Astro did well off road,( that may not be good)

[T.Low]

Fiancee called me at work around lunch, asked if I wanted to go out for a beer with the gang after work today. I told her to go on with out me, I drove the Van again today, have an afternoon job on the mountain and I'd like to take the long way home.

It was like a scene from the movie "Transformers", the Van seemd to know exactly where I wanted to go. No, it wasn't me, it was the Astro Van. It turned onto a one lane road that crosses a railroad track onto Nooksack Indian Tribe territory and almost immediately turns into a muddy rutted out two tracker. It'll be slick and greasey with todays rain. Whats to stop me from sliding sideways into the deep ruts? Solo. No recovery kit. Hell, no cell service. But I don't care, I got Rancho 9000s with adjustable indash remote! I load 'em up to 9 on the gage, both front and rear.

The Astro stopped on the flat shallow rutted area, so I got out and took a gratuitous picture.

shallow ruts on flat.jpg (60.8 KiB) Viewed 7214 times

We proceeded to the side sloping deeper ruts that don't afford the luxury of stopping to get out and take photos. I was timid, the Astro was not. It forged ahead confidently, staying securely on the high greasey line between the ruts, the Kelly Pathfinders not showing any signs of a struggle. "8.5 inches of clearence...8.5 inches" I heard echoing around in my head. Rounding a corner thru the trees and suddenly the two tracker turns into a killing field of ruts, 50' wide. So many lines, so many deep intimidating muddy ruts filled with water and no to time to kill the momentum, just drive. Again stayed high and dry.

A turn, some angles, tightens to a single truck track again, slopes to a nasty hole, complete with trees and bolders, then slows to rootball marking the rocky beach of the Nooksack River.

Wow. What the hell was I thinking?!! (Man, that was fun as hell, just like the old days!)

[T.Low]

This part of the Nooksack is the take out for a class II section where we teach new kayakers. I drove my Dakota out here a few years back. Its still winter on the mountain so the river level is very low. The gage read 300 cfs today. I have paddled the river as low as 190 cfs, and as high as 4500 cfs. The guide book says 900 to 1200 is optimal, I think 2500 brings out its best features. Today, it makes a nice destination and photo back drop for the Astro you all helped me build.

[T.Low]

A few more.

Its 5:30. Raining. I still have to get out. Its slightly up hill, angled and rutted. Going around a turn she got crossed up, back end slid down into the one set of ruts so I put the front into another set of ruts to make sure I didn't high center, so we were dog tracking for about 50'. The Astro performed without protest, without struggle, and seemed to not stress at all. I was very impressed. OK, I was downright giddy.

Will go back and get vids sometime with buddys and there trucks.

[WVKayaker]

AWESOME!
Giddy! Yeah I know the feeling...These AWD drives with a little lift are quite capable.
Thanks for sharing your mini adventure!

[Someone]

sweet shots

[SoCalli V8]

Great pictures and story!...... > even if I am of the lowered persuasion, I appreciate seeing members having fun with their StroFaris and modifying their vans to increase performance, and the "fun factor"......

[peter]

Even with the sucky day you picked to take pics, the scenery and truck are both beautiful. Kudos!

[potskie]

Uh oh after that now your gunna have to get some recovery gear and a second vehicle then push it to it's limits. Just so you know what they are

[LiftedAWDAstro]

It is amazing how well they do when lifted! I used to take the SPB out on my dad's farm and play in the clay cornfields and was always confident I wouldn't get stuck.

[ihatemybike]

Awesome, looks fun indeed.

[SafariRob]

I'm surprised at how well even the 2WD Astros and Safaris can do in snow. We recently had 9 inches of snow here and I was wondering if the '89 would get me to work seeing how the city hadn't plowed the streets yet. But in short, my Astro climbed easily through anything that was on the road.
Can't say the same for my company 1 ton Dodge van, though. It got stuck twice just trying to get out of the company lot. Flat pavement, too-- all it had to do was break a path through the snow. It couldn't do it even when I shoveled the snow away from the wheels. One of my co-workers had to help push the van back into its parking space. I ended up transferring my tools and driving the Astro to the work site.

[phr1$k37]

T.Low! Looking good!

[Cobra]

wish i had terrian like that near me

these van do pretty good stock too me and my old man have gone down roads only quads and serious jeepers would go down somehow never got stuck

[BCSUVan]

Sharp looking van!

[T.Low]

Sharp looking van!

Thanks for the responses, guys.


Thats a beefy Astro there, BCSUVan! I'd like to check out the underside of that thing! I see you cut your front facia more than I did, and I think I'm gonna trim mine more too. Get to Bellingham often?

Yeah, I'm not sure it was a good thing that the Astro did well off road: now I want to drive off road just for the sake of driving off road where as before the intent was to get me to riding or paddling destinations.

I am actually thinking of missing the biggest race of the year in our town ( http://www.skitosea.org/ ) so I can join this drive with the Pacific Northwest Backroad Adventures club. (Man, will my team be pissed, but I have a suitable replacement, so I have a clear conscience ). I'm not sure if my rig can handle it, and if I can prepare it in time.

If I get the 4:10's, (with locker or tru trac? ), and add solid recovery points and a CB...? What do you guys think? Is that biting off more than the Astro can chew? Should I definitely add a 2sd Transfer case first? Add the fact that I don't know these guys yet, it would be my first time on an outing with them...but its exactly the type of trip I want to do. Probably add trans cooler also (simple enough, so why not).
Hopefully the link works. The photo of the climb is a little intimidating (did they put it in the add to scare some peeps away?)

http://forum.pnwadventures.com/showthread.php?t=8469