[RedRoad]

You are correct that this daily driving kid hauler is not going to tackle the hammers or rubicon but its not built it for that. This one will be for desert exploring, eastern sierra, mojave, big bear, joshua tree, death valley and some southern Utah trips and occasional snowboarding trips to Mammoth.

Black diamond days are over for a while with the newborn in tow so its just off the beaten path camping and mild trails for us. Its true that the diffs are still low but for me its picking the right line rather than building it super tall to compensate for the wheel base. My old scout was a great trail rig(4 in lift 9.50s 345/T98 44s 4.10s posi) when it was just me and the old lady but there is no way to get the kids, dog and gear in it which is why a jeep sized vehicle is useless to me now.

My 75 K10 SWB 454/465/205 with 4 inch lift and 33s (which would lose some height with 12psi) would pretty much take on every local BD trail it would fit on and usually end up pulling out late model rigs with larger tires and lifts who's owners plain out could not drive. My 74 K5 383/465/205ts with custom 6in lift giving 18ft/22rr travel, detroit/Track Loc, 4.56s and 38s was unstoppable but I still preferred the wheel base and the center of gravity of the 75.

I build my rides for specific applications which is why I always have 5-10 vehicles in the fleet to choose from. As the family grows so does the wheel base and required comfort level thus the burb with auto dual A/C small lift/tires. Even with the small lift the next set of tires will be some 35s but I think that will be the limit.