Managed to get the D2 out for its first off-road excursion. It's frustrating that there is not more (there is none) public land available near the Kansas City area for quick off-road excursions but we do have Kansas Rocks Offroad Park 90 miles south with excellent terrain and trail system. Link here -

Home - KS Rocks ParkKS Rocks Park

I met a friend with a set-up gen 3 4Runner and went to it. I have to say the D2 was impressive with the CDL / TC combo. I managed to get it on some steep climbs that were slippery from rain, mud, and shelf ridden. In every case the truck just methodically clawed its way up finding grip as available, adjusting and moving forward. Minimum bumping or extra throttle was needed. Several mud holes went the same, the truck just went in and out with little fuss.

I did get into one predicament that got harry. The trail paralleled a creek bed and ran off camber sloping to the creek then turned downhill into the creek. I felt uneasy about it and failed to evaluate the situation better before proceeding. Bad idea.

As I approached the left turn down the truck would side slip as it moved forward due to the sloping trail. I had trees on the left which were good because I couldn't roll it into the creek but bad because I was inching closer to the trees with any forward and backward movement. Very much looking like damage to the truck was inevitable. My D2 is not a trailer queen but other than a collection of door dings is pretty dang straight. I did not want to smash it. I realized I would contact the trees before clearing them the way things were going. Then the front left wheel went off maybe a 4” drop and the right rear lifted. Now it's getting tippy scary. This also moved me inches from a tree.

Now I have two trees about 4” off my door. Zach suggested trying to pull me back with the tow strap. This worked but I slipped down further and my folder mirror was now on a tree. I considered it a goner but it popped free of the tree undamaged as i went by. I managed to get the truck clear of the trees but...

So now the trees are forward of me, which is good but I am still sliding down the slope with any forward or backward movement. Free of the trees but dangerously close to rolling into the creek with no trees to stop me.

Now the trees are in front of the left corner, I also have trees behind the left rear corner as I have slipped down between two sets of trees. This was really starting to suck.

We decided to run the tow strap up slope around a tree to see if we could pull the truck up onto the trail, or at least get it into a better angle on the hill. No luck as it only moved the front of Zach’s 4Runner uphill and spun the tires. The D2 didn’t budge.

I had a thought. I had the CDL engaged this entire time. I thought maybe the CDL was causing the truck to “crab walk” sideways due the muddy slope and axles locked in unison. I disengaged CDL, turned the wheels uphill to the right and hit the gas. My hope was the front might bite more independently of the rear and pivot. It worked. This was basically the same thing you do exiting a parallel parking spot. I drove it up hill across the trail and then turned back to left to get centered on the trail. I could then back out to take another route. No way was I going to retry that off camber drop into the creek with these conditions. Zach though it might go taking a higher line before dropping in but it still looked sketch and my nerves were shot. Off camber trail is no joke, already leaning a truck before adding more lean due to trail drops etc is a recipe for disaster. I am pretty sure if I didn’t get into the side slip tree debacle and tried to make the turn I could have rolled it.

Lessons learned for sure.

Truck observations and issues.

• Truck tackled everything really well. I was on several climbs I didn't think would go, or go easily but it made it up with little fuss or need for brute force.
• Maneuverability. These trails are tight and wind back and forth around trees etc. The D2 is a skinny truck by today's standards and did fine. I felt the turning radius was good as well. Many trees in had scars from vehicle contact.
• Mechanical stuff. I had no real issues but a few things listed below.
  • Heat. I have the extinct mod which worked great. My engine operating temp was mostly in the 190's with a few jumps to 200-205 due to prolonged idling and heat soak. It would immediately come down with raised rpms. So the cooling system was working fine. Ambient was probably close to 90 deg.
  • BUT DANG! The engine compartment radiant heat is crazy with these things driving around at < 5mph with low air flow. I popped the hood at several stops and could barely touch the prop rod. I would think this is a big contributor to component stress and fail. Wiring too. Heat is the enemy of durability.
  • Drivetrain. All worked as designed and worked well with a few slight issues. On my truck it has had some wiring work done in and around the transmission / transfer case. All before my ownership. I don't have the 4low light or CDL light but both work fine. TC also works with the light working for that. On one longer climb I had the neutral light (gears icon) and chim kick in. The truck was not in neutral as it was climbing fine. This went off after a restart at the top. I think the sensors or sensor wiring needs to be looked at, could be mixed up. I plan to remove the console and poke around at my next time slot. Hill descent worked great but agree as some say that it keeps a higher speed than would be ideal for technical descents. I used it on a longer steepish muddy decent and it was fine for that.
  • Gears - slight grind or pop going into park - only off road. During the off roading part on several occasions had a slight grind going into park. This would be like popping a manual trans into gear with slight clutch. Not a big clunk or grind, just slight. It only did this off road and I think with CDL engaged. Curious if the CDL causes a slight bind in the driveline at a stop causing it to "pop" when going to park. It never did and does not do this in normal daily driving. Shift and operates fine before and after.
  • Wheels, Tires & Lift. All worked very well. I was surprised that the truck did not have more rattles, shake, bind clunking and general noise in the rough terrain with 180k. All was really tight including the steering. Slight steering bump on a few occasions. No rubbing or wierd "I lifted my truck and now it makes noise, rubs and binds" stuff. Tires were great and in their element for sure. Wet and muddy. I made no contact other than dragging the rear hitch a few times and it has a extension in it. OK, I did hit my front bumper on a rock trying to get over a big shelf. No damage other than a small scratch, lucky I didn't blow it to pieces and my bumpers are both crack free. I think it hit backing off the rock and bouncing. Might be time for a steel upgrade.
  • Overall Impression is the D2 is a well designed capable and tough truck. has its nuance for sure, can't ignore that but if well treated and not abused can do some crazy stuff.

Trails and Conditions
For those that dont know Kansas Rocks is a 900+ acre off road park. It's a nice resource. $20 a day. Link above. Trails are marked like a ski slope green/blue/black. I mainly tried to stay on green but due to marking discrepancies I ended up on blues on more than a few occasions. The map is very good but we still got turned around and more or less lost a few times. But we made it out alive. Monday was wet due to 4" of rain that fell the previous week. This made the trails very slippery. Not all deep mud holes or gumbo (there was this if wanted) but mostly just slick.

• The rock is limestone and most climbs had rock shelves that need to be navigated. Limestone gets very slippery when wet causing a fare amount of side slipping. Then add the tree roots. It was common to be driving the trail and have the truck front or rear shift up to a foot sideways due to a slippery rock or root.
• Trees. Lots of trees. This place is very tight in many areas. I don't think a full size or even a Rubicon Jeep would fare well on some of this without damage. I had several places I needed to jocky the truck to work around trees and still only had a few inches to spare. This is not high desert off roading.

Videos available. My eleven year old did the filming and is working on his technique. Sorry for the jumpy filming. If they don't show let me know the trick to link a MOV. file.

 

We need pictures and videos

 

I am having trouble downloading the videos. I have done it before but now its not doing it. Any advice appreciated.

Here are a couple of still shots. I was being a wimp on the ramp / flex test. I will send videos when I get it sorted out.

 

Nice trail report. Good idea on the disengaging the CDL. Part of the idea of eliminating the CDL was the capability of the SLABS computer and reducing slip in tricky conditions. Uphill conditions where the front tires are unloaded is where you need the CDL, other conditions it is often better to let the SLABS do its thing. As far as the underhood heat, I pull the two seals at the rear of the hood to let the heat escape, every little bit helps.

 

One of the more underrated things that never really gets talked about is the lack of awful annoying noises when off-roading with a decently sorted truck. Almost every jeep and 4runner you can hear creaking forever away when they flex and that's with all new equipment lol.

 

Extinct…you talking about these two seals?

 

Yep, those are the ones.

 

Was wheeling down in southern Ohio a few years ago with LR group, actually temp was 100F. We were in the hills and the air was thick as mud. Beauty of the split temp control in the Dll, could run heat on full blast, passengers side (no passenger of course). Which l believed help tremendously. Guy in front of me stopped, belt squealing like made, walked up to see if l could lend a hand...he says...yeah the A/C just quit. I'm like???...you're running the A/C back here in the woods, at a crawl, if not stopped 80% of the time, with no air movement at all? After the day was done, we'd lost 2 - A/C compressers, 1 - alternator and an engine.

Me...l drove home that afternoon, 300 miles. The old 01 was a beast. In route, actually made a wrong turn in Detroit, which typically ends in a death...lol, but in my case ended up in a car cruise and folks were digging the muddy rover.

So yes, elimating engine compartment heat is important, especially while wheeling or city driving.

 

If there’s no adverse effects, I’ll pull these out immediately.

Chloe is going to be driven a lot more these days, we still get pretty high temps until into October. So anything that will help, I’ll try. It definitely gets hot as hell under that hood. I’ll often just raise the hood when I pull her in the garage to help get rid of the heat a bit faster, just for the hell of it.

 

Curious if this funnels engine compartment air into the interior vents? I assumed that seal was to prevent that as the interior vent is on the other side. Depending how clean and tight everything is in the engine bay that air could be pretty nasty beyond hot.