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Added 2 April 2001
There is just some stuff that doesn't fit existing categories, and isn't worth making into it's own category. So here it is!
THE DISCLAIMER: With the exception of stock ponds, and the occasional necessity of turning around, I *ALWAYS* drive on established roads and trails. Doing otherwise is not only bad karma, but it leads to ill-will towards four-wheelers/four-wheeling and makes people want to close vehicles out of the beautiful environs that we all enjoy. TREAD LIGHTLY! For more information on responsible wheeling, go HERE or HERE Ziggy at dirtroad.com says it best, "Use your 4-wheel drive to enjoy the environment, don't use the environment to enjoy your 4-wheel drive!"
Knowing full well that RTI scores are not necessarily representative of how a vehicle will handle obstacles on a trail, or how useful a vehicle will be on a trail, it is still a useful way to find out how vehicle modifications effect articulation. With this thought in mind, I decided to get a baseline score on my Highrider before some up-coming modifications were performed. At the time I did ramp my truck, I did have a couple of mods that probably effected my RTI score. One was a set of helper springs, and the other was a set of longer shackles. My guess is that the helper springs reduced my articulation and the longer shackles increased it, with the longer shackles having a greater effect.
I wasn't able to find a 20 degree (standard) ramp, but was able to find a ramp that was near to 11 degrees. I decided it was good enough, as I could calculate the 20 degree ramp score based on the numbers on the 11 degree ramp. The following numbers are a little suspect, but I believe them to be fairly accurate. I calculated a 20 degree ramp score of 517 with 35 psi in the tires, and a score of 540 with 20 psi in the tires.
Here are some pictures of the first RTI outing:
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Since this time, I have modifed my truck with a 2" body lift and 32" tires. You can check out the ramping of the modified truck HERE. I did that ramp outing with a couple of other ZR2 owners, and their trucks/info is there as well.
If you're in the Tucson area (or anywhere in Arizona), drop me a line and we can go wheelin' sometime.
Speaking of which, if you own a Highrider/ZR2/BlaZeR2, or want to find out more about the best little 4X4's around, check out these great sites:
http://www.zr2.com and http://www.zr2hr.org
There is also a ZR2 discussion group, which is very fun for talking about our special trucks and in getting ideas, help, and useful information. I have learned a great deal from the list. You can join by sending an e-mail to mailto:zr2@zr2hr.org with the word "SUBSCRIBE" (without the quotes) in the subject line.
ENJOY!
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