Overlanding with stock Trailboss

[OGreatOne]

Looking for feedback from folks who are overlanding with a trailboss. I've got a 2021 with the 5.3l.  Not looking to do difficult trails. Is a stock TB sufficient or did you find that upgrades ( major or minor) were required.

Thanks

Dave

[Supercup]

In stock configuration it is capable of reasonable trails at moderate pace.  Stock shocks are pretty soft - so that will limit your pace off road (no high speed desert bombing).  But it will go a lot of place just as delivered.   

 

Get out there and enjoy it and you will find the things that are limiting for the areas you drive.  There are some good you tube video of stock trucks out there doing some fun stuff. Below is a good view of what to expect. 

 

TFF Trail Boss - 6 months  of use 

 

 

[OA5599]

I have an AT4  still stock (planning things for the future) and take it overland quite often; rocks, mud, snow, gravel... you name it. Only issue I've had is not realizing the height I was at on a rock and knocking my side step and bending the brace underneath. Otherwise, the truck stock has performed fantastic, but it comes down to how far you want to go to test it.

[OGreatOne]

Thanks for the input guys. I have watched some videos and the traiboss looks pretty capable in those, but you can never tell how much "editing" there is.

I have the offroad steps, they sit up nice and close to the body. I'll have to measure the clearance to the supports for those before I go out.

You get a lot people wonder about your sanity when you say you going to offroad a $50k new truck.

[Transient]

Just imagine the looks Ford Raptor owners have been getting for the last decade when they tell people they're offroading $70,000 trucks.

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

[mrjulian416]

1 hour ago, Transient said:

Just imagine the looks Ford Raptor owners have been getting for the last decade when they tell people they're offroading $70,000 trucks.
 

There's a raptor owner who actually goes off road?

 

I kid, I kid....

[Rob Mugs]

There's a vijayo around here somewhere of a guy that took it on a decently long excursion... let me see if I can find it

[Rob Mugs]

Here ya go.. courtesy of @SquireSCA

 

[SquireSCA]

19 minutes ago, Rob Mugs said:

Here ya go.. courtesy of @SquireSCA

 

Yup, that's me.  I removed my side steps and installed Rock Rails, that use 4 anchor points each side and protect the rocker panel from dings, without taking away ground clearance.  I removed the lowed air dam in the front, and upgraded the tires to 33" Goodyear UltraTerrains and 1.25" hub-centric wheel spacers on all 4 weeks to push the tires past the bodywork in the event that I am in a tall rut.  I want the tires to act like a bit of a buffer, rather than dragging my bodywork against the side of the rut...  

Only other mod was a muffler delete and welded in a straight pipe.

It's a pretty capable truck stock or with very few mods.  The only other thing I might do is upgrade to Bilsteins which will add another 1" of clearance in the front.

[Gangly]

I have a 2020 Z71 with 2" suspension lift so it has roughly the same stance as a stock Trailboss just with better(my opinion only) suspension components.  I do light overlanding with it, mostly 1-3 day beach or forest trips in Texas, and it has been perfectly capable for all of my needs.  Remember, you are overlanding and not rock crawling in Moab, UT or swamp diving in the south, so get a good set of AT or Hybrid tires and that rear locker will get you just about anywhere you need to go without ever needing 4WD.   When overlanding by yourself, you have a tendency to be secluded which means there isn't much help nearby so you generally want to use 2WD to get you where you need to go and use 4WD to get you unstuck along the way.  Once your stuck in 4WD and your by yourself, it quickly escalates into A LOT of work, ha.  If you have buddies and recovery gear though, 4WD and  FULL SEND all day long, you can find amazing places that way.

 

The TFLTruck video above is a great example of moderate Overlanding though most overlanding will rarely consist of that much off camber, suspension loading, traction limited surfaces.  Honestly, most people do their builds to do all-out overlanding but rarely take them anywhere other than the beach or a National Forest camp ground, and I'm included in that destination category.  Many people will try to tell you that you need this tire, or that rack, or a certain bumper or tent, when all you really need is a 4WD vehicle, good AT tires of any brand, and a desire to explore.  Everything else is just candy.  The TB is more than capable of doing 95% of the overlanding trails right out of the box, as is any other brand's  4WD vehicle (not AWD), the 5% of tracks and trails the TB wont be able to traverse are due to its size, it's rather large.  I've done a lot of the same trails in Moab as the TFLTruck crew, and I did them in an open diff Ram 4X4 with zero issues whatsoever.  I am not a particularly good off road driver when it comes to stuff like Moab, its just that TFL has to show drama and excitement for their youtube channel, and I say this so that you can have full confidence in your Trailboss being able to do most anything you want it to do.  Just about everywhere they struggled with the TB, you could make it through with yours fairly easily on a different line.  Have confidence in your TB, its as good a foundation for overlanding as any other manufacturers 4X4 excluding the Ram Power Wagon, Ford Tremor and Raptor, of which all three are in a category of their own.

 

If you facebook at all, there is a great group of fullsize overlanders that you should join.  There is a tremendous amount of knowledge there with some incredible builds and ideas for reliable and sustainable self seclusion.   There is a large Power Wagon, Raptor, and older Silverado following, but unfortunately the T1 doesn't have a huge following yet since its so new.  Regardless, there are a few of us T1'ers in there and the community readily shares great trails and tracks that full size overlanders can traverse without pin-striping the vehicle or crushing panels.  Simply put, it's a great resource for beginners and pro's a-like.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/fullsizeoverland

 

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.  I'm not an overland guru by any means, but I have decent knowledge of the T1 platform and its capabilities for mild off roading.

Edited March 30, 2021 by Gangly

[SquireSCA]

Good points...  Yeah, the biggest thing that I noticed on the trails that I tackled, was the sheer size, the width, the turn radius, etc...  

I had a 2016 Colorado Z71 that had a 2.5" lift in front  and 3" blocks in the back, Bilsteins all around, and larger offroad tires... Might have been Cooper ATP's or something like that, that were larger than stock.  It being lifted, air damn removed, metal skid plates and those tires, put it on par with a Tacoma TRD Pro...  It was lighter and more agile than the Silverado, but for a guy my size it just did not have the comfort of the Silverado....

[OGreatOne]

Thanks for the post guy's. i'm in Maryland, dont think there is a lot of open legal trails here, so I got to do some looking.

SquireSCA, that trail looks like about what i'm looking for, the truck did alright. I've got the 18in wheels with the duratracs.

Gangly, thanks for the tip on the FB group. I've never had a logon for FB, glad someone actually showed me a useful group on it. I created an ID, hopefully they let me in it! 

  

[SquireSCA]

4 minutes ago, OGreatOne said:

Thanks for the post guy's. i'm in Maryland, dont think there is a lot of open legal trails here, so I got to do some looking.

SquireSCA, that trail looks like about what i'm looking for, the truck did alright. I've got the 18in wheels with the duratracs.

Gangly, thanks for the tip on the FB group. I've never had a logon for FB, glad someone actually showed me a useful group on it. I created an ID, hopefully they let me in it! 

  

yeah, we have a lot of stuff like that down here... national forests, fire access roads, some off road parks for trucks and jeeps, etc...