Moab...In a big truck...

[dieselgeek]

By big I mean CCLB AEV Prospector on 37's. So we are planning a trip out west in the spring to hike the Grand Canyon and Power Wagons in Moab is right before we are planning our hike. Moab has been on my list for a long time and PWiM seemed perfect....until I seen the trail list. No greens this year.

So the moderate trails are: Hells revenge, Fins and things, sevenmile rim, metal masher and top of the world. Can a person with a CCLB truck successfully navigate these trails most likely using bypasses without rock sliders and without incurring Sheetmetal damage? It looks like bumper and hitch dragging may happen but I can deal with that.

Oh....and I already signed up! I clicked register before looking at the itinerary thinking it would be similar to last year. I'll eat it if I need to but like I said Moab has been a dream for a long time living in the northeast.

Thanks for the input, just wanting to see if I am crazy, stupid or both?

 

[jadmt]

you will have a some paint stripping. I know the AEV crew did Kane Creek in Prospectors. I have seen full size trucks on Fins and hells revenge altho not longbows. Saw a truck load of guys from Mexico in a full size RAM beating the crap out a new ram on Poison Spider and going up the waterfall were beating the crap out of the sheet metal, saw them the next day on Hells revenge. I have not done metal masher but I did Sevenmile the end of June and I can't think of anywhere that would pose a problem. I have done top of the world several times and can't think of too many places that would give you any trouble. The guys from TFL were on fins the first of November when we were there and had a stock 1500 and were doing ok. I would talk to Dave at AEV and see he has been to Moab 100X and probably has done most of the trails in one of his trucks.

 

[1leglance]

Since you have an AEV I would absolutely call them, great folks and they know/test their rigs in Moab often.
I did Fins in a full size E350 extended body Sportsmobile and other than a bit of hitch dragging it was fine.
Desert pinstripping is part of the game in the southwest, on the other hand sheet metal is almost always driver, just be willing to go around or say no to a trail.

 

[zoomad75]

I did Hell's this last September for Blazer Bash with my K5/FWC camper combo. Granted my Wheelbase is radically shorter than a crew cab waggy, but we did have a couple long box K30 trucks out there with us. Previous years the ringleader was driving a K30 crewcab long box. So I'd say Hell's could be doable. There are bypasses around most of the hairy stuff. Plus if you are with a group of similar vehicles at an event most likely you'll have multiple spotters guiding you through.

I didn't do Fins N Things, but hear it's easier than Hell's on the difficulty scale.

 

[dieselgeek]

Thanks guys, kinda what I was thinking after researching the trails. Not too worried about pinstripes, that is what my random orbital is for. I just want to stay clear of wrinkled Sheetmetal as much as possible. I will have to reach out to AEV in the near future.