2000prerunner
New Member
- First Name
- Steve
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2021
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- Location
- San Diego, CA
- Vehicles
- 2018 Toyota Tacoma
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- BSer
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- #1
I don't see a lot of off road specific pro / con discussions when it comes to EV trucks (specially Rivian and it's 4 motors system). From my experience with 4x4s, Prerunners, Rock Crawlers , Over-Landers I think the biggest Pros will be as follows:
-No need to purchase under body skid plates. The vehicles underside is a giant skid plate.
-No need to re-gears your differentials for bigger tires for more TQ or engine RPMs.
-No need to add lockers to the diffs.
-No worrying about a transfer case /4 high /4 low / all wheel drive modes. The T-case can get "stuck" in what ever mode you are in, which obviously sucks. Even manual shift T-cases can be hard to shift requiring you to rock back and forth. Also you need to come to a full stop + shift the transmission into neutral when going into 4 low and back out.
-On very steep inclines your engine might have trouble flowing oil and coolant through it, causing damage or stall.
-Engines can suck in dust or water. Might not be as bad with electric vehicles that don't need pure air for engine combustion.
-For auto transmission , no need for a bigger transmission cooler (can be a big issue for vehicles running big tires and running hard in the dirt)
-For manual trans , no worry about blowing up a clutch or exploding gear sets when abusing the vehicle.
-Overall no transmission headaches at all! A fully built up off road transmission can run 4k+ & require a lot of maintenance.
I think for the Cons
-Price
-Charging/Range
For the same issues:
Both can run IFS/IRS suspensions. You need to make sure control arms and spindles are strong enough from factory. I guess you can always go aftermarket or custom for stronger stock length arms or even run a wider long travel setup. I think the stock total wheel travel (fully drooped out to full bottom out) is around 6-8"? That's not a whole lot so better not drive too fast. I also think most parts will be cast aluminum parts? Might be good enough? Both will require CV upkeep or replacing the stock CVs with beefy CV joints (porsche 930 CV or RCV type) that wont explode. I don't know what hub assembly they will end up using but it should be strong enough for 35" tires minimum. I guess it's going to be a big unit bearing probably like most full size IFS trucks run. I doubt they will utilize hollow snouts / fully floated hubs. It would be great but probably not.
If you are into high speed off-roading (through desert trails and woops) I would think aftermarket is the only way to go for coil overs, bypass shocks and hydraulic air bumps. That air ride set up is probably good for 99% of normal people but I'm sure that poor shock and air spring will get very hot with such a heavy truck mashing through woops even at lower speeds over time. I would think, just based off similar trucks that run long travel or mid travel setups for desert trails you would want one coil over + one bypass shock per wheel (3' diameter for that heavy Rivian) . I don't even know if you can mount after-market shocks (Fox, King, Bilstein, Icon...) in the unibody setup. Maybe the big aftermarket shock companies that know how to build a real shock absorber will make a bolt in upgrade option that works with the factory mounting points. That auto rid height adjustment system is mostly a joke for serious abuse and has been around in luxury SUV for a long long time. It sounds great if your off road experience is = 0 .
Anyways, what else did I miss?
-No need to purchase under body skid plates. The vehicles underside is a giant skid plate.
-No need to re-gears your differentials for bigger tires for more TQ or engine RPMs.
-No need to add lockers to the diffs.
-No worrying about a transfer case /4 high /4 low / all wheel drive modes. The T-case can get "stuck" in what ever mode you are in, which obviously sucks. Even manual shift T-cases can be hard to shift requiring you to rock back and forth. Also you need to come to a full stop + shift the transmission into neutral when going into 4 low and back out.
-On very steep inclines your engine might have trouble flowing oil and coolant through it, causing damage or stall.
-Engines can suck in dust or water. Might not be as bad with electric vehicles that don't need pure air for engine combustion.
-For auto transmission , no need for a bigger transmission cooler (can be a big issue for vehicles running big tires and running hard in the dirt)
-For manual trans , no worry about blowing up a clutch or exploding gear sets when abusing the vehicle.
-Overall no transmission headaches at all! A fully built up off road transmission can run 4k+ & require a lot of maintenance.
I think for the Cons
-Price
-Charging/Range
For the same issues:
Both can run IFS/IRS suspensions. You need to make sure control arms and spindles are strong enough from factory. I guess you can always go aftermarket or custom for stronger stock length arms or even run a wider long travel setup. I think the stock total wheel travel (fully drooped out to full bottom out) is around 6-8"? That's not a whole lot so better not drive too fast. I also think most parts will be cast aluminum parts? Might be good enough? Both will require CV upkeep or replacing the stock CVs with beefy CV joints (porsche 930 CV or RCV type) that wont explode. I don't know what hub assembly they will end up using but it should be strong enough for 35" tires minimum. I guess it's going to be a big unit bearing probably like most full size IFS trucks run. I doubt they will utilize hollow snouts / fully floated hubs. It would be great but probably not.
If you are into high speed off-roading (through desert trails and woops) I would think aftermarket is the only way to go for coil overs, bypass shocks and hydraulic air bumps. That air ride set up is probably good for 99% of normal people but I'm sure that poor shock and air spring will get very hot with such a heavy truck mashing through woops even at lower speeds over time. I would think, just based off similar trucks that run long travel or mid travel setups for desert trails you would want one coil over + one bypass shock per wheel (3' diameter for that heavy Rivian) . I don't even know if you can mount after-market shocks (Fox, King, Bilstein, Icon...) in the unibody setup. Maybe the big aftermarket shock companies that know how to build a real shock absorber will make a bolt in upgrade option that works with the factory mounting points. That auto rid height adjustment system is mostly a joke for serious abuse and has been around in luxury SUV for a long long time. It sounds great if your off road experience is = 0 .
Anyways, what else did I miss?
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