Know this BEFORE you go Offroading!

Josh breakdowns a few different basics that you should know before you go offroading! These are sometimes overlooked or forgotten, but it's important to know to keep you and your rig safe. Not to mention, it will make navigating the trails and obstacles must easier. If you guys have any questions or tips that someone should know, make sure and leave them in the comments and help everyone out.

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[delano]

I just put it 4 low, and hope for the best

[ChasingDreamsLivingLife]

Great explanation.... But would be so much more valuable if you would actually SHOW on paper calculating the Breakover angles, along with SHOWING the broom stick method on a vehicle. Talking is great... Showing and demonstrating would really be advantageous to new guys.

[immelting]

Jeep wj 4 in long arms, 33's . Heavy trimming of wheel wells . As far as clearance mods go ;
1. radiator support cut off and a high clearance support put in - gain 2 in
2 . Toss the low pinion d30 for a high pinion front axle and then clock TC 11 degrees - gain of 3 in under TC
3 . Cut out rockers f to r and weld in rectangular tube the entire length - gain of 2in
4. Get rid of stock exhaust and 3rd cat. Low profile borla muffler and 2.5 in pipe tucked up and out of the way - 2.25 in gain
5. Lower control arm mounts and shock mounts both moved up the axle - gain .3 in
6 . Gas tank lift ; cut out the spare tire space and raise gas tank . Shorten the gas tank brackets . Massive gain of 10 inches !
7. Front end flip kit for rods. - I can't remember but it was a decent amount .
8 . Stuck with 44d axles . Built up axles so I won't need d60s . D60's will rob you of inches of clearance, forcing you to go bigger tires - $$$
9. Hidden winch synthetic rope for increased approach angle and weight savings vs huge heavy and in the way bumpers.
10 . Wheel on my friends.

[ancientsalt]

This is solid info. Im keeping my XJ as a mostly overland style rig. (3" lift on 31 to sometimes 32's). Since I have the ax15 I wont need to worry about gears up to 33" tires. Also, I have ordered a front diff guard as well as a skidplate "just in case". Just getting into offroad in a more serious sense and Ive found the community is mostly wholesome and eager to help. Thanks for the video

[markwyatt]

Before lifting, big tires, mongo bumpers, long arm suspension, you should armor up your undercarriage, dump your sidesteps and install rocksliders. The Jeep stock angles are pretty good and and if you bottom out you'll not be disabled.
My otherwise stock open diffs (LSD in rear) 02TJ with full armor does pretty good with a 2" puck lift, 31" tires and discos. I've been on hard rock runs with the Big Boys and the trail leader will look me over and say OK, we'll winch you over the hard spots. After dozens of runs I've only been winched 3 times and the Big Boys consider me a poster boy for nearly stock TJs able to play in the hard stuff. One key is keep your rig really light, no heavy aftermarket steel bumpers, no massive tools/spare parts, no winch, no rooftop storage systems, etc. I doubt I'm over 200 pounds from factory stock weight.

[sajimathew]

As noob this is the best explaination and calculation for breakerover angle, approach and departure angle. Thank you!!!

[KurNorock]

Yes. I think about all of that before i upgrade my ZJ. Which is why instead of buying some bolt on which bumper, i made my own and set it as far back towards the radiator as i could. Including cutting the grill so i could set out back 4 extra inches.

[GoneBroke]

Watch Matt's Offroad Recovery here on Youtube his Cherokee is all fabricated by himself plus his awesome offroad Corvair title Morrvair it's a beast he built for offroad recovery in Utah.

[finnishfatman]

I'm building my WK for overlanding purposes, so no rock crawling (since we don't even have mountains here in Finland). Currently at between 24-25 degrees breakover angle (if I calculated it correctly), which would be plenty for my use since most of the trips will be on good roads anyway. No reason to lift it more than what OME 2 inch MD gives. That'll allow me to put slightly bigger tires too than stock, which gives a bit more ground clearance 👍 Plan is to put some protection for my transfercase and other more exposed components too, since you never know if you'll end up on one of those "roads" that have bigger rocks or other potentially damaging stuff on them. Just to be sure. Nothing too heavy tho.

[kamiacc]

Why litter? At 6:33 the red jeep passenger tosses trash out the window onto the side of the trail.

[bk]

Another factor to consider that’s never mentioned is break over radius. While it’s related to break over angle, it’s the measurement of how small of a cylinder the vehicle could theoretically drive around. I’ll give an extreme example, the suburban, one is real the other is a 1/24 scale toy, the toy has the same break over angle as the real vehicle. The toy may have a half inch ground clearance but can be rolled around a 15” diameter drum. The real suburban would get high centered on the same drum even though it may have 10 inches of ground clearance. Area example off road is going over a rounded dirt hill. This extreme example illustrates that both break over angle and radius should be considered. Shorter wheelbases improve break over radius even if the break over angle is the same compared to a long truck. Break over angle better represents driving over a sharp corner like a rock outcropping, in other words, to get the same break over radius as a stock Cj2a in a long pickup truck would require quite the lift.

[arictjlover]

Like you said depends on what you plan on doing. My 98 jeep wrangler (tj) has a break over of 29° in the middle and it isn't enough for the rock crawling and rock ledges I do.

[makingmistakeswithgreg]

Biggest mistake people make is not understanding they have a system that is all interrelated. You can have a great setup and one overlooked aspect can hurt performance significantly. I see this all the time where people spend tons of money on lift/tires/bumpers/etc and then run side rock rails with low hanging steps. You would be better off keeping the vehicle at stock height then running side steps. It’s also very common for people to spend a ton of money on a setup and then run all terrain tires that belong on a dirt road. The most important aspect of off road is traction, and nothing improves traction more than tires.

[simcptmike]

Lmao@ 2:36 buddy tries to grab the jeep's rear end as it leans forward to stop it from going over 😂😂

[eliteinventor]

This video was spot on, 15' taco overland build

[derrickb]

Great info, 2015 Jeep Wrangler unlimited, 4 1/2 “ lift, 35/12.5 Wrangler MT 29 degree break over angle.
15” center clearance
116” WB
Great all around rig for off road and highway 🤙🏻

[samjohnson]

Know this BEFORE you buy a Jeep: you'll be replacing most of it to make this sort of capability reliable. (newer Rubis notwithstanding probably)
Know this BEFORE you buy a 1FZ K294 Land Cruiser: you need only a few lift springs.
I sub'd, so I feel I can say that. lol
But really, no matter what you drive get out there and do it! It's awesome!
Great info here. I think we'd all get along just fine and have a heck of a time. 👍👍

[nate]

My TJ had a poison Spyder armor with front and rear stingers with 37s. It only drug on the most extreme ledges. I never checked the angles but it made for a very capable rig. My current LJ, I threw angles out the door. We overland tour with a trailer. It wears front and rear ARB bumpers, Teraflex LCG, 35” MT/Rs. It’s a really capable rig but not the rock crawler my TJ was.

[jasonholloway]

Some of the most fun I have ever had 4 wheeling is in my friend's YJ with 31" tires and nerf bars. We went down Bronco's Peak in San Diego which is rated for 33's and lockers. It took us all day and and we slid on the nerf bars all day but we didn't break or dent anything. Just go have fun. Stock JK and JL's can do the Rubicon. You don't need $200K in the bank.

[grampabadger]

If Jeeps were really 'trail rated', wouldn't they have all this stuff built in from the factory? The Toyota FJ-40 would go everywhere right off the showroom floor.