Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2022 i Four Wheeler

Are Australians paying $245,000 (or $180,000 USD) for right-hand-drive Ram 1500 TRX pickup trucks? Award You Didn’t Know Existed Bridgestone Corporation was recognized with General Motors’ 30th Annual Supplier of the Year Award. QUOTE: “I WASN’T SCARED THAT MUCH, BUT IT WAS A SHOCKING MOMENT FOR ME”-Riley Leon, of Elgin, Texas, after his Chevy Silverado was rolled onto its side, and then back onto its wheels—while he accidentally drove it through what was reported to be an EF-2 tornado. Chevrolet caught wind of this situation and donated $50,000 to relief efforts for those affected by the twister, and partnered with Bruce Lowrie Chevrolet to furnish the 16-year-old with a new ’22 Silverado to replace the truck damaged in the storm.…

JERED.KORFHAGE@FOURWHEELER.COM LOOKING BACK Quadratec’s new Spare Tire Mount Backup Camera improves the safety and overall visibility of the Jeep Wrangler JK. Available for vehicles equipped with both factory and aftermarket stereos, the backup camera reduces the blind zone of the Wrangler, which is often blocked by oversized spare tires or other bumper-mounted accessories. The easy-to-install kit comes complete with a camera, black-powdercoated stainless-steel mounting bracket, plug-n-play wiring harness, and installation hardware. The Quadratec Spare Tire Mount Backup Camera features a 170-degree viewing angle with integrated fixed parking lines for maximum visibility. These guidelines can be deactivated during installation by bypassing the line wire. With a sealed zinc-alloy housing, the camera is corrosion resistant and features an IP68 intrusion rating. INFO: Quadratec, 800/745-6037, quadratec.com CUT THE GREASE Clean those nasty and…

Carl Limpus bought his first 4x4 in 2005 while he lived in Colorado—a ’00 Dodge Ram. The truck made Colorado winters a bit more fun, and its duties included daily driving and moving building materials about for Carl’s home improvement projects. Rockcrawling wasn’t even in the plans until he moved to California in 2009. With famed trails like the Fordyce and the Rubicon in his backyard, Carl’s goal for the Ram was twofold: First, he wanted to fit 37-inch tires into the wheelwells. This would enable him to volunteer as a driver for a grassroots veteran organization called Wheelers for the Wounded of California. The group pairs combat veterans with experienced 4x4 drivers for an all-expense-paid weekend of off-road fun on the Rubicon and Fordyce trails, offering the vets a…

Gavin Johnson is accustomed to looks of disbelief and amazement when he shows up to the trailhead with his crew cab Ford pickup on 39-inch tires, fully intent on weaving it between the trees and rocks. So, pointing his lifted Ford Econoline 4x4 at trails outside the King of the Hammers race in Johnson Valley, California, was nothing new. He found the van at an estate sale and originally bought it solely for its wheels. However, when it came time to hit the lakebed and his crew cab was still on the lift, he needed something exciting to wheel. Using parts he had on hand, Gavin set up the van with heavy-duty Ford truck running gear, borrowed tires from another of his rigs, and fit the back with a bench…

jered.korfhage@fourwheeler.com The outline for Brian Jacobson’s dream Chevy Blazer was simple: it had to go fast through the desert, hold up to the rocks, and it had to be a classic. So, when he was pointed toward a ’69 K5 wasting away in a nearby backyard, he quickly went to work turning the languishing hulk into a functional 4x4. For Brian, building the Blazer was a deliberate process—he knew exactly what he wanted and wasted no time removing the body, stripping the frame, and gathering the parts he needed. With the help of Rock Bottom Off Road in Riverside, California, Brian acquainted the chassis with its new fire-breathing powertrain, lined up the linked suspension, and reinforced the mostly new Blazer body with custom armor and a full rollcage. At the…

editor@fourwheeler.com We’ve used Steer Smarts Yeti steering parts before. Namely, the Yeti XD Series JK tie rod and drag link system on our 2017 Ultimate Adventure vehicle build, the UA CJ-6D. When we installed these parts back in 2017, we were gob-smacked at the size and beef that you get with these steering parts. Steer Smarts doesn’t skimp on the material, and rumor has it the parent company is a genuine OEM steering component manufacturer. That means well-engineered and strong parts that fit as they should. That system, the one on the UA CJ-6D, has stood the test of time with no issues whatsoever despite years of heavy off-road use. So, when our buddy Eric bought a new and well-built JK for a family wheeler and daily driver, we knew…

jered.korfhage@fourwheeler.com Taking one last look at his Mercedes-Benz sedan, Chris Perron told the salesperson, “I won’t need this once I retire.” After 33 years in the military, Chris found himself at a Jeep dealership ready to trade the rigors of his career (and his sports car) for something geared for the dirt. To the bewilderment of the sales staff, he parted ways with the CLS 550, drove away from the dealership in an ’18 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon Recon Edition, and never looked back. Although this was his first off-road vehicle, Chris knew he’d end up with a Jeep. He just couldn’t beat the vehicle’s ruggedness and the storage beneath the hardtop. Once the Wrangler was his, he methodically modified it to suit his specifications. Chris fine-tuned the Jeep’s suspension…

Previous reports: Feb. ’22, May ’22 Base price: $65,100 Price as tested: $75,610 OPTIONS AS TESTED AT4 Premium Package ($9,145), Cayenne Red Tintcoat paint ($645), Second Row Heated Bucket Seats ($370), Power Sliding Center Console ($350) LONG-TERM NUMBERS Miles to date: 16,241 Miles since last report: 5,001 Average mpg (this report): 13.58 Test best tank (mpg): 18.78 Test worst tank (mpg): 9.28 (towing 8,000 pounds) MAINTENANCE This period: Oil Change, Tire Rotation, Air Filter, Fluid Top Off (15,000 miles), Backup Camera Recall Problem areas: None WHAT’S HOT, WHAT’S NOT Hot: Gorgeous styling continues to attract attention, 5.3L V-8 engine is plenty powerful, all seven seats are comfortable for full grown adults Not: Panoramic sunroof is good for watching the carwash brushes and not much else, fuel economy is still on…

EDITOR@FOURWHEELER.COM RESCUED FC-150 PLOW RIG I enjoyed your article in the last Four Wheeler magazine on snow wheeling (Firing Order, Apr. ’22). My son and I have been old Jeep enthusiasts for many years. Attached are pictures of our ’62 Jeep FC-150 that’s still going strong. We use it at our northern Minnesota hunting camp to haul firewood and clear the many feet of snow that falls here each winter. I found this Jeep sitting in a rural junkyard in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan over 12 years ago. We hauled it home to Minnesota where my son Kyle completely rebuilt the driveline and tuned up the stock four-cylinder overhead-cam engine. We had four new leaf springs custom built with an extra 3 inches of lift along with four new…

• Joining the Tremor and the Raptor is the ’23 Ford F-150 Rattler—and it’s way more than a sticker package. Built on the F-150’s XL trim, which starts just shy of $30,000 for model year 2022, the Rattler distinguishes itself stylistically through F-150 Rattler fender vent badging and rattlesnake-inspired Rattler bedside graphics. It’s available in Oxford White, Avalanche, Iconic Silver, Carbonized Gray, Antimatter Blue, Stone Gray, Agate Black, and Rapid Red TriCoat. The Rattler strikes the dirt with features from the F-series’ widely available FX4 Off-Road Package, including skidplates, an electronic rear locking differential, hill descent control, specially tuned off-road shocks, and all-terrain tires wrapped around painted 18-inch aluminum wheels. Four-wheel drive is standard on the Rattler.…

Joe Polcari’s search for a Land Rover took him (virtually) overseas, and it began in Spain. He wanted a Series he could fit with a V-8 and a manual transmission and really make it his own. After some sage advice from a friend, he locked eyes with the ’81 Series 3 Stage 1 seen here and knew that was the truck he wanted. The following 70 days were some of the longest of Joe’s life as he tracked his new truck across the ocean from Brisbane, Australia, to Baltimore, Maryland. Since then, the Series has been “the best worst car ever,” as Joe put it, explaining how it doesn’t do anything particularly well and how it’s even ended up on a flatbed a few times. To the contrary, the Series…

After spending the better part of six years and many thousands of dollars building a trail rig with solid axles, locking differentials, and a winch, Mike Marrero was ready for a new truck—one that already had all those tools (and plenty more) along with a factory warranty. The story here is what he didn’t need to modify on his ’17 Ram 2500 Power Wagon. With a few small tweaks, the truck was ready to tow a trailer, haul a bed full of camping gear, and get itself into and through some rugged off-road situations. “I WAS READY FOR A FACTORY WARRANTY.”-MIKE MARRERO SPECS VEHICLE: ’17 RAM 2500 POWER WAGON OWNER: MICHAEL MARRERO STOMPING GROUNDS: DEBARY, FLORIDA DRIVETRAIN Engine: 6.4L Hemi V-8 Transmission: 66RFE 6-spd auto Transfer case: BW 44-47 Low…

jered.korfhage@fourwheeler.com Visiting the world’s natural wonders can sometimes mean dealing with seething masses of tourists. To avoid the crowds and still soak in the amazing sights, Kirby Gonzales decided to approach things from a different angle—from the dirt. He replaced paved roads, improved campsites, and his mild-mannered Range Rover Sport with backcountry routes, secluded camping, and a unique exploration vehicle platform. Having an escape from the bustling city and the rigors of a demanding career motivate Kirby to explore the mountains, deserts, and forests of the West as often as he can. Flowing through mountain bike trails, wandering dirt roads, and basking in peaceful sunsets help him unwind and relax as far away from crowds as he can get. As outdoor recreation areas became increasingly popular, Kirby found himself wanting…

editor@fourwheeler.com For the ’22 model year, the Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro received a few smart upgrades, including new forged aluminum upper control arms, new tires, more suspension travel, and new bedside “TRD Pro” stampings. The truck’s price also increased by a modest $1,600, bringing the starting price of an automatic transmission-equipped truck to just under $50,000. This isn’t a bad deal considering all that comes with the Tacoma TRD Pro. But as cool as the TRD Pro is, not everyone wants to spend $50K on a truck. Fortunately, Toyota offers several other Tacoma options for those wishing to get off the beaten path while retaining some coin in their pockets. One of these trucks is the ’22 Tacoma Trail Edition. Based on the mid-grade SR5-trim Tacoma, the Trail Edition package…

JERED.KORFHAGE@FOURWHEELER.COM Four Wheeler’s July 1969 issue took us to a special part of the desert where the Devil vacations when he needs some heat. Just north and east of Yuma, Arizona, sits the expansive facility known at the time as the Yuma Proving Ground. Its location makes it favorable for year-round testing with higher-than-average temperatures and some of the lowest precipitation levels around (in 1968, 1.2 inches of rain fell). The Yuma Proving Ground allowed the Army to subject its vehicles to extreme temperatures, deep water crossings, onslaughts of silt to detect dust intrusion and resistance, rocky ledges and punishing washouts to verify structural integrity, and even drops from supply planes. Among the wheeled and tracked vehicles designed and evaluated at the Yuma Proving Ground, one hulking behemoth caught our…

JERED.KORFHAGE@FOURWHEELER.COM 1 When discussing the durability of the battery in the Hummer EV, GM engineers cited various strength-adding characteristics designed to defend the SUV’s lifeblood from obstacles. Speaking toward the integrity of the battery’s armor, it was said that piercing it would have to be done by dropping the entire Hummer onto a hardened steel spike. • Vietnamese electric automaker VinFast has signed a memorandum of understanding with the government of North Carolina for the establishment of the company’s first North American production facility. VinFast plans to produce the VF 9, a seven-passenger all-electric SUV and the VF 8, a five-passenger, all-electric midsize SUV. 2 Bilstein has teamed up with motocross rider and off-road racing driver Brian Deegan to represent the company and advance the development and promotion of a…

AMERICAN EXPEDITION VEHICLES JT370 AND JL370 • American Expedition Vehicles (AEV) has released a pair of attention-grabbing adventure vehicles. The ’22 JT370 Gladiator takes the familiar Sarge Green Jeep pickup and adds AEV’s 2-inch spacer lift and 2.5-inch DualSport suspension system. BFGoodrich mud-terrains (those are 37 inches) handle relations with the ground, AEV’s 7000 Series LED off-road lights are on hand for low-light situations, and there’s a Warn EVO 10-S winch up front, just in case. AEV’s ’22 JL370 Wrangler Rubicon starts with a Silver Zenith paintjob and a complementing black leather interior. The steel front bumper boasts AEV’s LED lighting package and Warn winch while the tubular rear bumper includes extra protection for the corners and stout recovery points. AEV’s DualSport RT suspension system is said to improve the…

Wyatt McAllister describes his YJ Wrangler as “just everyone else’s parts,” beginning with the 6.2L Detroit diesel. He’s on his second one of them and with the addition of a marine injection pump and injectors, heads from the 6.5L Detroit diesel, and the turbo out of a Cummins (and a handful of other modifications). The Wrangler clatters its way up and over rocks, through deep snow, and leaves onlookers bewildered as it slices across sand dunes. Wyatt’s NP435 came from a ’78 Bronco, and he used the Top Loader shifter from a 2-ton Ford for a shorter throw. Wyatt found the steering box from a Nissan Xterra to be the hard-core solution (kudos to its beefy sector shaft) to aiming his tires, and he mounted it as far forward as…

When Nick Miller was 15 and deciding which vehicle he’d learn to drive, he picked the ’71 Chevy Suburban that had been sitting for 18 years. Nick’s grandfather bought it new, his dad learned to drive on it, and now it belonged to Nick. He got the engine running, the brakes stopping, and eventually settled on an 8.1L big-block to motivate the sizeable machine. “Now that it went fast, I needed it to ride better,” Nick said, and with some help from the folks at ADS Racing, he fit the truck with a suspension to keep it going no matter what the terrain. Nick wheels the Suburban in the sand and snow as much as he can, doesn’t shy away from greasy mud-and-boulder tracks, and he enjoys using the trails…

editor@fourwheeler.com We’d been looking for a decent intermediate Jeep CJ-5 (built between 1972 and 1975) for a while because our good friend Mike Tarvin has a ’75 CJ-5 we’ve always admired. His Jeep has the original AMC 304ci V-8 (which has a few tweaks), locking differentials, 3.15:1 transfer case gears (the factory gears in a Dana 20 are the not so desirable 2.03:1), and an NP435 transmission from a Ford truck swapped in for its granny gear. We wanted one for our own and so we could talk Mike into some more crazy adventures. FINDING THE PIECES Over the past year or so we’d come across a few intermediate and later Jeep CJ-5s, but nothing that was really what we wanted. We finally found a very nice, rust-free red ’73…

editor@fourwheeler.com When the all-new battery electric ’22 GMC Hummer EV was unveiled in October 2020 the off-road world let out a collective gasp. The revival of the Hummer brand, once respected by off-road enthusiasts everywhere, as an all-electric sub brand of GMC wasn’t exactly what everyone was hoping for. Then the specifications were released … 1,000 hp, 1,200 lb-ft of torque, front and rear locking differentials, 35-inch tires with room for 37s, rear steering, and more than 320 miles of range. On paper, the Hummer EV seemed to be the real deal. However, we all wanted to know if the truck could live up to its Hummer namesake in the real world. With impressive speed, GMC brought the Hummer EV from concept to reality in less than three years, with…

editor@fourwheeler.com To some, modern trucks are boring. They lack style and character. Details washed away in aerodynamic wind tunnels and robust features removed in crash testing. These are some of the reasons why we wanted an older truck for our next project 4x4. Finding the right project vehicle is never easy. You need to know what you want for your next build. We knew what we wanted for our California-based project 4x4: Smog exempt, 1975 or older (opens up so many options for engine upgrades), coil spring front suspension (leaf springs are simple and strong but ride terrible in most cases, coil springs have no friction and promote a better ride quality), cab on chassis (a solid steel frame is the only way to go when you need to carry…

EDITOR@FOURWHEELER.COM It’s always a good thing when we get to this point in the life cycle of a long-term test vehicle and have nothing of any grave importance to report. Such is the case with our 2021 Four Wheeler SUV of the Year award-winning ’21 GMC Yukon AT4. After nine months on the road and more than 16,000 miles, the Yukon is still rock solid and we are just as enamored with the vehicle today as we were on the day it was dropped off. During the first half of the year we spent a fair bit of time with a trailer in tow. With 355 hp and 383 lb-ft of torque on tap from the 5.3L V-8 engine, and a respectable tow rating of 8,200 pounds, the Yukon AT4…