Which design is better for the non-rock climber as an Overlanding Vehicle, the 4x4 or 6x6? An expert weighed in

[Awesomeness]

Damn, I missed the Black Bear trail. Start at 19:00 min. Not much rock crawling, but highly technical and the line you take will determine your fate.

Yeah, stuff like this poses interesting challenges in an LMTV. Totally different problems than the Jeeps have.

1. You're 8' wide, on trails carved out for vehicles 6' wide (e.g. Jeeps, Tacomas). The people that talk about "picking a line with your LMTV" probably haven't tried it... you often have no choices but to go straight up the middle.
2. You're often close to the edge of the cliff, in a vehicle heavy enough to crush the ground at the edge and cause it to slide away. No room left to maneuver.
3. You're 9.5'+ tall, and the sides are basically totally straight/vertical. You often find yourself up against a sheer rock wall, tree, or other obstacle leaning into the trail, that the smaller vehicles just kind of drive "under". Even worse when the trail then tilts up, or has an obstacle to go over, that wants to tip you right into the wall/tree.
4. The trail can take a small "S" curve around a tree or obstacle, and the shorter wheelbase vehicles can follow the course of the "S". The LMTV is so long that the front tires are on one part of the curve, while the back tires are on the previous curve, and the body is straddling straight across the curve. This leads to many precarious scrapes up against trees and rocks.

I wouldn't be worried about the extra maintenance and operating costs of the 6x6, but being a further 2.5' longer would make most of these problems worse. At the very least, they get worse just because you're deviating further from what the trails have been worn out to accommodate (at best a fullsize pickup, which is just shorter than an LMTV). I would think really hard about how much space/weight you really need to be happy, before jumping to the 6x6.

Personaly, I prefer to be able to go to on more rugged trails, than have a Gucci coffee maker. I designed up and built these "litter racks". Relatively lightweight (maybe 200lb for the whole system), low center of gravity, fold up when not in use leaving the bed free for hauling, and are not higher than the cab.

 

[Awesomeness]

Most people with $150,000 Overlanding vehicles I think just want the ability to get to more off road places than the side walk at Macy's.

There is a lot of truth in this, in so many ways. Many people also like the FEELING / LOOK of capability a lot more than they actually like real CAPABILITY... true of many of the FMTV expedition rigs out there, and most of the "pavement princess" suped-up Jeep Rubicons parked at the grocery store (which is about every 5th parking spot, around here).

 

[coachgeo]

once got to moab and far off the trail to camp......rest would be explored on a motorcycle or a 6x6.... 6x6 amphibious crawler that is. hard to find them with a good ground clearance so might have to go with a smaller ATV though