within 4 hours of getting my sporttrak.....

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Hey just got my sportrak was having some fun driving round with some mates and we then saw i nice track so ... we thought since we've got a 4x4 lets try go down it..... forgeting we have never driving a 4x4 before and dont no anythign about off-road driving .... as we drive down the track it's getting very wet and muddy so we move on to find a place to turn around ... no place big enoght to actully turn round so we push forward and then all of a sudden ... we've ground out ... it 2am and were in the middle of nowhere on a stupid track trying to dig ourselves out with sticks.... its not working... call the parents they come get us have to leave the sportrak there.... get home look online for tips on getting 4x4 out of mud then start to write this post ..... my night so far :P. in the nxt 4 hours i'm going to try get some sleep and go dig her out lol.

Isn't this brilliant

All I can say, with out getting banned from the site is :- I hope you have learned a lot during your first 4 hours ownership of a 4x4.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. No doubt others will have some comments to make, perhaps not as polite as mine.

You say a "stupid track" ,just who made the decision to drive it !!!!!!!!!!. YOU the driver, who was stupid, the track was there, it has no thoughts, but you can think, (can you).

Edward (ews) '92 Fourtrak 2.8 TDX

It as great experiance

haha, yea well had a great time bit of hard work and sweat and it comes crawling out of the mud had a good time in the end.

Please don't drive down

Please don't drive down tracks that are not by-way's. And PLEASE don not drve down any at 2 in the morning. The ramblers asociation don't need any more amo to use against us.

Any veiws expresed in this thread by me are purely from my own experience, and (sometimes) falible memory. Hope my comments help, but please don't take them as gospel.

Any veiws expresed in this thread by me are purely from my own experience, and (sometimes) falible memory. Hope my comments help, but please don't take them as gospel.

hope it was a legal track

I hate people who just drive anywhere and create ruts in non legal byways etc cos the minority of people are really spoiling it for the majority now. One tip for off roading, you never go alone in one vehicle, especially with no experience and no recovery equipment, hope you had a laugh digging it out, but this kind of thing is not kindly viewed by other people.

Full of ideas but no time to do them!!

www.bloodredoffroad.com
www.milneroffroad.com
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youtube: Redfourtrack

So you've learnt that 4x4s

So you've learnt that 4x4s are miracle vehicles which can't just drive anywhere... Tip in future though sounds like you've learnt by now is that need some experience and don't go offroading in the dark unless you know the route VERY well. If you want to learn to offroad properly though there are plenty of places around the country and the links page does provide links to some, though sure other people on the site will offer suggestions, as you don't want getting stuck by yourself.

Always surprises me how many drivers think 2 things, if the car is a 4x4 that it can go anywhere and do anything, and if its a car with traction control you can drive and corner at any speed you want. Neither are true.
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read the Landrover book !

My old series 2 Landrover owners handbook, along with lots of info about fixing it when it broke (joke), had a very good section on off-road driving .... the bit I always remember ....

If in doubt about the terrain ahead, get out and reconoitre

The whole point about off-road vehicles is that they will get you nearly anywhere, but not in a hurry, and if you ARE in a hurry, you will get stuck.

I remember Wobbly Gob Clarkson driving a Range-Rover up to the top of a Welsh mountain getting stuck in a bog. At the time, he was giving it bollocks to camera and didn't notice a gentle depression extending over about 200 yards, apparently covered in vegetation, so while he's giving it verbals, he opens up the taps to pile down into the dip and up the other side. Well, he did half that ....

When he came smartly to rest with the wheels sunk into the bog and the vehicle underside resting on top of it he says 'oh, I've got a winch on the front'. Only then, he looks around for a tree .... bugger all of them up Welsh mountains.

If Clarkson had done a bit more thinking and a lot less yapping, he would never have got into trouble in the fist place. First, it helps if you know that Welsh mountains are made of granite, which is impervious to water, so water is going to collect in any hollow. Second, if he had realised this, and had read the Landrover book, he would be out of the vehicle having a walk around (but not in the Hush-Puppies he was wearing), and, third, he would be thinking of where he could attach his winch rope if he got stuck.

Finally, I'll be a boring old phart and add one of mine .... a 4wd can get into many places a conventional vehicle can't. It can also get into a lot of dangerous situations that a conventional vehicle can't.

If in doubt about the terrain ahead, get out and reccy

Not only walk the track, even in sections, and THINK can I do this section ,take a stick and probe the any water levels, good pic on site of Fourtrak lying on side in a ditch alongside a flooded track !!!!, water is level, the ground underneath may not be so !!!!. There is no shame in thinking maybe I cannot get through that and leaving it till another day. And suggest you do not travel in the dark or with out another truck capable of extricating either one of you. Just search the net for 4x4 offroading, join a local group , try your truck out at a 4x4 Offroading site to get some experience where there is assistance / advice available, and make sure any track/lane is a legal one, there are enough people trying to prevent us using these tracks as it is, with out you making silly decisions as you were the proud owner of a 4x4 after 4 hours of ownership

Those of us that travel alone know what we are do'ing, we have the experience, have the kit and know what we and our trucks can do, and often have done these tracks before. I allways have a disabled passenger, my partner, and I make sure any track we are driving alone is walked in sections, escape/turnarounds are noted, water levels probed, and if of any doubt due to terrian, we back off and return at a later date.

I am afraid your first post is of the type which gives us 4x4 users a bad name, please learn from your experience. I not a killjoy but please think about your actions. I hope you will learn from that experience and enjoy your Sportrak. And yes ,we were all young once and did rash things.

Edward (ews)

Edward (ews) '92 Fourtrak 2.8 TDX