Rubicon Trail: 1, Rexbo R1T: 0

[Davethadog]

There’s a reason why the bed is a separate assembly on conventional trucks. Honestly it’s kind of impressive that this is what it takes to crease them. Still doesn’t make it any less disappointing though.

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[Rexbo]

Good for you to use your truck and not be worried about dings! I like your "F- it" attitude!

We were under no impression that this was ever a good idea, and that success was measured by not getting hurt.

I'm so impressed with Rivian that I'm really trying to explore how far this truck overlaps with other more dedicated market segment vehicles, because so far it's pretty astonishing. The luxury and daily driver aspect as well as weekend adventure vehicle has been thoroughly reviewed. What I'm most impressed by is this trucks' performance in places where usually niche vehicles are (sports cars, muscle cars, rock crawlers, etc) with only minor modifications.

 

[usulio]

This truck is NOT a good rock crawler. It will do the things, but it's not going to be pretty. As noted by many others, it really struggles to get a predicable speed over obstacles, often going from no movement to wheel spin, to lurching over the obstacle. This is especially bad when a wheel is off the ground with no resistance. The best technique I could figure out was to apply light constant pressure on the brake, and attempt to modulate throttle to minimize lurch, with only slight success.

Did you try constant pressure on the throttle and modulating the brake?

Great adventure and writeup.

 

[Rexbo]

Did you try constant pressure on the throttle and modulating the brake?

Great adventure and writeup.

Definitely. In terms of pedal modulation, the brakes were far touchier to manage speed, especially when going over bumps that jostle your feet. The rock crawl mode significantly extends throttle travel effectively damping throttle inputs, which is helpful.

In order of controllability, here's what worked best (for me, anyway):
1. Rock crawl mode, drag brake constant pressure, modulate throttle.
2. Off road all terrain, drag brake, modulate throttle
3. Rock crawl mode, constant throttle (~15%), modulate brakes
4. Off road all terrain, throttle modulation only

 

[Jonger1150]

Give me a Rivian that I don't care how much damage it takes and I'll get your through it.

 

[Rexbo]

Give me a Rivian that I don't care how much damage it takes and I'll get your through it.

This guy knows what's up

 

[ElGuano]

As noted by many others, it really struggles to get a predicable speed over obstacles, often going from no movement to wheel spin, to lurching over the obstacle. This is especially bad when a wheel is off the ground with no resistance.

Curious, did you ever find yourself thinking "Hmm, Trail Assist would be an interesting feature here"?

 

[Chewy734]

Awesome write up! Thanks for sharing. This dude definitely has some cajones.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

Wow, I'm unsure whether to be impressed or horrified at how much of a thrashing you gave that Rivian. Someone has to push the limits, though, I suppose. It looks like a fun day, but I'd be pissed off if I got a door ding, let alone this.

 

[KBabione]

Wow, I'm unsure whether to be impressed or horrified at how much of a thrashing you gave that Rivian.

Put a checkbox next to my name in the "Impressed" column! He made it very clear that he went out there knowing the risks and now he can enjoy the adventure life without worrying about another scrape mark. I'm looking forward to his future posts!

Honestly, I think I was most impressed that the R1T was able to tow the GX out of there! I don't know if you had to use multiple length tow ropes, but at at least one point I'm guessing that both of you were at a rather formidable obstacle at the same time and the R1T got both over it!

 

[Treebeard]

Hey y'all -
this might be a bit of a read, but after reading how Rivian got the R1S through the Rubicon trail, but none of the trucks, that annoyed me and figured there's a way for it to be done. So, not so good ideas were hatched. If you only care about the outcome, read no further, the title should tell you what you need to know. If you're interested in the story along the way, and maybe some pictures or observations, stick with me.

TL;DR - We were not able to finish the Rubicon trail due to a mechanical breakdown of another vehicle, which I then had to tow out. Other conclusions about wheeling the R1T at the end.

In hindsight it probably just saved me from the inevitable more expensive damage later. Unfortunately, my truck is probably already worthless, but I still love it.

Current vehicle upgrades:
- Aftermarket wheels, and tires 285/65R20 BFG K02 tires at 24psi
- DCE rock sliders
- DHD tie rod sleeves
- Sheridan hitch skid

The prep:
We made a quick shakedown trip earlier in the summer to Bald Mtn outside Shaver Lake to just make sure gear and vehicles were happy enough on the granite. Learned some lessons, practiced some climbs and obstacles, and got more used to the vehicles. The folks who had been on Rubicon before were less confident than the rest of us, but at the end of the day nothing broke and we all had a good time.

So, I learned on this trip that when you flex out a R1T, you get these neat symmetric creases on each side of the bed from the chassis flex. Just a word of warning for anyone who decides to start crawling their truck, I'm pretty sure this isn't fixable. Also, my paint needs detailing.

The Real Deal:
We get to the Rubicon trailhead have some breakfast while admiring the great view. Goal for the day was get to Buck Island Lake (midpoint-ish). Hopeful at best, foolhardy more likely.

(yes he got some steak, I'm an idiot, not a monster)

As we sit there, a line of probably 30 near-stock jeeps rolls up and onto the trail right in front of us, as part of some event or school. We head onto the first 200 yards of the trail, where we then park for an hour waiting for everyone to get through Gatekeeper. Off to a great start.

Finally, into the gatekeeper we go. Not a huge deal to get through, aside from some frustrated traffic coming the other direction. Put the DCE sliders to work, and started working on rashing all 4 corners of the truck, while getting used to the drive modes.

Down into the granite bowl up the ledges and over to whale bones no problem.

Now the fun begins. Two of us get up whale bones, and the last GX coming through the rocks donates to the rock gods a rear differential in the middle of the obstacle. It now has front wheel drive only, with the ATRAC extremely unhappy to let it use any power without seeing any movement of the rear wheels, rendering the Lexus effectively immobile under its own power. Now the plan goes from Buck Island Lake, to getting back out to Loon Lake trailhead since we haven't even made it to the first mile marker.

Scene of the crime:

So, in our infinite wisdom, we decide that the Rivian, to make up for everyone thinking would be the one to break, and by nature of having the most torque in the group, gets to be the official tow vehicle all the way back out. I then got the honors of dragging the GX up the hill, then back down through the rock garden. As it turns out, it's a GREAT tow vehicle.

On the way, the GX's no good, very bad day, decided to take a fun turn. Complimentary ass shot:

.
And we're on the move again with that Carolina squat:

Back to gatekeeper and time to pull this 6300lb hunk of metal through the rocks. I gotta say, it was a lot easier to just do the obstacles without having a boat anchor on the back.

We made it! Back out the trail head 3 hours after breaking down, we decided it was time to make camp and have ourselves a consolation bbq and some tasty beverages to wash down the disappointment.

The next morning, after setting up the Starlink, making a few phone calls and doing some additional diagnosis, we decided against attempting a trail repair or bodge job, and that the best thing to do is call someone with a nice Yellow flatbed truck and take it to a friendly 4x4 shop in San Jose. The new problem being, the shop was 237 miles away, the AAA limit is 200 miles, in addition to a $1000 premium to get to the trailhead. So, being the cash-strapped but fearless morons we are, decided that RiRi needed to save the day once again. Towing was a breeze, but using the GX brakes to stop effectively 13k lb of rolling mass was less fun, some fun coordination was had on the long windy drive down.

Sad days indeed, but the GX will be coming back with new front and rear locker, re-gearing and hopefully beadlocks next time.

Blaster's moment of zen in the morning sun:

Lessons Learned:
This is nothing new, and I'm sure you all know this, but do not try this unless you're willing to TRASH your truck. It was a near miracle that I didn't really destroy something. And we hadn't even got to the "hard" obstacles yet.

The Good:

• @DCE you guys make some absolutely killer rock sliders, I don't think any other slider on the market right now would have survived some of the hits and abuse that these endured on the trail this weekend. Seriously, I put some decent dents in these things, and they are 100% scraped end to end underneath, but there's no evidence of yielding or distortion anywhere. 100% recommend.
• The DHD tie rod sleeves seemed to work just fine, my alignment only changed slightly instead of massively.
• The stock reinforced undertray seems pretty un-phased by the amount of abuse it saw. There was a LOT of crunchy sounds and really bad noises under there, but it seems to have held up fine. I do worry about the front skidplate though.
  • @RIVAL 4x4 you're my only hope!
• Riri held up extremely well, took a ton of abuse without a single hiccup, not just handling the obstacles, but also saving the day by muscling the downed vehicle back out, then towing it back down the road.
• From trail start to mile 1, it only went down 3% charge. On a 19-mile trail, that would be ~57% charge, so rounding up call it 60% charge end to end, and starting at the trailhead at 81% charge I think it would be very possible to do this and make it to the other side with some electrons left in reserve.

The Bad:

• This truck is NOT a good rock crawler. It will do the things, but it's not going to be pretty. As noted by many others, it really struggles to get a predicable speed over obstacles, often going from no movement to wheel spin, to lurching over the obstacle. This is especially bad when a wheel is off the ground with no resistance. The best technique I could figure out was to apply light constant pressure on the brake, and attempt to modulate throttle to minimize lurch, with only slight success.
  • Feedback to Rivian: I don't know how it could be done, but I'm sure there's a way to reduce overall wheelspeed in rock crawl mode. The jerkiness is really tough to deal with.
• Also noted by many others, the front wheel lateral walk is challenging. The computers want to send more power up front first, so it'll spin the front wheels (lower coefficient of friction) before sending more power to the back. I see now exactly how tie rods get bent, since it will often slip the spinning wheel right off a rock and into whatever catches it.
  • Feedback to Rivian: Rock crawl needs more rear power bias. Not a ton, but definitely 5-10% or so.
• This truck just doesn't have enough ground clearance for this trail. I think it has enough tire, but there's too much stuff around it, and my front and rear bumper corners paid the price. This thing is begging for aftermarket bumpers. I might need to do this the hard way.
• Also, the rear truck bed crease at full flex is a concern. I get it, but still that's a little rough, all things considered.

So... alas, as far as I'm aware an R1T has still not yet crossed the Rubicon. It was a long shot, but we gave it a try, and I trashed my shit so you don't have to. Things I need to figure out before another attempt next year:

• Skill. There's a significant absence of it around these here parts.
• Ground clearance. I don't know how to get around this one... but 74Weld Motorsports does make a mean set of portals, but I'm not sure I'd want to drop $25k for a set and go through the development phase.
• Corner clearance. There are no aftermarket bumper options. I might just need to go rogue and weld up a set for myself.
• Beadlocks. I'm lucky I didn't fully de-bead a tire as well.

Thanks for bearing with me, maybe next year is the year to do it!

Next up challenge: Mount some slicks and try to get around Buttonwillow raceway sub-2:10. More to come...

I am disappointed by the approach and departure angles, but I don’t do much hard off roading. Waiting to see what the Scot EV will look like. I also want a rear drive option.

 

[Mark_AZR1T]

This is one of the all-time great threads here! Effort A++, Writing style A++, Photos A++, Attitude A++. Well you get the idea. Thank you, is all I can say. A lot of quality information and feedback.

 

[SeaGeo]

As a side note... the challenge with control is why Rivian should have put a locker on the Gen1 Dual motor and all Gen2 variants.

 

[av8or]

I have definitely found that in rock crawl mode having hold turned off and using the two foot method is about the best you can do when trying to be smooth. I just did a bunch of trails in Moab and Colorado and it’s a challenge being smooth and only moving an inch or two. I’ve done the rubicon a few times and some years after trail repairs it’s not bad, but it’s never Rivian without damage good. Personally I think 37s are a minimum tire size if you want to enjoy it. I’ve done it on 35s, but it make for a stressful time.

 

[foxerson]

This is one of the all-time great threads here! Effort A++, Writing style A++, Photos A++, Attitude A++. Well you get the idea. Thank you, is all I can say. A lot of quality information and feedback.

Put a checkbox next to my name in the "Impressed" column!

+1 for the impressed and A++ column. Thank you for showing us what these vehicles can do! Frosty beverages are on me if we ever cross paths IRL.

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