I looked at an '80s Chevy truck like that for sale recently. It only had 39.5s, but the 10" lift springs apparently wouldn't let the driveshaft reach the yoke on the 10 bolt axle, so they had just taken it off and had it in the floorboard. I think they sold it like that too.
I've got a good story. A few years back I went to a trail ride at River Rock ORV in Georgia. The place was packed as usual. About lunch time these two drunk guys showed up with this '80 or '81 Toyota mini truck on a trailer like you'd use to haul a backhoe. The truck was completely stock except that they had cut out the fenders enough to fit some 44" Boggers, but just barely. It may have had some amount of lift, but not much. Anyway, the truck would only move in low range first gear with a little clutch slippage.
These guys backed the truck off the trailer and proceeded to attack the rocks and ditches with the wildest (if not slowest) driving I've ever seen. It took them about 10 minutes to roll it and cave in the roof and bust out the windsheild. Somebody winched them back over and they went a little ways further and rolled it again! This time they landed back on their tires but the engine wouldn't start. Of course neither one of them had on a seat belt, so they were bouncing around inside the cab like you wouldn't believe. I thought I was about to see a fatality so I moved on. Well, about an hour later these guys came up a steep hill with some huge rocks and deep (think 5 feet deep!) ruts that I was standing by watching everyone go up.
Guess who I see coming up the hill with the hood and the broken winsheld lying in the back of the truck and the roof squished down so bad that the passenger had to practically lie down on the seat to able to fit in the cab? You guessed it! They had gotten the engine to run again, but apparently one of the rollovers had bent the throttle linkage on the carb and was making the throttle stick open. Every it would get stuck, the driver would put it in neutral and the passenger would put his beer down, climb out the hole where the windshield use to be, and unstick the throttle cable and then crawl back inside! Unbelievable!
Then I noticed something crazy. Despite all the damage that had occured and the obvious drunkenness of the driver, this stock Toy on 44s was taking the hard lines that even the buggies were struggling with, and it didn't even have lockers. Amazing.
My point is, sometimes all you need is some huge tires, complete disregard for your's and everyone else's safety, and some beer to conquer every obstacle at a rock crawling park.
I have some pictures of some of that action. I'll have to see if I can find them and post them.
