Well last night I meet some friends and we went out to a lake that has some trails. We took a Samurai out that has no brakes and is just an off-road beater and another friend took out a Argo (SP? ATV with 8 chain driven wheels). Well I rode out there in the Samurai and I must say that little thing was pretty good off road the tires it has really help but for a 1.3 liter in need of carburetor it went through some massive puddles Later in the night two other people and myself went out in the Argo and got stuck in some muck and could not get out. So being the only one with boots on I got out and tried to find something to wench to. We weren’t to far from a little patch of trees and such so I walked over and hooked to the base of a tree with a chain and a wench. The tree pulled out of the ground and the battery then died in the Argo Leaving us stuck. Made a few phone calls we had a Hummer 6.5 Diesel out there and I must say those things look right at home off road. The hummer eventually got us winched out after I was covered in mud up to shins. Then the hummer had to change positions to get the battery on the right side for a jump well the Hummer then got stuck in the same muck we were The only difference is the Hummer had long enough of a wench to get to a tree and pull itself out. (pretty Cool) We then raced the Hummer back to the fire and I just sat watching that massive thing bounce over bumps and tear up puddles
By then my feet were wet and it was getting into the 40's so I had the kid with the Argo take me back to the BMW. Well on the way out we found a Chevy Silverado Z71 up to its grill in water and trying to inch his way out. So we got the winch on the Argo out and thank god the tow hook was above water I hooked it on. Got a few more people in the back of the Argo and got on some brush and ran it in reveres while the Z71 floored it. After about five tries the Chevy was out and I went home.
It was pretty cool though I had never been off-road until last night so I figured I would share
BTW I left the camera in the car so I didnt get any pics but it would have been to dark anyway.

A Jeep or a Scout would have put that Hummer to shame

Most of my off-roading's down in the Mojave Desert, but to say the least, I've been hooked for life...

Glad to hear you had fun!

The hummers tires wer no help the got clogged right of the bat and jsut spun. Strangley there were no Jeeps out there. A Landrover, Zr2 S10, Tahoe (jacked up) and a few Toyota's
I think I might like this untill I get stuck

That is interesting...

If you decide to go into off-roading, my advice would be to get a vehicle with solid axles in the front and the rear. Independent front suspension (early '90's and up GM, '97 and up F-150, most newer SUV's, etc) is expensive to fix, and on a trail, you want as much simplicity and rugged brute-strength as you can get your hands on.

Also, if you think that you're going to need the extra ground clearance, it's okay to lift, but IMHO DON'T lift the vehicle solely for the "cool" factor. Lifting also raises the center of gravity, and that becomes a big issue when playing on the rocks or whatnot. For the same reason, I wouldn't lift any more than necessary. Granted I've never done any real mudding, but I've never off-roaded a raised vehicle, and haven't had any problems (okay, I've had one, but I shouldn't have done that in the first place; see attached pic and don't try to take a 4 wheeled vehicle up a motorcycle jump ). Also, if you need and/or want to lift, that's another big strike against IFS simply because the price to lift an IFS-equipped vehicle skyrockets real quick.



Beyond that, make sure you've got a reliable engine (if you're rock-crawling, a diesel would actually be a really good idea, so you don't worry about flooding anything due to weird angles) and a stout drivetrain, and you should be good to go. Just make sure you know what your vehicle can do (or have a winch and/or buddy up with someone in another vehicle) and know what you yourself can do.

Just my $.02...good luck!

I was about the buy a 99 z71 Silverado before I lost my job but I dont see myself doing much off roading because The tires involved are not to great for my 100 mile a day drive.
But thanks for the advice it's something I will be doing in the future when I get a good job

Cool story, cheers for sharing

__________________
190E's:
2.5-16v 1990 90,000m Astral Silver
2.0E 8v 1986 107,000m Black 2nd owner
http://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall.jpghttp://www.maylane.demon.co.uk/190esmall2.jpg