Truck’s River Crossing Goes Wrong

Some people believe all it takes for their truck or SUV to get through anything on the trail is a lift and some big tires. The truck in the included video has that and at least an exhaust, likely more mods, yet it still struggles with what appears to be a rather mild water crossing.

Never do this when off-roading.

People are debating what really happened. In the footage, we see the truck drive into the water, which appears to be either a river or stream in a beach area (maybe in Florida?) with sand and palm trees in the scenery.

The water is moving at a fairly good pace, but it doesn’t appear to be more than perhaps two feet deep. This is the kind of water crossing quite a few off-roaders could do bone stock, no modifications needed.

Yet the truck gets a little over halfway and just stops, completely losing momentum. The driver tries reversing, digging the big tires into the sandy riverbed. Then he tries driving forward but with no luck. That’s when his passenger opens his door and it’s obvious they’re contemplating a recovery.

People commenting on the video have pointed out two obvious potential reasons for this unsuccessful water crossing we think are worth noting.

First: lack of speed. When you’re crossing water, you need to go into the water with enough speed and keep that consistent all the way to the opposite shore. This guy obviously goes in too slowly, then tries gunning it as he bogs down, which doesn’t work because he’s losing traction. All the does is digs himself down.

The other obvious problem is tire inflation. If you want to do serious off-roading, you need beadlock wheels so you can air your tires way down. This is especially true when driving on mud or sand. This truck’s tires look to be fully inflated like what you’d want on pavement. All that does is cause the tires to sink down into the sand, hurting traction and forward momentum.

It’s true, the guy could take it easy on the stickers, as some have hilariously pointed out. But we think those two factors are the most likely reasons why this water crossing fizzled out, becoming a recovery operation.

Images via rockytvofficial/Facebook