New truck, gravel = mud flaps?

[chnlisle]

OK.....so would this pass the WTW Code, i.e. approved vehicle modifications?
Retractable power running board

Gene Rubin and I put these on the Dodge last spring and I couldn't be happier. Pam loves them too. Actually she's the one that wanted them and you know the drill. When mommas happy..........

 

[rotti]

Gene Rubin and I put these on the Dodge last spring and I couldn't be happier. Pam loves them too. Actually she's the one that wanted them and you know the drill. When mommas happy..........

Thanks for the review on those steps......the only downside seems to be the price.

 

[mtn-high]

I'm not sure what rockcrawling and trail destroying have to do with each other. A trails difficulty has little to do with how well a trail is treated. I've seen perfectly fine smooth dirt roads torn up.



Lotsa guys fail to see the correlation here, craig.... along with many other impacts such "fun" has on the forest/watershed/etc. Fortunately, others do see the impacts and try to mitigate them where they can.

As an example.... we used to join in on similar "trail" repair sessions to these in the 80's-90's.... along with repair work on "hiking" trails in/around this area... merely trying to stay ahead of such damage. (FWIW....the work cited on the "Big Bog" in '89 in the article/link below was one of the times I was in attendance)

http://www.4x4wire.com/access/activities/colorado/hcross/co_hc_work.htm

thus...the running boards and the avoidance of rocks whenever possible...


be safe out there...

mtn

 

[MarkBC]

Lotsa guys fail to see the correlation here, craig.... along with many other impacts such "fun" has on the forest/watershed/etc. Fortunately, others do see the impacts and try to mitigate them where they can...
.....
thus...the running boards and the avoidance of rocks whenever possible...

"thus"??

Running boards do nothing to preserve roads or trails, they only protect the rig's paint job. If anything, they could lead to more damage/abuse to routes, because they permit faster driving with less concern about damage from gravel spray.

Personally, I'd rather have a fully functional truck, with as little hanging off it as possible, and not be overly concerned with superficial damage from thrown up road debris...and even less concerned about being judged by my truck's appearance.

 

[mtn-high]

Wow.

Did I say they preserved the trail...anywhere? No...I said they preserve my truck.

Did I cite volunteering/working on severe trail erosion/damage done locally by folks who >didn't< have running boards and who weren't driving "too fast"? Yes...I did.

And your point (?) by insinuating that folks with RB's drive too fast/do more damage to the trail/road and drive faster than folks without RB's was?? (irrelevant?)

Thanks for the comments, but I'll choose functional literacy over a functional truck everyday of the week.

good luck out there

mtn

 

[ski3pin]

rotti, I'm interested in a review of the mudflaps when you get them. Is the easy mounting system as easy and secure as advertised? It looks interesting.

 

[lqhikers]

When we had our tacoma the first thing i did was to remove the

factory mud flaps(they are not real mud flaps,but hard plastic crap)

they will break the first time you back into or drop off a rock shelf .

solution ? simple, buy a large mud flap at a truck stop,you can then cut into four

flaps same as factory mount then in same location use same screws store factory

flaps,that way when you sell truck you have a new set makes your truck look like it

has never been off the road (have you ever priced a set at the dealer? wow)

our tiger came from the factory with rubber flaps so no worries!

of course if you drive like most people you do not need worry about off the road use.

drive slow and enjoy "its the journey"

Les,lqhikers

 

[rotti]

....of course if you drive like most people you do not need worry about off the road use.

drive slow and enjoy "its the journey"

Les,lqhikers






As it turns out gravel chips were the least of my concerns.

Just got back from a trip to the Montezuma, Colo area including Webster Pass,
Red Cone, Peru Creek and Radical Hill. After two days of 4WD low though I am missing my dirt bike.
The camper and truck worked great....thank goodness for the rear locker on those teeter-totter switchbacks. (My wife decided to walk this one.... )

Had a great time though and a beautiful area with the aspen starting to peak....guess I should do a trip report?

Ski3pin the mud flaps just arrived and I will do a review.
I am busy now buffing out brush racing stripes.

No rocks were harmed on this trip.

 

[craig333]

Guess you should do a trip report? /grrrrrr

 

[4llamas]

Rotti,
I installed mud flaps on my Chevy as soon as I bought it (one year ago), just couldn't see having rock chips in my new tube steps. My flaps look very similar to WeatherTech, but they mount with self tapping screws. Wouldn't be without flaps. I don't rock crawl, but I do drive some very rough and gravelly roads to wilderness trail heads. The only issue I've had is the driver side flap use to curl up on the tire tread after a hard left turn . That was partially because the truck has oversize tires (185/75/17)and after it happened once the flap was warped enough to continually get caught. I fixed it by warping the flap the other way with my heat gun and putting in another screw on the far inside of the flap. The screws go into the plastic wheel flares and so far they have held tight on roads that have damaged the door latches of my trailer.

WeatherTech makes excellent products. I purchased floor pans for my truck from Cabelas for less money than WeatherTech and when they arrived, they were actually WeatherTech floor pans with Cabelas logos in the box for me to place over the WeatherTech logos.