I started my firewood business when I was 12-13 with my dad’s 1979 Long wheel base 2x4 with single leg differential. That thing wouldn’t back up on a 5° incline, but would climb a Billy-goat Gruff mountain with about 1/2 load of firewood. With a full load, it would go just about anywhere (forward) that you pointed it.
As stated earlier, driving a 2-wheel drive with mudders on the rear, was a constant evaluation of max speed, or creepy crawl.
Some of my 2x4 truck faithful friends laughed when I bought an ‘86 Scottsdale Chevy, built a smallblock 400 in front of my manual 4-speed, and put an 8k Warn on the front of it…with Detroit lockers on both ends, and I normally just creeped around because the 400 would snap a 1/2 ton axle easily.
The 2-wheel drive guys would say “My 2-wheel drive can go ANYWHERE that jacked up Chevy can go!”
My response, “Maybe. But my hot-rod 4x4 with a big winch, snatch block, and a mile of chains and cables will get back home without having to walk and go call for help waaaay more often than your 2x4 will.”

I had a small block 400 in a 4WD longed Chevy. It was a beast.

Anybody ever have a VW with the baja backend running mudders? Those would get it !!!!

Hunted with guy that had one.

It was a 4 bolt main too. We built a few for mud trucks years ago . You couldnt sling them apart, we never did

I’ve got one (4 bolt main 400) built and sitting in the basement beside my 1984 Chevy 4x4 Custom Deluxe…can’t decide whether to go ahead and put it in my Chevy, or drop an LS in it.

I guess my dad got a good deal on them because he put mud grips on the rear of my first car, a '72 Ford LTD. That thing had a big engine and would go through mud about as well as any pick up. This was in the late 70's and it was not uncommon to have mudders on the rear of a 2 wheel vehicle as 4 wheel drives were not as common as today.

I still rock them today. My hunting truck is my grandads old 92’ Chevy 2WD with only 88K on it.

Yep. Daddy bought a 66 Chevy LWB in the 90’s that had been converted to automatic transmission and a 305 small block. No shift indicator, had the original column shifter from when it was 3-On-The-Tree. Had to just feel it click down 3 times into drive or once for reverse. He kept mud grips on the back. We drove that truck 1.5 hours both ways about every weekend to the hunting camp and took it a lot of places it shouldn’t have been able to go. Thank you for bringing up some wonderful memories of better days.

Yep , farmers and working men bought LWB , 3 on the tree. I started out driving a '73 model and of course "mud grips" on the rear.

Me and a buddy use to hunt out of a Karmen Gia that was a Baja setup. Those were the same as the VW Bug just different body. I honestly have never seen another Karmen Baja setup east of the Mississippi.

It was goofy looking as hell but it would tear ass through the woods.

My hunting buddy back in high school (mid 1980’s) had one. That joker would hid long mud holes wide open and skip on top like a thrown rock! Those were the good ol’days! We drove our deer-mobiles to school with rifles and shotguns in the seats then go hunting after school let out.

One of my logging contractors would buy old Ford LTD wagons and throw some mud tires on the back and use them for crew “trucks”. With a load of tools in the back and 4-5 men in the seats, he’d go lots of places as long as he could touch bottom.

You wouldn't believe some of the places you can go in a 77 Impala with mud/snow tires on the back with 4 teenage boys and a bunch of guns and food in it.