Off-Road
Overlanding, trail rigs, and everything built for the dirt.
Stories
9
Off the Grid: Overlanding Basics
Plan the route, understand the vehicle and build a modest setup around the trip you can actually take.
Selectable, automatic, welded: which locker earns its money
An open diff sends torque to the wheel with no grip. Everything else in your build is downstream of fixing that, and lift kits do not fix it.
Solid axle or IFS comes down to how fast you plan to go
Toyota went from beam axles to independent front suspension on purpose. The right answer depends entirely on whether your weekends are ledges or washboard.
Seven upgrades that beat a lift kit on a first build
A lift kit makes room for tires. That is all it does. Here is where the same money buys capability instead of ride height and rollover risk.
What breaks after you fit 35s, in the order it breaks
The tires are half the cost of the tires. Gearing, joints, steering, shafts, and brakes all come due, and they come due in a predictable sequence.
Overlanding became a shopping hobby with a roof tent
The gear got years ahead of the trips. Most kitted rigs drive to a campground with cell service, and the best trips are being run in boring vehicles.
Baja does not care about your build thread
A thousand miles of peninsula, stock Beetles racing Trophy Trucks, and a DNF rate that makes finishing the real prize. Desert racing grades on preparation.
Build a recovery kit that will not kill your friends
A kinetic rope stores energy like a drawn bow. Hook it to the wrong thing and the failure comes back through the glass. Buy the gear in this order.
How much used 4x4 does $12,000 actually buy?
Enough for a solid axle and a locker, or enough for somebody's abandoned project with fresh paint over a rotten frame. Ten minutes decides which.
Vehicles
7
Ford F-150 Raptor P552
2017–2020
Ford Bronco
2021–present
Jeep Wrangler JL
2017–present
Ram 1500 TRX DT
2021–2024
Rivian R1T
2021–present
Toyota Tacoma N300
2015–2023
Toyota Land Cruiser J80
1990–1997
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