Vehicle requirements

[ohio4whlr]

Been away from the group for awhile. I purchased a new to me vehicle and wanted to now what the minimum requirements
Be for the novice ride in April?

[Brad]

Not many requirements since it is a novice ride. It can be completely stock but should probably have a "real" 4wd system with low range and reasonable ground clearance from the factory. Vehicles along the line of a Jeep Wrangler, Cherokee, Liberty, Toyota Tacoma or 4Runner, etc.... I would recommend keeping the AWD vehicles like the Subaru's and cross-over SUV's (Ford Escapes, CRV's, etc...) at home. It's called a novice ride but don't mistake that with driving down graded dirt roads through the woods.

- I highly recommend some sort of tow points front and rear, and at least on one end or the other. A factory tow hitch works on the rear.
- The trails are not groomed or maintained which means there WILL be brush and limbs that will rub your vehicle. Usually the worse you get are some light scratches that will go away with a good waxing, but there is always a decent chance the vehicle will get more severe scratching or worse. If you are somebody that will flip out over a small scratch in the paint than you probably should not go.
- Going along with the above, the trails can be tight. The bigger the vehicle the more chance of scratches and body damage. I've ran a fullsize K5 Blazer for years on the trail and been over most of these "novice" trails many times with nothing more than a few small scratches....however I have lot's of experience, the K5 has a lot of body armor, and I really don't care what it looks like. I wouldn't even consider taking a nice and new fullsize vehicle on the trail.

With that said I don't want to scare anybody away. A lot of people get hooked on off-roading after one of these novice trips. It is always a good time and the other guys in the club ALWAYS take care of the novices. Nobody has ever been left stranded in the woods!

[ohio4whlr]

Thanks Brad, i appreciate the info, i have been on a couple of rides but with vehicles with lifts and oversized tires. I just purchased a Nissan Xterra and wanted to see if it is worth modifing for light offroading

[Ascender]

An Xterra won't need any mods at all for a novice ride. They're pretty well kitted out, for light offfroading right from the factory. If I could have found one in good shape in my price range, I would've gotten one over my current Liberty. Not that my Liberty has any problems getting around...