Posted on Oct 15, 2026

by Charles Travers

America's Hidden Off-Road Paradise: Rubicon Trail Prep in California's Sierra Nevada

Table of Contents

Tucked deep in California's Sierra Nevada sits one of America's best kept off-road secrets: the Red Lake and Coyote Lake trail. Big granite, big views, and enough rock to expose every weak point in a build. That made it the perfect place for the first real shakedown of our new long travel setup, because out here nothing cares how much money you spend on parts. Every climb, every ledge and every wrong line was about to test everything we built.

The mission was simple. Put the new All-Pro MLT kit through its first proper day of wheeling, find out what was dialed, what needed attention, and what had to be fixed before the next big adventure. If you missed the build itself, the full story of how the kit went on the truck is in our long travel build write up.

Why Shake Down a Build Before the Rubicon

Everyone wants to see this truck back on the Rubicon, and trust us, that is coming. But taking a fresh build straight to one of the hardest trails in the country is how small problems become trip enders. A shakedown run on demanding but familiar terrain lets the truck show you what is actually ready and what still needs work, while you are close enough to base camp to fix it. That is exactly what this day became, and it did its job better than we expected.

Wheeling With the People Who Built the Kit

What made this shakedown special was the company. Matt, the owner of the Trail Gear family of companies behind All-Pro Off-Road, has been wheeling these mountains since before some of us could drive, and these are his home trails. Alongside him was Tanner, the lead engineer on the MLT kit. These guys were not sitting behind a desk looking at CAD files. They were on the trail, getting dirty, watching how the truck cycled and handled every obstacle. When the owner and the lead engineer turn up to watch their own product take a beating, that tells you a lot about the people behind it.

First Impressions: Planted, Predictable, No Bump Steer

The truck rolled off the lift the night before, so the first miles of trail were the real test drive. The difference was immediate. No bump steer at all, even through the fast, rocky sections. Where the truck used to get top heavy and tippy through quick turns, it now just stays planted. With seven inches of added width the truck simply does not want to move off its line, and that stability translates directly into driver confidence. Once we shifted into four low, it crawled like it had been doing this for years.

What the Shakedown Exposed

Right when we started getting comfortable, the trail started sending feedback. First a leak, which turned out to be the windshield washer reservoir getting friendly with a tire. Annoying, not critical. The bigger lesson was clearance. Every time the front end stuffed, the tires were getting chewed up by the bumper. We thought we had trimmed enough back at the shop, and the first real flex on the trail proved we were not even close. The MLT kit pushes the tires forward, which spares the firewall but puts the bumper right in the way, and those 39s needed room to work.

The problem was we had packed the grinder but left the cutting wheel at the shop. A crew of local Fresno rock crawlers came through with a spare, Tanner got to work trimming the bumper, and the truck went back out with the clearance it should have had from the start. That is precisely what a shakedown is for: finding these things two hours from a workshop instead of halfway through the Rubicon.

One Shot at the Coyote Lake Gatekeeper

The real exam was the Coyote Lake gatekeeper. We will be honest, there was some lingering PTSD from the last gatekeeper we faced on the Rubicon. This time the truck just crawled it. No drama, no fighting the line, it kept climbing like the obstacle was not there. According to Matt, roughly ninety percent of the vehicles that come through take multiple attempts, and the truck walked it in one.

His explanation came down to three things: width, clearance and travel. The truck settles in and does exactly what you ask of it. His bigger point stuck with us. Solid axles have their place, but if you want the strength of a solid axle with the ride quality of IFS, this is what a modular long travel setup delivers. You drive an extremely hard line, and it just works.

A Recovery Done the Right Way

Even the day's one stuck moment turned into a lesson. Matt got high centered on a rock pile, the whole truck resting on its skid plate, and his drive shaft came away with nothing more than engraving marks where most shafts would have folded like a drink can. Getting stuck happens to the best of us, and the recovery is where experience shows. Winch line out, and a tree strap on the anchor point so the tree comes away unharmed, because you leave the place the way you found it. If you are building out your own recovery setup, our winch and recovery gear collections cover everything that came off the spool that day.

Chasing the Sunset Up Bald Mountain

With the truck cleared for solo duty, we pointed it at Bald Mountain to chase the sunset, and the climb turned out to be longer than the daylight. No overthinking, just pick a line and keep moving. We topped out right as the sun dropped over the mountains, with the trucks from Moonlight Madness lined up along the summit, then stayed on for the night runs. If you ever needed proof that the Sierra Nevada deserves the hidden paradise label, that summit at golden hour is it.

The Verdict: The Truck Is Back

Here is the part that impressed us most. After everything we put the truck through, we drove seventy miles per hour home like nothing happened. The kit took the beating and stayed planted, and thanks to the alignment tabs there was no morning after realignment to worry about. The shakedown produced a short and honest to do list, more bumper and fender trimming so the 39s can cycle freely, and a relocated washer reservoir. Everything else was simply confirmation.

So the Rubicon Redemption run is officially next, and this time we are coming back ready. If this build has you thinking about your own suspension, the long travel kits and components collection carries the MLT kit and everything around it, and the headlights collection has the lighting that went on during the build. And if you want help matching a setup to how you actually wheel, the TacomaBeast team is a message away.