Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2017 i Four Wheeler

707 horses. 645 lb-ft of twist. 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. Quarter-mile of 11.6 seconds. Top speed of 180 mph. What, you need to know more about the ’18 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk beyond that it’s quick, and the most powerfully potent SUV to date? OK, then pacify yourself with the fact that it has a tweaked TorqueFlight eight-speed auto trans hooked to the supercharged 6.2L V-8, as well as some interesting tech, such as a forged-steel crank with induction-hardened bearing surfaces that can withstand firing pressure of almost 1,600 psi, and that the specially tuned crank damper has been burst-tested to 13,000 rpm. And that high-strength pistons and powder-forged connecting rods use high-load-capacity bushings and carbon-coated piston pins, and that the cylinder heads have been treated for thermal conductivity, plus…

EDITOR@FOURWHEELER.COM BARRING LIGHT Custer Products now offers Never Night off-road LED lightbars. They are said to provide excellent illumination while using very little battery power. Each lightbar combines a wide flood beam pattern, for the close proximity lighting needed for low speed technical driving, with a far-reaching spot beam pattern for high-speed driving. Curved lightbars are available for even greater light spread. The lightbars feature die-cast aluminum housings, high-impact polycarbonate lenses, and are certified with an IP67 rating for water and dust intrusion. Eleven different models are available ranging 7 inches to 51 inches in length. All light systems include mounting hardware. INFO: Custer Products, 800/490-3158, custerproducts.com GOLD SHIELD Zircotec now offers ZircoFlex Gold heat shielding. It’s said to combine high reflectivity with ceramic thermal behavior for show-standard heat management.…

THE EASTER JEEP SAFARI IN Moab is the pinnacle of off-roading adventure. Near the end of the event, the two-day Jeep Expo, a vendor show, gives attendees an opportunity to get up close and personal with manufacturers and retailers that have cutting edge innovations for your off-road needs. Held the Thursday and Friday before Easter at the Old Spanish Trail Arena, the Jeep Expo brings in companies from all over the globe. Suspensions, tires, lights, winches, interior and exterior accessories as well as anything else you can image can be found in the rows of vendors. We went through the Jeep Expo at the 2017 Easter Jeep Safari and got info and photos of some of the coolest stuff. Thanks to our sponsors you can see more Moab coverage and…

LET’S FACE IT, IN A WORLD CHOCK-FULL OF FORD SUPER DUTYS, A LOT OF OWNERS want their truck to stand out from the rest of the crowd. So while thousands of Blue Oval loyalists lined up to get their hands on Ford’s redesigned ’17 model, enthusiasts—as they always do—immediately set out to add their own unique touches to these brand-new behemoths. Thanks to one dyed-in-the-wool Ford fanatic, this ’17 F-350 Platinum didn’t make it a week before going under the knife at Flynn’s Shop in Alexander, Illinois. Ready to Go Although the owner was eager to improve the truck’s stance, curb appeal, and off-road capability in one fell swoop, there was one catch: the truck had to maintain the same plush ride quality it left the factory with. To deliver…

Toyota named this off-road concept FT-4X. (Side note: We dig that name way more than what it’s abbreviated for: Future Toyota-Four Wheel Drive Crossover.) Toyota’s also calling it a “four-wheel-drive toolbox,” with an “X Theme” design, featuring a description of that design that frankly made our eyes glaze over—something about how “at the rear, the bowed vertical X can be seen at the rear hatch, again placing the door handle at the center and creating a protective space. Now, imagine another X, but this time horizontal, or flat, placed at the top and bottom of the vertical Xs…” We should probably not attempt to explain the vehicle’s three “zones” either, but allow us to simply say two of them are “Clean” and “Wet.” Anyway, specs: 167 inches long with a…

editor@fourwheeler.com EVERY YEAR, THE JEEP AND OFF-ROAD COMMUNITY HOLDS THEIR BREATH around the beginning of spring for a glimpse at the amazing concept vehicles to be debuted at the Easter Jeep Safari in Moab. The tradition of these concepts is ingrained into the Jeep culture, and we are all better for it. Jeep and Mopar build these rigs to tantalize our minds, show off what they are capable of and discreetly test out designs and ideas on the public for future product variations. Remember the Jeep Gladiator or Jeep Rescue concepts? While us Jeep truck fans didn’t get a new Gladiator or Comanche, nor did the fullsize Jeep fans get a new big SUV, we did get a serious preview of the JK Wrangler body styling ahead of its debut.…

MOAB IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED THE MECCA of Jeep culture. Every year, Moab’s Jeep population explodes exponentially the week leading up to Easter for the annual Easter Jeep Safari hosted by the Red Rock 4-Wheelers (rr4w.com). However, regardless of the event being called the Easter Jeep Safari, lots of non-Jeep vehicles join in the fun. Years ago, Jerrod Jones (former editor of Off- Road magazine), John Cappa (former editor of Four Wheeler magazine), and Stephen Watson (owner of Offroad Design) hatched a plan to get fullsize truck owners together during the popular week in Moab as a show of strength and solidarity in the big truck community, and Fullsize Invasion was born. That was six years ago, and the group has been steadily growing in popularity ever since. For 2017, Fullsize…

FIFTY YEARS AGO, FAMED AMERICAN WESTERN singer and actor Roy Rogers climbed atop a rock with his hunting rifle and dog in an advertisement claiming the Nissan Patrol was the vehicle of choice for sportsmen. Flash forward to today and the Patrol is largely forgotten among consumers—and even many automotive journalists. The small boxy SUV has been mostly lost to history and hasn’t enjoyed the revival of old Toyota FJs or Jeep Wranglers you see on the trails. In a stroke of luck, we were able to find a fully restored ’67 Nissan Patrol in Nissan’s heritage museum. We checked it out, drove it through the Tennessee backroads, and even drove the newest “Patrol”—a ’17 Nissan Armada— back to back for comparison. We survived the muddy roads and getting a…

GETTING TO GO TO MOAB FOR EASTER JEEP Safari (EJS) is without a doubt one of the perks to an off-road magazine tech editor’s job. Why this is true really ought to be totally obvious to anyone out there in Four Wheeler land, but if it’s not, allow us to clarify: Generally our job is a fun one. Many of us in the industry have converted a hobby into a career, and that has good sides and bad. On the good side, you almost always get to do something you enjoy. On the bad side, you find yourself “working” way more than anyone should work. Of course it’s mostly fun work, but it’s still work and it can be easy to get burned out on doing what you love. Also,…

WHEELERS LIKE TO BE PREPARED FOR whatever they may encounter offroad. Being prepared often means not only having basic self-recovery items handy but also extra fuel, water, and spare parts. Maybe even a chainsaw, generator, camping gear, and provisions. All of these things find their way into the bed of our pickups or the cargo areas of our Jeeps and SUVs. If there’s a downside to the cargo-carrying attributes of lifted fullsize pickups and SUVs, it’s trying to reach all those things we bring along on such outings without climbing into the bed or leaning deep into cargo area to get the item that’s needed. As every four-wheeler knows, there’s some mysterious force that seems to place the very item we need just out of reach, whether that’s a towstrap,…

OFF-ROAD SHOCK TECHNOLOGY HAS BEEN steadily progressing over the past decade, with a strong influence from motorsports. Bypass shocks were once only seen on Trophy Trucks, Ultra4 cars, or high-end sand cars. These days, many off-roadshock manufacturers hasve a bypass-style shock in their product lineup. Now, it’s ARB’s turn, with its suspension arm of the company known as Old Man Emu (OME), taking bypass shock technology to the next level, with the new BP- 51 bypass shock absorber. OME’s suspension engineers sweated the details and dug deep into their skunkworks department to develop a bypass shock that would offer exceptional comfort and control, on- and offhighway. BP stands for bypass, and 51 is the diameter bore in millimeters. Many bypass shocks only offer an adjustment for compression, but the BP-51…