How tough is YOUR Truck, SHTF and you need to boogie, can you?

I LOVE this You Tube channel, these guys are a hoot to watch and they are always into cool cars and off road trucks. This latest video really hit me between the eyes and reminded me of something I hadn't really thought of and worse, sort of taken for granted! If you had a SHTF/TEOTWAWKI situation, and you needed to haul ass, could you? Would your rig be able to drive any distance, especially to a more secure and hard to reach area, especially off road, How Tough do you think your rig really is?
Give this video a watch and then lets talk about what we think we know vs what we just learned!

Growing up, I had use of Dads 1949 Chevy 3/4 ton Pickup, 2 wheel drive and super duty tires with high traction rears, and about a foot of ground clearance under the lowest parts like the front beam axle, and we took that old Chevy everywhere we needed to go, not so much to have fun, and certainly not to abuse it, mostly for hunting or gathering fire wood after felling and bucking, and the 46 Willys didn't have any payload, BUT it was four wheel drive and could pull a small trailer, no, it was that Old Chevy that got all the work done when we needed it, and as it was pretty much all we had, it did everything we asked of it! SO, how tough is your rig, and could it do what these guys did to their rigs, and survive to fight another day?

 

Yeah, pretty sure mine would be ok. Of course mine is not held together with zip ties, my battery cables aren't rubbing and shorting out, better tires, etc.

Oh yeah, I can drive.

 

Long Range America

I have one of these in my truck as well as some other mods.

 

Here I was thinking of putting a slip tank in the truck.

 

I have a 1980 Diesel Toyota BJ 60 with a Turbo Mod engine , 5 speed , Pto Gen set and Fully done . Was offered Huge coin , Nope my ground ship , air ship is a MD 585E , water ship was a cutter rigged yawl , fully self furled , Check Pacific Yachting for "Alana" 146'
Sloth
Got to old to spend hours to keep Alana , that we built.

 

If I wasn't so married to my Power Wagons and my Willy's Pickup, THIS would ( In my mind at least) be the ultimate off road capable pickup, do all get the hell out of suburbia and disappear for a while rig!

Simple, choice and tasty mods only, nothing fancy, reliable as the day is long, efficient, and tough as old boots, I don't think there was ever a small 4X4 truck that could ever match one of these! Infinitely rebuildable, serious aftermarket support, and a bizillian mods to play with, Absolute Perfection!


Second choice for small pickup would be a Mid 90's Ford Ranger 4X4 built pretty much the same as the Toyota, keep it simple but effective and you really got something! A Feller or Fellette could do one of these on a budget and still come out on top!



Last choice would be the last years of the Square Body Dodge Dakotas with the 5.9L V-8 and 4X4, these don't need nearly as many mods, they came from the factory with most of the tasty bits already, so for the budget minded, this could actually be the best of all, just make sure you get a good one to start with, and the rest will come together pretty quick!

What's nice about the Dodge, they are a little bigger then the Toyota, having more leg room and and your not sitting on the floor, V-8 power and a reliable drive train, They are super cheap to buy, and if you shop around, you should have no problems finding a decent looking and running/driving rig that will last and are seriously tough! These also have tons of aftermarket support, so your not fighting to keep them running, and can mod them to suit your needs! For the money, this beats them all, and isn't that far off the Top of the pile Toyota in any measure, and a hell of a challenger to the Ford, really the only advantages the others have over these is a smaller size and lighter weight, and that's not all that much really!

 

Just watched that last night!

Quite a fan of the channel. BTW - that POS, $2 truck has 500K miles on the clock. You would be amazed at what a truck can do -- if you don't mind trashing it in the process....

Remember the Ford from Mr Majestyk?
Mr. Majestyk wild 1968 Truck Chase (youtube.com)

 

I am pretty sure my VDJ76 will get me anywhere a vehicle can go

 

64 gallons of fuel, 5.5k generator, dual batteries, 2k inverter, rooftop heat pump, 42 gallon spare tank that can be installed in minutes, hurricane tint on the windows, HF,VHF,UHF and microwave radios, 42' pneumatic antenna/camera mast. I breeze through sobriety checkpoints and hurricane roadblocks. Problem is, I have no plans to bug out.

 

No illusions here about off-roading as it has to be super dry for weeks or you're going down like a fat boy at the free pizza buffet.

 

full steel skid plates to keep protestors from getting caught up in the engine compartment and drive train. 8+ inches of ground clearance. Full time 4wd with locking center diff, 300-400 mile range depending on loading and weighs nearly 5k pounds. Seats 7 (or 4 plus lots of kit. OR 2 plus lots and lots of kit)
Only thing I wish this had was a larger fuel tank and a steel bumper.

 

….yes !!

 

Much newer than mine .
Nice

 

after 24 years of heavy abuse and still functioning and now in the shop getting a complete inside refurb............. I have a lot of faith in the BIG RED THUNDER CHICKEN One of the upgrades in the refurb is putting the rebuilt straight 7 Rockwell tranny back in. And a 350,000 mile engine rebuild. Love my stacked 5.9C Long Block.

 

Off-Road Jeep Trail - 60 yr old stock VW bus (youtube.com)

Moab trip to offroad in a 23 Window VW Bus! (youtube.com) These have good clearance, if not a lot of HP.

 

What I cringe over is folks driving like hell over rough roads, then getting on the pavement and going along at the speed limit.

When I was a kid, we lost a family friend when his dune buggy (the fiberglass tub kind) flipped and rolled - tire failure at speed. He'd been running the dry riverbeds, and the rocks hidden in the sand damaged one of the tires.