noob

[Dave Gearhart]

i just bought a 04. How good are these sport tracs off road? I put my 265/75/ 16 M/T tires on it. I had to trim a little off the rear passenger side wheelwell. any tips you guys have would be great. Ill post some pics soon

 

[Kerry Matthews]

What 'kind' off roading you plan on doing? I've taken mine off road several times, and mine's stock. I'm usually on forest service roads and jeep trails. Not the greatest of ground clearance, but it got me there! I'd put a fuel tank skid plate on it if it doesn't have one already. Might save you a long walk...

[Broken External Image]:

[Broken External Image]:

[Broken External Image]:

 

[Ben Poche]

mine does very good with 265 75 16 also

[Broken External Image]:

[Broken External Image]:

[Broken External Image]:

[Broken External Image]:

[Broken External Image]:

 

[Nelson Atwell]

The Sport Trac is a lot of fun off-road. Make sure you have upgraded shocks, and if you go in deep mud, put a little extra weight in the bed to prevent fishtailing. The only thing not fun about off-roading is the cleanup afterwards.



[Broken External Image]:



[Broken External Image]:



[Broken External Image]:



[Broken External Image]:

 

[Johnny O]

Definitely get a torsion twist and shackles for more ground clearance. With the long wheelbase, it's an issue. If you're going to off-road, put in a limited-slip if you don't have one already.

 

[Johnny O]

Okay I'm back, had to take my kids to Sunday school. How well a vehicle does off-road is mostly a function of the tires, traction devices (locker, L/S, or none), and the driver. Depending on the situation ground clearance and weigh distribution may be factors too. Weight dist. on a Trac is somewhat better than say, a Ranger. OTOH, the longer wheelbase hurts your breakover angle.

Makes it easier to end up like this guy:

No biggie, a little shove and we got him right off. Something like a Wrangler or BII would have gone over it easily. I nearly tried that same gravel pile until he got stuck.



Couple things....

Off-road, slow is generally good.

Start out on easy stuff and work your way up as you learn limitations of both you and your vehicle.

Breaking parts can make it an expensive hobby. See #1.

Wheeling alone is generally a bad idea. See #3.

If you plan on wheeling alone, get a winch and only go where there are trees to hook it to.

Cleanup is a PITA.

Toss the spare in the bed where it won't get damaged.

Tow points front and rear, tow strap with loops not hooks, and a CB.

By the time you really NEED that front locker, you're already going places that will damage sheetmetal.

Then you can be this guy:

 

[scott r]

Krash, that's some beautiful scenery in your pics.

I have 265/75/16 on my truck as well, they seem to not really have a problem with much of anything...mud, snow, clay, dirt, gravel and the trac itself has been able to go anywhere that I wanted it to, and we have some wicked trails here in Missouri. We have this one area, we call it the "slime pond", it's an old chat dump that covers about 5-6 square miles. There are HUGE hills and dozens of trails in and around it. When I had my blazer (1996), I made a mistake judging what is more slick...wet or dry chat. You get MUCH better traction on WET chat. I was used to driving on the dry stuff, which I normally could floor the vehicle and wouldn't get much traction up the huge hill. This one particular day, it was wet and I floored it going up the hill...I got about 6 feet of air and slammed back down to the ground. VERY rough ride, but looked great on camera. I honestly am VERY surprised I didn't break anything or flatten all 4 tires. I suspect that I may have done some serious damage to the trac if I did that. Don't get me wrong, the trac is a great and sturdy vehicle, but it's also considerably more front-heavy than the blazer was. The blazer hit on its front tires a split second before the rear, which is probably the only thing that kept me from destroying something. I am fairly sure that the trac would have landed nose-first, or at least much more nose first than the blazer did. I'll have to put the video up one of these days, if there's anybody interested in seeing it, it was pretty wild.

 

[Dave Gearhart]

thanks for the tips guys.I answered my own question today. went out to the local sports park and found some nice muddy roads. The Trac did very well.Iam not new to 4wheelin just new to sport tracs. I will need to put some tow hooks on it just in case. any ideas on where a fule tank skid plate would mount?

 

[Kerry Matthews]

Check out my project on installing one in the "Projects" section... They're about $140 from Ford.



And Baron... thanks! Growing up in Chicago, having a playground like this for a 'backyard' is great, and I love hangin' out here!