Getting truck ready for BC - vehicle mods

[Squamch]

is this due to mud or rocky roads or narrow roads or some other things? I mean, if I see that are more of liability than convenience, i will take them out.

Narrow roads, waterbars, rockslides in the road...the terrain here (the island) if you're on a non-maintained road tends to be slippery. If you're being nice to the truck, no worries. I have a stock f350 now, and I drag my side steps regularly.
Synthetic line is great IF you can protect it. Otherwise, your outside wrap gets loaded with grit which is essentially a million tiny blades inside your line, and gets damaged by UV. Most of the guys I wheel with run synthetic, but they replace lines every couple years. These aren't daily driven rigs, these are wheeling rigs, that get maybe 15 hours run time a month. They're garage kept in many cases. A daily driver will get road salt, sand, and a lot more exposure to weather. We have rough rocks that abrade lines, mud, grit, silt...I personally prefer cable (wire rope if you're talking to a winch company), for its durability. The major advantage to synthetic line is that if it snaps, it might leave a welt, but won't kill you. In the comp I organize (YouTube islandcup!), we require winch line weights if you run cable to help cut down on whipping broken cables.


I'm also a wheeler at heart. I take a stock truck into a lot of places that normal folks wouldn't, and a lot of the time guys on quads don't believe I drove to where I am, the same way they did. Also, my last "hunting truck" was affectionately known as crunchy. Probably you don't want your nice shiny truck to earn a name like that.

Here's the rundown on what this truck had:
Warn m8000 in a trailgear low profile bumper
2x3 steel tube rear bumper with a bumper mount swing out spare tire carrier
Lockright rear locker
235/85r16 load range E tires (I could have a full blown flat, and still drive on them because they were so stiff)
Tire chain's

That was it.
Nothing major, no lift, and it went anywhere I could reasonably ask it to. And several absolutely unreasonable places too.

[BRvalley]

Nope, not on the way into the cabin.[/QUOTE]


I was going to guess the trail to the powerline hole on the kitimat? looks like a fun way to spend the afternoon lol

[Sambor]

A piece of 3/4" plywood + bottle jack, tree branches and bark can get you out of most situations with a stock truck.

Thanks Keoke, I always have plywood in the bed. I use it to load animals to the bed. And yes, used tree branches to get me out-small hatchet comes handy.

[Sambor]

Narrow roads, waterbars, rockslides in the road...the terrain here (the island) if you're on a non-maintained road tends to be slippery. If you're being nice to the truck, no worries. I have a stock f350 now, and I drag my side steps regularly.
Synthetic line is great IF you can protect it. Otherwise, your outside wrap gets loaded with grit which is essentially a million tiny blades inside your line, and gets damaged by UV. Most of the guys I wheel with run synthetic, but they replace lines every couple years. These aren't daily driven rigs, these are wheeling rigs, that get maybe 15 hours run time a month. They're garage kept in many cases. A daily driver will get road salt, sand, and a lot more exposure to weather. We have rough rocks that abrade lines, mud, grit, silt...I personally prefer cable (wire rope if you're talking to a winch company), for its durability. The major advantage to synthetic line is that if it snaps, it might leave a welt, but won't kill you. In the comp I organize (YouTube islandcup!), we require winch line weights if you run cable to help cut down on whipping broken cables.

I'm also a wheeler at heart. I take a stock truck into a lot of places that normal folks wouldn't, and a lot of the time guys on quads don't believe I drove to where I am, the same way they did. Also, my last "hunting truck" was affectionately known as crunchy. Probably you don't want your nice shiny truck to earn a name like that.

Here's the rundown on what this truck had:
Warn m8000 in a trailgear low profile bumper
2x3 steel tube rear bumper with a bumper mount swing out spare tire carrier
Lockright rear locker
235/85r16 load range E tires (I could have a full blown flat, and still drive on them because they were so stiff)
Tire chain's

That was it.
Nothing major, no lift, and it went anywhere I could reasonably ask it to. And several absolutely unreasonable places too.

Man, you are making it hard on me. I am now even more excited about the move. I also have been thinking that VI is relatively "civilized" and much less rugged, but you showed me wrong. I also didn't know that you get snow on VI. I thought it is too warm.

I watched your youtube videos and that's is too much for me and my truck. I heard that when mudding, you can go as deed as your pockets. My pockets are quite shallow. I don't plan to drive my truck into mud or river bottoms deeper than a 1ft-1.5ft. For deeper muds i have quad. I still have payments on the truck, so i will be more careful with it. Besides, it has 70k km, so it is pretty much brand new. All the extra gear and equipment is to make sure I can make it home and make hunting easier when i hunt alone.

Your post conviced me to permanently mount a winch on my truck. I haven't decided about a custom bumper, as i think this could work quite well for me: RoughCountry behind bumper winch mount:



I think i will make the final decision whether to go with custom bumper or hide the winch behind the OEM bumper in June, when I come back from BC.

Also, i am a fan of steel rope and when i use it on my quad, i put a rag or towel on it. Wear helmet and googles and pray nothing snaps Regular rope inspection and change decreses chances of catastrophic failure.

Squamch, second half of May I will be on VI. I hope i get a chance to buy you a beer or two.

Last thing, how much salt do you get on your roads? In SK we get road salted, but not much. What about BC or VI? What do you do besides washing your trucks well and waxing paint?

[Squamch]

Snow? Only about 3 feet in this picture from Sunday...


The roads have been pretty heavily salted the last little while because it snowed in town. Typically they brine roads on the south island. I've never seen one of the oil coating underspray places here, although I'm sure someone does it. My wife's tacoma moved here from Ontario with her and I hate the greasy dirt trapping stuff all over it. I prefer to just give the underside of the truck an enthusiastic wash after salt season is over.
I like the hidden behind the stock bumper plan, you have to use a conventional winch instead of the venerable 8274, but that's just fine.

And wheeling at the island cup level isn't for most people, but if you like watching and parties...it's a great time to be a spectator!

[David]

My comments:

1) I'll leave "in the truck" recovery gear to you... but you can never have too much rope, a hi-lift, etc.

2) Bumpers and lifts - it's NOT about getting over stuff, it's about approach and departure angles. If you're on a deactivated logging road and a culvert has been taken out you don't want to smash your front or drag your rear. A lift OR tighter/higher bumpers fixes the angles. Because you're getting a winch anyways, I'd look at a bumper that improves your approach angles and just ensure you don't have a huge overhang out the back. You're also looking at attachment points for jacking/winching.

3) Step bars - get rid of them. You can't use them as a jack point and they get destroyed anyways. If you want to protect your truck a bit more you can look at nerf bars/rock rails/whatever we're calling them these days.

As others have said: good tires and a locker will get you stupid places, despite all I said above you really don't need much more than that.

[Squamch]

Rock Sliders are what they're called these days, or simply "rocker protection."
Nerf bars refer more to smittybuilt tubes that bend as quickly as typical side steps.


Now all my advice and I had my truck stuck last night trying to fall into a 3' deep pit...and that was just leaving my shop.