[filli57]

My truck is an 04 Z71 4x4 i'v had it for three months and i have had an 87 mustang gt for 3 years and had less problems out of it. I took it mud ridin 2 weekends ago. I hit one not so deep mud whole asd a couple of dried up ruts. i had to but in 4lo to get out but i'm completely stock including wheels and tires. My front passanger side axle is leaking a little and my transmission line is leaking somewhere i've also had my window motor go out. this so far has been the biggest piece ever. 03 tundra and a 98 chevy pickup was with me and they hit 6 or 7 big holes and they haven't torn up anything.

 

[SC]

going off roading with stock tires and with out some kind of lift is a bad idea. the stock
z71s to me look pretty low. your looking at spending about $250 to fix the leak.

 

[94racing]

lemons!!!!!!

not realy how hard did you hit it?

 

[unicknn]

I used to offroad alot (87 chevy blazer K5) and i wouldnt think about taking one of these trucks offroad. Number 1 they are IFS and IFS is really weak and 2 they are too small lol

 

[ZQ8Dude]

These trucks don't seem like they'd be good at ******* wheeling. (vehicle abuse and land abuse)

 

[filli57]

it was the first time it has ever been off road and i didn't spin the tires over 3500 rpm. i went low and it was only maybe a foot deep it was that gooey mud. it was only one mud hole.

 

[rune]

meh ive taken mine off a number of times with no issues. As for your axle seal....ive had both of mine go and mine is also an 04. If you search you will find this is pretty common for our trucks. Hitting the rut was probably the kicker. I would write that off as normal wear and tear. The tranny line you prob hit when you went in whether you know it or not. Would suggest skids in the future. Chalk it up as a potential prob of taking off road. shit happens...be prepared when you go trailing. As for the window motor.... shitty part??? no clear answer for that. Price of owning a vehicle??? :shrug:

 

[SC]

sorry to go off subject

Hey rune did you get your skid plates yet?

 

[rune]

nope not yet, he finished them this weekend...and they are suppose to go out this week. I only got the front skid.. I couldnt afford the others.

 

[draggin_az]

man that sucks but its the price you gotta pay when you go off roading

 

[filli57]

it was a private hunting club road which i have to pay dues to maintain and its not in the middle of the road its on the edges where you can avoid them if you wanted to. I'm very disappointed in the durability of my truck and its parts. I just wanted something to try out the 4wd and it was a whimpy hole. I wanted to eventually get a lift and tires and as it got older introduce it to some light wheeling but thats not goin to happen. They should have a page in the manual that states the truck is equipped with weak parts and do not ever think of doing anything in 4wd unless u want ur shit to break. If i would have known this shit i would have bought the 2wd threw a lift on it, mud tires and some 4x4 stickers and nobody would've known the difference and hell it might even work better.

 

[SC]

I haven't had a problem with my truck so far. I don't go in the mud but some of the trails I've been through are pretty crazy. I haven't broke anything (yet) but I dn't drive through stuff like I don't care about my truck. I like the dunes a lot better tho.

 

[filli57]

Everybody acts like you have to go fast when your mud riding i hit the hole goin between 7-15 mph. it reved up a little high cause the tires were sliding but it wasn't any more than if you pulled out in front of somebody and had to stomp on it.

 

[rune]

as i stated earlier before the thread got hijacked...i think you just had shitty luck. Axle seal is normal to go. Just coincidence. As for the tranny leak..im gonna bet that you hit a rock or something and did not realize it. Give the truck more of a chance before you trash it for good. Ive taken my CC offroading and beat the shit out of it and nothing broke. :shrug: give it another try.

 

[SOUTHBAYcanyon]

i go to the desert and ive drivin it pretty hard granted the desert is softer and flatter but i can drive pretty fast and hit some of the bumps hard. in my opinion if your "mudding" u need to get a lift because you will scrape something if your stock. thats probably all that happened, you have no lift and have stock tires your pretty low to be romping through 1ft deep holes. i agree you should be able to have a little confidence with the truck that crap like that wont happen, but thats the way it is sometimes its just bad luck. i hope you dont give up on the truck because the z-71's really are a good set up...the suspension is way beefier then the other models and for what it is... it is good.

 

[mc]

That sucks man...I have no experience with the 4wd aspect of these trucks...I do agree they seem a little low (stock) to be runnin' around without any mods though. :shrug:

I moved the hijack b.s. here: http://www.355nation.net/forum/off-topic/6569-re-i-have-biggest-piece-shit.html

 

[rune]

cool...thanks mc...

 

[poeg]

Been in some pretty chewed up goat trails here in Saskatchewan and no issues but I'm well aware of my limited clearance. Also been known to just head off the highway, down a ditch and through fields I know are not fenced without much damage save a few dings to the nerf bars and some scratched paint. Only mods here are all the lines tucked up and actually out of the bloody way and made planters out of those General tires. The switch to Nokian Vaativa's made it a different truck altogether.

I'll never get why people are willing to shell out buckets of cash for all these mods and run garbage rubber the whole time. This winter our little 04 Z71 put an 07 F250 and an 04 Avalanche to shame hauling in gear to the snowed in camp site and it all came back to the skins. Also hit a truly bad grid road during a flash snowstorm so we had to deal with a muddy clay road which was rapidly covering with snow. We did just fine at 60 kph but passed a few other trucks in the ditch which once again just came back to the skins.

These may not be the best trucks out there but I can add another $5K in mods to this one before its costing the same as the cheapest of the 04/05 Tacoma we looked at when we were buying.

 

[JVal]

I have an 05 Z71 4x4. I was running stock when I got stuck in a mud hole that was deeper then I expected. Mud was touching the axels. Buddy came and pulled me out but I checked everything over real good after. All i saw was a few dings in the skidplate. I with everyone else. I have afeeling you hit a rock and didn;t realize it.