Smitty's and Warns are about the only two recovery winches people always say they trust. Anyone who had problems with them are usually neglecting to respool properly and getting the drum all tangled up which is not the winches fault but the operator. I'm curious about this synthetic winch line myself. It might be good for lighter rigs like mine and be less finicky..? If you are looking for a good deal on a new winch Costco sometimes has disco'd Warns on cheap but Princess Auto usually has at least two Warn models in stock, just watch out for those "keepers". ;-)
I was just checking out the Hill-60 main as I was driving by on the weekend just for kicks and once I got above 700m the snow cover was quite scattered but some of the more shady parts still had a foot or more of that styro-slush. Last year I tried to go up to Rowbotham Lake in the last week of April and couldn't make it. l went back in mid May and there were still a few good thick patches of snow lingering in the shady spots near the summit. I wonder if you can still get in to Rhodo Lake, I have a score to settle with a certain trail up there too...
A bit about me:
My name is Rob, I live in Langford & I drive a White 2003 2nd gen Tracker ZR2.
I love to hit the trails or find neat camping spots or just about any other excuse to be in the woods any chance I get.
When in season you may find me in the woods picking wild mushrooms. Pine mushrooms & chantrelles in the fall and morels & oyster mushrooms in the spring are my favorites. At other times, I'm just out for a rip exploring the trails and enjoying life on this nutty ball of rock flying through space.
A bit about my rig:
There isn't a whole lot to tell but when I first started contemplating what modifications to do to my stock truck I wanted to make sure I got the off road performance and capabilities I was after without compromising the road manners of a daily driver. For me, with this truck, it's about striking a good balance between off road capability and on road manners since it still spends 95% of it's running time on pavement. Back in my youth I used to love bombing around in the bush in beat up sidekicks and such, so when I had an opportunity to buy a 2nd gen Tracker ZR2 in relatively good shape with relatively low mileage I went for it thinking it would be a really good daily driver/weekend warrior and honestly I haven't regretted it a bit and probably wouldn't trade it for anything since it already meets my needs so well. I spent about a year after I first got it, trying to figure out what it could do and what I could do with it, and after researching a lot of things and reading about other people's experiences with it I started moving ahead with some mods I'd been saving up for. When you start messing with your daily driver you really do have to be more careful than you do working on a bushmobile. It's no biggie to have a project rig on blocks in your driveway but when a job on your get-to-worker snowballs out of control it's panic time so I have always taken great care with it. When I first got the truck it had just over 100k on it, still on the stock everything except the usual things that wear out and get replaced by then like brake rotors etc. I had actually never had a 4x4 in such good shape before so it was well over a year before I even did any actual wheeling with it because it just seemed too nice to take in the bush and beat the crap out of. These are actually pretty tough and capable little rigs stock, and without doing much to them you can basically treat them like a Jeep and they seem to be fine with that. The 2nd gen Trackers are basically the same rig as the Suzuki Grand Vitara of the same era, for those who didn't already know, so a lot of my time has been spent in Suzuki forums when looking for info and advice.
What's not stock anymore:
Optima Yellow Top D35 battery. Yes it fits in a 2ndGen Tracker/Grand Vitara, and is a must for any serious offroader.
K&N air filter. Paper filters choke as soon as any water spray gets on them, K&N is the ONLY filter I trust for offroading.
Class III Drawtite hitch with 2" receiver. This is more for armor, frame reinforcement than actual utility hauling.
Super Slider Rails from Rocky Road Outfitters in Utah. 45lbs each of welded American steel adding strength, protection and a badass look.
OME 989 springs and Nitro Charger shocks & struts. Makes the stock suspension seem like a go cart and adds 1.1" of lift and +2" of flex on it's own.
1" coil spacers from Low Range Off-Road, just to complete the 2" suspension lift. Going much higher becomes problematic and requires more mods.
29" 235/75 R15 Firestone Destination A/T. Adds and inch of axle clearance over stock 27" tires which is as large as you can reasonably go with a 2" lift.
1" SpiderTraxx anodized 6065 aluminum wheel spacers. Prevents in-side of tire rubbing on front frame, corrects stance with 2" lift, looks more badass.
Still on the drawing board:
Custom front bumper replacement. If you're going to go custom you may as well get all you can eat.
When finished it should have bull bars/push bars, bush guards, winch mounted, fairlead guard & front plate slip bracket, light mounts, front receiver & recovery points.
Unless I stumble on to another thousand bucks this week I won't be getting this for a little while. I'm probably going to let Westshore Spring do it since they were really good to me with my lift kit and I've seen more than a few of the trail rigs these guys have done and they're pretty droolin sweet.
It really doesn't seem like much, but that extra 2.5-3" of clearance the package deal got me is more than adequate for 90% of the wheeling I can see myself doing in this thing as long as it's still what gets me around town and to work. I'm still feeling out what the limitations are with it but the short wheelbase doesn't require much lift or extra flex to get a noticeable improvement in performance. Once I have the winch on I will probably be a bit more confident as I'm still a bit paranoid about deep trenchy mud filled tracks.
Anyway, that's the basics for now I guess. Anyone else out there running this type of rig? I'd love to hear from other people that have experience with them and see what you guys could do with 'em.
Cheers & happy trails!
Smitty's and Warns are about the only two recovery winches people always say they trust. Anyone who had problems with them are usually neglecting to respool properly and getting the drum all tangled up which is not the winches fault but the operator. I'm curious about this synthetic winch line myself. It might be good for lighter rigs like mine and be less finicky..? If you are looking for a good deal on a new winch Costco sometimes has disco'd Warns on cheap but Princess Auto usually has at least two Warn models in stock, just watch out for those "keepers". ;-)
I was just checking out the Hill-60 main as I was driving by on the weekend just for kicks and once I got above 700m the snow cover was quite scattered but some of the more shady parts still had a foot or more of that styro-slush. Last year I tried to go up to Rowbotham Lake in the last week of April and couldn't make it. l went back in mid May and there were still a few good thick patches of snow lingering in the shady spots near the summit. I wonder if you can still get in to Rhodo Lake, I have a score to settle with a certain trail up there too...
Don't forget to bring some extra gas. ;-)
I think "down with the gates" is more of a political statement of principal than a call to action. As in, "Island Timberlands, take down those gates!"
I guess I should post a formal intro.
A bit about me:
My name is Rob, I live in Langford & I drive a White 2003 2nd gen Tracker ZR2.
I love to hit the trails or find neat camping spots or just about any other excuse to be in the woods any chance I get.
When in season you may find me in the woods picking wild mushrooms. Pine mushrooms & chantrelles in the fall and morels & oyster mushrooms in the spring are my favorites. At other times, I'm just out for a rip exploring the trails and enjoying life on this nutty ball of rock flying through space.
A bit about my rig:
There isn't a whole lot to tell but when I first started contemplating what modifications to do to my stock truck I wanted to make sure I got the off road performance and capabilities I was after without compromising the road manners of a daily driver. For me, with this truck, it's about striking a good balance between off road capability and on road manners since it still spends 95% of it's running time on pavement. Back in my youth I used to love bombing around in the bush in beat up sidekicks and such, so when I had an opportunity to buy a 2nd gen Tracker ZR2 in relatively good shape with relatively low mileage I went for it thinking it would be a really good daily driver/weekend warrior and honestly I haven't regretted it a bit and probably wouldn't trade it for anything since it already meets my needs so well. I spent about a year after I first got it, trying to figure out what it could do and what I could do with it, and after researching a lot of things and reading about other people's experiences with it I started moving ahead with some mods I'd been saving up for. When you start messing with your daily driver you really do have to be more careful than you do working on a bushmobile. It's no biggie to have a project rig on blocks in your driveway but when a job on your get-to-worker snowballs out of control it's panic time so I have always taken great care with it. When I first got the truck it had just over 100k on it, still on the stock everything except the usual things that wear out and get replaced by then like brake rotors etc. I had actually never had a 4x4 in such good shape before so it was well over a year before I even did any actual wheeling with it because it just seemed too nice to take in the bush and beat the crap out of. These are actually pretty tough and capable little rigs stock, and without doing much to them you can basically treat them like a Jeep and they seem to be fine with that. The 2nd gen Trackers are basically the same rig as the Suzuki Grand Vitara of the same era, for those who didn't already know, so a lot of my time has been spent in Suzuki forums when looking for info and advice.
What's not stock anymore:
Optima Yellow Top D35 battery. Yes it fits in a 2ndGen Tracker/Grand Vitara, and is a must for any serious offroader.
K&N air filter. Paper filters choke as soon as any water spray gets on them, K&N is the ONLY filter I trust for offroading.
Class III Drawtite hitch with 2" receiver. This is more for armor, frame reinforcement than actual utility hauling.
Super Slider Rails from Rocky Road Outfitters in Utah. 45lbs each of welded American steel adding strength, protection and a badass look.
OME 989 springs and Nitro Charger shocks & struts. Makes the stock suspension seem like a go cart and adds 1.1" of lift and +2" of flex on it's own.
1" coil spacers from Low Range Off-Road, just to complete the 2" suspension lift. Going much higher becomes problematic and requires more mods.
29" 235/75 R15 Firestone Destination A/T. Adds and inch of axle clearance over stock 27" tires which is as large as you can reasonably go with a 2" lift.
1" SpiderTraxx anodized 6065 aluminum wheel spacers. Prevents in-side of tire rubbing on front frame, corrects stance with 2" lift, looks more badass.
Still on the drawing board:
Custom front bumper replacement. If you're going to go custom you may as well get all you can eat.
When finished it should have bull bars/push bars, bush guards, winch mounted, fairlead guard & front plate slip bracket, light mounts, front receiver & recovery points.
Unless I stumble on to another thousand bucks this week I won't be getting this for a little while. I'm probably going to let Westshore Spring do it since they were really good to me with my lift kit and I've seen more than a few of the trail rigs these guys have done and they're pretty droolin sweet.
It really doesn't seem like much, but that extra 2.5-3" of clearance the package deal got me is more than adequate for 90% of the wheeling I can see myself doing in this thing as long as it's still what gets me around town and to work. I'm still feeling out what the limitations are with it but the short wheelbase doesn't require much lift or extra flex to get a noticeable improvement in performance. Once I have the winch on I will probably be a bit more confident as I'm still a bit paranoid about deep trenchy mud filled tracks.
Anyway, that's the basics for now I guess. Anyone else out there running this type of rig? I'd love to hear from other people that have experience with them and see what you guys could do with 'em.
Cheers & happy trails!