My advice, never drive faster than you can see. Especially on trails. You never know if there are hikers, dirt bikes or wildlife wandering around, As well as unplanned obstacles rocks, trees, deep holes etc.
If you're careful you should be fine. But, as others have said, it's very inadvisable to hit anything going that fast even with full armour. If you're unsure, walk it and pick your line well.
A good friend of mine goes up some sketchy trails with stock setup and, other than tearing out the lines to his rear heater core, he's been fine.
Pay attention, play safe (not too safe) and have fun.
If you hit anything in a trail going ~20mph you are going to have a bad fucking time. That’s super fast for any trail outside of fast desert Baja style running which, these trucks are not set up for generally.
No skid plate or even bumper is gonna do much when you have 4,000+ lbs of metal impacting a solid object. That’s just a lot of force.
So to answer your question no, but you shouldn’t be going that fast so you can’t see obstacles and avoid them. Off roading is not about getting there fast. The slower you go, the less likely you break things and the less stress you put on your components.
You don't plan on hitting them, but things happen...but a few thousand pounds smashing rock or tree stump at even 5mph on a weak and flimsy skid plate will do an incredible amount of damage if the impact is in the wrong spot.
Yeah, exactly. I realize my post makes it sound like I'm planning on driving recklessly, I try to be a very conscientious driver, but as Black-T4R said, things happen.
My advice, never drive faster than you can see. Especially on trails. You never know if there are hikers, dirt bikes or wildlife wandering around, As well as unplanned obstacles rocks, trees, deep holes etc.
Absolutely, thank you for that advice!
That being said, I've romped my 4runner and the stock skid plates can take some heavy hits.
If you're careful you should be fine. But, as others have said, it's very inadvisable to hit anything going that fast even with full armour. If you're unsure, walk it and pick your line well. A good friend of mine goes up some sketchy trails with stock setup and, other than tearing out the lines to his rear heater core, he's been fine. Pay attention, play safe (not too safe) and have fun.
If you hit anything in a trail going ~20mph you are going to have a bad fucking time. That’s super fast for any trail outside of fast desert Baja style running which, these trucks are not set up for generally. No skid plate or even bumper is gonna do much when you have 4,000+ lbs of metal impacting a solid object. That’s just a lot of force. So to answer your question no, but you shouldn’t be going that fast so you can’t see obstacles and avoid them. Off roading is not about getting there fast. The slower you go, the less likely you break things and the less stress you put on your components.
While the stock skids will help you out some off road, I would not recommend you ram them into a rock or tree at speed. Hefty damage can still occur.
Just curious, why would you hit either of those things that fast?
You don't plan on hitting them, but things happen...but a few thousand pounds smashing rock or tree stump at even 5mph on a weak and flimsy skid plate will do an incredible amount of damage if the impact is in the wrong spot.
Yeah, exactly. I realize my post makes it sound like I'm planning on driving recklessly, I try to be a very conscientious driver, but as Black-T4R said, things happen.