Goose
When You go out Jeepin.. do you really expect to break parts and mangle sheetmetal? I ask this because, I see a disturbing trend in the off road mags..just like the "prerunner trend" of a few years ago which had every idiot in the woods trying to four wheel drift every corner on a fire road and running over people.. it seems the current "get a beater jeep and destroy it" crowd have taken over the magazines.. hey I like to see guys going 110 percent or tackiling a tough obstacle..but making it "unhip" to have a jeep with a straight body panel or "your a wuss if you havent twisted two drivelines and rolled it today" seems sorta like all the muscle car guys deciding that it would be "cool" to have a demo derby and allow only 69thru 70 AMX's camaros etc.. seems kinda pointless to break it on purpose.. now stupid explosions are beyond doubt cool.. and Dumb Stucks rate tops..but to just tear it up to tear it up? I don't get it..
KEV
I see your point, some people enjoy totally destroying there bodies when they go wheeling. The drivetrain damage I think is driver error 90% of the time. Now I have been at falt in doing this too but I have gotten better or my driveline just seems to hold up better.
But try out this thought. Some of us that have beat up bodies(no major dents but there are some deep scrapes) have been wheeling the same machine for years. Mine has seen 14+ years of use and it was not in perfect shape when I got it(it being a 48 2A). The Flatty will see some TLC this winter and will see new gaskets or seals where it needs it. The body will get some fresh yellow paint , some smoothing and straighting of a rolled edge or two.
tufcj
Some parts breakage is unavoidable if you're pushing the limits. I've broken a handful of axles, a few diffs, and a couple of driveshafts over the years. I carry spare axle shafts and driveshafts and the tools need to change them if they break.
Body damage is another story, I don't care for that. I've armored and skid plated my Jeep to keep body damage to a minimum. I don't drive beyond my or the Jeeps limits, and try not to put myself in a situation where I'll roll (but it has happened). Even when I rolled, damage was limited to some scrapes on the body and a broken windshield.
I've always subscribed to "Tread Lightly". I don't go out to tear things up, and it annoys me when other do. Out in Colorado, we worked hard with the forest service to repair the messes that others made in order to keep trails open. It was amazing to see that someone would tear down a barrier and build new trail to avoid an obstacle. I thought obstacles were what 4-wheeling was about. If the vehicle isn't capable, build IT, not the trail.
Bob
tufcj
Goose
see i get what you guys are saying..stuff happens, and sometimes things get bent.. I guessI thought we had enough full throttle no technique posers out here as it was without encouragingi t (Hey mudding is different)
It just seems that the Jeep press is trying to start the "Rat Rod" trend in jeeps.. where we will soon have Goofs "Painting rust and bird poop " on thier jeeps..When I saw an article in street rod on how to "Rat your Rod" and they were talking about making a kit T bucket look like it had come out of a chicken coop and to the rod run..I was stunned.. but to see the articles in JP and off road about if youre not breaking it your not wheeling etc I was puzzled . I thought the point of upgrading axles and all the aftermarket stuff was to Keep it from breaking.. seems like the press wants us to buy this stuff then preform feats fo "Felonius stupidius" and break the new stuff too.. 111!!!
youdidwhat
we see alot of this behavior in the midwest as well, in our club we are strongly against it and are partenered with "tread lightly" do we have folks that break rigs? yes but we do not attempt to go out and run them into the ground destroying the earth as we go along. it frustrates me to no end when I see it as well cause this is just a phase like many other things, and when the rookies are done destroying the trails we the true wheelers will be left with the mess and all the closed trails because of some bad apples.
I have been in the wheeling world sence I was quite young (used to wheel with my uncle when I was a kid). and hope that some day I will be able to take not only my baby girl but her children wheeling.
SO ALL YOU TRAIL WANNABEES LEARN TO WHEEL CORRECTLY OR GO HOME WE DO NOT NEED YOUR EGO'S DESTROYING THE LAND BY TEARING UP THE LAND TO AVOID AN OBSTACLE. LIKE THE MAN SAID OBSTACLES ARE WHAT WHEELING IS ABOUT AND IF YOU CAN NOT HANDLE YOU RIG GET BACK TO THE MALL WHERE YOU BELONG.
