Having lived off-highway on a horribly-maintained county gravel road and 1.25 mile long private driveway for 24 years, here's what I've found to work (and not), from best to worst...
Mercedes Unimogs - unrealistic for on-highway travel, but unstoppable off-road. (It's not just their slogan...) Most retired military vehicles are robust enough for an off-highway life. I have four Unimogs, and they all do very well so long as you don't pound too much pavement with them. For the ranch, THE BEST, most capable, most reliable, hands down. (But you gotta love working on stuff, you can't mind waiting for the occasional part, and it's nice to have a lathe around...)
Toyota Land Cruisers - also very robust and capable. I have three of these remaining (a '75 FJ-40, '85 FJ-60, and '85 HJ-75) and they're built to handle the tough roads and bentonite mud we have around here.
Mid 1970's Chevy 2500 pickup - fed my cattle for 20 years, and mostly survived. The weak spot was the front axle, which was always needing some love.
2000 Ford F-350 Diesel - I've been pleasantly surprised. The body and chassis have held up well, but the plastic-riden clutch system is a joke. When the 7.3 "PowerStroke" wears out, she's getting a 12-valve Cummins with NO computer, and metal clutch parts, if I have to make them myself.
I'll throw in Subaru, tho' not a "truck" at all. TOTAL JUNK off-highway. I had bought a new '03 Outback for my wife. It was designed in such a way that virtually ALL the mud coming from inside the front tires wound up packed up above the exhaust heat shield and around the reap prop-shaft. That mud nearly cut that prop-shaft in half, and White's in Casper told me they would not honor the warranty at 3,500 miles because the wagon "showed signs of abuse from atypical use" - from that mud. It was 100% design-flaw. And abuse? For driving on a muddy road? Have you SEEN their commercials?
My biggest complaint is that virtually nothing today can take the mud here. As with Subaru, engineers don't plan on it. It rips the fender liners out, cuts prop-shafts, and destroys just about everything that's the norm for modern-day vehicles, which seem to be, to quote Frank Zappa, "A little bit cheesy, but nicely displayed."
Older stuff is, hands down, MUCH better, IMHO. I just bought a 2012 4x4 Tacoma to cap and use for a dog-hauler... I am not impressed, and it will be my last Toyota, ever. Ride is nice on and off-highway, but the fuel mileage is a joke - 18.5mpg is the best I can do, even keeping interstate speeds to 65mph - and the mud's pulling the fender liners off already. At 6,500 miles, the seats and dash rattle horribly, and worst of all, the exhaust runs UNDER the transfer case, unprotected, so not only is there a serious crush-risk, but if I take it off a maintained road, I'm gonna light the ranch grass afire.
One dear friend spent 30 years in the coal industry in Thunder Basin. He had multiple Fords that suffered terribly running in dirt and coal. He ended his career with two Toyota Tundras, and they did fare far better than the Fords. The weak spot for the Ford F-150s was the rear disk brakes...The coal dust would seize the calipers every year (or less). The trouble with the Tundra came in the air pump (emissions), which was over $3K to replace - TWICE in 100,000 miles, on his last one. His factory extended warranty DID cover it, tho'.
- Darrin (be back in six months...
)
