Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives first experience "offroad" with a Colorado

Buddy of mine came up to predator and hog hunt with me last week. He offered to take his truck, so we piled all our stuff into his late model crew cab 4x4 Colorado.

I had a dead blackjack oak across a road, nothing big, 8-10" diameter trunk, maybe 20' long. Hooked a strap to the tree and the receiver hitch on the truck and my buddy pulled the tree easily. I intended for him to just pull it to the side of the road, but he pulled it into the 3' high bluestem bordering the road. There was some brush and small dead limbs in the grass, my buddy drove right over them with little effort and no problem.......or so we thought.

Seems like GM, in their infinite wisdom, decided to equip a 4x4 truck.....with a plastic fuel tank with absolutely NO shielding........a bare, thin, plastic tank with zero protection.....located even with the rear driver side door/front of the bed.....inside the frame, but hanging below it......not even the slightest bit out of the way. No skid plate, not even a lightweight metal shield......nothing!

Yep, a small stick punched an 1/8" hole through the bottom of a $600 plastic tank.........not a rock or a piece of metal......a small stick.......

Luckily, we had enough fuel to make it into a town where I could get a stainless screw and thread it into the hole to slow the leak enough to get it to my house. We also grabbed a fuel tank repair kit and did our best to seal the tank enough to make the 4 hour trip back to his house. He said the repair was still dripping slightly when he got home.......he may be able to seal the tank, but I doubt it will pass state inspection if they look under the truck.......and a new tank is $600+, not including installation.

Makes me glad I don't own a Colorado.......

Nothing better than old vintage solid axle front end iron!

The Colorado seems like a nice truck I know some guys that have them, maybe the Z71 model would have better shielding under the gas tank and drivetrain maybe?

Just because it is 4x4 does not mean it is, for the lack of a better term "Trail Rated,"

after market skids/armor is a big business

Yea, my 2019 LT , Z71 has skid plates

I have the Colorado ZR2 with skid plates from front bumper to back, the truck is excellent off-road my only complaint is the way the 8 speed runs the first few minutes when cold.

I love the new plastic and aluminum trucks - Not

All the 4 wheel drive trucks I have owned in the past 32 years has had skid plates under them, including my 2006 Chevy 2500HD crew cab diesel truck. I will never buy a 4x4 truck without the skid plates, I don't need no issues while driving on the farm or off road.