First Off-Road Adventure in R1T: My Pros and Cons Review

[BillArnett]

Agreed on utility of air compressor to air the tires back up. I always have a tire pressure gauge with me so airing down the tires to a specific psi was a breeze. I aired down to 28-30 PSI. What did you go with?

I aired back up while fast charging on my way out of BV area in Fairplay. Air compressor hose can be a bit of a pain to put away but after doing it a few times I've gotten pretty fast and able to fit it back in properly.

How long did it take you to to air back up all 4 tires? I'm used to airing up or down all 4 at once in about 3-4 minutes.

Agreed that the Rivian system should also work for airing down. Too bad it doesn't have a 4-way hose to do all 4 tires at once but that can be hacked easily enough with some tubing and connectors. Failing that, some Staun deflators is the way to go (don't bother with the cheap knock-offs).

(Airing DOWN to 28 psi is going to be a shock for me. I usually air UP to 26

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[E Parx]

How long did it take you to to air back up all 4 tires? I'm used to airing up or down all 4 at once in about 3-4 minutes.

Agreed that the Rivian system should also work for airing down. Too bad it doesn't have a 4-way hose to do all 4 tires at once but that can be hacked easily enough with some tubing and connectors. Failing that, some Staun deflators is the way to go (don't bother with the cheap knock-offs).

(Airing DOWN to 28 psi is going to be a shock for me. I usually air UP to 26

I didn't exactly time it as I was doing other stuff inbetween but it was pretty quick. Maybe a minute a tire if that. From 28 to 48 psi. As it gets closer to set psi it kicks in and out as the air in the tire disperses but it got to the set psi rapidly, maybe 30 sec. Next time I do it, I'll time it and report back.

Right?! Due to altitude when I got there psi was at 52 before airing down. That definitely took longer than airing back up.

It would maybe be a little faster if you rigged up a hose that could do all 4 at once but it's so quick that it probably isn't necessary. Airing down feature would be nice though.

 

[SASSquatch]

Awesome report and envy inducing glamor shots!

Bet you are glad you had that PPF on their, huh?

 

[SeaGeo]

Cameras front and rear plus birds eye is quite the combo for offroading

I actually wish there was the option to have the wheel well cameras such that you can see front and back at the same time. Maybe front on top of the screen and rear on back? I find tbise views a lot more useful for seeing what's near the wheels.


@cohall did you tell Rivian about your turtle mode experience?

 

[Sgt Beavis]

That kinda looks like Mamoth Gulch/Kingstons Peak.

Anyways, good write up man.

 

[zefram47]

Was the rocky hill you mentioned on Yankee Hill?

 

[moosehead]

Nice Cohall. While I’m sure the stall and turtle mode was puckering, glad you made it back up and out OK.

Beautiful pics. Snow is melting quick in the high country.

 

[jimrichard]

Thats a really nice writeup of your offroad experience including other's reactions to the Rivian. Pretty impressive for a stock truck too be doing. I am betting that Rivian will only get better as time goes on and they have more time to tweak things and aftermarket stuff comes out.

 

[Phil0110]

Thanks for sharing, good luck with your next trip!

 

[BillArnett]

I had my first off-road Rivian experience yesterday. More later, but about the compressor: it took me about 20 minutes to air up all 4 from 25 to 50 (I went to 50 since they were hot). Worked better than I expected. 20 minutes is longer than I’m used to but it’s probably OK (for me). One thing that was problematic: after I was done the connector at the compressor end of the hose was too hot to touch. I had to douse it with water and wait a bit before I was able to disconnect it. (And of course, it was nearly impossible to get it back in the little bag it started in Rivian should have had a little intercooler after the compressor.

 

[staples]

• We attempted a very steep boulder/rock field climb (As in, it was mostly side by sides and ATVs doing it, and one modified jeep). About halfway up, we hit a spot where there was not enough traction to get up a large bump. Pedal floored, truck just couldn't get over it. So, tried switch modes to see if it would help, and the truck went into "turtle mode". No changing of modes, limited power, have truck serviced immediately. Not a fun position to be in halfway up a terrifying boulder climb. Backing down was the only option, and induced some puckering that I really didn't want to experience. After slowly backing down for a minute or two, the error went away, was able to get into rock crawl mode, and made it up the rest of the hill. I did not enjoy this event.

I had this same issue today on Ironclads, outside Lyons, CO. Had to slowly back down the steep rocky hill climb, limp out to town in turtle mode to get a cell connection and called service. They said we should do a 20-30 minute sleep and walk away. After hanging out and trying to convince my brother to buy one too, I woke up the truck and could change drive modes again and lower it from the highest clearance setting.

Not the way I wanted my day to end, but glad the error was able to clear. It'd be great if there was a way to immediately put the truck to sleep and not require sitting around for 20+ minutes, but service didn't really want me to do a hard reset.

 

[Zybane]

Rivian obviously has issues climbing up obstacles and needs to be sorted. No way the truck should be dying on obstacles, can be dangerous.

IMO the most likely explanation is the 7K lb truck trying to pull itself up and over these obstacles at very low speeds is trigger over-current protections. Electric motors at very low speed trying to turn against resistance draw an incredible power load.

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