Desert Whoops - Give me the skinny

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RaptorSteve

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Okay all you experienced desert drivers.

I'm taking my blue screw out to the Anza Borrego desert on November 2nd to de-virginize it. Here's my question.

Lots of whoops out there. What can my stock truck handle, and at what speed? Whoops are kind of like a ocean wave. What can techniques should I use give a certain wave length and depth?

For instance, let's say I roll up on some whoops that are 6 feet apart peak-to-peak, and 2 feet deep from the peak. What's a safe speed to traverse these?

Any advice is much appreciated.
 

The Car Stereo Company

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hard to say. it depends on how steep the angle. i dont think anyone can give you a for sure answer. i would take it slow at first and then continue going faster until you feel comfortable.
 

Aaron

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The truck will eat up 1-footers all day long. Just start with the small ones and work up.

The key too whoops is to stay on the throttle and not let the truck sink down into them. If you've ever ridden an ATV or MX bike through whoops it's the same idea. If you let off or tap the brakes, you're gonna have a bad time...
 

Yukon Joe

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How do you stay on top? Speed control?

I hit my first whoops at little Sahara the other weekend, it was fun. The one section I started in turned out to be really long. Much longer than I wanted to ride, but I kept out stay and rode it out. I should have pre run it, and I didn't.

The second time the rear end got a little squirrely, and started to hop really good. Felt like it wanted to come around on me. Not sure if it was b/c I was running it faster or slower? I think I was doing about 40 or 45. I was paying more attention to the train of whoops in front of me and not on the dash.

Check out motumute's video on the little Sahara post trip report. He had his gopro mounted on his truck through some whoops. Note, both he and I have RPG stage 4 suspension. Assuming that allows us to do bigger whoops? Sick to the size aarons recommended.

Joe
 

Maxx2893

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The absolute worst thing you can do is decide your going to fast and hit the breaks. That'll make the nose crash down.
 

Aaron

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How do you stay on top? Speed control?

I hit my first whoops at little Sahara the other weekend, it was fun. The one section I started in turned out to be really long. Much longer than I wanted to ride, but I kept out stay and rode it out. I should have pre run it, and I didn't.

The second time the rear end got a little squirrely, and started to hop really good. Felt like it wanted to come around on me. Not sure if it was b/c I was running it faster or slower? I think I was doing about 40 or 45. I was paying more attention to the train of whoops in front of me and not on the dash.

Check out motumute's video on the little Sahara post trip report. He had his gopro mounted on his truck through some whoops. Note, both he and I have RPG stage 4 suspension. Assuming that allows us to do bigger whoops? Sick to the size aarons recommended.

Joe

Joe, going in a gear lower to keep the revs up is a good way to do it. Just make sure you're not floored doing that, the idea of keeping the revs up is that if you need more speed to stay on top, you have power quickly on tap to do just that.

Not 100% sure as I'm not as familiar with truck suspension as MX bike suspension, but your hopping/swapping problem on the rear end might be that your shock wasn't rebounding fast enough and your back end was packing up. I can't say for sure, and I'm sure there will be someone more knowledgeable than me who can.

I do know that if you let your speed drop to the point where you come off the tops of the whoops it's going to be a self-correcting experience, it'll get real rough real quick.
 

Squatting Dog

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Just **** it and hammer down! Lol

I think it is easier on mx or quad cause you naturally get the rhythm of the whoops. You have to modulate/feather the throttle to keep your speed up that is scrubbed off when you hit the whoop.. If that makes any sense....

-Greg
 

Allied Offroad

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I personally think Joe could have gone faster, John was hammering it across the whoops and the truck was doing great, however that screws longer wheelbase might hurt you a.little.
 

GsxrRaptor

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I recommend. Gettin a frame support bump stop kit!! They RPG boys can help ya out. Trust u don't want tweak. It screw screw up your cab

Okay all you experienced desert drivers.

I'm taking my blue screw out to the Anza Borrego desert on November 2nd to de-virginize it. Here's my question.

Lots of whoops out there. What can my stock truck handle, and at what speed? Whoops are kind of like a ocean wave. What can techniques should I use give a certain wave length and depth?

For instance, let's say I roll up on some whoops that are 6 feet apart peak-to-peak, and 2 feet deep from the peak. What's a safe speed to traverse these?

Any advice is much appreciated.
 
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