Overlanding?

[Thebesta94]

Anyone on the forum do any overlanding in their tahoe? Looking to get into it, I'm located in texas so I'll have to drive out to new mexico most likely.. but just seeing if anyone out there is involved in that community?

 

[wjburken]

Look the posts from @Tozan

 

[soulsea]

These vehicles are not a good platform for real overlanding.

Even if you completely redo the suspension, their 4WD systems aren't designed for any kind of serious off roading.

You're much better off starting out with something else.

 

[intheburbs]

IFS does not a good overlander make. Expedition Portal is kinda the Mecca of overlanding sites.

 

[Tozan]

IFS and Tahoe's work fine for overlanding... They are very capable off road at least the pre 2014 models are. I run a 4 inch lift with 35 tires and nothing has stopped it yet. My last trip was 380 miles and 250 miles of it was off pavement and off road. I did have to pull a Rubicon jeep out from getting stuck... Can you imagine a rock crawler doing 380 miles in a weekend... They would be hating life if they even made it that far.

Overlnding covers a very large array of vehicles. Some are a million bucks and weigh as much as 10 tons or more. Large expedition trucks will be disappointed to know they are not OL capable because they can not do rock crawling or extreme off road.

Overlanding is traveling over the land and camping and exploring. It often involves off pavement travel and some track road driving. A true overland adventure may cover continents and thousands of miles and a rock crawler or extreme 4x4 can not make it that far or even come close to completing the trip..

Over landing is NOT rock crawling or extreme 4 wheeling. My 2011 Tahoe goes everywhere the other vehicles in my group do and it does it far more comfortable than a solid axle does. It is much better than a small jeep because it can carry twice as much without going over the weight rating of the vehicle. In many countries and even in some states if you exceed the weight limit you can get heavy fines (it happened to me it was also a moving violation with points) Plus if you are involved in an accident on the road and are over weight your insurance company does not have to cover it... So I still think a Tahoe is much better than most jeeps at overlanding in general.

A large number of very capable off road racing and 4x4 have IFS and IRS suspension. Almost ALL razors and smaller recreation vehicles have IFS and IRS because it is easy more comfortable and it WORKS.

Maybe you can tell this and other Ultra4 IFS guys IFS does not work... lol


Feel free to check out my build thread and if I can help in any way let me know. And be sure to ignore people who do not know what they are talking about and who do not do long off road trips. If you want to learn about overland travel check out my build thread on Overland bound form too.

This is my Tahoe.



I was right behind this guy... His rig is even bigger than mine... If you look closely you will see a full size Chevy 4x4 van in the back ground too. So much for it just being for jeeps and little trucks.

 

[Tozan]

IFS does not a good overlander make. Expedition Portal is kinda the Mecca of overlanding sites.

The guys at Expedition Portal also have plenty of IFS trucks too. And if you don't think a Tahoe can do it then why does Expedition Portal have the folowing full size van on their front page doing it...

 

[swathdiver]

Many mention the lack of locker options for IFSs but they are made and proper tire selection makes them moot in most cases anyway.

I was on a jeep forum looking at Scramblers and the guys there were commenting on how slow they were until one of them realized how much weight all the aftermarket stuff added, he completely shattered his GVWR by nearly a thousand pounds. I used to drive around in my Uncle's CJ8 when a youngster and it was no slouch even with 33s.

 

[soulsea]

The guys at Expedition Portal also have plenty of IFS trucks too. And if you don't think a Tahoe can do it then why does Expedition Portal have the folowing full size van on their front page doing it...

View attachment 231205

Wow, a lot to unpack in your posts but I'll address the most glaring flaws.

First of all using a Sportmobile (or similar) conversion to make the point that if a van can be used as an overland vehicle a Tahoe can is immensely misleading. Those vans are vans in look only, it takes a huge amount of modification and money to make them into capable 4x4 overland vehicles. https://sportsmobile.com/sportsmobile-4x4/. But yeah, I'm sure a 4" lift and 35s will do just as well.

In the van segment there isn't any other off the shelf solution, so if that's what you want that's the only way to go about it. In the SUV/Pickup segments however there are numerous other much better options as a starting platform so there's literally no reason to start with as poor a platform as a GMT suv and spend the money and energy to make it truly capable. Is it possible? Sure. Is it a good idea? No, that's in part why Expedition Portal and Mongolia aren't populated with Escalades.

Second, the fact that you happened to pull a Rubicon out of trouble once means literally zero. I've seen videos of granola box Subarus pulling very capable 4x4s out of places where they were stuck, it's called an outlier and not something to base a build decision on.

Last, overlanding capability isn't related to size, although obviously the smaller the wheelbase of the vehicle the more maneuverable it will be. But a person can make a Prospector XL into an overlander https://www.aev-conversions.com/vehicles/prospector-xl/. The issue with GMT SUVs isn't the size.

A true overlander has to be capable of handling a lot more than moderate dirt roads and the occasional mud puddle so as to be prepared for most reasonable obstacles an unknown road in the middle of nowhere might put before you, even if one doesn't even encounter such an obstacle. Otherwise it's just a camping vehicle.

 

[Tozan]

Wow, a lot to unpack in your posts but I'll address the most glaring flaws.

First of all using a Sportmobile (or similar) conversion to make the point that if a van can be used as an overland vehicle a Tahoe can is immensely misleading. Those vans are vans in look only, it takes a huge amount of modification and money to make them into capable 4x4 overland vehicles. https://sportsmobile.com/sportsmobile-4x4/. But yeah, I'm sure a 4" lift and 35s will do just as well.

In the van segment there isn't any other off the shelf solution, so if that's what you want that's the only way to go about it. In the SUV/Pickup segments however there are numerous other much better options as a starting platform so there's literally no reason to start with as poor a platform as a GMT suv and spend the money and energy to make it truly capable. Is it possible? Sure. Is it a good idea? No, that's in part why Expedition Portal and Mongolia aren't populated with Escalades.

Second, the fact that you happened to pull a Rubicon out of trouble once means literally zero. I've seen videos of granola box Subarus pulling very capable 4x4s out of places where they were stuck, it's called an outlier and not something to base a build decision on.

Last, overlanding capability isn't related to size, although obviously the smaller the wheelbase of the vehicle the more maneuverable it will be. But a person can make a Prospector XL into an overlander https://www.aev-conversions.com/vehicles/prospector-xl/. The issue with GMT SUVs isn't the size.

A true overlander has to be capable of handling a lot more than dirt roads and the occasional mud puddle so as to be prepared for most reasonable obstacles an unknown road in the middle of nowhere might put before you, even if one doesn't even encounter such an obstacle. Otherwise it's just a camping vehicle.

I am not responding to bash you or hurt your ego or to start a thread war. I also do not want to go point for point against what you are saying. Your post above certainly has a lot of condescending overtones to it and are not what I expect from a super moderator on an informational forum.. I find it interesting you are a moderator on a GM SUV site and you think so little of the platform. So lets put the egos aside and discuss how this guy and enjoy his GM SUV...

The "glaring flaws" are in a narrow focused and incorrect definition of what overlanding is. If we look it up in a dictionary it is simply stated as "One who travels over land" So, by definition "A true overlander has to be capable of travel over land" There is NO definition of what that land looks like or even how rough it is. Historically most long trips were often on some type of road or trail. The trails they followed most likely could be traveled by a wagon or on foot they were never the "Rubicon" or "Devils revenge" in Moab. By the way I have been to both areas I live in the Reno / Tahoe area and I spent a few months last year in Moab traveling on the trails there.

I am sure there are arrogant idiots who for their own self riotous thinking want to redefine it to meet their egotistical ideas... But the vast majority of people actually doing is will NOT be traveling in what some people are trying to define as an overlander. People doing it full or part time are the ones who should be defining what it is..

There is no "True Overlander" History tells us the earlier overlanders traveled by foot then maybe a wagon or even a model T at one point all of them have traveled around the world and a Tahoe certainly can too. The quality of one is NOT based on not getting stuck. It is more about what you can carry in it.

Is a short wheel base good? Not really in fact for a real overland trip it wont carry enough to survive in the wilderness for a month or longer... The average overland trail is not tight nor is it rocky and rough most of it can be driven in a sedan. Will they get stuck of course EVERYTHING can get stuck but, a smart over lander tries to avoid it at all cost to include finding a new route. Expeditions are done with very big trucks and often are back tracking and finding better routes.

One of the older more popular overland vehicles at one time was a 2 wheel drive land rover. A Tahoe is certainly more capable then it was on the rover if you lifted one wheel up it stopped moving...

There is NO BEST vehicle to build from and to try and name a perfect one is pure ignorance at best. There certainly may be something better than others but, a Tahoe is not really a bad start. There are plenty of them and suburbans out there and a lot of even less qualified vehicles too.

Out of the hundreds of people on trips I have run into they love my rig and think it is great. Off road no one has ever waited for me nor have I had any problems on the thousands of miles I have traveled on the trails. I have certainly lifted one or more wheels off the ground and never had a problem. At the overland Expedition expo in Flagstaff my Tahoe fit right in and got plenty of positive comments too.

On Overland Bound most people are not narrow focused, there are a few but, people mostly ignore their opinions because over landing is defined more by the person doing it not a narrow focused idea.

To sum it up this guy owns a SUV and wants information on what he can do with it and how well it will work for him... So, if anyone doesn't have any real constructive information to add they should just be quiet and ignore the thread.

 

[soulsea]

Wow, that's a lot of words to say absolutely nothing.

Regroup, organize your thoughts, and try to put forth a coherent argument that refutes the points I have brought up ... or at the very least stop misinforming people. Practically no one starts overland builds with these trucks for good reasons.

You think I'm mean to you ... try posting your wisdoms on EP and let's see how that goes for you.

And I'm in AZ all of November ... you're welcome to join us on the 'back way' Phoenix to Crown King rd with your rig. It's a 7ish/10 on the difficulty scale so you should breeze right through it.