What Made You Fall in Love With Off-Roading?

[timhood]

What got you into off-roading?

Fins 'n' Things in a rented modified Jeep Wrangler with friends.

Shortly after that, I heard Jeep was going to be coming out with a model ready for rock crawling direct from the factory, I was ready to buy. I had only two requirements and one nice-to-have: a newer, better motor, and rack-and-pinion steering were the requirements, and an independent front suspension was the nice-to-have. Alas, the Rubicon arrived with none of those, so I waited for an upgrade. And waited. And waited. Eventually, I gave up, concluding that four-wheeling was not to be.

Many years later, after some interesting concepts never left the corral, Ford surprised me with an announced reveal of a Bronco that would be produced. One look, and the rest was history.

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[RR25HB]

Can I get that with lockers and a lift kit?

Negatory. 🫩

 

[bigdedition]

years ago I had a Lowered F150 4x2, same body type as Ford Lighting up in VT and I was dared in the middle of winter to make it as far as I could on a VAST trail. I made it about 3 miles to a point where I could only back out or attemp a 25 point turnaround LOL. I did get stuck half turned around but dug myself out after 2 hours and was able to turn around and drive out. Only slight damaged to one of my side skirts, I was hooked after that and bought s Sport Trac as my first 4x4. I recently sold the F150 about 2 years ago for a 85 Mustang. Of course, I have a Bronco as my daily and off-roader. For reference of the old F150 and Sport Trac. My 4x4's included in historical order; Sport Track, F250, Ranger, Izuzu Trooper, Ranger and Bronco

 

[Oldhippie]

as a little kid we lived up a dirt road that turned to mud cars would get stuck in, my uncle loaned us his WWII Jeep to use…parked on the pavement and jeeped back and forth…that “adventure“ grew into serious rock crawling and trail running

 

[dejones64]

I'm not really an off roader. I just like to take the road less traveled go explore and camp away from the "crowds".

 

[Steve_In_29]

As a kid we rode our bikes all over the boonies. Then as a Marine I bought a new 1981 Toyota 4x4 truck (they didn't have names back then). I liked the ability to explore in much more comfort then on a bicycle.

Over the years I (and later with my family) have done everything from Forest Service roads, to the Hammer Trails to camping in Baja. I have even raced as the navigator in the 2nd year of the (resurrected) Mint 400.

We were a Toyota family from 81 to 95 (81 truck, 82 Trekker, 83 FJ60) and then got into Broncos. First with the 73 I still own, then added another 73 for my wife's daily driver (sold when we moved to AZ) and finally with the 23 Wildtrak that was replaced with current 24 Heritage Limited after the WT was totaled.

 

[Kevin Scarbel]

Everyone has that moment that got them hooked.

Maybe it was your first trail, a trip, a friend who introduced you to it, or just wanting to build your dream rig.

What got you into off-roading?

A 1972 book called "The Jeep" (By Keith Robertson) about a boy who discovered a Jeep in a barn, tinkered with and got it running, and later bid on and purchased it.

https://www.amazon.com/jeep-Keith-R...=books&sprefix=the+jeep,stripbooks,182&sr=1-3

 

[HBTFD 2.0]

Watching the Rat Patrol. Those were the coolest MFers in the world back then. The dude with the curled up hat was my favorite.

 

[geargeek]

Back in the 60's - when my granda took me hunting offroad in the East Texas woods in his F250 - the best part was when we got stuck and he winched us out.

 

[Area51BS]

Matt’s Off Road Recovery on YouTube. Still love watching the off-roading on every new video! Keyboard offroading is where it’s at.

 

[Steve_In_29]

Matt’s Off Road Recovery on YouTube. Still love watching the off-roading on every new video! Keyboard offroading is where it’s at.

I can't believe how stupid a lot of the people he has to recover are.

Hell I self recovered from this down in Baja....

Some digging, threw brush in front of tires and dropped tire pressure...drove right out. While still towing the trailer and the camper had me right at the 11,400 GVWR of the truck.

 

[BigFootie]

We went from mini bikes to little dirt bikes to big dirt bikes and finally to Jeeps and Bronco’s. We were fortunate to have several places to go. Lived too far out of town for our parents to get us involved in sports. This was our sport!

 

[AZMikeL]

Grew up in the boonies. Dad always had a camper to sneak off on a fishing trip every couple of months. I joined boy scouts and got really into camping and hiking. Of course, this leads to offroading.

As a kid, I would ride my Honda ATC (yes, the 3 wheeler) all over the desert with my neighbor and his dirt bike. The dirt bike was much faster on hard pack, but the ATC did well in the sand. In high school, my friend had an older CJ. His mom asked if I could replaced the blown head gasket so she could save money. I ended up having the CJ at my house for about a week and took it for several "test drives" out near San Tan mountain, it was the 1st time I'd driven any sort of 4 wheeled off road rig and was hooked.

These days, it's more about exploring. I don't rock crawl for the sake of rock crawling, but if there's a rock obstacle between me and where I'm going, it's locker time! I've been exploring AZ for over 40 years now. I'm about 20% done!

I keep a protective coating of dust and dirt on the Bronco and have added a decent amount of custom desert pin striping as well - including this Sunday up on the Mogollon Rim offshoot from the main rim road.

 

[BAUS67]

Watching the Rat Patrol. Those were the coolest MFers in the world back then. The dude with the curled up hat was my favorite.

HELL YEAH!! Loved that show. Christopher George.

 

[RR25HB]

HELL YEAH!! Loved that show. Christopher George.

I had a Rat Patrol lunchbox in elementary school.

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