Of Off Road and Super Swampers

by S PER

If you're up for an extraordinary driving experience, going off road may be the best idea. Driving a specialized vehicle such as heavy-duty trucks and equipment, SUV's and ATV's or vehicles that have extra ground clearance, sturdy tires, and in some cases, front and rear locking differentia. Unpaved roads like sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks and other natural terrain call for specialized tires like super swamper tires .

There are many types of off road driving, suitable for all levels of experience and equipment. Dune bashing involves driving over sand dunes. Usually done in the Middle East and freuently associated with their tourism; equipped with super swampers , vehicle like Ford Bronco can carry out this kind of drive. The Silver Lake Sand Dunes in Michigan and the Imperial Sand Dunes in California are some of the popular dune abshing spots in the U.S. Greenlaning or "Two-tracking" is one of the least 'extreme' categories. It is generally suitable for any four wheel drive vehicle, even with factory tires and equipment. The term greenlane refers to the fact that the routes are predominantly along unpaved tracks, forest tracks, or older roadways that may have fallen into disuse. Ford F-150 may be an ideal vehicle for this category. Mudding involves finding a large area of wet mud or clay and attempting to drive as far through it as possible without becoming stuck. Usually, the stock tires supplied with four by four vehicles are completely inadequate for this type of off roading. Toyota's Land Rover may be a good pick for mudding. Rock crawling is a highly technical category of off roading. Vehicles are typically modified with larger than stock tires, suspension components that allow greater axle articulation and changes in the differential gear ratio in order to provide the ideal high torque/low speed operation for rock crawling to traverse obstacles. The Jeep Rubicon is expert on this category.

While many off-road vehicles can greenland or "two track" most unpaved roads, the desire of many off-roading enthusiasts is to attempt much more challenging terrain. Modifications are done on some parts, equipment and accessories to carry out the off roading task. Vehicles are lifted in order to increase the amount of clearance between the ground and the bottom of the body or frame of the vehicle. Body lift and suspension lift are some of the examples.Large tires. A quick and easy way to gain ground clearance is to increase the size of the tires on a vehicle. One advantage over body and suspension lifts is that larger tires will improve ground clearance under all parts of the vehicle, including the axles and differentials. The use of utility vehicle super swamper tires are required.