So... anyone do any intense offroading yet?

[1995E]

Anyone went offroading with their Explorers yet? Any deep mud or snow? I'm surprised since I expected someone to slap on a lift kit and go crazy with the Explorer.

The only rigorous offroading I've seen from the Explorer was from the Japanese review. I want to see more. Anyone got any pictures and stuff? Experiences etc? It'd be nice to see some positive threads.

 

[obie]

There's a youtube video where they did a test of it on a logging road vs a few other vehicles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzeyXvCcBpw

Have you done any in your Ex?

 

[flytailheavy]

off-road with my explorer

I have been really impressed with my 2013 Limited with 4wd (or AWD), whatever they are calling it now. I have a property in the Angeles National Forest and there is a dirt road leading to it that is semi-maintained. It is easy driving for about 1.5 miles and the Ex feels great on that. The real test is the last 1000 feet or so. It is very steep. So steep that walking up just once and even someone in good shape will be completely out of breath and most people will stop and take little breaks on the way up. I have walked it because I used to sometimes bring a front-wheel drive Toyota Highlander up there and it could not even begin to make it up. I had to park it at the base of the steep part. I have seen people fail to climb it in rear-wheel drive pickups but I find that with even a little skill, you can climb it if you have rear-wheel drive as long as the dirt is in decent shape. You just have to know how to spin the tires a little. Before I got the explorer, I had to use an F350 in 4-low with all the wheels locked together. That truck climbs it fine as long as it isn't muddy.

My new explorer (well, about a year old now) does great on it. Even when the dirt is completely dry, loose and sandy, it goes up with little or no wheel-spin. It climbs fine in normal or sand mode but sand mode feels a bit more sure-footed. When I have driven pickups up the hill, I have had to let the rear end be a little loose (sort of rally turning up the hill a bit). That's fun for me, but a little scary for someone riding in the car who hasn't done that before. The Explorer on the other hand, feels completely steady and tracks the way I point the steering wheel. Oh yeah, and I have the stock Hankook on-road tires on it. How the Explorer can go up that hill with those tires and still find traction is beyond me, but I'm really happy with it. It has pretty good clearance for a car that gets good gas mileage, but you do have to watch out for big rocks. To me, that's a good tradeoff since I put most mileage on the Ex on-road.

 

[Bryceb]

nothing intense, but I was on a pretty wash-boarded out sand/dirt road and thought that the Ex could use some better shocks to dampen that sort of stuff out a bit - not that I'll be using the Ex for much stuff like that, but if I were to be, I'd look at some better shocks.

 

[77rednecktruck]

I just had my 13 Sport on the Outer Banks in the Corolla 4x4 section. I was pretty rutted out and soft in a few spots. It does not feel as good as my old 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee did but I did not get stuck. I do not expect the Sport to be good offroad but I have yet to find it's limit. The local dirtbike riding area's I go to are all pretty rough and the Explorer does just fine with the trailer getting to the spots.

The tires were good on the sand and the suspension was fine, the biggest limiting factor I noticed was ground clearance. I was plowing sand like a bobcat. I did get through a puddle that was deeper than the tires, they were completely under water and it did just fine. It was pretty soft sand under that puddle and it pulled right out. I did not let any air out of the tires and ws in sand mode. I had a wave of water over the hood a few times and the car never stalled so Ford did a good job with the air intake also. I hit a few puddles that were a lot deeper than expected at 20 mph or so. Nice big splash, followed quickly by a punch from my wife


http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff39/2005crownvic/20130609_194844_zps4c744fb0.jpg

 

[obie]

Sounds like these do pretty well on trails and beaches, and I'm pretty impressed with what you did in your sport.

 

[billyg900]

couple of impressive stories up there...

ive owned a couple of jeeps in the past and the jeep definitely gives you better feedback as to what is going on out there...

 

[converted_21]

I have gone serious mudding in the Sport because we have been building our new home on a piece of land and during the early spring time the entrance got pretty swampy. I ripped off the lower facia and now the new one has mud all over it because the car wash doesn't get it and I haven't had the time to give the Ex any tlc so it looks goofy when the rest is clean.