Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i Four Wheeler

CHOP FENDER Rugged Ridge introduces the new Fender Chop Bracket set for all ’18-’19 Wrangler JL models. Each bracket is made from high-strength steel plate and is said to act as a stable mounting support for trimmed factory front fender flares. The brackets and trimmed fenders offer improved approach angles by eliminating the bulky marker light assemblies from the leading edge of the fender flares. All brackets are fully welded and treated to a satin black powdercoat finish with a fine texture. The included round LED lights are mounted into the bracket, serving as turn signals and side marker lights. All necessary installation hardware is included. Versions are available for Sport, Sahara, and Rubicon models. INFO: Rugged Ridge, 770/614-6101, ruggedridge.com FORD SIX-OH COOLING Flex-A-Lite now offers a direct-fit, extruded-tube core…

IT’S NOT ABOUT GRINDING YOUR MACHINE OVER the grisliest chunks of rock or through the deepest mud chasm; overlanding is about getting out there—way out there—and experiencing the backcountry. Whether that means financing a motorhome capable of monthlong off-grid stays or outfitting your daily driver with enough amenities for a long weekend away from pavement, the 2019 Overland Expo West was the place to be. In its 10th year and with the largest turnout to date, Overland Expo West set up base camp in Fort Tuthill County Park just outside Flagstaff, Arizona. Upwards of 1,500 vehicles and 300 motorcycles brought 22,000 participants to the show, where 405 exhibitors (a 30 percent increase from 2018) displayed goods and 135 media outlets broadcasted the excitement. Showgoers were treated to food and drink,…

DOMINICK MCCORMICK GREW up around off-road racing. Childhood friends with the racing Swift family, Dominick got into the sport by pitting for them at SCORE races. He eventually co-drove with John Swift. As a citrus farmer in Ventura County, California, Dominick now has the juice to own a dream truck: a luxury prerunner. He wanted one multipurpose vehicle that could function as a family daily driver and also chase his desert-racer friends on weekends. A Chevy guy genetically, Dominick approached former LeDuc and Swift Racing fabricator/crew member Sean Roper of Roper Design in Ventura, California, to collaborate on a luxury, long-travel SUV. Sean is a second-generation truck builder; his uncle Darrel “DJ” Jaques worked for the famous Rough Riders off-road racing team in the 1980s and 1990s as well as…

A GROUP OF FOUR-WHEELERS KNOWN COLLECTIVELY AS THE FLORIDA ADVENTURE RIGS HAS BEEN PARtaking in a week of adventure for the past seven years. The 2019 trip was planned by member Mark Wells, and Arkansas was the target location. There’s a process to how the Florida Adventure Rigs group plans and executes its events. Within a six-month advance window the group agrees on dates and finds out the destination state. Then a month or two before the trip they’re informed of the starting location. From there, the itinerary is typically known only to the trip leader. Members simply show up, and they are prepared to be surprised. Requirements are pretty simple. Bring a reliable, working 4WD rig, camping supplies for the week, and a fun attitude for exploring the unexpected.…

October 31-November 2 What: Death Valley Exploration Trip Where: Death Valley, California Hosted by: Jeep Jamboree USA Info: jeepjamboreeusa.com October 31-November 2 What: 25th Pine Barrens Jeep Jamboree Where: Hammonton, New Jersey Hosted by: Jeep Jamboree USA Info: jeepjamboreeusa.com November 2 What: Getting Started Driving Off-Road Where: Borrego Springs, California Hosted by: Badlands Off-Road Adventures Info: 4x4training.com November 2 What: Sasquatch Hunt Where: Attica, Indiana Hosted by: Badlands Off Road Park Info: badlandsoffroad.com November 5-8 What: SEMA Show Where: Las Vegas, Nevada Hosted by: Specialty Equipment Market Association Info: semashow.com November 7-10 What: Trucks Gone Wild at Redneck Mud Park Where: Punta Gorda, Florida Hosted by: Trucks Gone Wild Info: trucksgonewild.com November 8-11 What: Panamint Valley Days Where: Trona, California Hosted by: California Four Wheel Drive Association Info: cal4wheel.com November…

PICKUP AND PROPOSAL I bought a ’73 Jeep J-4600 Townside Custom Cab with 53,000 original miles 1.5 months ago. She has a 360 4V, TH400, Quadra-Trac with the optional gear reduction unit, and the factory 4:10 gears. The stock drum brakes remind me of the Flintstones when trying to stop. Front disc brakes were not offered until ’74. It also has the closed knuckle Dana 44 up front. It turns like a cruise ship. It reminds me of the ’60s song “Give Me Forty Acres (To Turn This Rig Around).” It also has a Dana 60-2 in the rear. The truck comes with factory A/C and cruise control and the first owner added two reserve tanks. The current owner added an additional single leaf spring all around to better haul…

IT WASN’T JUST ABOUT THE OBSTACLES OR THE DISTANCE TRAVELED, OVERLAND ADVENture was also about the memories formed along the way. We know many 4x4 enthusiasts enjoy camping while wheeling, and some of us choose to extend those trips over multiple days, covering great distances and relying only on what has been packed into, on top of, or behind our rigs. Whether you call it a sport, your hobby, or a way of life, overlanding can be described as self-reliant and vehicle-based off-road travel where the journey is the purpose—and from that description the new-for-2019 Four Wheeler Overland Adventure was born. From the stacks of applications submitted through fourwheeler.com, we selected 20 overland vehicles of various sizes, makes, and models; all were equipped with true four-wheel drive and unique sleeping…

THANKS TO ITS COMPACTED GRAPHITE IRON BLOCK, REVERSE-FLOW ALUMINUM CYLINDER heads, variable-geometry turbocharger, and 30,000-psi common-rail fuel injection system, Ford’s 6.7L Power Stroke is an impressive engine. It’s been available with at least 400 hp and 800 lb-ft of torque right off the showroom floor since 2011, and current ’19 models come with an incredible 450 hp and 935 lb-ft of torque. For 2020, Ford’s next-generation V-8 diesel is rumored to pack 1,000 lb-ft or more from the factory. However, just as it has since its inception, the 6.7L Power Stroke harbors an Achilles’ heel that can cost you as much as $10,000 in repairs. The Bosch CP4.2 high-pressure fuel pump at the heart of the common-rail system has a design flaw—and it’s a shortcoming that can cause the pump…

THE EARLY AND MID-1960S BROUGHT SOME OF the most iconic four-wheel-drive sport utilities known to history. Not that we knew they were icons at the time. Nor did we know the name “sport utility” just yet, but the market was definitely broadening past bare-bones utility rigs. As people had more disposable income for outdoor recreation or a second car, there was a place for a recreational vehicle that was second-car friendly. This became the vital part of the successful sport utility equation. The market for passenger-carrying 4x4s in the ’50s and ’60s was small and had long been served mainly by a relatively small company: Jeep. Jeeps were joined by a few imports from Land Rover, Toyota, and Nissan, but the Big Three in the American auto industry had largely…

NOT EVERY 4X4 REQUIRES A LEVEL RIDE HEIGHT to perform its best, but for our lifted ’04 Tacoma daily driver that morphs into a trail rig on weekends, we wanted the rear a bit higher than it had been to better handle load-carrying duties. A while back we swapped in a three-link front suspension using a solid axlehousing and dual-rate coilovers to replace the IFS setup. We also replaced the rear suspension with 3-inch springs and a 1.5-inch-longer shackle setup, but the rear still fell short matching the front height. The front SAS (solid-axle swap) ended up about 6 inches higher than stock, so the rear, at 4 to 4.5 inches of lift, was substantially lower after the leaf springs settled a bit with hard use. Although a bit saggy…

Hennessey Performance Maximus 1000 Jeep Gladiator Well, that didn’t take long. Hennessey Performance has already Hennessey Performance’d a ’20 Jeep Gladiator and dubbed it Maximus 1000. Your hint on the name comes from the fact that it’s got a 6.2L Hellcat supercharged V-8, so: 1,000 hp and 933 lb-ft of torque. The Jeep also has an HPE1000 engine upgrade with the Hellcat motor, Maximus bumpers, 20-inch Hennessey wheels, BFGoodrich tires, 6-inch suspension lift, stainless steel exhaust, LED lights, and more. Only 24 are being made. Pricing? Happy you asked: $200,000. Learn more here: bit.ly/2wvHV3I. THAT’S INTERESTING Land Rover and Jaguar are consciously coupling on electric drive units for future electrification projects. A class-action lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. against Fiat Chrysler regarding the ’15-’18 Jeep Wrangler’s alleged “death…

OVERLANDING A LEXUS? Before you scoff or smirk, hear Scott Lewis out. He’s the owner of this Desert Sage Metallic ’08 Lexus GX 470, and he’s got a pretty convincing argument for why you should consider one for yourself (and it’s an argument that’ll probably now drive up the price of used ones). We met Scott and his wife, Krista, on the 2019 Four Wheeler Overland Adventure, which meant he would be bringing a rig built for getting to remote locations, driving on various terrain, and being in an unknown place called home for extended periods of time. But it wouldn’t be his daily driver, a ’14 Ford Raptor. That one is very low mileage and has held its value, so he wasn’t about to start tweaking it. Rather, it’d…

Of course, considerable relief comes with the addition of the S&S Diesel Motorsport CP4.2 Bypass Kit, but proper maintenance goes a long way, too. This is especially true on all modern-day common-rail diesel engines. Regular fuel filter changes (every other oil change is good practice) and fully priming the fuel system prior to starting the engine after those filter changes is the best way to guard against air infiltrating the high-pressure system. Note that all 6.7L Fords are equipped with a frame-mounted primary filter as well as a secondary filter located up on the engine. As for ensuring that only quality, clean fuel makes it into your tank, fill up at high-traffic filling stations that are regularly resupplied with fresh diesel.…

IF YOU’RE LIKE US, YOU PROBABLY CRINGE AT THE THOUGHT OF BUYING ADditional auto insurance. It’s this necessary evil that sucks out your hard-earned money year after year, and rarely (if you’re lucky) will you reap the benefits. In the off-road world, the best insurance you can buy is a self-recovery winch. For many organized wheeling events, it’s a mandatory requirement. Unlike auto insurance, however, you can just about guarantee that your winch will get used. For our ’01 Chevy S-10 project, it was an item that we knew we needed, but we weren’t in love with the small assortment of available winch bumpers offered for our generation’s S-10. This was primarily due to the fact that we wanted as little bumper as possible. What was important to us was…

It began with violence and destruction, but instead of looking at the wrecked CJ-5 as a total loss, Eddie Mindas saw before him the beginnings of a new project. Back in February of 1990, we visited the auto mechanic from Forest City, Pennsylvania, who told us how he was able to salvage the frame and enough of the Jeep’s body to build something that, upon a cursory glance, resembled a ’57 Chevy Bel Air. Eddie started at the frame, stripping it down and painting it before turning attention toward the axles. He chose to position the CJ’s front Dana 30 and rear Dana 44 below the AMC stock leaf springs, spring-over-axle style, while also adding 2-inch-lift blocks in the rear. The CJ’s 304ci V-8 wasn’t damaged in the wreck, so…