Hey! I know most of you consider, mud on your off-road jeep is like a golden batch, that shows off to others about your last successful off road trip.
But, the increase of time that you leave mud on your jeep, increases the complications that can cause by mud to your rig.
In this article I hope to talk with you about those complications in depth. So read further..
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Is keeping mud on your off-roading truck a bad idea ?
Yes, leaving mud on your truck is bad in several ways. If mud leaves on the truck for a long time, it can ruin your paint, corrode body materials (metal), increase wear on the engine and other small moving parts like steering, brake, affect wheel balance and can damage almost everything. But it will not happen from just few days.
There are many possible reasons for these damages. Mainly the mud contains watery soil.
The soil and water also can include many chemical substances like acids according to the terrains you do off-roading.
If you leave mud on your truck for a few days, it means you give the reaction time for those substances integrated in mud to react with the parts of your truck.
So that can lead to different types of damages to your truck in different ways. Let’s take the body and paint.
What damages can happen to the truck body by leaving mud on it ?
As I mentioned earlier the amount of damage to your paint will depend on the type of mud stained on the body.
The case is more severe if that mud is acidic.
If you do off-roading on bog or swamp, that mud may mostly be composed of acids. so there is a chance to damage your paint by that mud.
But don’t be afraid to do mud off-roading with your truck. It will not hurt your paint that much quickly.
But you have to wash your truck properly as soon as possible after mudding.
If you do not wash it for a few days or weeks there’s a chance for mud stains like small brown rings on your paint even after washing.
But that depends on how you care about your paint. If you wax it and maintain it properly , mud will not hurt your paint.
But if your truck body paint got scratches and you leave mud on them for a few days, that will be a huge mistake you are doing.
Scratches means their paint layer is lost or reduced and metal is exposed to the air.
Mud stained on those areas, means all the factors and catalyst necessary for rusting is there.
So there’s a big chance for corrosions on those spots and that corrosions will spread under the paint causing huge damages to the body of your truck.
Be careful about that because off-roading trucks will get scratches easily on the trails and you may not be aware about those scratches also.
Next important area that can be harmed by mud is undercarriage of your truck.
What damages can happen for undercarriage of a truck by mud ?
Most of the time we forget about the invisible areas of our trucks while washing. Mostly the undercarriage is missing the proper wash.
That caused damage to the frame, suspensions and so many mechanical parts of the truck.
In the frame there are drain holes for draining of water. Wheeling on mudding will give chance to enter mud into the frame with those holes and stain.
If we are not aware about that, mud will progressively damage the frame.
Because of that when washing, we should send water through those holes and wash it properly and dry with air to avoid rusting.
What damages can happen to the mechanical parts of a truck by mud ?
Mud can damage so many mechanical parts including suspensions, oil seals of axles and diff lockers, wheel bearings, idler pulleys, alternators and so on.
They can cause excessive wearing of rear drums in deep mudding.
Mud is acting as an abrasive for little moving parts like steering,brakes and etc of your truck.
When you introduce mud/sand into those moving parts they will no longer work like when they were clean. They tend to wear and tear easily.
Mud affects the rubber or tanned leather parts as well as mud stained on them for longer periods of time.
That’s why not properly washing after wheeling in deep mud may cause wear of rear drums and leakage of oil seals. Those materials will be destroyed easily by mud.
That means mud is like a devil and can cause serious damages to any mechanical part of your truck that contacts it. So you should be careful about those parts as much as your vehicle’s body.
How to prevent your off-roading truck from damages caused by mud ?
Proper washing, greasing and maintenance after wheeling on mud is the key to prevent your vehicle from above damages.
You can read about that from my “how to clean your truck properly after mudding” article.
There I talk about how to do proper clean up of vehicle body, undercarriage and interior and save your mechanical parts.
Have fun and safe off-roading !!
