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SUV's water fording ability

bosi77bosi77 Member Posts: 37
in Jeep
Please state your SUV and the amount of water that can be forded. By experience.
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    tidestertidester Member Posts: 10,059
    Can you start us off?

    tidester, host
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    british_roverbritish_rover Member Posts: 8,502
    HAHAAH By experience no one is going to know that because hardly anyone actually takes them off-road. Most makes do not even publish that data anymore.

    From my own experience...

    Range Rover 20 inches or there about but it will do more as that is the conservative published number.

    LR3 and Range Rover Sport 28 inches but again published conservative number.

    My old Jeep cherokee would do about 24 inches on oversized tires.

    Gas powered Series Land Rovers will do about 30 inches or so without a snorkel. A diesel model will drive in as deep a water as you dare as long as you have a long enough snorkel.
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    lemmerlemmer Member Posts: 2,689
    I have personally gone through water at least 2 inches deep in my 2WD RX300. It was possibly 3 inches, but I can't verify that.
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    steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited June 2014
    Six inches of water will reach the bottom of most passenger cars causing loss of control and possible stalling.

    A foot of water will float many vehicles.

    Two feet of rushing water can carry away most vehicles including sport utility vehicles (SUV's) and pick-ups.

    FEMA and NOAA
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    tidestertidester Member Posts: 10,059
    Here's another interesting article: Car in the Water.

    tidester, host
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    steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    Oh, I used to own that guy's River Rescue book (co-written with a guide up in McCall ID).

    Where's Mac24's photo of his H1 mudbogging up to the windshield? Couldn't find it in a quick search earlier.
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    tidestertidester Member Posts: 10,059
    I saved a copy but with some slight modification. :)
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    steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    "Pima County Sheriff Deputies and Rural Metro Fire crews rescued three people from two sports utility vehicles that were swept off Speedway Boulevard Monday evening."

    Flash floods sweep SUVs off Speedway (KVOA Tucson)
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    moniker91moniker91 Member Posts: 1
    I can tell you that my 2005 Grand Cherokee 4x4 V6 can NOT ford 6 inches of road water. 2 weeks ago we had a rain storm and I was on my way to the grocery store when I approached a puddle at entrance to the Acme. I slowed down to make the turn into the parking lot and the Jeep stalled out. I tried to start it but all I got was a click, click. Long story short, watching the Dodge Neon's and Toyota's and Honda's passing me, had to have the Jeep towed to the dealer. I was told by Jeep that the warranty does NOT cover environmental damage and my car insurance paid over $6000. and I paid near $900. to replace the engine, block, etc. Water was ingested and cause damage. So that just proves the old story "Buyer beware" when you buy a product don't believe all that advertising they put out on it. According the Doctor Z, all 2004, 2005 and 2006 Jeep 4x4's are "trail rated" but this is NOT TRUE. It was an expensive lesson to learn.
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    li_sailorli_sailor Member Posts: 1,081
    I crossed the Atlantic with mine the other day. Guzzled a tanker's worth of gas, but hey, it's freedom, baby, YEAH!

    SUVs are great, everyone should own at least 2. But oh dear, I see they are getting a mite less popular these days. Oops, $2.50 gas again, forget that.

    I love this topic, don't you?

    :)
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    tidestertidester Member Posts: 10,059
    I crossed the Atlantic with mine the other day. Guzzled a tanker's worth of gas, but hey, it's freedom, baby, YEAH!

    We'll have to send that one over to Mythbusters. They love that stuff! :)

    tidester, host
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    li_sailorli_sailor Member Posts: 1,081
    You doubt the veracity of my claim? I even did it in a Ford. Yup, fording in a Ford.

    Hey, it's a slow day at OurTube, which we wish was YourTube. MustTube?

    Yah, slow day.

    Anyhow, cheers!
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    rray49rray49 Member Posts: 13
    I have a very similar story. I have a 2006 RAV4 V6 Sport with about 7800 miles on it. Last week, I drove through a very shallow puddle (6 inches in depth and about 40' in diameter) following two other smaller vehicles. Although no other car had any problem with this puddle, my RAV4 somehow got a significant amount of water into the engine block and threw a rod. I am currently waiting on insurance to approve putting a new engine in the vehicle. I have heard from the Toyota dealership that other RAV4s have had the same problem. Because of this, I have gone from being a very satisfied RAV4 owner to being an extremely dissatisfied one. Even if this hasn't happened to you, beware of shallow pools and don't get over-confident because you think you have a rugged SUV.
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    podedwardspodedwards Member Posts: 35
    I hope my insurance company would buy such a story about any car sucking water into the engine after driving through 6" of water at slow speeds? Wow!

    I have crossed a number of shallow streams (at 1&1/2 feet in depth or less) in my 2006 5.7 Grand Cherokee Limited without any problem but I know how to do it and I make sure that I am not getting rocks into the brakesby going more than dead slow and then I makesure the bearings are dry before traveling at road speeds.

    Anyone who crosses 30" of water in any vehicle is headed for the garage. One does have to consider the maintenance costs
    for vehicles used this way-it's really,really expensive. They may make it across but the cost is very high. So get a boat.
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    picard12picard12 Member Posts: 55
    is this problem still occur for RAV4 2007? where did the water get into the engine?
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    pat84pat84 Member Posts: 817
    Maybe it's the speed that one goes through the small puddles that splashes water into the engine intakes.
    No matter. Anyone who drives through water of unknown depth even in a SUV, deserves what they get.
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    bassnchumbassnchum Member Posts: 1
    take a good look under your hood and figure out where the air intake is. i personally drive an s-10 blazer and have watched water come over the hood without any problems. on the other hand i;ve watched more than 1 cherokee hydro-lock from hitting puddles 1 foot deep
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    paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    I've seen Jeeps on the trail hydrolock as well. My Isuzu has had mud come over the hood w/o issue.

    -mike
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    5213252132 Member Posts: 62
    I don't get what your saying? I have owned a Jeep Cherokee and am the proud owner of a Jeep Grand Cherokee. They both have very high intakes and I have forded at least 1&3/4 feet of water in them, STOCK! If you are just trying to make Jeep look bad, then you dont deserve to be on this forum :mad: http://www.jeep.com/trailrated/waterfording.html
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    paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    One thing that annoyed me a few years ago when offroading was that a Jeep Cherokee in our group did not come with tow-hooks std. This wasn't a stripped down version either. When we met/invited him on the trip we assumed a fairly loaded Cherokee would have tow hooks so we didn't make a special point to make sure he had em. Until he fell in a sink-hole half way up his doors and we had to yank him out! Just suprising.

    -mike
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    paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    The other thing that will effect your water fording is your driving style. I've seen guys go blasting through water and mud and hydrolock in relatively low water, and others go gently through deeper water and not get hydrolocked. Driver skill does effect your fording ability.

    -mike
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    5213252132 Member Posts: 62
    Don't show this picture to wife http://www.wjjeeps.com/mud1.jpg
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    paisanpaisan Member Posts: 21,181
    NICE! I miss offroading, haven't done it in about 3 years. :(

    -mike
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    YozhikYozhik Member Posts: 1
    2000 (3rd Gen) Toyota 4Runner...

    I've forded more water than I probably should have, and although it was standing still, it wasn't any less scary. My truck was stock height, with no aftermarket additions, and I was pushing water approx. 4 to 6 inches above the bottom of my windshield. I would imagine that this is approx. 3.5 to 4 feet of water. If I would have stopped in the water, I would have gotten water in the engine and inside the SUV, but since I kept moving and only submerged for 5 to 10 seconds, the water stayed out of all important areas, namely the intake. Stock, the intake gets its air from inside the left fender, and since I had enough speed, I guess there was enough air trapped in the fender to keep moving.

    I DO NOT recommend you try this without the the proper water fording kit.
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    steverstever Guest Posts: 52,454
    edited June 2014
    "A foot of water will float many vehicles. According to the U. S. Geological Survey, water one foot deep typically exerts 500 pounds of lateral force, which could easily tip it on its side or flip it over.

    ;Two feet of rushing water will carry away most vehicles, including SUVs and pickups. The vertical buoyancy force of about 1,500 pounds lifts the vehicle, while a lateral force of 1,000 pounds (or more if water is flowing faster) pushes it downstream."

    The Underrated Power of Water (wunderground.com)
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    greglchengreglchen Member Posts: 1

    Tried our 2013 2.0L EcoBoost out on Manila (urban) floods, it did pretty well for a crossover. 650mm/26in at 10kph/6mph. Being a force induction rig made me nervous as [non-permissible content removed] lol. Good run nevertheless!

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    rwethereyet2rwethereyet2 Member Posts: 1

    2004 Grand Cherokee (stock) through about 24 inches of water (just below headlights). Ran like this for about 2 city blocks. Have done this many times since I bought it new, never had a problem.

    It floods a lot here in Houston.

    FYI: I do have the "Special Edition" model with very tall 16 inch tires. Might be different than other models?

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