It is a blast to go muddin' in a 2wd just don't go boggin'!

Use the rule for the puddle, 'don't drive through it if you don't already know how deep it is at that time'

mopar74 say: "A pot hole today will ruin your wheel/tire tomorrow".

 

between you and me, a 2wd can only do so much off-road...I took ine out and landed in a semi deep puddle that had my tires spinning quite a bit...but I was still able to make it out...All i can say is be careful where you go.

 

I live in vegas so a 4x4 was not needed. I would also someday like to build my truck into a decent prerunner so a 4x4 would have only hindered that.

 

If you wanted a prerunner I'm not sure that the Ram was the best slate to start with.

 

4x2 and off road go together like Bill Clinton and Mother Teresa, just won't work. Buy a 4x4. I have the stock 275 60 20 on my 06 qc 4x4, other than taking it 50-60 miles down Big Shell, north padre island texas (40 miles of which are posted 4x4 only) and the occasional it rained last night lets see how many 360s we can make in a field, i wouldnt trust my 4x4 with stock tires to do much else. Yours being 2wd and those vegitarian tires I'd watch out for wet grass. Don't expect the hemi to do a damn thing other than have some guy in a chevy ride up to you while your stuck and ask "does that thing got a hemi?". As for your tires even going with a wide nitto terra grappler 305 70 or even a 325 70 (woo hoo gas mileage sucks) youre still risking a tow. Dont get Nitto muds or any other true mud tire, unless you dont mind braking 30 yards sooner, god forbid its raining then youll wind up stopping in the middle of the intersection. My buddy has a 2wd sc and yeah we've rocked the hell out of it before trying to get out of someting that didnt look bad at all.

final thoughts [sm=signs003.gif]

 

RamItOne, so is there any decent off-roading around Padre Island? Sorry, don't mean to post hijack here, but I used to go out to the Oceano Dunes in my Ranger back when I lived in Cali and now that we have the H3 I've been meaning to find a good place to go.

 

Its ok, if youre wanting to take it out off road for the first time or so then it would be good. You can't go up on dunes, some of the sand gets pretty soft, and take a few hours to get all the way down depending on the tide. If its low tide you can get on the hard sand, dont go more than 40, ive gone 55 but theres dips and bumps that you cant see till your up on em, ive had my shocks fully extended several times. I just go out there to hang out with friends and drink beer for a few days, you wont see anyone left or right of you if you go down 35-50 miles, 60 miles is the end and so more people wind up there so I try to stay away from where N padre meets S padre. Also sometimes youll have a ton of seaweed (3 feet high at low tide stacked up on shore) ive gone through that before, that can be interesting, try to avoid it because theres glass etc that can screw up your tires, but when the hard packed sand is turning into ocean you have no choice to cross over to the top of the beach. If you go that far (35-50) on a weekend youll see 5 maybe 10 trucks go past you all the way down to the end of the island, fisherman dont drive down that far so you really are by yourself, if you go on a weekday you may see 1 or 2 people drive by. Its great if you have dogs, i let my two labs run around, dont even have to pay attention to them.

My advice if you go is to bring a 5 or 10 gal gas tank, because 4wd will kill it, when theres a ton of soft sand youll be going 5-12 miles an hour and i get about 6mpg when im doing that (have 200 pounds of ice, 8 - 10 cases of beer etc so the rear is weighted down), also your odometer is gonna register more miles than you actually went since youll be slipping a lot. If you dont have an extra tank just remember dont got past half on the gas needle [sm=badidea.gif] . Thers a gas station about 5 miles before the beach on the right hand side.

BTW if you go, plan to spend the night, too long of a drive down there for the day (and driving it at night sucks). As your driving stop and pick up drift wood for a fire. What ill do is once i set up camp you can find washed up logs (telephone poles and railroad ties) ill wrap my tow strap around them and drag em to camp and build a fire under them.
About 15-16 miles down theres a path (yarborough pass) where you can go over a dune and on to the other side of the island where the intra coastal is. My buddy has a 4wd toyota taco 4 banger with muds, he has a hard time getting up it, but then again muds arent good for soft sand.

Lastly wash the hell out of your truck, i get under it and can usually fill up a 5 gal bucket with seaweed.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

Damn good post. Thanks for all of the info. I don't think I'll have any problem in the sand.... plenty of experience there. In my Ranger I could fly over the soft stuff at 40+. Went out to the dunes almost every single weekend for 2 years. Used to climb hills with about 60% grade, about a 40% side slope, etc. Launced my poor little ranger 150-some feet at a peak of 6ft. high at 55 mph one time... didn't go so well, but kept on truckin. Granted, the dunes there were much smaller area wise, but I've been over about anything a vehicle can go over. I learned from the locals with Hummers, Wranglers, and old Toyotas. I'd love to take the Hummer out and test her out since she should be able to handle at least everything my old Ranger did. I'll just air down the tires some and take it easy at first.

Once again, thanks for all of the info. I'll have to find someone who's been out there to go out with me the first time or get a group to go out together.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0Gvc9gONTM

The only issue with the sand is it can get deeper than your clearance and once your front bumper gets below the sand you'll be backing out of there.

I usually go out to corpus once a month (live in SA). You shouldnt worry about getting stuck out there, I have seen tow trucks go out there, but thats usually for a shredded tire and unless your were smart enough to bring several pieces of 1 inch ply wood and concrete blocks to make a platform to jack up the truck youre pretty much SOL. If you get stuck anybody out theres gonna stop and pull you out, just make sure youve got a tow strap (just damn common courtesy). My personal opinion on straps is go with the looped one, know someone that got killed with a metal hook snapping off of the other vehicle.
Theres park workers that drive down on mules looking for sea turtle nests, they can radio for help if you need it, your cell wont work out there. A shovel is a usefull tool to bring with you, hopefully youll just use it to dig a fire pit.

 

that just gives me dirty thoughts