Off Roading Whats the deepest water you've crossed?

[PUMPERDUDE]

And I am not talking about off roading. I'm talking about SE Louisiana roads. Its pitiful folks. Tropical storm Isidore caused flooding bigtime arround here and it wasnt even a hurricane. The tides haven't finished falling yet and it looks like Lily will be a hurricane at Louisiana's doorstep by Wednesday. I'd never put my Ram in through saltwater for fun,believe me. I'm just curious how deep of water a stock Ram 4x4 could run in?What limits it?

 

[Morphious]

I've had my truck (before it was stolen) up to about mid door crossing creeks out on my farm. Now the deepest water I've been in would have to be my old '72 blazer. I crossed this deep water with it, that had to be close to 5' deep. The blazer had 35" mudders and a 4" lift kit, and the water came up to the top body line of the blazer, just took it slow and steady and glad I had a high air cleaner.



Morph.

 

[SOOT]

Just keep it below the air box and all should be allright.

 

[MLee]

water depth

hay pumperdude; i have to feel for you down there. make sure that the vent tubes on your drive train are above water. make those hoses go farther than stock locations. the rear diff only goes to the bottom of the bed, don't know about the trans and transfer case, the front diff only goes to the inner fender, about the frame, making this one longer also helps stopping it from puking oil.

watch out for the gatters. just my penny's worth

Marv.

 

[JTMcCracken]

about 50 feet deep, floating on a barge of course, in the 1990 welding rig , ahoy matey! JTMcC.

 

[Gizmo 007]

I live close to Beaumont, Tx. Decided to go back roading a few months ago after a bad rain (at night). I dove into a deep underpass at about 35 mph. Next thing I know, the truck it dead, and the lights are underwater. I had to use the winch to pull the truck across.



I used the window to get in and out. when I pulled the truck out, I only had two waterspots in the floor, so the cab doesn't leak much. Took forever to dig the air filter out of the turbo and get the water out of the engine



Keep the water level below the headlights... They're about even with the airbox. When it starts getting deep, DRIVE SLOW!

 

[Morphious]

It's not necessarily the deep water you have to watchout for. Around where I grew up we had this one low water bridge, and when it rained, the water started moving across it fast. I went across it with only about 6" of water. I felt the 1/2ton 4x4 I was in moving sideways as I drove across it. I will never forget the old wooden floored bridge across the creek out by my dads oil lease. This is the only bridge to get to this area easily, if it's out, it's a 35 mile drive to get around to the backside on old county dirt roads, which means 35 miles of 4x4. We were watching the water rise after this huge rain storm, the boards on the bridge were floating 3 feet above. This crazy farmer says "Screw it, I ain't driving all that way around to feed my cattle" he hops in his truck loaded down with feed and drives across the bridge... . was the wildest thing I had seen.



Morph.

 

[dblake]

Another limiting factor besides your diff breathers and airbox is your radiator fan. If that thing starts spinning in water it's like a boat prop and starts cavitating towards your radiator. If it contacts it hard you'll be buying a new radiator. I've heard of some people tying it up before they cross deep water or putting a tarp in front of the truck to keep the water out of the engine bay.

Good luck with the BIG BLOW!

 

[PUMPERDUDE]

Got lucky!

Lily's eye passed about 150 miles or so west of here. Got some high winds and rain ,but no biggee. About 6" of rain so far. . We had 20" for Isadore. My family is fine,My ram's feet are still dry and the electricity is still on

 

[Gizmo 007]

Glad to hear it. I gotta go to Beaumont / SW Louisiana tommorrow, so I'll get to see some of the damage. Glad it missed you.

 

[Jff24Gordn]

headlight deep.

 

[emarsh]

I had a 70 Toyota landcruiser on a camping trip and removed the side doors leaving the removeable hardtop in place. Crossed a river and the water level was halfway up the transmission tunnel. My tennis shoes were soaked. It was fun but not recommended for a vehicle with all drum brakes!

 

[Todd G]

I had a '87 Toyota 4X4 that I would float all the time. Water over the hood deep. I would have to race the engine to keep it from stalling and it would rock from side to side when floating. I crossed a river once and ended up about 150' downstream once. When I finally sold it, it did blow a little blue smoke at high RPMs.

 

[98rammer]

awww, no snowmobile watercrossings?



todd g, nice story:-laf



i myself wouldn't do water crossing on anything over 6" of stand still water. i know of some stories from friends though.

 

[Crazy Horse]

If you can't see the bottom hip boot it first. If you don't hip boot it, don't stop half way across. Check out the Ford at the bottom of this page. By the time he got back 2 hours later it had sunk another foot deep.

 

[Midnite]

I took my '92 through a creek (maybe a foot or so deep), and found water in my rear diff when I went to change fluid. The vent tube wasn't plugged, and talking to a local 4x4 shop, they told me that sometimes when cold water hits the rear end housing it can suck a small amount of water past the seals into the axle tubes.



I don't know if that's what actually happened in my case, but I'm definitely going to be checking my diffs a lot more closely after I go through any significant water again.



Mike

 

[rbattelle]

I had an old '85 Bronco II that spent about 2 hours stuck in the bottom of a small creek. The front axle was submerged below the centerline (but the vent tube was not under water). I spent the next day draining the diff fluid and repacking the wheel bearings because water had leaked in.



Since then, I've always assumed you can't submerge trucks below the axle centerline or water will leak past the grease seals. Am I wrong? Does the mighty Dodge have watertight axle seals?