New Off Road Project Help

[AceOfSprings]

I have a Gold 2006 Chevy Trailblazer LS. I want to turn it into an off road machine capable of handling any terrain I want to go on, but do not even know where to start. I have never done any major vehicle projects but need to start somewhere. This is also my daily driver if it matters. Anyway, how do I even start something like this... should I go right into looking at lifts? if so, what type. If not, where should I start? Thanks for any advice.

[The Roadie]

Start by reading every word at http://jd.offroadtb.com/

Then all the Build Threads here.

Then define the kind of terrain you want to travel on, your budget (you can spend $400-8000 or anything in between), time frame, and experience level. Are you going to offroad for the first time in your TB and want to gain experience along the way to enhance safety, or are you an experienced offroader just trying to duplicate the performance and capability of some previous vehicle you've wheeled? What's your tolerance for risk, what kind of weekend or week-long trips do you intend, and so forth.

We can't give you much advice until you "define your mission" as I always say.

Click on my build thread (link in my signature), and you'll see an Envoy that I can live out of for a week at a time, on pretty much the harshest terrain outside of what full-blown rock crawlers go on, for 200-400 mile stages unsupported by civilization. Is that your goal?

Think about terrain and mission, then that helps you define the size and type of tire, then that defines the size of lift and wheel spacers you might need. Then you have to budget for and equip yourself with survival gear, extraction equipment, spare parts and fluids, etc., etc. Or if you want to go to offroad parks or trails for weekends only, and never live out of the vehicle for a week, that's a different mission shared by a lot of members here, probably most of them.

Welcome, and have a great time reading. You found the right forum for seriously offroading GMT360s.

[AceOfSprings]

After looking at your build thread, all I can say is WOW! I want that exactly. Going to start reading that link though, thanks.

[The Roadie]

Just for fun, and because I don't think I've posted this here in a while, let me drag out an old Photoshop I did. Not specific to your situation, but I HAVE spent five years getting it to this point and I've tried and discarded a lot of hardware along the way. You could do it cheaper than I did, just by ignoring the dead ends. Enjoy the reading!

[Philberto]

Yeah, check out the "Build Threads" section of this forum, and see what you like, then feel free to ask any of us how we did what we did if you can't find the information you need there.

[MrSmithsTB]

Very true what Bill says. He has put a lot of time and effort AND money into testing the limits with his rig. And in doing so, he saved us from doing all these things. He is our Jimmy Page of the GMT360 offroad culture.

[AceOfSprings]

Well, thanks for all the replies. I am going to get started on this immediately. Already looking for my first part. I am going to start with a front center brush guard. The one I want after looking around is by WAAG. Is there any place I could find one for less that $450? I found them down to that, but can't get any lower. Search ebay and local classifieds and no luck. I'm going to end up getting this either way, but trying to see if I can do it really cheap first. Appreciate all the replied, you guys are awesome. Some of those builds are just amazing.

[Philberto]

You can have it cheap, you can have it well built, or you can have it now... pick 2 of 3. Just keep scouring ebay or craigslist every day or so until you find one cheap. Why the brush guard first? Just out of curiosity.

[AceOfSprings]

Figured it is just a good place to start. Relatively simple to do and it adds a bit of style to exterior. No real good reason why I want to start there though.

[The Roadie]

We normally prioritize things by functionality per $$, not style. But it's your project. Personally, I tend to avoid driving over brush for a few reasons like it's risky and can cause damage. So brush guards are not as desirable as a steel oil pan skid plate, for instance.

[Philberto]

Personally, first place I'd start is the requisite 2 or 2.5" suspension lift and larger tires with wheel spacers. Actually, that's the first place I did start. Best bang-for-buck modification I think.

[Regulator1175]

Personally, first place I'd start is the requisite 2 or 2.5" suspension lift and larger tires with wheel spacers. Actually, that's the first place I did start. Best bang-for-buck modification I think.

Go with the suspension lift first. You also need to decide if you are going to do a body lift. If you are there is no use to spend your money for a brush guard, it will not line up correctly after the body lift.

[AceOfSprings]

Considering you all know a lot more than I do, I may just start there. Took it out to the mountains today to see what it could handle stock and I was shockingly surprised. That thing can handle a lot more than I had expected. What wonders lie ahead once I have it completely outfitted to my desires.

[KE7WOX]

Considering you all know a lot more than I do, I may just start there. Took it out to the mountains today to see what it could handle stock and I was shockingly surprised. That thing can handle a lot more than I had expected. What wonders lie ahead once I have it completely outfitted to my desires.

Oh yeah, I was impressed after taking mine last week on the Poland Jct Rd (pics / report to come soon)

[HARDTRAILZ]

READ alot. Then once you figure out what you want and what will get you there...you will be amazed what your truck will do.

[Mooseknuckle]

well what I did is the suspension lift first. Roadie made sense to me when saying you have to figure what your mission is,do you want to just look good on the pavement do light offroading or make it an offroad machine that is still somewhat descent on the road. I went the BDS route which is expensive but i like it and with the right tires shocks and springs it makes for a very secure ride for me. you can go the cheaper route which is markmc's lift 130 shipped to your door wheel spacers from ebay 150 I think and new tires 600 or so and new shocks in the front for 120. Then your golden. Just make sure if you do get the Markmc's lift that you get a pair of new front strut mounts around 70 for the pair, Marks lift doesnt come with them and apparently they seem to fail when put under certain stresses ,not saying it will but your going to all that trouble to lift you might as well make sure you dont have to take it apart twice for something that could have been taken care of in the first place. and of course do some reading here and the os. everyone is here to help you I would be more than happy to answer any question to the best of my ability.

[AceOfSprings]

thanks for the insight. I am definately going the BDS route. First on my agenda is to play in the world series of poker this year though. As soon as I get back from that, I am going to start putting this machine together. Going to get the BDS lift and some good tires and go from there.

[Trail X]

I think they key ingredient everyone forgets is some simple extraction equipment. If you head out on your own, make sure you can get yourself unstuck before anything else... you can have all the lift in the world, but if you get hung up on something and have to call a wrecker onto the off road trail... it's going to be a very expensive trip.

I gathered a decent recovery kit first... then lifted.

[The Roadie]

Typical cost for an offroad commercial recovery in the Anza Borrego desert area is $500-700. So if you break down, try your darndest to get dragged back to pavement by your buddies, then use AAA. Or send them for parts if something critical breaks you don't have spares of. If you're alone, have well-equipped buddies at the other end of your SPOT beacon email notification list.

[Trail X]

If you're alone, have well-equipped buddies at the other end of your SPOT beacon email notification list.

I do need to find some better people to stick on my "help" list... My wife isn't going to know who to contact in such a situation.