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This episode of the Off Road Podcast is Sponsored by WARN, Medical Gear Outfitters, and Colby Valve.

Tonight, Aaron gets some new shoes, Coy gets salty, & Ben some dates

Welcome to the off-road podcast. A podcast about everything off-road. We cover the news, review products, and interview people in the off road industry.  Your hosts tonight are Aaron, Coy and my name is Ben.  Welcome to the show.

Coy – went to seaside for the weekend

Aaron – Got new tires on the F150.  33” Falken Wildpeak AT3W.  Pulled the winch bumper off of the truck for some repairs.

Ben – got some dates for material deliveries that may make the possibility of getting the building built sooner

Patriotpatch.co 

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Our patches $13 shipped in the US for one and $10 for any additional.  Or $10 picked up from us in person.  Just send us a message through any of our channels and we can set you up with a Paypal link.

News brought to you by Colby Valve

• Hot Cars.com – Toyota Tacoma Leaks
  • leaked photo with theories ranging from the TRD Pro to Trailhunter
  • May drop v6 for turbo inline 4 cylinder
  • Confirmed manual option
  • May 19 reveal

• Motor Trend – Raptor All The Things
  • Speculative story of the possibility of the next raptor in the line
  • Timberline edition gives a good feel to what the possibility could bring for the non body on frame vehicles
  • Ford is venturing into the offroad/soft road market more and more

Main Topic powered by WARN

1 – Cory H.

My worst stuck story takes place 16 years ago. I had just started dating a girl who is now my wife.  My best friend was dating her best friend. I had a 1998 Jeep ZJ with a 2” lift and 31” tires. Not a huge build but as I was 20 years old and dumb I thought it could go anywhere.  After a night out on a double date, we piled in the jeep named Betty and decided to do some night wheeling on forest roads in the Hoosier National Forest. It was mid-December and we had received some snow a few days previously that had melted making a muddy mess of the terrain.  We reached a deep rut, which some people had clearly been bypassing. I hesitated but my friend gave me the ol “gun it we can make it!”, and away we went.  He now claims he meant to take the bypass but I still don’t believe him, and that wouldn’t have been the tread lightly thing to do anyway.  We promptly sunk to the frame on the passenger side. With only a come-along to help us, it didn’t take long for us to realize we weren’t getting out without help.  Without cell service, we hiked to a ridge and promptly called my friend’s younger brother to come help.  That’s where the story gets even better.  His ZR2 S-10 was unknowingly having an issue with the 4wd and was not engaging, leaving him driving in 2wd to us.  He made it about half way to us before getting stuck.  He hiked to us and let us know the unfortunate news.  Come morning, we hiked to cell service again and called a friend to pick us up. We went home, got shovels and chains and let the girl’s parents know what had happened, apologizing for being out all night.  They were very forgiving, so I think they could tell we were already in a big enough mess.  After some food, and getting a friend to buy us a six pack of beer for liquid courage we headed back out to work on getting the vehicles unstuck.  We were able to get the S-10 out and headed home, but could not get my jeep.  Finally, after being stuck for around 36 hours, some other jeeps came through. They informed us that they were stuck in the same hole a week before and were part of the reason it is now so rutted out.  They pulled us out, gave us a couple more beers, and sent us on our way home.  I found after getting home that I had cracked my transfer case.  It was a bad time when it happened, but now it is one of my favorite stories of my younger years.  My wife and I now love taking our kids off roading and camping.  I’m an admin for an overlanding group called Indy Overlanders.  I’ve included a picture.  This was from a disposable camera so the quality isn’t up to today’s cell phone standards. 

2 – Trevor G.

Years ago, I was with my dads Land Rover group up in the Olympic National Forest area (back when you could actually drive around and not be blocked by gates on every road). We were down by the Skykomish River and there were these super deep rutted out mud holes that the Land Rivers would get swallowed into.

My dads buddy dropped his 1968 Land Rover Series IIA 88 into one of the holes and got wedged between the entry and the exit. Front bumper dug into the exit and the rear bumper dropped off the entry. There was zero forward or backward movement. The entry and exit to the hole was so steep, we couldn’t even winch the rig out normally.

My dad handed me a tree saver and had me climb a tree in front  of the stuck Land Rover and connect his winch line to it. Probably 10 feet up the tree. After that, someone climbed a tree behind the stuck rig and used a tree saver and a snatch block running another winch line from another rig to the back bumper. Again, probably 10 feet up.

They coordinated the winches to lift the stuck rig up and above the mud hole. Once it was high enough, guys got on each side and swung the LR like a swing. Each time it would swing over higher ground, the winches would let out some line and the rig finally landed on dry ground to the side of the mud hole.

Not sure what winch that guy was using, but my dad had his trusty old Warn 8274 on his Land Rover. Probably the coolest recovery I’ve ever seen during my 40 years of off-roading so far.

3 – Sarah P.

I tried adventuring out on some trails when I first got my gladiator at an OHV park. It didn’t go that well and had to be recovered. Since then I’ve not hit the trails in fear. 

4 – Josh S.

Many years ago my buddy and I were out wheeling at some local trails here in Ohio. At the time I had a Kia Borrego that was LS swapped and solid axle swapped front and rear. It had a Dana 30 front and GM 7.5” rear, the perfect set of toothpick axles for an LS swap. It had a set of 31” China mud terrains, a front lunchbox locker, bump-steer like you wouldn’t believe and enough redneck engineering to terrify anyone who saw it. In my invincible mind at the time, it was absolutely unstoppable. 

     My buddy with me had a “built” Jeep liberty  that was actually just stock with some A/T tires. But in our minds, it was a Jeep, and therefore, it too was unstoppable. 

     We went out to our local trails and noticed there was a large section of land covered in tall reeds (AKA a swamp) that didn’t have a single trail on it. Not sure why that was… but our professionally engineered death traps would easily be able to forge ahead and make a new trail! We plowed into the reeds and seemed to be making good progress. The reeds were dangerously close to jabbing right through our radiators, but that was no concern of ours, we were adventuring! Needless to say the adventuring came to a quick halt when the earth decided to open up and we sunk to the frames. Reluctantly bewildered that my Kia actually got stuck, even with a front locker, We pulled out the trusty harbor freight winch and started searching for the nearest tree to winch too. Sadly that tree was conveniently about a hundred yards away. Linking every piece of rope we had together, we managed to reach the tree and started dragging our way out one foot at a time. Over the next couple hours, against the laws of off-roading, that dang harbor freight winch managed to pull my Kia almost 300 feet through the deep, peanut butter mud. Without it even resting for more than a minute or two between resetting the rope, it then pulled my buddy’s Jeep all the way through the muck after me and saved us both one heck of a towing bill. 

     In the end it was still a great day, even though we only covered about a thousand feet.

5 – Erik E.

I was very excited to join my FIRST off roading/overlanding trip. I packed up my two wheel drive Jeep Liberty and started heading out for the Green Mountain Fire Lookout in Christmas Valley, OR with an arrival time of about 6 PM. Somehow I made great time, and got off the pavement over an hour early, and headed up to the lookout. When I got there I found out I made such good time even the guys who were supposed to be there before me hadn’t arrived. I explored a little and noticed that the camping options were pretty bad, but wasn’t going to complain. For some reason I started getting nervous that possibly I had gone to the wrong location, and decided to call one of the guys. Since I was out of cell service I drove back to the pavement. When I called I could hear the guys talking in the background as I spoke to Aaron. It was then I discovered there is more than one Green mountain Fire Lookout in Oregon. The one Google took me to was close to the coast. As I was being reminded that Christmas Valley was in the middle of the state the rage meter in my brain started to rise. This was not the first time I had been “Googled” while trying to travel. I calculated the drive time, and I now was going to arrive around 10 PM (I believe). I decided to really open up my 2.8 liter 4 cylinder, and see what it could do! I think I shaved 20 minutes of drive time going through the Oregon Outback. As I entered town I didn’t consider the fact that I was once again following Google. I passed a left turn on a paved road that I could see turned to gravel, and looked like followed directly to my destination on the map. Instead I just HAD to follow that blue line about a quarter mile to the next left, and another quarter mile to another left onto a dirt road. In case your following along, YES!, I am now heading right back to road I considered turning on in the first place. …and don’t try to give me any credit for not noticing this on the map. I did, but still decided to take this route regardless. No big deal though. I’ve had this little car on a legit Jeep trail in Southern Oregon before with the racing stripes and three wheel motion to prove it. Time to keep going! What I didn’t know was the road had spots that looked like dry dirt, but when you hit them you’d fall into a small mud pit. It was fun until I hit the big one where I dug the front in pretty bad. After some tire spin I hit reverse, and tried to back out. Then I went for front with left and right turns then rocking forward to back. NO GO! I decided to get out to find some traction. My undercarriage was almost touching, and I sunk to the tops of my shoes when I stepped out. My rage meter is now red lining! I tried discarded lumber, sage branches, and a full sage bush. Everything sunk into the mud. It was finally time to make one last call of shame for help. I decided to start walking the last two miles so I could cool off. By the time Aaron and Jeremy (I think) found me I had walked about a mile, and was too tired to be angry. I had to ride Secret Service back because of gear in the rig. Aaron did his best to hit every puddle and mud pit down “my” road which was hilarious. You would think this would be the end of the story. NOPE! When we looked for a recovery point to drag my car out of the mud there weren’t ANY! Well, as least I gave someone an excuse to actually use rather than display their traction boards. The last ego killing part was having to be reminded to release my parking break AFTER driving out of the mud. With all of that happening I still had the best first time experience on a real trip as a passenger. I’m now hooked. …and yes Rick, I know I still owe you a car wash.  

6 – Ran F.

A vehicle got stuck Thursday afternoon. Spent the night in the jeep and then walked 16 miles in the snow encountering a cougar on the way to get to cell service. First recovery attempt was on Friday. That attempt by the owner’s son and a friend failed. Saturday another group tried to make it to the vehicle, but could not. Sunday morning Kevin Moore and I were dispatched. We got to the  vehicle and decided to try and winch backwards. We knew it would be a hard pull so we connected both vehicles to each other.  That plan failed(we were being dragged towards the vehicle) so we moved on to plan B, which was to lift  each of the front wheels  shovel snow underneath them , and then put traction boards on top, lower the vehicle back down and try winching  backwards again. That plan worked like a charm and we were soon all turned around and heading back to civilization.

7 – David 

Since my Jeep is still in the driveway and not off road or any road for that fact, I have no real story yet.  All I have is in my imagination. That is getting a call to come up there and pull Ben out of a ditch, one that y’all can’t accomplish. 

8 – Kenny M.

On a spring day last year we took an Atv trip up to Browns camp. It was a great ride and as the sun was about to begin setting, we had reached the end of our trail ride. But in the last 100 feet before turning towards the trucks & trailers my buddies’ tie rod popped off. Worst part is that gravity was working against us. After having listened to the ideas of taking a pair of shoe laces and tying the front tires to each other so they could be steered together (who cares about shocks, a-arms and a frame?) and me trying not to roll on the ground laughing. A man and his crew rolled up. He hands me a ratchet strap and I put it to work. We rode the 14 or so miles back to our rigs. Loaded and I went to return the kind man’s ratchet strap. 

Did he say black dodge, or black Ford? Well, there is only one black Chevy rig in the quarry parking lot. I pray it was black he said, left his ratchet strap. Left a $25 panda express cards and was so grateful for the loan. We made it home safe and easy.

9 – Theo M

What’s going on fellas ! Every time I listen I hear you guys say for us to write about a time we did a recovery or got recovered and this story will be about a time I went “wheeling” for the first time and got horribly stuck. I was 19 and I live in Arizona , phx area so we don’t have to much of anything . My gf at the time lived in the pine too showlow area so that was a 4 hour drive from me and I was picking her up to stay with me for a week before school started for us. Well let me tell you google maps did me dirty , literally. This was around October so it was nice and cold with a lil bit of wet and frost in the mountains but that will not stop me . Mind you I had a 2014 challenger at the time so you know how well this ends. I was following the maps and at the final miles it told me to go down this dirt road . My girlfriend ( now wife ) had said it was tough to get to her town because she lived on the reservation and I didn’t even stop to think to call her , I just went for it . I was sliding and spinning out the whole way down the dirt road until I got to the bottom when I was down at the ravine and Google said I had arrived but the only place I arrived at was a ditch . I looked up the name of her town and it had the word “river “ in it and we’ll that’s where google wanted to take me . I spent 3 hours trying to do anything to get out with no cell service and only 1 more hour of daylight . Thank god a rancher was looking for his horses because he instead found a 19 year old kid stuck in a ditch , covered in mud who couldn’t shut up as to why he got stuck … for true love 😂 4 years later I wised up and got a 2012 Nissan Titan pro 4 x and have not gotten stuck . Granted I only do light trials and when my friends get stuck I’m the one they call . I don’t have any gear, we only use a chain but I would love to have an opportunity to win that sweet Warn recovery bag . I hope this makes you guys laugh and I hope I get picked . Have fun wheeling and God bless America

10 – Sam M.

Hey guys, My name is Sam. I’m 32 years old and a long time listener to the show. Thanks for all the entertainment and interesting content.  I split time between Utah, Montana and Alaska.  Like Aaron, I am one of the few Nissan Nerds interested in off roading. Growing up in Montana, you get your license at 15. I had been saving for years and wanted a Toyota pickup, but by the time my 15th birthday rolled around I still hadn’t mowed enough lawns or painted enough barns to afford one. So I was faced with the choice of waiting another year, or settling for a Nissan instead. Naturally I wanted my own rig as soon as possible, so I picked up a 94 Nissan Hardbody. 17 years later and I haven’t looked back, still haven’t owned a Toyota and doubt that I ever will.  I currently run a 2004 Nissan Frontier (last year of the mini truck) on 31” Goodyear Duratracs, ARB front bumper and SmittyBuilt 9500lb winch, along with a home made “deadman” constructed from my old torsion bars and a receiver hitch tube. (Winching anchors are few and far between way out in the Montana prairies and “badlands”, where I spend a lot of time hunting and exploring each year.)

The recovery story I’m choosing to share goes way back to when I was 16, in a 94 Hardbody.  I chose this story because I learned so much from this experience. After this my eyes were opened to how important it is to be prepared for anything, especially when going to a remote location solo.

From the beginning, this was the first time my Dad allowed me to take our little 12ft boat out to go fishing by myself. I left well before dawn and dragged the little boat a couple hours to a small reservoir in north central Montana called McChesney. It’s a small body of water, not very popular, no boat ramp or any services, but offered good pike fishing opportunities. The reservoir is in a fairly remote location, the closest cell phone service is probably about 40 miles away.  It was early spring, just after ice off the lake, so the ground was all still frozen when I arrived right at sunrise. I backed down the frozen bank and launched the boat with no issue. It never crossed my 16 year old mind that the ground wouldn’t stay frozen once the sun came out. I didn’t see another vehicle for the entire morning, I had a great time fishing and driving the boat around on my own private lake.

A little after noon I figured it was time to head home. I beached the boat behind the truck and trailer and stepped off. By that time it had warmed up substantially. The muddy bank was no longer frozen. I sunk into stinky pond mud past my knee, where I had been able to stand on top 6 hours prior. At this point I was a little nervous but still didn’t realize how stuck I was about to be.  I hooked up the cable and used the hand winch to drag the little boat through the mud and up onto the trailer, stumbling through knee deep mud the entire time. Once the boat was tied down it was time to head out.

I hopped in the truck and thought to myself “here goes nothin” , starting it up and putting it in 4Low. I slowly let off the clutch and realized that my wheels were just spinning in the mud. I started to panic and gunned the throttle, but sank deeper and deeper into the soft pond mud. As my panic grew, I’m sure I said every curse word my 16 year old brain had at its disposal. Due to my inexperience, I continued to spin my wheels and sunk myself to the point where I couldn’t even open the driver side door. Leaving me no other choice but to crawl out the window. At this point I was completely panicking.

Eventually I started to calm down as I paced back and forth through the mud, and began to take in my surroundings.  I noticed a pile of gravel up on the side of the main road, about 75 yards away.  Even though I was inexperienced, I was at least smart enough to realize it was a traction issue. I ended up using the lid from my cooler to dig out trenches in front of all 4 tires. I then made about 40 trips up and down from the road, using my cooler to transport gravel.  This whole process was painfully slow, as well as hard on my hands.  Eventually, I was able to transfer enough gravel under my tires, that I gained some forward momentum.  With much mud slinging, I finally creeped my front wheels on the rockier ground above and my tires finally bit in.  Once I got all the way up onto the main gravel road I shut the truck off. I closed my eyes for a minute, one of the relieving moments I can remember.  

I chose to share this story, not because it was the most stuck I’ve ever been, nor the most technical recovery I’ve been a part of.  But I think it was one of the biggest learning experiences I have ever had.  Let’s just say I haven’t left home without a shovel since. My 16 year old self had never heard the Warn slogan “go prepared.” I wasn’t carrying a shovel, extra food, water, or even a tow strap.  Today I am guilty of carrying too much gear, but I live by the saying “better have and not need, than need and not have,” especially when venturing into remote areas solo.

11 – Allen H.

Very abbreviated version of the story, but last month I drove 700 miles round trip.  Towing my wheeler in the enclosed trailer at 6.5 mpg to recover a stuck Subaru in the middle of Hart Mountain Refuge.  He was shacked up in an Airbnb in Plush for 5 days.  No one local had a wheeler that they thought could do it.  The local tow companies didn’t know if or when they could get to it.

So, I drive over there.  Stay overnight in Paisley.  Arrive in Plush at 8am the next morning so we can get out it before the afternoon thaw.  We drive up there and park the trailer at a gravel pit.   We have a plan to drive out there in the freeze, wait for the thaw to get the car which is frozen in the ground out.  Then wait for the freeze again so we can get the two miles out without destroying the road. The refuge manager sees us parked and first comes unglued because we are parked in the gravel pit.  Mind you the gate was open and there was no sign saying no public entry.  Then proceeds to tell us its too late in the day and we have to wait until 2am the next morning.  Its is 25 degrees at this point.  Everything is frozen solid.  After a brief and maybe a little tense at times discussion we have no choice but to wait.  

We sit around for 18 hrs.  Catch a brief nap and head out there in the middle of the night.  In the meantime it warmed up and the road in is a muddy mess.  We get to the car.  It’s still frozen in and we spend three hours digging in ice and rock with a pick axe, using a hi lift jacking and pulling with my winch to get it out without tearing the car in half.  I managed to pull the winch out too far at one point and had to use the gorilla tape trick to reattach it to the spool.   It was so frozen in, that it eventually just took hi-lifting off each wheel and stacking rocks so we could get the wheels to kind of spin. 

After getting it out and pick axing ice out of the wheels so they would spin freely we head the two miles back out of the mud road back to gravel and the trailer.  He took off, back to Plush where his girlfriend is waiting with no update.  I went and slept in my trailer and headed home later that day.  All in, I traveled 830 miles with a detour on the way home to my favorite hot spring.  I was gone for 52 hrs total.  It was an awesome adventure, met some great people and one very grumpy refuge manager.

Andy L.  Stuck in sand

Coy S.  Stick in snow

Aaron S. LMTV stuck in mud

Ben A. What one do you want to hear because there are a few

Next week is our Cline Buttes trip report

Closing Statements

Thanks everyone who listens to us weekly and also to those who watch us live on YouTube.  We really appreciate you.  Please share us with your friends and help us grow.  God bless America!
Don’t Forget to visit Patriot Patch and join the patch of the month club. Check out our Gaia affiliate link for up to 40% off. Also, don’t forget to head over to Warn, Medical Gear Outfitters, and Colby Valve to see all their great gear. We are a proud part of the firearms radio network. Got a question or comment?  Send it to us through our webpage at firearmsradio.net or through our social media channels by searching for Off Road Podcast.  Also, you can listen to us live at overlandradio.com Mondays at 7pm Pacific.  When offroad please remember to have fun, tread lightly, be safe and courteous. Thanks for listening.