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Tips for Smoother Off-Road Driving
Off-road truck driving is a challenge and few can resist it. After all, anyone can drive on the road, right? A 6-year old kid can do it. Remember your halcyon days when you and your best friend snuck off in your father's much-loved sedan? Sure, you scratched the paint off the bumper a bit when a tree suddenly appeared in front of you, but that's beside the point. The point is that even as an uninitiated kid, you were able to get the car out of the driveway, drive around the block for a bit before you and the tree finally had an unfortunate encounter.
Now, driving a truck off the road is much more challenging. Being able to drive over harsh and bumpy terrain is something to be proud of. Such an activity requires excellent driving skills and a lot of finesse, after all. What better way is there to prove you have both than by managing to drive an off-road truck off the beaten path?
Before you go off on your off-road adventure, though, remember 
that off-road truck driving does indeed require excellent driving skills and finesse – and not everyone has this. Some people seem to naturally have these, zipping through sand and mud the way a F1 driver would a racetrack. If you're not of this type, though, don’t worry. Just follow the following basic off-road driving tips and, while you may not be able to zip along in your truck with the best of them, you may at least be able to do a creditable job so you won’t have to call a garage to tow you and your truck out of the muck.
What every off-road driver must remember:
First, you should get back to the basics. The following are a few things that any off-road truck driver should know, so read on.
While some things about off-road driving may truly be learned and mastered only through practice, there's still much that can be said about theoretical learning. Thus, before you try using your truck, you must first learn all about your truck's features and capabilities.
You’d be surprised how much easier driving your off-road truck would be when you know exactly where each and every control and gauge can be found. How would you know how to put your car into four wheel drive when you don’t know which lever to pull?
You must do a pre-drive test on your truck. While regular check ups may suffice for ordinary city driving, off-road driving is a different cup of tea altogether. If you have car trouble, help might not always be forthcoming as it would be if you were in the city.
Thus, check your truck or have a qualified mechanic check it over for you. Of course, remember to have your tank filled before your trip.
It would be much better if you were to scout your terrain before you go driving on it. Get an experienced off-roader who has been driving in the area to come with you on your first drive. Then, when you have learned the lay of the land, you can drive on your own.
Of course, part of the thrill in off-road truck driving comes from driving in unknown territory. If you don't want to practice before you try a specific terrain, then that’s all right. However, do keep your eyes open for specific details (hills, bumps, dunes, etc.) when you drive. Such details will help you know where to drive, where to turn, where to slow down, and where to speed up.
When you drive, concentrate on your location. When you look at the road before you, try to predict what conditions you'll encounter. Is the road closed off ahead? Perhaps, there’s a quagmire that you should avoid? By being aware of your location, you will be able to decide on the best approach.
While driving in great speed off the road is impressive, it's also foolish. If you do so, you would not have much time to react to unexpected road conditions. For instance, if there's a rock ahead, you won't have time to drive around it and therefore you may have to drive head-on and meet the obstacle. This can lead to damage on your oil filter or oil pan. 
If you were driving slowly, on the other hand, you will see obstacles ahead and will have plenty of time to react. You can find a better path that would not require you to drive over the obstacle. If you don't have any alternative and you really need to go over the obstacle, you could do so carefully and thus avoid damage to your car.
Driving slowly is especially crucial if you're driving a low truck. At least when you meet at obstacle that would not let you get over, your truck would stop upon impact and thereby prevent an accident or truck damage.
You must know your own capabilities. How good an off-road driver are you? What types of terrain are you good at and what types of terrain do you find very difficult to manage?
If you know your own capabilities, you'll know how to drive within your limits. If you know that you’re not very good at driving through mud for instance, perhaps you could plot a route that would let you avoid mud. Later on, when you have learned driving through mud, you can attempt muddy terrains. Until then, it would be much better if you were to stick to what you know and are capable of doing.
Some four-wheeling techniques.
Every type of terrain requires a different approach. Driving through sand requires you to do things differently from what you would do if you were driving through mud. You also have to outfit your truck with tires that would suit your requirements. In this section, you will learn about particular off-road truck driving techniques that you can use on specific terrains.
When driving through sand and snow, you have to keep your truck going at a moderate speed. You may also have to reduce your tire pressure, depending on the weight of your truck (this includes you, your passengers, and whatever you may be carrying on your truck); the less the weight of your truck, the lower the pressure of your tires could be. You must also consider the width of your tires; the greater the width of or the wider your tires, the lower the tire pressure could be.
For driving through sand and snow, it's better if you were to get tires that have the all-terrain pattern. All terrain tires have a block of tread patterns interrupted with small cuts. These tiny relatively small cuts provide the traction and the bigger surface area of the treads gives you better flotation; both these things help you drive securely over snowy or sandy surfaces. However, you must make sure to clean your tires regularly; once the cuts get packed with snow or sand, you’d have less traction.
If you’re driving through muddy and slushy terrain, you must also keep up flotation – same as if you’re driving on sand and snow. For such driving conditions, however, you need mud-terrain tires.
Mud-terrain patterned tires have a series of lugs separating big voids. The lugs give your truck tires bite and grip for improved traction. The voids, on the other hand, give your tires the ability to clean themselves – mud or slush are scooped and thrown back by your tires so that your lugs' traction are not compromised.
When you encounter obstacles (big rocks, logs, and ditches) you must not cross straight but at an angle. By so doing, only one tire would be crossing or climbing over the obstacle and the rest of the tires cold help push it over. This also minimizes the chance of getting stuck as only one tire at a time is placed in a compromising situation. You must also remember to cross slowly.
By the way, for driving through such terrain, you'd find mud-terrain tires preferable as the lugs would give your tires the bite they need to climb over uneven terrain.
When you are driving up or down steep terrain, you should drive in a straightforward direction. If you drive diagonally, you’re risking a rollover since the tires would tend to skid and slide sideways.
