had come from.

 

[BK]

Vaughn, I used to have a '80 'yota worked, lifted with 33x12's and track bars.

My friends with full size trucks couldnt hill climb or trail run as easy as my little yota could. . they nicked named it the "mighty Mo"- from those little tracktion trucks we had when we were younger.



JWhitcomb- weight and snow. . if you cant float on it, the more weight the better... I found that out when I took a van load of sheetrock into my wife's mother's unplowed driveway. Had regular street radial tires , stock size on the van. Made it in real easy. After we unloaded all the sheet rock, couldnt get out to without shoveling.

 

[MMiller]

Thanks for the 4 wheelin section. Memorial day weekend I hooked up to the trailer hauled my buddy's bronco from Davenport Iowa to Dresser Wisconsin, Unhooked from the trailer 4 wheeled my dodge and the bronco 3 days and hooked back up to the trailer and hauled the bronco back home. I'll get some pics up as soon as I can figure it out!!

 

[fmj]

Steve, I have no idea where I've been that I missed this new section. I've had 4X4 for over thirty-five years and since I bought the first one, have never owned another 2 wheel truck. My first truck was a Power Wagon. I've had Toyotas, Chev's and GMCs. My last truck was also a diesel GMC and it dispelled the notion that you can't take a diesel and do some good off roading. Now I'm glad that I have the Cummins and a solid front axle. Its great to see what others are enjoying. I love hunting and fishing. My wife also enjoys pointing at some dirt road and saying take it and see where it goes. I hope this becomes another great addition to the TDR.

 

[jpeterson]

I posted this awhile ago in the "other" section but didn't get much response. Since we have a dedicated section, I figure it's good for a repost. 2 months after picking up my '02 3/4 ton 6 speed truck I took a trip to Michigan to visit some friends and properly break in my truck at the Silver Lake Sand Dunes. Needless to say more than a few people were impressed with how well my truck did. This is a link to the story and pictures.



http://www.caintmakit.com/id113.htm



Jeremy