De-Coding Trail Ratings for Newbies.

[Paul#25]

As a spin-off from the discussion on the AGM Thread I'd like to expand my knowledge and try to understand the ratings given to 4x4 trails.
I've often been told that a specific trail is a level 3, 2 or 4 trail but that means very little to me as I don't have an idea what the benchmark is for that rating. It's the same as me saying to someone that has never flown an aircraft that an aerobatic maneuver is a level 5 difficulty or a person that has never driven in a rally that the next corner were approaching is a 4.
I have tried where possible to go onto the internet and YouTube to look at footage of a certain trail to gauge the degree of difficulty but such footage is not always available or a true reflection of the current conditions on the trail.
My Disco was purchased primarily to do more over-landing and getting away in the bush type 4x4 activities than serious 4x4 trails and obstacles. With no under-body protection other than the plate protecting the steering mechanism, I'd like to know that I'm not going to land up damaging the drivetrain on rocks before I embark on a trail that may not have any escape routes. That being said, I still want to experience what the vehicle is capable of doing in a safe manner and environment. Hopefully I will be able to get myself out of any sticky situations on my travels with what I do learn from doing events like the River Trip and the Mountain Passes trip and the few trails I do get to do.

So tell me, what are your views on the subject..............

[Wave]

As far as I know: Please, anyone feel free to add.

Grade 1 & 2 - very easy, very little actual 4x4 stuff, more like an eco-trail with the odd short 4x4 section here and there, next to no 4x4 skills needed, but you do need to know your vehicle a tad, could probably pass in Craig's 2x4 with DL

Grade 3 - more technical, but passable in a standard 4x4 (possibly with side steps removed) better if you have A/T tyres, basic 4x4 skills required, and you need to know your vehicles capabilities as well as your own, minimal chance of damage, maybe a bash plate is recommended.

Grade 4 - Difficult, you need to somewhat know about 4x4ing (hopefully you have been on a course) and you need good tyres, a lift kit and under body protection as you are going to bump here and there, nudge bars will get damaged and tow hitches will drag. Know your vehicle well and the size of it too.

Grade 5 - Real tough stuff, you need to have protection under and around the vehicle [bash plates, sliders, replacement bumpers/bull bars (to aid in approach angels too)] and rear bumpers that can take a bump if need be, approach/departure angels will be put to the test, proper tyres a must, lift kit. Here you really need to know your stuff as guessing will end up with a hurt car.

Always best to have a spotter/navi who also knows your cars capabilities so they know what your car can over come.

[AndreasR]

Wow. Oh boy. Geez.

This debate can go on for years.

My experience regarding Trail ratings is it is all a load of poppycock. Means nothing. Never has never will. There are too many variables to consider. Weather being one. One man’s perspective being another. A trail could be very easy with one really dangerous hectic obstacle with no safe bypass. How do you rate that trail? Surely the type of vehicle doing the trail would influence the trail rating.

My views on trails are well known. Be my guest. Go ahead and enjoy. If that floats your boat it is all good and well.

I love overlanding and the two activities do overlap. You learn your skills on a trail. You hone them overlanding. Just my opinion.

Now you get to the topic of how much risk you want to take with your vehicle. On a trail which normally lasts a few hours relatively close to home you are going to take more risks than if you are 600km from the nearest town in a foreign country when faced with an obstacle. Generally on a trail you set your vehicle up for the day and the type of trail you will be doing. While overlanding you don’t have that luxury as conditions change continually and generally you are loaded.

Damage to vehicle is something that the majority of us want to avoid. If you have a 4x4 toy and oodles of cash then it doesn’t matter. If it is not your daily drive it doesn’t matter so much either.

The decision to do an obstacle, whether overlanding or on a trail should always be left to the driver/owner. Don’t be bullied into doing it. Make up your own mind. Should things go pear shaped you only have yourself to blame.

In general a vehicle set up for overlanding specifically, will not be a first choice trail vehicle. They are normally bigger, heavier and have more kit on them.

To conclude. Gather as much information as possible before making your own decision. If unsure and you don’t want damage, don’t do it. If you want to kamikaze go for it but don’t sit round the fire that night with tears in your eyes wondering why you did it and how you are going to pay for it or how you are going to get your wreck home.

[AndreasR]

On the AGM thread, HenriSteyn asked a very valid question. So what do the other Pajero men say. It is pointless asking a Jeep driver with 35” tyres what he thinks of a trail. They are all easy!

It would be like asking a Jimmy driver what to pack when overlanding! You will run out of skivvies on day two.

[Paul#25]

Thanks for the responses so far.
I'm with Andreas on the question of who decides what a trail will be rated as. I'll tell you that Sunset at Kyalami is a flat-out 4th gear corner like turn 3 at Zwartkops if flat in 3rd. Those observations are only valid for a car that is almost identical to mine in power, gearing and tyres and that for someone that has compatible skill level and amount of laps around those circuits. In the same way that a certain trail is a walk in the park for someone that has been 4x4ing for years and has a nicely kitted vehicle on big mud tyres against a person with limited experience in a almost standard vehicle on A/T tyres will find the trail difficult to complete.

[ThysleRoux]

My take is that you cannot "rate" a trail, per se. As mentioned an easy trail can have one hectic obstacle on any specific day. Obstacles should be what the rating is linked to and even then it ain't easy to do as the circumstances are not cast in stone and will vary with the weather, vehicle, driver skill, etc. The same applies to overland routes - there are obstacles and OBSTACLES on every route - some easy and some virtually impossible to pass.

[Prof]

So many variables...

1. Maintenance of route
2. Weather condition preceding going to route and past weather on route
3. Type of vehicle
4. Tyres of vehicle
5. Aids of vehicle
6. Ability of driver
7. ....and all those I didn't mention

A good trail owner will be able to read the ability of the driver and vehicle prior to accessing a formal route. In the 'wild yonder' you are on your own....

Edit. And this is where the whole NOW debacle failed....grading is so subjective that your grade 5 is my grade 3 etc....
But for MOST it helps as a guideline to what to expect.

[BushWacker]

The grading of trail obstacles or sections provides a generalised, fairly subjective,
but a usefully relative indication
of the ‘degree of challenge’ the obstacle or section represents to off-roaders driving vehicles that nearly all have 4WD, Low Range
capability.
Such vehicles latent capability depends
on specific enabilising criteria, namely:
4WD
Low Range
Crawler gearing options
Suspension enhancemences for flexibility
Diff-locking mid and or full Front&back
Ground clearance
Approach, Breakaway, Departure angles
Tyres of varying diam, width tread etc
Transmission enhancements
eg Traction, stability control
Turning Circle
Wheel base and track widt
Engine power, torque etc
Vehicle mass, length, width, height
etc etc
.........

These and many other standard features
and added enhancements make vehicles
inate capabilities and potential very different.

And then theres the inate abilities
and skills of the drivers in deploying
the above in successfully negotiating
the obstacles on a trail, ...
choosing the line, speed , gear etc etc
... here driver skill, experience ,
know-how, confidence etc etc
play a huge role.

and then theres the weather, state of the track
and other time dependent aspects ...

... so the grading of obstacles is
a fairly generalised, subjective, relative
attempt at indicating level of challenge
to the general population of offroaders..

that said most can do 1-3 quite readily
maybe 20% grade 4
and 5-10% grade 5
and it largely depends on their vehicle
and ... also (!) their driver skills ...

[Prof]

@Bushwacker

So eloquently stated...better than me

[BushWacker]

I didnt witness it but am told an Audi saloon
(AWD?) did the full obstacle circuit at Iguana
and I have seen VW Beetles achieve extraordianary things off-road ...
yet
Ive also seen Rubicons And Disco4s/RRvrs etc
etc with full arsenals of capabilities
baulk at grade 4 obstacles ...

[KurtG]

It was a Q7

[XJ Junkie]

I agree mostly with what’s been stated. Clearly there’s some clever souls on this forum.

It’s a virtually an impossible proposition to grade trails. One man’s G5 is another man’s G2. You’d effectively need to take the same driver in the same 4x4 & get him to drive every trail, then ask him to grade them. But if you did it with another driver in a different vehicle, on the same day & same conditions, they’d not agree with each other’s ratings exactly.

For simplicity, the ratings should be purely a very rough guide of what to expect of the terrain whist driving a fairly standard 4x4.

I disagree with placing vehicle feature requirements next to each grading because sometimes it’s the jockey, not the horse, or visa-versa.

[Chris Stoffel]

Perhaps we can use some examples of obstacles? Redhill at Honingklip, Patrol and Rubicon Hill at Welgelegen and some well known obstacles elsewhere?

[KurtG]

The grading has worked well for me in the past to decide if I do a trail (or a section thereof) or not.

If someone told me “let’s go to trail X, it’s a grade 5”, and I was in my Standard Pajero, then I would kindly decline.

If they said it was a grade 3, then I would give it a go.

As a rough guide, it works very well and as Neil said, it must be rated with a standard vehicle in mind because I have never heard anyone rate Carnage Canyon for example, you don’t need to because everyone who does it just knows what to expect, a rating is pointless for Carnage (for example).

[XJ Junkie]

There’s a local reserve where we are trying to ultimately get a trail opened.

Virtually the entire place is a G1 to G2. But there’s one obstacle section that’s most definitely a G5. But to label the trail as a G5 would be highly misleading. This is the general problem with trail grading, in that they can either under estimate or disappoint.