The LR4 — Crossing America Offroad with Tom Collins at the helm!

[madmax718]

It doesn't matter if the Nissan was modded or not, since you don't even need mods to complete the trip. A high clearance 2WD would do as well. Also, the Land Rovers didn't officially complete the trip either since they had to bypass in Oregon due to the wildfires. So, technically the TAT is still uncompleted by an SUV, unless someone else has already done it, but not been documented. Or it has been documented but we just don't now about it. Actually, it's hard to believe that it hasn't been done before this. Maybe the Land Rover trip just had the advantage of better press? Who knows? Finally, the TAT's the TAT, and nothing else. There are undoubtedly other legitimate ways to do the same thing.

It does matter, if you trying to obtain a certain title. the LR's did complete it, because they went backwards on the missed parts to make sure it WAS completed. Bypassing a raging fire, then retracing the part they missed because of the fire, is different than a modified 4x4 that seems to have bypassed several states. I sincerely doubt a high clearance 2wd would get through Nevada. (and what production high clearance 2wd would you be referring to?)

Call the guy who made the map. Ask him whether he has heard of any SUV's making it. Better yet, ask the only gas stations near the trail- for hundreds of miles if an SUV has come passing by off the trail.

Ask your friend how he got around the downed trees- that were there before he even bought the maps. That were still there when the LR' guys went through.

No, there pretty much isn't anything else like the TAT, in the region that the TAT covers. The TAT is ever changing, ever so slightly, but there are sections that just did not change, and was not changed on the map.

Maybe someone else did do it; but Im pretty certain it wasn't the Xterra on the full TAT.

By his own admission, the Xterra didn't finish the TAT. the LR did. the Xterra has mechanical failure of a PS pump. the LR didn't. The Xterra had tires that look perfectly new at the end. the LR didn't. End of story. I can say I can eat 400 hotdogs in 5 minutes at home,show some random pictures it doesn't give me the title of the hotdog eating champion. 4 points isn't even close to the TAT! This is why we have clocking and recording agencies, such as Guinness book of world records.

LR isn't the first to try, and many motorcycles and even quads and atv's have finished the TAT, but LR are the first vehicle mfg that proves you could walk in to a dealer and leave driving the vehicle straight onto the TAT from beginning to end without mechanical failures.

Give credit where credit is due.

 

[Jakes01234]

I always had a soft spot for rovers. Never owned one but they are on the short list.
I can't think of many vehicles that are so damn comfortable on and off the road as the lr3/4
I enjoyed this thread and the great pictures. Talking my fiancee into an lr3 is the next step.
I'll be hanging around here more often now to try and get more info.



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[David Harris]

Didn't say the Xterra did it, just that whether it was modded or not doesn't matter because the route isn't that difficult in a technical sense. I grew up in Crested Butte, Colorado and lived in Nevada for ten years. I've taken lots of stock 2WD's off road, so I know what's possible. My friends and I used to off road one of these in Colorado growing up and even took it up Mt. Blanca and most of the trails in SE Colorado. Hell, with a 7.02:1 first gear and 4.57 rear end, you don't even need 4WD!



A friend of mine in Nevada used to take his 1985 Chevrolet Caprice station wagon loaded with friends off road to their favorite party spot all the time. Never could kill that thing! Never even had a flat, unlike the ten flats the LR4's had. Stock VW Beetles have done the Baja 1000 countless times. They do it extremely slow but they finish it.

If those vehicles are too old, feeble and overland illegitimate to hold a "title" then how about this production 2WD. I'm sure this would have no problem completing that route and might even be able to do it without a single flat.



It's cool that Land Rover did this trip for sure and it's certainly no fault of their own that the fires got in the way, but its difficulty really has to be put into proper perspective, without the hyperbole that Land Rover and others have attributed to it. That's giving credit where credit is due.

 

[madmax718]

Don't even need 4wd in a truck/suv to complete the whole TAT?

Ok, I'll take your word for it.

 

[David Harris]

So if I take a 1953 Chevrolet truck over the TAT what title do I get?

 

[Jakes01234]

So if I take a 1953 Chevrolet truck over the TAT what title do I get?

You get a very unhappy face from me for ruining a 1953 chevy truck.

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[David Harris]

You get a very unhappy face from me for ruining a 1953 chevy truck.

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I'll use a pre-ruined one with good mechanicals! I've had three of them and a 1941. All of them were beat up old trucks and still ran well. Really tough. All were used on farms and ranches and had definite signs of being off-roaded a lot in the course of their daily duties.

You've got a point though. . . I should probably take the Toyota.

 

[goodtimes]

Ray is Canadian. Human chainsaw.

As I understand the situation, it was a good-natured competition. There was a chainsaw in the roof box, and Ray bet he could get through the tree before they could get the chainsaw out and fired up.

Then the obvious question is: Did Ray win?

:sombrero:

 

[LR Max]

You don't need 4WD to tackle the TAT. Motorcycles do it all the time. They are 1WD.

1/4th the wheel drive of a Land Rover. See, its not that bad.

 

[MedicalCowboy]

So if I take a 1953 Chevrolet truck over the TAT what title do I get?

What if I do the same thing but with a mustache? Lol

 

[David Harris]

What if I do the same thing but with a mustache? Lol

You get the Tom Collins throwback award!

 

[Ray Hyland]

Wading into this thread a little late, but here goes.

I was on the trip from Nevada through to the Pacific. These were completely stock trucks, as you would get off the dealer floor.

LRNA actually had fifty 19" Goodyear MTRs in their warehouse, but they decided to go with the completely stock tires, just to be completely honest when they said the trucks were stock. I appreciate that they did, because it gives us an honest assessment of where the trucks' short-comings are, and the tires were the only issue.

There were actually 4 trucks in total on the trip.
Two trucks did the entire TAT, (as much as possible - we missed a dozen miles in Oregon due to forest fires).
The 3rd truck carried a camera crew. They did most of the trail but hopped off every once in awhile so they could upload images or film some side attractions along the route.
The 4th truck was just used as a shuttle to collect journalists from local airports and ferry them to the main two trucks that were doing the full TAT route.

None of the trucks had any breakdowns, and they didn't bring any spare parts along either. Tom had a basic tool kit along, and an extensive tire-repair kit. Yes there were multiple flat tires. Probably half due to driver error, and half due to the tires themselves.

It's interesting to talk about the tires. Every engineering solution is a series of compromises, and the reality is 99% of people who buy these cars want something quiet, comfortable and yet able to deal with a slippery driveway, a sudden storm, a trip up the ski-hill, and the like. For those conditions the stock tire is appropriate.

For those of us who use these vehicles more aggressively, the stock tire is not appropriate. LRNA knew that when they set off on the trip. And yet they decided to be honest about it and send it on the stock tires anyways. Even with journalists in the vehicles.

My take on the whole trip is that travelling on dirt roads across the USA is an amazing experience.

Is the TAT a hard-core, technical trail? For the most part, no. But then again, the sections of the Silk Web that I've driven haven't been very technical either. Neither is the Dempster highway up into the Arctic. Or most of the Pan-american highway.

The fact that the TAT even exists, as a cross-continent overland route, is fantastic. The fact that Land Rover has demonstrated that we (and our friends and families) can do the entire route in a good stock 4x4, is also fantastic. I'd love to see dozens of families hear about this trip, and set off next summer in a combination of Jeeps, Rovers, Suburbans, and whatever else they have. Hopefully with LR doing a good job of PR, more people in the US will realize this is possible.

ExPo member jessejman did it last year with his wife and 3 little kids in a 1994 Land Cruiser (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/82860-Traversing-the-US-(and-back)) Maybe they didn't do the exact route, but the spirit was the same.

So, what did we learn from the Land Rover expedition?

There are lots of sharp rocks, so get good tires, know how to fix a flat, be precious of your sidewalls, and bring a couple of Jerry cans of fuel (yes we did actually need to use the Jerry cans, there are a couple of long stages).

Other than that, get out there and enjoy one of the world's last great overland routes while you can, because more of it is getting paved every single year.

 

[Ray Hyland]

Then the obvious question is: Did Ray win?

:sombrero:

Ah, no. Tom had the gas-axe running before I was half-way through the tree.

To be fair to me though, that was potentially the worst axe I have ever swung in my life.

(That's my story, and I'm sticking to it...)

 

[madmax718]

I was gonna say that was a cheap looking axe, no gransfors for you!

 

[Dendy Jarrett]

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