How Did You Get Started, And What Are Your Plans?

[carnuck]

Small world! I grew up between Surrey and Williams Lake. Only car we had was my mom's. Learned to drive a livestock hauler when I was 14 and a Grizzly when I was 15 (CFB Chilliwack)

Originally Posted by bc backroads

i bought my first 4x4 when i was 13, a 67 merc with a 390 4spd, {damn i wish i hadn`t wrecked that truck} i grew up on a cattle ranch in the interior mountains of British Columbia, cars were a uncommen sight, we had 28 miles of rough {graded every 15 yrs} road before you hit 40 miles of graded gravel road on your way to town {the last 10 miles were paved} we did all our own repairs there on the ranch, it was unheard of to drive to town for repairs.

never got any schooling on mechanics, it was learn as you go, by 16 i was building motors, trannies and transfer cases, dad would say " you broke it, you fix it" i owe him for it. now i pass on what i learned to my sons, i have 5 4x4s now a 06 dodge 1500 quad cab{daily driver} a 77 ford shortbox {514 stroker c6 np 205 dana 60s } a 86 f350 diesel{ wood truck} 86 ranger mitsibushi 4cyl turbo diesel{the mountain goat} and a 76 f250 with a 65 f250 body { a work in progress , 429 4spd np 205 , coming soon 44 ground hogs} wheeling for my family is like going to church, we go every weekend, until the snow hits, then we pull out the sleds, i feel sorry for all the people in these groups trying to shut our back country down, THEY JUST DON`T GET IT, to some of us its a way of life, and i will fight to the death to protect our rights to go out and get dirty

[scott34]

I used to ride around with my uncle in his numerous jeep wranglers, i always wanted in from a young age, when i was sixteen i bought a 1996 toyota tacoma single cab, that i lifted two inches and had 31's on it, it had the v6 in it and ran like a charm no matter how hard i beat it, i ahd it for three years and beat it every chance i got but it was also my road vehicle, i recently brought it bakc to that warranty reinstatment/ recall thing and i regret it everyday, it was the worst mistake of my life, i am looking for another toyota if anyone out there wants to sell one i would be more than glad to take it off your hands.

[texas sub]

i was 19 or 20 moved up to burley idaho to anoy my dad. later i met some guys into playing around in the mountains. bought a 64 jeep truck had chevy 283, 12 ply tires, next 78 blazer.u-joiint took tranny, fuel lines and floor pan while doing 70 mph on highway. always put lock-outs on every thing i buy now. was moving back to texas so i bought 81chev 4x4 sub, lost 2 motors, one turbo350. now i stay with standards. last one to the list is 90 v1500, new motor, 60 over 350, 2.02 heads, smooth cam. rochester quad. msd ign. sm 486 trany. i'm building the sub up, problem is that i live up on the caperock in texas. it's flat, missin idaho! i go lookin for dirt roads that the county should have fixed, hit them at full throttle, or just pull some one out that in all honesty souldn't be there. i beleve in tread lightly, and in respect. which is probly the only reason i haven't been shot at for goin into cotton feilds.

[thehawksnemesis]

Funny...I know those areas ALL too well. Miss em a lot

[FireSlayer]

I bought my Truck about 2 years ago, and just listening to my dads stories of his friends, and my uncles out off roading. Thats what got me started, then my friends bought trucks, so we got into it a little more. I grew up in a Dodge Ram Charger, and a 71 dodge challenger, so I've always had the bigger, and louder, is better mentality.
Ive started off with small mods so far, but plan to go bigger in the future.
right now i have aftermarket rims, and bumped my tires up to a 265/75/R16 which changed the stance and made it look alot better. Ive also changed the exhaust twice, now running dule glass packs. I found an old Trail Blazer light bar in the attic, and my dad and i fabed up a roll bar to hold it.
I plan on liftin the truck and running atleast 33's under it. Hoping to make a weekend toy out of it by the time im done, possibly a show truck.

[jason]

i grew up around atv's and dirtbikes. the first atv i ever had was a honda recon. i used to tear it up in my back yard as a kid. then as i got older i wanted to get a utv. parents always had one to do errands at the house. i have been rock crawling in jeeps and 4x4 trucks but its so much better in my rhino. you are so close to the action. its like a adrenaline rush knowing that you could tip over at any min. dont get me wrong i love to go off roading in a truck but if you havent experienced a utv you need to try it. ive had my rhino for a while now.

[riverrat]

grew up with dirtbikes and 4 wheelers, raced them for awhile, then my dad bought a 67 Bronco, been hooked ever since. Have some experience off road between the 67 and 86 Bronco's. I joined the military and now I'm a vet. My dad still has the Bronco's but there out of commision right now, I bought an older truck and decided to put it together for some more serious offroading. Nothing like a truggy or anything just something to take to the local off road events.

Plans or Ideas:
6 " suspension lift with 35's Super Swampers LTB (already done)
A complete Rebuilt 302 5.0 HO (in progess)
K&N Airfilter (on the list)
Rough Country RC Hydro 8000 shocks, stabilzer (on the list)
Tuff Country radius/ladder bars (on the list)
FlowMaster SI/DO 40 series, catback, etc. (in progress)
SAS-Dana 44 (already done)
9" Ford Rear axle (already done)
Replacing Steering with new components, i.e. drag link, tie rods, ball joints, etc. (in progress)

Winter project basically...

~RR

[4x4boyd]

I grew up going off roading with my dad in his Nissan Pathfinder and a few times in his Chevy Silverado and riding and racing four-wheelers. I plan to buy a Ford Ranger or Chevy S-10 and eventually put new tires and wheels on it and lift it. And a couple years down the road when I get some money get a Jeep and make it a rock crawler.

[GerryK61]

Well it all started for me one cold winter night in the mid 70's a few years before I was legal to drive.
A few buddies and I were walking back from a friends party in a bad snow storm about 1:30am.
On our journey home we had to walk by the local Tavern.
As we were walking up to the back of the Tavern we notice a older man in a 70's FJ landcruiser pulling up to purchase some beer from the vender. This guy ran into the vender and left his FJ idling.
My buddies walked right by and continued to the front of the Tavern so we could warm up in the front entrance. One of my buddies said I can't wait till one of us get our drivers permit. And we all looked at each other with frostbite covered face's an agreed.
I said hey guys wait here I'll be right back. I walked out the front door into the storm And ran around to the back of the Tavern. I looked through the Vender window & noticed the owner Of the FJ was chatting up the hot looking vender lady .
So I took it opon myself to borrow the nice warm FJ to complete our cold journey home.
About 2 min later I pulled around to the front and yelled to my buddies jump in we have a warm ride home. And jump in they did!
We continued driving home down the main street. The snow storm was so bad we could only see maybe 30ft in front.
About 15 minutes into our journey we noticed flashing lights trying to catch up to us from behind.
Back then the local police used the Big Plymouth Fury's with there 440 engines.
I knew the officer was having a hell of a time trying to get close to us.
The streets were so bad by this time there were 2ft drifts of snow ever 50ft.
Which the FJ had no trouble going through.
But the big Plymouth was slowing down big time every time it hit a drift.
Not that we were driving crazy but our speed never got over 35mph.
It was blowing snow that bad.
Anyhow the officer in the big Fury would not give up on trying to catch us.
And we were getting close to home.
So I decided to take the officer for a trip down this one road we all knew would be nearly unpassable in weather like this.
So driving down this road I noticed the snowdrifts were over 2ft and hitting them started to slow the FJ down. But then I knew they would stop the officer too. As we came around the final curve we all saw a 3ft snowdrift stretching about 50ft or more. My buddy yelled oh my god were busted now.
I dropped the FJ into 2nd and floored it and rammed into the drift. The whole windshield was white with snow flying everywhere. We slowly pushed through and made it to the other side.
We stopped to look back & see if we were still being pursued by the officer. Wouldn't you know it he just would not give up!
And I was shocked the big fury could follow us for this long.
As the officer came around the curve he saw the huge drift.
I guess either he was going to fast to stop Or he was related to Linda Blair and was also possessed. That big Fury hit the drift so hard all we saw was Snow flying and headlights disapear. About 2 minutes later we noticed the officer turned off the flashing lights. This meant our chase was over.
And knowing the officer had a 2 way radio we figured he would be ok.
We drove to a local parkinglot about 3 blocks from my friends place. We cleaned out the FJ and tookup a collection for the fuel we used.
We turned off the FJ and placed the keys and $14 in the glovebox and went to crash at my friends home.

Fast Forward to 1986.
My partner in crime had been going out with this Beautful young lady when he proposed to her.
Well myself being the best man was asked to join my buddy & his future wife at her parents home.
We all got together to disscuss wedding plans.
After the women stayed upstairs drinking wine And us guys went downstairs to drink beer & whiskey shots.
Well we starting talking about Sports & cars.
When the future fatherInlaw started telling us about a story about his FJ being stolen 1 cold winter night while he stopped to purchase beer.
My buddy looked at me with a big smile trying hard not to laugh while his future fatherInlaw told the story.
The fatherInlaw was about to say... You know what those little buggers did?
Just then my buddy blurts out What! LEAVE THE KEYS ALONG WITH $14 FOR GAS IN THE GLOVE BOX?

And thats how I got started in 4X4ing!

Since then I have owned
2 1980 Toyota pickups 4x4's
1 Landcruiser diesel 4x4
1 58 GMC 4X4
1 77 Ford F150 4x4
1 86 Suzuki Samuri 4x4
1 91 GMC K1500 4X4 which my late father gave to me & its my last truck!