101 Off-road Course

22TB · Feb 7, 2023

I took a 101 Off-road course this past weekend at Rausch Creek in central PA through Off-Road Consulting (ORC). In central PA we have a lot of land that was previously used for mining/strip mining operations and one way to repurpose these areas are off road parks. Rausch Creek and Anthracite Outdoor Adventure Area (AOAA) are the two most popular in the area. Anyways, it was an awesome time to get out and really use and practice all the new 4x4 tech. Coming from an all mechanical 1995 dodge Cummins, A lot has changed for me. Overall I was really impressed the truck. GMs traction control seems very "tight" and is quick to limit wheel spin while not limiting power, at least in 4 Low. The downhill assist control is also impressive. I'm not entirely sure what all the "Off-road Mode" does besides modifying throttle sensitivity, but between that and the Duramax diesel torque, powering over obstacles is very smooth with no jerking or bucking. Throughout the day I touched bottom three times with no damage, once on a stump right on the frame rail and another on a rock on the passenger rear shock mount, and touched the passenger side mud flap. It was about 10 degrees out, so the water fording part of the course got skipped due to thick ice on their "puddle" but I'm OK with that as I don't know exactly where the differential and transmission breathers are. Please post if you know! All the mud was also frozen so cleanup was easy the next day haha. Overall I was really happy with the Trail Boss, its pretty capable in factory form. I think future upgrades will be skid plates and rock sliders, and eventually a small lift/level with bilstein shocks and new UCAs to clear slightly larger tires. If anyones in the area, I highly recommend ORC, their instructors are great and they offer all kinds of courses ranging from 101 to 303, recovery, winching, etc. I had to really trim the videos for them to fit on the post unfortunately!

PistolsFiring · Feb 7, 2023

Very cool. Like how they repurpose strip mine areas into off road parks for public use, good idea. Always nice to learn new skills or practice the ones you do have.

GETGONE · Feb 7, 2023

I believe the rear diff breather goes up to the gas filler neck area. The front diff breather is I think on the firewall. I know the trans breather is there. It's been a few months since I looked everything over from underneath. When in 4 low it turns of traction control and stability control. So it's only relying on the G80 to lock up when there is wheel spin.

22TB · Feb 7, 2023

PistolsFiring said:
Very cool. Like how they repurpose strip mine areas into off road parks for public use, good idea. Always nice to learn new skills or practice the ones you do have.

These areas arent public, as in you have to pay a fee to use the park, but its pretty cheap. And the acreage of both parks are huge and the parks have recovery vehicles if needed.

22TB · Feb 7, 2023

GETGONE said:
I believe the rear diff breather goes up to the gas filler neck area. The front diff breather is I think on the firewall. I know the trans breather is there. It's been a few months since I looked everything over from underneath. When in 4 low it turns of traction control and stability control. So it's only relying on the G80 to lock up when there is wheel spin.

Thanks for the info!

scotman623 · Feb 9, 2023

Great wheeling there, I have been to both places but not with my TB yet.. Im doing a few Vermont off-road trips this spring with some Guides, I can give the information to signup if anyone is interested into joining the fun…My truck is now pretty well built for off-road, so im excited to see what it can do this coming April..

22TB · Mar 8, 2023

That would be great @scotman623 as I would love to get farther north and explore. What mods Offroad wise have you done? Im in the market/searching for full underbody skid plates but theres no options for our trucks I have found yet.

Gangly · Mar 9, 2023

22TB said:
That would be great @scotman623 as I would love to get farther north and explore. What mods Offroad wise have you done? Im in the market/searching for full underbody skid plates but theres no options for our trucks I have found yet

From what I have researched, you would need to have underbody skid plates fabricated. I haven't been able to find any readily available online, but if you crawl under your truck you can see that it wouldn't be too hard to do.

However, for those who haven't noticed, the transfer case shield is the weakest link regarding the factory shields, it has left a divot in the output shaft snout of the transfer case where it bent upwards during mild off roading. The first time it happend I thought "dang, I must have hit that harder than I thought", but then I was able to bend it back by hand and I realized it's juts not structurally strong enough. Since then, I have bent it back in place multiple times by hand. If there was a single component of the factory shield componentry that I would replace or upgrade if I was going to do any substantial off roading on rocky ground, it would be the transfer case shield.

22TB · Mar 9, 2023

Gangly said:
From what I have researched, you would need to have underbody skid plates fabricated. I haven't been able to find any readily available online, but if you crawl under your truck you can see that it wouldn't be too hard to do.

However, for those who haven't noticed, the transfer case shield is the weakest link regarding the factory shields, it has left a divot in the output shaft snout of the transfer case where it bent upwards during mild off roading. The first time it happend I thought "dang, I must have hit that harder than I thought", but then I was able to bend it back by hand and I realized it's juts not structurally strong enough. Since then, I have bent it back in place multiple times by hand. If there was a single component of the factory shield componentry that I would replace or upgrade if I was going to do any substantial off roading on rocky ground, it would be the transfer case shield.

I agree, custom fabricating is currently the best option for under body skids and rear diff. Hopefully AEV will offer the products (front bumber/skids) for sale once the AEV edition ZR2 Bison is released into the wild.