After spending the better part of six weeks living with my LC in the mountains of Colorado, I can definitely say that it was the ideal choice for me. The LC is a comfortable daily driver, sweet road tripper, and highly capable off-roader.
A quick list of mods I made specific for off-roading:
Here's a list of most of the places we took the LC, along with the difficulty of the trails -
Things that are great about the LC -
1. Articulation - the LC kept its boots on the ground, even going across some pretty significant obstacles. Sure, I could've found a way to get some hang time for a wheel, but that wasn't my goal. Boots on the ground means that I never lost traction, even on the toughest obstacles.
2. Low Range - Once I had some time behind the wheel, I could feather the LC up and over just about anything. The pedal control meant that I never felt the need to two foot the LC over anything. Since we were on mountain roads with lots of ups and downs, we spent a lot of time in four low.
3. SDM - We kept the SDM disconnected off-road continuously. The additional articulation was great, but it also smoothed out washboard when we were under the mandatory 19 mph. C'mon Toyota - can we please keep it disconnected at a slightly higher speed?
4. Stock suspension - I was impressed by the tuning of the suspension, which does an excellent job of balancing on-road handling with off-road ruggedness. We did not experience much in the way of head bob while off-roading.
5. Center Locker - We engaged it every time we went off-road. Traction was excellent.
6. Rear Locker - Rarely used and maybe never needed? I locked the rear locker on some steeper and more technical portions of Mosquito Pass, but probably could've done without it. I also locked the rear locker headed back up over Schofield Pass because it was rocky and rainy, not a great combination.
7. MTS - I engaged it a few times, but didn't notice any slip. In the absence of a front locker, this is our security blanket.
8. Cameras - the views were great when they were on in four low. I rarely needed a spotter.
What's not so great?
One future modification I might consider is changing out to Bilstein shocks once they become available and lifting the truck about 1" all around.
A quick list of mods I made specific for off-roading:
- Method 703 Beadgrip wheels (17", +35, Gloss Titanium)
- Falken WildPeak AT4W LT255/80R17
- Slee Rock Sliders
- OEM Skid Plates (engine & transmission)
- RCI Front & Rear Lower Link Skids
- RCI Rear Shock Skids
- OEM First Edition Style Mud Flaps
- All-Top Deflators (worked awesome!)
- VIAir Pump (fast, but not super fast to get tires from 20 to 40 psi)
- NOCO Boost GBX45 (just in case!)
- Glue Tread Off-Road Tire Repair Kit (pricey, but worth it if you get a flat. The Falken tires were exceptional and resisted any sidewall punctures, but you never know!)
Here's a list of most of the places we took the LC, along with the difficulty of the trails -
- Medano Pass Primitive Road (4/10) - east to west, emptying into Great Sand Dunes National Park
- Mosquito Pass (4/10 to 5/10) - Leadville to Pass and back down. A very rough, rocky road with several technical obstacles along the way. Much harder than Medano Pass Primitive Road.
- Shrine Pass (2/10) - Mostly a scenic drive from Shrine Ridge down to Red Cliff. We aired down, but that's pretty much all that was needed for this drive.
- Red & White Mountain (4/10) - Some scenic views of the Vail & Beaver Creek ski areas.
- Metcalf Creek Road (5/10) - Narrow and tough in areas. If I had realized what this road was like, I would've stayed on Red & White Mountain to the end. It was getting late in the day, so we detoured down Metcalf Creek Road to get back to town faster. The road wasn't particularly scenic or interesting, but it did improve my driving skills!
- Schofield Pass/Crystal Mill (5/10) - We drove the 11 mile round trip to and from the Crystal Mill. The shelf road was the scariest part, but no problems for the LC, even with rainfall and hail on the way back.
- West end of Black Bear Pass (3/10?) - two or three obstacles and switchbacks on the last 2-3 miles of the two-way trail on the Telluride side of the pass. No interest in doing the one way switchbacks down into Telluride.
- Red Mountain Pass (4/10) - The southern trail exit was closed, but we still covered 90% of the trail.
- Ophir Pass (4/10) - The closure of the Million Dollar Highway trapped us south of Ouray, so we took the shortest and quickest pass to get back. The east side of Ophir is a dream, just dirt road. But, starting at the top and for the next 2+ miles, it gets rocky and challenging. The hardest part is a very narrow shelf road on the west side where it is difficult to pass. We waited for the trail to clear before heading down.
Things that are great about the LC -
1. Articulation - the LC kept its boots on the ground, even going across some pretty significant obstacles. Sure, I could've found a way to get some hang time for a wheel, but that wasn't my goal. Boots on the ground means that I never lost traction, even on the toughest obstacles.
2. Low Range - Once I had some time behind the wheel, I could feather the LC up and over just about anything. The pedal control meant that I never felt the need to two foot the LC over anything. Since we were on mountain roads with lots of ups and downs, we spent a lot of time in four low.
3. SDM - We kept the SDM disconnected off-road continuously. The additional articulation was great, but it also smoothed out washboard when we were under the mandatory 19 mph. C'mon Toyota - can we please keep it disconnected at a slightly higher speed?
4. Stock suspension - I was impressed by the tuning of the suspension, which does an excellent job of balancing on-road handling with off-road ruggedness. We did not experience much in the way of head bob while off-roading.
5. Center Locker - We engaged it every time we went off-road. Traction was excellent.
6. Rear Locker - Rarely used and maybe never needed? I locked the rear locker on some steeper and more technical portions of Mosquito Pass, but probably could've done without it. I also locked the rear locker headed back up over Schofield Pass because it was rocky and rainy, not a great combination.
7. MTS - I engaged it a few times, but didn't notice any slip. In the absence of a front locker, this is our security blanket.
8. Cameras - the views were great when they were on in four low. I rarely needed a spotter.
What's not so great?
- Ground Clearance - I definitely rubbed my skid plates and rock sliders more than a few times on obstacles/rocks I thought the LC should be able to clear. The articulation of the suspension gives the LC a tremendous ability to clear obstacles, but when the LC is running flat down a rock road and the nose bounces a bit, I sometimes would unexpectedly hit some rocks (I experienced this a lot coming down Ophir which has a lot of large, loose rocks in the middle.)
- OEM 20" Wheels & Tires - These stayed at home in favor of the 703/Falken tire combo. Duh.
- Nannies - Can these shut off automatically off-road? Please?
- The terrain camera system shuts off at too low of a speed. My wife started hitting the button because she liked to see the view, even when I didn't need it
One future modification I might consider is changing out to Bilstein shocks once they become available and lifting the truck about 1" all around.
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