Video: Broncos recover a Rivian & other vehicles stuck in snow

[popo_patty]

What started out as a simple trip to help a friend recover a stranded XJ. Turned into an hours long trip, rescuing all kinds of vehicles. Including a stuck Rivian.

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[Bschurr]

Nice video and thanks for sharing. The fact that the Rivian weighs over 7k lbs doesn’t do it any favors in unpacked snow…

 

[Rhinomanj]

Very entertaining, thanks for posting. We got 6-8 inches in Nashville a few weeks back and my Raptor was like a dog with a bone.

 

[HPNQ420]

What started out as a simple trip to help a friend recover a stranded XJ. Turned into an hours long trip, rescuing all kinds of vehicles. Including a stuck Rivian.

Great video. Thank you for posting.

 

[swooshdave]

I'm my inexperienced opinion none of those other vehicles aside from the Broncos should have been out there. Maybe the red Jeep with what looked like sand tires behind the Cherokee.

I don't know why the Rivian people think those things are off-road vehicles that can hang with Jeeps and Broncos.

Is the drone still up in the tree? Did you have obstacle avoidance on? First drone you've lost?

 

[popo_patty]

I'm my inexperienced opinion none of those other vehicles aside from the Broncos should have been out there. Maybe the red Jeep with what looked like sand tires behind the Cherokee.

I don't know why the Rivian people think those things are off-road vehicles that can hang with Jeeps and Broncos.

Is the drone still up in the tree? Did you have obstacle avoidance on? First drone you've lost?

Yea I didn’t do a great job filming all the recoveries cause we were pressed to get through them all to the XJ… Took us two hours to do that lol. The Rivian kept getting stuck over and over. The 4Runner was the worst. He wasn’t aired down and on street tires. Wasn’t too kneen on us yanking him around either. He couldn’t for the life of him stay on the road with those tires. The Samurai only needed one recovery. Same with the Sequoia.

The Tacoma was mild to recover but the Dodge was baaad. He was way to heavy and kept sinking. We were on 3-5 feet with the top 2 feet being fresh stuff. He kept sinking into the packed snow….

Finally built a go-around and pulled them all back and out. They were all from out of town and didn’t know what they were doing. Great attitudes and nice people though! Just not prepared. The red Jeep is an OG from the area. He is well known in the community as a true expert.

And yes, drone is currently 100 feet up enduring 60+ mph gusts and 2 feet of snow dumping in that area… I doubt I’ll find it in the melt. I dropped a pin though happy hunting.
38.83102, -120.24259

 

[voxel]

I'm my inexperienced opinion none of those other vehicles aside from the Broncos should have been out there. Maybe the red Jeep with what looked like sand tires behind the Cherokee.

I don't know why the Rivian people think those things are off-road vehicles that can hang with Jeeps and Broncos.

Is the drone still up in the tree? Did you have obstacle avoidance on? First drone you've lost?

While I just sold my R1S, I've seen Rivians in Florida basically go through the same muddy 3-4 feet trails and man-made obstacles. The R1Ses have completed the Rubicon trail too. The 14-15" of ground clearance truly helps. The problem is the stock 20" tires are not great for snow and the Rivians use quad motors and software to detect traction loss - rather than utilize front/rear lockers (a big flaw).

 

[swooshdave]

And yes, drone is currently 100 feet up enduring 60+ mph gusts and 2 feet of snow dumping in that area… I doubt I’ll find it in the melt. I dropped a pin though happy hunting.
38.83102, -120.24259

650 miles away... I'll pass on that one.

 

[swooshdave]

software to detect traction loss - rather than utilize front/rear lockers (a big flaw).

Need I say more?

Let me guess, you can't put proper off-road tires on them either?

 

[voxel]

Need I say more?

Let me guess, you can't put proper off-road tires on them either?

The 20s are fine for sand, dirt, mud. Not really a winter/snow tire.

The quad motor system works... it's just delayed due to software needing to detect traction loss. Also quad motor only pushes 1/4th the power per wheel (yes there's 908 lb-ft of torque but that's split 4 ways essentially). Dual motor with locking diff would work better IMO.

Again, they've completed the Rubicon trail. There are plenty of low/mid trim Broncos that could not. Are the R1Ts or R1S as capable as a loaded Badlands or Wildtrak? Probably not. But they definitely are more capable than a Black Diamond or non-Sas Bronco.

Separately, an underrated off road beast is the Hummer EV. My friend is actively trying to destroy his (his reasoning is it is under warranty) and it basically destroys terrain and wades through water instead of driving over it.

 

[swooshdave]

The 20s are fine for sand, dirt, mud. Not really a winter/snow tire.

The quad motor system works... it's just delayed due to software needing to detect traction loss. Also quad motor only pushes 1/4th the power per wheel (yes there's 908 lb-ft of torque but that's split 4 ways essentially). Dual motor with locking diff would work better IMO.

Again, they've completed the Rubicon trail. There are plenty of low/mid trim Broncos that could not. Are the R1Ts or R1S as capable as a loaded Badlands or Wildtrak? Probably not. But they definitely are more capable than a Black Diamond or non-Sas Bronco.

Separately, an underrated off road beast is the Hummer EV. My friend is actively trying to destroy his (his reasoning is it is under warranty) and it basically destroys terrain and wades through water instead of driving over it.

Those numbers are not accurate for the Bronco. Which makes me the Rivian owners are getting the impression they’re as good as a Bronco and it’s not even close.

Departure angle for a Sasquatch is 29 degrees? Give me a f’n break.

 

[popo_patty]

Those numbers are not accurate for the Bronco. Which makes me the Rivian owners are getting the impression they’re as good as a Bronco and it’s not even close.

Departure angle for a Sasquatch is 29 degrees? Give me a f’n break.

Yea that chart is all kinds of wrong info. Try 37 degrees on stock Sasquatch I’m local to the Rubicon too. The Rivian didn’t conquer the Rubicon, one of them made it by the skin of its teeth taking all the easy lines and needing help the whole way. All of them broke down. It took horrendous damage and struggled in every way. It’s too heavy, has zero articulation, has IRS on top of IFS and gets freaked out in the rocks. Most of that Rivian trio didn’t make it through. The whole community up here was circulating videos of them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti Rivian. They just arn’t an off-roader. Adventure truck, sure, rock crawler, mudder, snow runner, no.

Driver makes a big difference too…

 

[voxel]

Yea that chart is all kinds of wrong info. Try 37 degrees on stock Sasquatch I’m local to the Rubicon too. The Rivian didn’t conquer the Rubicon, one of them made it by the skin of its teeth taking all the easy lines and needing help the whole way. All of them broke down. It took horrendous damage and struggled in every way. It’s too heavy, has zero articulation, has IRS on top of IFS and gets freaked out in the rocks. Most of that Rivian trio didn’t make it through. The whole community up here was circulating videos of them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti Rivian. They just arn’t an off-roader. Adventure truck, sure, rock crawler, mudder, snow runner, no.

Driver makes a big difference too…

Yes multiple R1S failed the Rubicon

I've always considered the R1S a competitor to the Defender - which I saw a bunch fantastically fail at various man-made obstacles that Broncos or Wranglers easily drove over.

Those numbers are not accurate for the Bronco. Which makes me the Rivian owners are getting the impression they’re as good as a Bronco and it’s not even close.

Departure angle for a Sasquatch is 29 degrees? Give me a f’n break.

I sold my R1S because it wasn't really a hardcore off-roader. The lack of heavy-duty underbody shield (it's some composite material) and no rock rails - along with the general large girth made it pretty useless for Florida trails. I took it to Daytona speedway multiple times and the drag strip (1/4 in 11.8secs) but decided against any offroading (aka mudding through narrow forest trails) here.

I wanted a 2 door Bronco but settled for the Heritage 4 door that arrived out of the blue.

 

[swooshdave]

Yea that chart is all kinds of wrong info. Try 37 degrees on stock Sasquatch I’m local to the Rubicon too. The Rivian didn’t conquer the Rubicon, one of them made it by the skin of its teeth taking all the easy lines and needing help the whole way. All of them broke down. It took horrendous damage and struggled in every way. It’s too heavy, has zero articulation, has IRS on top of IFS and gets freaked out in the rocks. Most of that Rivian trio didn’t make it through. The whole community up here was circulating videos of them.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti Rivian. They just arn’t an off-roader. Adventure truck, sure, rock crawler, mudder, snow runner, no.

Driver makes a big difference too…

I went to search for the Rivian at the Rubicon. The video was... lacking.

The one short clip you can find showed it struggling.

When Ford took the Bronco to Rubicon there was no doubts.

 

[swooshdave]

Yes multiple R1S failed the Rubicon

I've always considered the R1S a competitor to the Defender - which I saw a bunch fantastically fail at various man-made obstacles that Broncos or Wranglers easily drove over.



I sold my R1S because it wasn't really a hardcore off-roader. The lack of heavy-duty underbody shield (it's some composite material) and no rock rails - along with the general large girth made it pretty useless for Florida trails. I took it to Daytona speedway multiple times and the drag strip (1/4 in 11.8secs) but decided against any off roading (aka mudding through narrow forest trails) here.

You were the one defending the Rivian as an off road vehicle.

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