Hi,Looking at the GVWs of late model 1-ton dually diesels, and the large slider TCs such as the high end Arctic Foxes, I wonder:What sort of forest service road can you actually drive up? Are you able to approach some forest service roads one find in Montana & Colorado which can get a bit steep and certainly have their holes and rocks, or are you limited to BLM dirt roads in the SW? I'm not talking about going off-road, I'm simply thinking about forest service roads. What sort of conditions can the above handle? What sort of modifications have you needed?What limits to size of TC have you found?As an aside, what kind of hwy diesel mileage do you get (roughly) with a heavy setup as above.Thanks again!Bill

Where there's a will, there's a way!What late model truck are you talking about, specifically?

We just have an older 04 Duramax 1 ton dually and our older, 90, camper isn't as heavy or long as lots of the newer ones at 9.5', no slides but we have a cargo tray on the back that is our steps and storage. We took it several places on forest service roads last summer, thru water crossings, up on the Grand Mesa by Grand Junction and on up to Meeker to some places and dry camped. Didn't have any problems but we are slower travelers and cautious when we go off the beaten path. Don't take any rock crawling type trails. Might call us chicken or faint of heart but we also know our limitations and what we can afford to fix. Our dually is 4x4 but hope we never REALLY need it to get somewhere on purpose, just in a dumb move pinch. Wouldn't want our family to read about us in the news, but we still manage to go lots of places, see lots of sights we've never seen, fish and such.

My dually is just RWD but I bet it will go into places that I don't want to go. Than when it comes to steep grades it is all in gearing. My manual F450 had low gear, that would pull a house on idle. I am not big fan of gearing on automatic in my 2007 F350. The first 2 seconds it is like the engine is "thinking about it" but eventually it will pull

Our TC isn't particularly heavy, but we haven't found a forest road we couldn't handle fairly easily. The main issue is the width with our dually, but rocks and steep roads haven't been an issue. You can essentially go where ever you want. The truck is stock; no modifications. We get around 12 mpg at 70 mph, and probably 13 to 14 if we slow down. I don't pay that much attention to mileage. We just go out and gave a good time.

I've been forced to back off a couple of times due to more extreme forest roads. Once I tried Lincoln Creek road (east of Aspen CO) to try to camp at Grizzly reservoir. About a mile in it was steep and very rocky. A jeep yes (there were lots of the there) but not my F350 Fx4 with fully loaded Lance 1181.I was actually towing my Jeep, so it was a tough turn around. Disconnect. Multi-point reverse direction, Reconnect Jeep. YUK.In general, I've had more problems with overhead branches. Once in AZ, I had to chain saw my way past some low hanging branches. The Forest Service usually doesn't plan for 11'6" clearance.Rick

Big Diesel with Heavy Modern TC - But Where Can U Drive?

trail-explorer
Explorer
Jul 07, 2015
WHen buying, get a 4x4 for sure.

There's times where I pop the truck in to low range when going up hills, just for the lower gearing, not for the fact that I need 4WD to get up the hill.
Bill001
Explorer
Jul 07, 2015
Naio wrote:
brholt wrote:
I don't know if Insp1505 is around but he has taken an AF1150 into some pretty "tough" places. Here is one of his reports:

Merriam Lake, Idaho - Trip Report

Thanks for the link to this gorgeous TR!

Yup. That's what I wanted to know.
Thanks! That was really good.

- Bill
Big_Rig1
Explorer
Jul 08, 2015
I have a 2015 AF990 & previously had a Lance 920. I don't see any difference in milage on my 2004 Dodge diesel. I average about 13 mpg. I am not real familiar with Forest Service roads but I have had mine on plenty of gravel roads. As long as you have the clearance on all sides & overhead & the terrain isn't too steep & the road isn't too rough, I would think you would be ok. Last Febr I was in AZ in Organ Pipe National Park. I tried to drive one of the loops with the camper on but the road was just too rough. The bouncing was just too much for me & I figured I would have to go so slow that I couldn't complete the drive in a reasonable amount of time & I would subject the truck, camper & my wife and self to a lot of bouncing and jarring.

Big Rig (John)

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Big Diesel with Heavy Modern TC - But Where Can U Drive?

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