Rock crawling is a favorite past time of many wheelers, particularly in the West. Good rock crawling can be found in the mountainous areas of the east as well. Below are some driving tips for rock crawling.

Wham! Scrape! Crunch!

Sounds that make the typical mall crawler wince. Real rock crawling is not for the faint of heart. If you loathe these sounds, find a different place to wheel. If you’re good at it, you’ll hopefully keep these sounds to a minimum.

First of all, nothing is a substitute for experience. As you gain experience, you also gain judgment, which is the key element in rock crawling. Also, knowing the capabilities of your truck before hand with regard to clearance and a general sense of know where your wheels are placed helps. Again, this is best gained through experience.

You really want a vehicle properly set up for this. Stockers have a much increased risk of damage when crawling due to their low overall ground clearance and inadequate tires. You want the proper mods to your truck to ensure greater capability and durability. Everyone likes to drive home in the same truck they left home in. Consider the following for your truck. I’ve also added the benefits of each:

• Suspension Lift: A suspension lift gets your chassis further off the ground by combining the height you increased your suspension (2.5-3” plus half the increased tire height. This can get your truck up to 6” of increased clearance under the frame. That’s up to a 50% improvement.

• Aggressive tires with minimum 3-ply sidewalls: Bias Plys even better due to their increased off road strength over a radial. Radials can be notorious for sidewall damage. You should run a durable 3 ply side radial on as narrow a rim as reasonable to minimize sidewall exposure to the rocks at all air pressures. It also better protects the bead on the rim. Tires up to 10.5” in width should be run on 7” rims and those up to 12.50 width should be run on 8” rims. Don’t buy 10” rims unless you’re running at least 35” rubber, which most Nissans cannot reliably handle under hard use unless running a solid axle swap (SAS) setup. 31 to 33 inch tires can safely be run all the way down to about 12 psi in the rocks without much danger of popping a bead. Aggressive all terrain tires (like BFG’s) or mud terrains (likeBFG Muds or Wrangler MT-R’s are among the best radials available. Bias Ply tires are tougher and can safely run at lower air pressures. They also usually have more aggressive tread to grip the jagged edges of rocks.

• Stiffer shocks: IFS trucks lose ground clearance under critical components as the suspension compresses. Driving off that ledge with lumpy rocks below often ends in slamming the truck down on the front skidplate or cross member, or worse. Shocks with stiffer valving, or best of all, adjustable shocks on their stiffest setting in front and softest in rear will work well and help protect the underside of the truck from nose diving and doing damage.

• Skid Plates and Sliders: The stock sheetmetal skidplate in front is a one time use product. Once you smack it good, it’s usually destroyed. The puny bolts holding it on can also get wiped off on rocks causing it to flap loose on the bottom and eventually getting up into your steering components. Either build or invest in a full belly pan for the truck. It’ll cost you, but it pays for itself in saved damage and piece of mind. Steel of 3/16” or better should be used, as anything thinner doesn’t support the weight of the truck well. Quality plates can be obtained from Skid Row or and their resellers. The day will come (if you REALLY rock crawl) when that aluminum T-case gets split wide open on a boulder, or the auto transmission pan gets crushed. A quality rear diff skid is a good idea, and some do one better and truss the axle at the same time. Look for one that hugs the diff as closely as possible as not to hinder your ground clearance that bad. Sliders save rocker panels and can allow a vehicle to skid around a rock instead of smashing sheetmetal on it. Stock step bars are NOT up to this task and will cause more body damage than the rocks in some cases.

• Steering Mods: Anyone who wheels Nissans and is a regular reader of the Nissan sites out there knows the stock steering doesn’t hold up well to extreme use, particularly when lifts and larger tires and rims are added. Unless you like going to the parts counter and coughing up $150+ for a new centerlink every Monday, you’ll build or buy one of the steering solutions out there. Quality kits are offered from www.spencerlowracing.com, www.purenissan.com, and soon, www.4x4parts.com. Browse the boards, as there are other custom setups that have been shown to work well. Whatever you choose, keeping as close to stock geometry is critical to the handling and safety of the truck, particularly on the way to the trailhead. It’s expensive, but pays for itself in stock parts fairly quickly.

• Swaybar disconnects or removal of sway bar: Those things hinder flex. Flex is something IFS vehicles already lack due to an IFS’s inherent design. Removal of that front swaybar, or use of disconnects allows wheels to act truly independent of one another and will allow you to keep more wheels on the ground, increasing traction. If you run without a sway bar on pavement, beware of the different driving characteristics of your truck. You will have increased body roll and less stability in cornering. Stiffer torsion bars and shocks help, but the point is to drive accordingly. If you’re a canyon carver, leave it on.

• Traction devices: Factory rear LSD’s are for the most part crap compared to a true locking differential A locker enables forward progress in much more off camber situations when crawling. A rear helps the most and can more easily handle the stresses a locker can place on axle components. If you already have a rear, you can run a front as well. Use it sparingly, however, as it’s difficult to steer the truck anywhere but straight with it engaged and greatly increases the risk of breaking something in the front. Don’t bother with a front locker if you don’t have a stronger steering upgrade. Air lockers are among the only available options. Front LSD’s are available as well and cost nearly as much as a locker. While not quite as beneficial in the traction department, LSD’s won’t be as hard on the front axle (CV’s and hubs).

• Recovery equipment: Any recovery equipment can be helpful when you get in too deep or have breakage. Winches are best - IF you have something to use as an anchor. That can be hard to find in the desert unless you got a buddy with you. Other things to have are a Hi Lift jack and bumpers strong enough to handle one, straps, shackle rings and tow hooks. Come-alongs and chains are also useful. Large blocks of wood can be used as jacking platforms, chock blocks, or to fill in a hole or be a ramp on the trail.

• Spare parts: Pack spare steering components, and if you have them, hubs, CV axles, tire plugs, a full set of sockets and wrenches, jumper cables.

• Lower gears: We Nissan owners are CRAVING lower gears for the transfer case. In rock crawling you’re better off the slower you can go. Upgrading to 5.14: axle gearing and 3.6 transfer case gearing takes stock crawl rations from 30:1 to 60:1. With this combined with the mods above, you’ll be able to better hang with the big dogs on the obstacles! Manufacturers: We’re waiting!

• Driving slow is the key to keeping the truck and you in one piece in the rough stuff.

• Select the lowest gears possible and run in low range.

• Obey your spotter (refer to spotting tips section below).

• If wheeling alone, get out of the truck and pick your lines before you tackle them.

• Keep tires on the high spots. If a rock looks too tall to straddle, look for alternate places for your wheels while keeping the truck on as level ground as possible. That’ll keep you from smacking the undercarriage.

• Be careful when driving off the large rocks. When the suspension compresses you can whack that rock with the rocker panels.

Rock crawling with a clutch can be challenging. Rock crawling really favors the automatic equipped trucks. Particularly with the high stock low range gearing, a manual transmission equipped truck can be a handful. You’re limited to slipping the clutch badly to go slow enough and power over an obstacle, or letting the clutch out and lugging it through as slowly as possible. The latter forces you to go through at higher speed, so you’d better have your line carefully picked out and not fear bumping a bit. (see skid plates section above) Automatics give you the benefit of a torque converter, which mimics the effect of having lower gears by multiplying the torque. Also, there’s no popping the clutch or lugging it down to the point the engine dies. One disadvantage to the auto when crawling is the heat that builds up in the tranny. This will shorten its life and in some extreme cases, can cause failure. Running an auxiliary cooler helps. Manuals can smoke a clutch.

Driving steadily without heavily gassing the truck is best. You’re in a high traction situation. Punching the gas when you are in low range and up against a large rock can easily cause breakage. Accelerate and power over obstacles as gingerly as possible. Avoid “sawing the wheel” as much as possible. CV’s are most vulnerable the farther the wheels are turned or the suspension is drooped. Be cognizant of this, especially when applying throttle or trying to climb over something.

Be sensible. Your Nissan isn’t going to drive up that four-foot shelf. Drive within the means of you and your vehicle's ability. Know when you’re getting in over your head. Wait until your confidence and ability improves over less challenging stuff before really going for it. It can damage your truck and can also get you hurt. Wear your seat belt!

After some recent trail rides, I've seen many serious no-no's when spotting.

Here are a few tips:

1. Let the most experienced in the group do the spotting.
2. Use only ONE SPOTTER if going forward. If in a situation where the person needs to back off and try again, another behind the vehicle can be used.
3. Be sure you understand basic hand signals. A good spotter uses two hands. One to wave forward or to give a sign to stop, and the other to indicate left or right. Figure this out before attempting the obstacle.
4. Keep your window down and shut the tunes off so you can hear what your spotter is telling you. Trust your spotter and do what he tells you to do. He's directing you that way for a reason.
5. Have everyone else SHUT UP. 2 or more people yelling at the driver telling him what to do gets confusing and frustrates the driver and the spotter who the driver should be paying attention to.
6. If spotting someone while backing up, be sure to stand where you can see the driver's face in the mirror.

Please practice these tips, ESPECIALLY #5.

There are hundreds more tips people can offer on this topic, and most are founded on their experience. First time wheelers aren’t up to the task of driving over the nastiest boulder you can find. Sometimes experienced ones aren’t too. Use extreme caution and good judgment and this pastime may prove to be a great challenge and a lot of fun.