Good-Bye Jeep Liberty! WELCOME BACK JEEP CHEROKEE!

Originally Posted by gsxr750

For serious off roading the rear wench is essential, there are often times you can't go forwards anymore and the front mounted wench is useless, if you need to be pulled out from the rear and turn around and go back the way you came.

Here is a link on front and rear wench discussion

Front vs Rear mounting winch - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum

My point is that if all you want is a vehicle that is capable of handling a up to 5-10 inches of light snow or just a drive up ice or snow covered drive way , then any AWD car or SUV should cover that.

But when your talking driving off road its a completely different beast, I grew up in western new York, where you have a lot of snow and a lot of muddy trails early in the season and have talked and experienced enough tough trails on my own, where even the winch wouldn't get you out and you had to pay a farmer with a tractor or even a contractor with a bulldozer to pull the 4 x 4 out.

What I have learned and many other friends is that if you can't get to a simple location by a normal car, then its time to get out the snowshoes, horse, atv or snowmobile. Simply leave the car at the main road and use another source of transport.

Originally Posted by Red__Zed

A rear winch is certainly nice to have, but far from a must-have. If you're stuck enough to need a winch from the back, you deserve to waste a few minutes moving a front winch to the rear mount.

Tackling any serious offroading alone is a terrible decision anyways. You should always have someone out there with you. I'd never tackle any of the real trails without some backup.


Got any pics of your wheeling?

Originally Posted by UNKNOWN_370

Wish I could change the thread title. It's slightly off topic, but this is the actual thread I should have started... This turned out to be an awesome thread. Learning a lot here. I may slowly and eventually evolve to this level of off-roading???

Originally Posted by gsxr750

Here is a link to some good examples of being stuck with the 4x4 it illustrates why you really need a beater for it,

The best way to get your truck unstuck out of mud? - Page 2 - Tacoma World Forums

Did most of my off roading during the late 70's and early 80's , we were stuck with only Kodak 110's and 35mm cameras, and on $120-$150 pay check back then you didn't waste much money on pictures, 10 pics with film and developing ran easily $20 back then. Pics were for holidays and special parties and get togethers, not like it is today.