Okay I searched and didn't find anything. If this was discussed already please provide me with a link. Thanks.

Just wondering what was your worst stuck or hardest trail that you have ever attempted. If you have some pics to show please include them. Also what is the deepest water crossing that anyone has ever attempted. If you have pics of those then I would love to see them.

After installing the 3" suspension lift... and three days of rain, I figured time to get a little muddy. I have no "on trail pics" but put the top of the hood under water. I know the water was above the doors, but I was not stopping to look.

The funniest thing, Laura looks at me and says, we need a snorkel! I reply, they really make them ya know. So, future mod: Snorkel!

Hardest trail, about 7 miles though the Pennsylvania woods (on private property, with permission) with LITTLE to no trail. From a "fire road" to my back yard. This was about 2 weeks after I started dating Laura, and she's still here today... so.

-Jeremy

Hardest trail, anything in Moab with a bad hangover.

Yep, and maybe that mixed in with a bolt of lightning! (last May)

Table Mountain Ranger District, WA State:

Got on a trail that hadn't been used for awhile. Ended up winching and pulling trees out of the way so we could get anywhere, lots of tight spots, and lots of off camber. Most of the trail was basically driving up the side of a mountain. Very steep, and very loose dirt and rock. At one point I winched up a section and then we removed one of my rock sliders and carried it 100 yards down the side of the hill so one of the Xterras could borrow it for his trip up. After about 8 hours of winching, pulling, and swapping parts we ended up spending the night on the side of the mountain off camber with one truck about 200 yards below stuck in a bunch of loose rock. Next day we spent about 3 hours trying to finish the last 100 yards (after finally getting the last truck up to that point), which was straight up the side of the mountain on loose rock with no trees to winch to. We gave up, turned around and it took about an hour and a half to get back to where we started the day before. When we got down, two guys were headed up on Quad Runners. While we were putting air back in our tires and stuff they came back and the guy says "I can't believe you guys went up that! My Dad rolled his quad trying to get up there and we decided to turn around!" Definately a trip to remember! I only got one picture because most of the trip was spent working or in total fear! Picture is out my right window showing the view in my mirror of the valley below. Too bad I couldn't get video or anything, because there's no way to properly describe all the work and fear involved. I'll post the picture!

Now, just two weeks ago, some of PNWX made it to Moab and had a bad day on the Golden Spike trail. One truck broke a torsion bar right after the crack and they ended up driving most of the trail in the dark with it pouring down rain while somebody walked ahead to keep them from driving off any cliffs. Two of them were the guys I went up that other trail with. They were on the trail for 15 hours. Not sorry I missed that!



Just a note: WHen I took this picture, I had the truck turned off, it was in 1st gear, AND I was standing on the brake to keep it from rolling down the hill! I had just crossed the hill sideways and turned left to start going up. Very scary; one more inch to my right and I probably would have been a gonner. The worst part though was that was the point where we turned around and I had to back up there and across the mountainside going backwards so the other guys could come down.

Hardest Trail:
Golden Spike Moab.

I've been on trails with harder obstacles but Golden Spike is like a 4wheeling marathon so I'd rate it hardest overall trail.



Worst Stuck:
Wrong line up Tip Over challenge on Hells Revenge.

I wasn't really stuck but after two tries I was so disoriented I had no idea where my line was and really needed a spotter to get me out. And it didn't help that every time I tried to go up the front driver side wheel would lurch 5ft in the air threatening to tip me.

Not to mention bone stock with bald tires

Those racing slicks provided quite a bit of traction on the slickrock.

Stress has a WHOLE new meaning when you have to run Golden Spike, from the Golden Stairs, to the end in the dark.... IN A TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR! Haven't felt that stressed since USMC Boot Camp 13 years ago.

Every steep obstacle (up or down), had waterfalls running down them. My wife walked ahead of the truck scouting the trail markers, since they were pretty much impossible to see with the water running over them.

Well, Rusty Nail Trail in Moab is rated as a 5+. Little areas like this are the minor obstacles.

That trail claimed one K5 Blazer about 2 hours after this pic.

Nasty, but fun. Ends on the Golden Spike Trail.



Victim of the day.

A little hill called Potato Salad in Moab or Upchuck on Behind the Rocks.

A dirt road in a CR-V.....

Disney, OK. The ruts were deep enough I was just resting on the frame spinning my wheels. It was raining and the ruts leading to this were slick enough I couldn't get out of them to bypass it. Kind of like driving a car on a rail at Disneyland.



The spillway at Disney. In the pool I'm on a ledge that a couple feet further out has a 20 foot drop. It's recommended you have a spotter that knows where it is to keep you from playing submarine. The red marks are for the competition course that runs through here.

wow steve! that looks absolutely insane! And no water got into the intake? I'm surprised none did... What about inside the car?

I don't have a lift but i have crossed a river with water coming over my hood and splashing on the windshield! everything turned out fine!

Anyone to put water over thier hood i think is lucky to not get drowned unless it was REAL quick in n out.

Ok, I'll bite...Not the fist Xterra on the Con, but I would definately say a tough trail.

pics

Nice pic's of Gate Keeper. One trick for squeeze (if you have a front locker and good side rails) is to turn the front locker on half way thru the turn and let it pull you around the rock.

Toy Man

So whats the highest safest spot you can place the water level on the xterra? I mean if you planned to go water forging, where would the limit for the water cut off? Before the water gets in the engine, or electronics, and the such.

Josh

The intake is above the water. Water did leak into the interior. Really resulting in muddy carpets and my Sirius tuner under the passenger seat looked chocolate dipped. The alternator crapped out as well. The tuner and alternator were pulled, disassembled and washed out at the campground and are still working a year later. The carpeting was yanked and washed at a carwash and the rest of the interior hosed out when I got home. There is no sign of it now.

I have done it once and don't want to do it again. I missed a ford by 20 feet. Water washing up to the windshield causes serious sphincter pucker. A Jeep following me hydrolocked. I have no idea how he did and I didn't the water was barely over his frame. I towed him back to camp. When I got across and popped the hood the fender under my K&N aircharger was damp, but the filter itself was dry.

worst stuck- stuck in 2ft. of snow with no shovel.

Anywhere past the hubs is when you have to start worrying. First problems is that if water gets in the hub grease it contaminates it and causes wear. Some people change the grease ASAP but I checked mine after a deep fording and the grease was fine. But if you do it alot you should change the hub grease.

Second problem is water getting into the drivetrail components. Luckily all the vents are mounted up high or they have a valve that closes in water so they're usually ok for fording.

The real limit is the bottom of the doors, you can close all your windows, turn the ventalation on full fresh air to create a postitive cabin pressure but it won't keep the water out if the water is very far past the bottom of the doors.

Plus there's a whole mess of problems when the water is up to the body. The Xterra will actually start to float when the water gets too high. It won't float enough to float over the water but it will be enough to cause your tires to lose traction on the river bottom. And it the water is moving very fast it can wash you donwstream.

To sum it all up:
Water below the hubs is ok, no problems.
Water between the hubs and body you need to be cautious.
Water up the side of the doors is a cause for concern.

And in any situation don't go too fast through the water, you should go fast enough to create a small bow wave in front of the Xterra. You shouldn't be going fast enough to get the water to wash up over the hood.

Whew! That ended up being a tiny essay.

Wow, thanks Kerensky for the information. Nice complete explanation of each stage was a big help!

This was an interesting trail for me:





More pics & info ...

water crossings are also a bit easier with an auto tranny than a manual. put it in low range and go, typically somewhere around 10 mph. with a stick on teh other hand you have to be in teh appropriate gear BEFORE hitting the water. shifting under water can let water between the flywheel and clutch and will act like little bearings and not let the clutch fully engage. It will once it dries out, but when it's wet and you nail the gas and barely move while crossing a creek, that is a SUPER BAD feeling.

Haven't had my X seriously stuck yet, but my worst stuck I was wheeling alone in a scout II. Went up over a rock and lost a bead, truck slid and high centered the passengers side on a boulder. all i had was a shovel, so i started digging. took me two days to move enough dirt from under that rock to get it to sink low enough that i could drive off.

Justin

Um, yeah, if you have one of those open transmissions where the manufacturer actually forgets to seal the transmission to the block.

Just wondering for those that have gone to MOAB. Has anyone tried to attempt either the Swamper Eater (a 30 foot cliff that has a reputation for flipping rigs end over end) or the Gator's Back (a huge boulder that requires you to climb at a 50-degree angle)? What about Bowling Alley (a steep climb up a ravine filled with huge sandstone boulders that is unforgiving and can cause you to expeirence diff hang like no other)? I read that in the Jun 04 issue of Fourwheeler Mag. The reason that I added the stuff in parathesis is for the poeple that haven't been there before (like myself) to get an idea of some of the popular things that they have there. Also has anyone seen someone attempt one of the first two things and actually flip??

Worst Stuck

Happened last year (1 year and 1 week ago today exactly, as it so happens), on an otherwise delightful Sunday afternoon.
It was a mud/water pit on the right side with a soft mud path to the immediate left of the pit. I was the lead vehicle, and when I saw the pit I knew I didn't want to go into it (seeing the large boulders that would drop me into the pit reinforced that feeling) , but the path to the left didn't look hard at all. So, I took the soft mud path - but managed to get stopped about where this picture was taken.

I had the drivers side rear and passenger side fron wheels trying to go up on rocks in the mud at the same time, and the passenger rear and drivers side front wheels in the muck, so I just spun tires at the end (you can see the rock the front tire got stuck on in the first pic, just infront of the ARB, tucked under the headlight bar). When I tried to backup, the rear pivoted/slid towards the right setting me up into a line with the exit and the mud pit. After sliding over, I could neither move forward or backward, and I managed to bury myself while trying to get out of the position I was in.
(notice very carefully how the right rear tire is completely submerged)

After assesing the situation, the conclusion was reached that the Xterra could be extracted by winching her forward - but now the problem was that there were no vehicles ahead of me, because I was leading at this point. And with the way the X was stuck there wasn't any room to get another vehicle around me, and of course there was no Snatch block to be found (which would have concluded this situation). So, the decision was made to pull the X Backwards to make room for another vehicle to go around. So I hooked up my tow strap to the hitch by opening up the hatch, lying down in the back on my stomach on my spare tire, and reaching down into the muck to hook it up, while gracefully coming inches from falling completely into the mud myself. And manage to pull my X with the tow strap into this position


There still wasn't enouch room to get another vehicle around, so...
Since we weren't getting far by tugging (since the other vehicle was spinning tires on the muddy path) we hooked up the winch to the hitch and managed to pull the X back so the rear tires were up on the rocks.




Once we got a vehicle in front, we tried winching her out. We got to here (about 4.5 hours after the original stick, if I recall correctly)

before the X wouldn't budge at all with what we had. Being Sunday and all, I had difficulty tracking down someone to help extract me - and when I finally did find someone who could help, they couldn't help until the next day

And then, because of weather (rain - and lots of it) that day turned out to be a 4 day wait
By then the Passenger side tailight was completely submerged under water.

Damages (cause otherwise someone will ask):
$300 for the winch out
$195 for the tow to the Mechanic
$3805 for: fluids flushed (oil, Coolant, Tranny, Transfer case); hubs repacked; differentials drained, inspected, and refilled; Gas Tank replaced (dented when it dragged across a rock as I was finally winched out of the pit); I Broken Shock (eye of shock cracked); replacement of interior carpeting; Battery replaced; Vent control Valve, Vapor Canister, purge volume control valve and EVAP system pressure sensor, a window regulator, and to have the interior cleaned.

Um yeah Jeff I remember that day all to well....

Ouch, I feel for ya man! Reminds me of a poor Hardbody owner on another board that got stuck once near the shore of a lake. When they returned the next day with help to get him out, they had released water from the dam upstream and they found his truck with water about halfway up the sides. Took him a few months including a new transmission to get it back to 100% after that, related issues kept surfacing.



Brent

If I remember correctly they were showing off parts of Upper and Lower Helldorado. An Xterra (in IFS form) will not conquer this trail. If attempted you should plan on having more body damage than an Iraqi tank! External roll cages are common on these trails. Other trails worth mentioning by name are Rusty Nail (which meets up with the Golden Crack and has plenty of 40 - 50 degree sections that last a mile at a time). Another one is The Proving Grounds. Behind the Rocks has been attempted by Xterras but not without using by-passes. On most of the 3.5+ trails in Moab (which are plenty) there are obstacles that can not be conquered by an IFS Xterra.

Roll overs... its happened, just search and find write ups on Jorge and Weelit. Its part of the risk you take but worth the ride!

Rocaholic, those are some really impressive pictures. Just glad it wasn't me stuck with hat $3800 bill

well, seeing as how the Xterra uses an external slave cylinder, there is a rather large hole that could pass water. yes, the boot is a tight fit, but it is still possible, expecially as the boot ages. second point is the drain hole in the bellhousing. why do you think nissan would have put that there if they didn't expect water to get in the bellhousing? (there's actually a sticker down there that says to remove the plug after deep water crossings). Thirdly-if the plug for the bellhousing drain were to come out (it happens quite often) there would again be an open path for water into-you guessed it- the bellhousing. Water in the bellhousing+shifting=bad things. I'd rater play it safe.

Justin