Innehållsförteckning för January 2018 från Four Wheeler

“I’D JUMP IN THIS TRUCK TOMORROW AND HEAD TO ALASKA WITHOUT HESITATION.” —JOHN MEARS WHEN YOU THINK OF A WORK TRUCK, generally the image of an older, all-white standard or extended cab truck decked out with tools and equipment specific to a job comes to mind. With “Betsy’s Regret,” an ’02 Ford F-350, you’d be pretty close, though this truck isn’t your typical construction-site work truck. John Mears is the owner of Betsy’s Regret, and he is a rockcrawler of a whole different sort; he is a geologist. Working for private mining companies, John often heads out into the great, unknown wilderness to take rock and soil samples, conduct mapping and surveying, and even road construction. These trips take him to extremely remote areas for weeks at a time. His…

FOR THOSE OF YOU NOT OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE experienced everyday car life in the 1960s, it was the day of the full-service gas station. You pulled up for gas and not only got your tank filled by a crew-cutted kid in a uniform, but also your front and rear glass (often your mirrors and headlights as well) were made spotless. Plus, you got an underhood check, and many times your tire pressures were updated. You didn’t lift a finger except to proffer the $5 needed to fill your tank with “the good stuff.” Seems like there was a “Marty” at every gas station—a trustworthy guy with a red rag in his pocket who seemed to know it all and could fix anything on four wheels. If the pump-jockey saw…

TACOMA LIGHTING QI just installed a CBI front bumper on my ’17 Toyota Tacoma. It has a slot for a 20-inch lightbar. I don’t want to go too crazy with too many lights, but I wanted to fill the space so that it’s not empty. Who builds the best lightbar for this application? Also, is the sPOD a good way to control the lighting without having to add individual rocker switches? MAHER BOULOS VIA EMAIL AAftermarket add-on lighting can be incredibly useful when traveling down rural roads and dark trails at night. There are many different 20-inch LED lightbars available from companies like Baja Designs (bajadesigns.com), KC HiLites (kchilites.com), Rigid (rigidindustries.com), and Vision X (visionxusa.com), among others. Each LED lightbar has different advantages and features. For general off-road use, I’d…

January 6-20 What: Dakar 2018 Where: Peru, Bolivia & Argentina Hosted by: Amaury Sport Organization Info: dakar.com January 12-14 What: Winter Fun Festival Where: Grass Valley, California Hosted by: California Four Wheel Drive Association Info: cal4wheel.com January 27-28 What: 27th Annual Arizona Military Vehicle Show 2018 Where: Tempe, Arizona Hosted by: Arizona Military Vehicle Collectors Club Info: armytrucks.org WHERE TO SEND SUBMISSIONS Address your correspondence to: Calendar, Four Wheeler, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245, or email jkorfhage@enthusiastnetwork.com. All submissions become the property of Four Wheeler, and we reserve the right to edit them for length, accuracy, and clarity. The editorial department can also be reached through the website at fourwheeler.com. Due to the volume of mail, electronic and otherwise, we cannot respond to every reader, but we do read everything.…

ECODIESEL LIFT Rancho now offers a 4-inch Performance Suspension System for the ’13-’17 Ram 1500 EcoDiesel model pickup. The kit also fits gas-powered Ram 1500 trucks. Each kit features Rancho’s fully boxed, welded subframe along with ductile iron extended-length steering knuckles. The system is designed to accommodate up to 35-inch tires with minor trimming. A pair of inner and outer tie-rod ends, brake lines, sway bar extensions, extended-length coil springs (rear), and other required hardware for installation are all included. The kit is backed by Rancho’s limited lifetime warranty. INFO: Rancho, 734/384-7806, gorancho.com TRACK CLAMPING HandETrack introduces its cargo management bolt-down fitting for use on logistic rails. It fits the existing E-track, A-track, or X-track rails found in many common applications like enclosed trailers, truck beds, cargo vans, and semi-trailers.…

GO BIG OR GO HOME. IT’S A SAYING WE’VE all probably uttered at some point, but Chevy applied that philosophy to the new ’17 Colorado ZR2. Chevy took the Colorado body-on-frame midsize pickup truck and integrated a collection of upgrades that transform it into a highly capable off-road machine without sacrificing its on-road refinement. Before we go any further, let’s reflect on the ZR2 Regular Production Option (RPO) moniker. It was used on several GM vehicles in the past in the U.S., including the Chevy S-10 and GMC Sonoma pickups, and the Tracker SUV. ZR2 denoted a special off-road suspension package. Prior to the ’17 Colorado, the ZR2 package was last used on the 2005 model year Blazer and Jimmy. With the resurrection of ZR2 it’s back stronger than ever.…

YOU KNOW SOMETHING IS GOOD WHEN IT LASTS 32 years. Case in point is the Spring 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals. First held more than three decades ago, the event is still going strong. For 2017, it rocked the Allen County Fairgrounds in Lima, Ohio, a place it has called home for the last several years. History lesson: The “Spring Jambo” hasn’t always been in Ohio, as a matter of fact, we attended the event when it was in Pecatonica, Illinois, in 1989. What is a 4-Wheel Jamboree? Well, think of it as a weekend that celebrates four-wheel drive. There’s a Performance Marketplace containing 4x4-related vendors; monster truck, Tough Truck, and mud racing; a huge show-’n’-shine truck show; burnout competition; monster truck rides; a UTV side-by-side shootout; and lots more—all conveniently located…

EVEN IF YOU NEVER TOW ANYTHING, A HITCH receiver is beneficial as a convenient mount for racks, a winch, or tools—and a bonus for resale value. Herein, a wide variety of ideas to make your towing experience better and your hitch more useful. B&W TOW & STOW B&W’s Tow & Stow line is available for 2- and 2.5-inch receivers in multiple ball sizes or with drop-down pintle shown open. This allows 14 inches of vertical adjustment, up to 16,000-pound trailer weight, and protected hardware when not towing INFO: B&W, turnoverball.com, 800/248-6564 B&W COMPANION B&W’s “turnover” approach mounts a fifth-wheel (sliding or fixed) or gooseneck to the same under-bed point, leaving the bed completely clear when neither is needed (have a friend or hoist since fifth-wheels approach 300 pounds). Fixed and…

SINCE THE LAST LONG-TERM report, we’ve used our 2016 Pickup Truck of the Year-winning Ram 1500 Rebel for a variety of off-roading. We’ve pointed it onto a sandy beach and some two-track trails in South Carolina, down muddy farm roads in Illinois, and on some deep-sand forest roads in Florida. This is in addition to a significant amount of on-road driving, including a trip that took us across the states of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. And that nine-state trip was towing a 6x12-foot cargo trailer with a gross weight of 3,600 pounds, a cargo bed full of gear, and an interior packed with stuff. You’ll notice that the average mpg of the Rebel is lower in this report because 12 of the…

Four-wheelers are problem solvers. Sometimes that means choosing the best way to scrape our way through that sketchy line on the trail; other times we find ourselves scratching our skulls, puzzling over how to fix the part that is now dangling from our rig’s underside. Either way, we are professionals in this field, and have been for decades. Back in the ’90s, Four Wheeler featured reader-submitted penny-pinching tricks, which we titled “Cheap Tricks.” We recently found ourselves in the archives closet chuckling at the innovative, borderline impractical, and sometimes outdated ways wheelers of the past have solved problems both in the garage and on the trail. We picked some that might make you laugh, and a couple that might stand the test of time and still be useful. Now we…

Jeep has revealed pricing of the ’18 Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, which is the 6.2L-equipped, supercharged, quick-version of the SUV, worth 707 hp and 645 lb-ft of torque. Also known as a Jeep with a V-8: $85,900. Do you have an ideal vehicle? Well, if you don’t, AutoPacific does—or at least the people who completed the survey do. The 2017 Ideal Vehicle Awards took the thoughts of 54,000 owners of new ’16 and ’17 vehicles and had them evaluate what they would change in 15 categories, which included ride and handling, power, and storage. Ford scored more wins than any other automaker, including for the light- and heavy-duty F-series. The GMC Yukon XL and Jeep Grand Cherokee also won their categories of large SUV and midsize SUV, respectively. By the numbers:…

YOU’VE HEARD ABOUT WINTER TIRES, SPORTingthat snowflake certification to signify they are winter-ready, such as the Toyo Open Country C/T. You’ve heard about lights designed for better eyesight during winter snow. There are windshield scrapers (no, not credit cards), winter-based emergency kits, and seasonal clothing. You know how to prep a vehicle for winter, such as checking fluid levels and hoses, and you know how to put it away for the season. But what about the products that protect the vehicle, improve performance, clear the road, and keep the interior warm, among other necessities, when you’re planning to use it in winter? They’re right here. INTERIOR HEATER FROM ARCTIC FOX Cold product: A warm interior and frost-free windows? Yes, to all the above. Cool tech: This interior heater mounts on…

A fter strapping on our safety gear, the Chevy team gave us an opportunity to sample the ZR2 in both gas and diesel varieties on an approximately two-mile short-course-style track near Gateway, Colorado. Once used by racer Ricky Johnson (but now catering to vacationers willing to pay top dollar for the experience of Baja), this track features nearly 20 turns, multiple jumps and tabletops, and a couple of really long and fun decreasing radius turns. Having hosted countless media hot laps prior to our access, the course was chewed up with formerly hard-packed corners reduced to deep and rutted silt. In other words, it was perfect for our testing, allowing the ZR2 to showcase the wider track, more aggressive tires, and the spool-valve-equipped Multimatic DSSV shocks. We began a brief…

While at the 2017 Spring 4-Wheel Jamboree Nationals we had the chance to visit the University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH) in Lima, get a tour of a portion of the campus, and hang out with the UNOH Off-Road Club. Wait, what? An off-road club? Yep, but more on that in a moment. UNOH is an entrepreneurial, not-for-profit, university founded in 1920. The campus is situated on over 200 acres and facilities include apartment-style dorms that can accommodate up to 1,400 students. There are five colleges within the university: College of Applied Technologies, College of Business, College of Occupational Professions, College of Health Professions, and the Graduate College. UNOH currently has more than 4,500 students enrolled from 40 states and 49 countries. At UNOH there is no out-of-state tuition, the cost…

OUT OF THE BOX, THE TOYOTA TACOMA IS AN impressive adventure vehicle. It has all of the qualities of an overland mule: superior reliability, off-road cred, plus creature comforts. One thing it’s lacking though, is utility. Even with the longer wheelbase model, such as the ’17 Tacoma we are outfitting for overlanding, we’ve run out of room to carry essential gear. With a family of four and a dog in tow, the storage capacity of the Taco shrinks in a matter of a lab-sized dog crate. The solution to our dilemma was BajaRack’s bed and cab rack system. BajaRack is based in San Diego, California, with its sole manufacturing plant located in Ensenada, Mexico. BajaRack’s testbed is the Baja peninsula, home of the Baja 1000, where the company flogs its…

FOR 2017 FORD REDESIGNED THE F-150 Raptor with a new frame, larger Fox internal bypass shocks, a lighter aluminum body, and more power. In fact, in a daring move, Ford replaced the raucous 6.2L V-8 with a massaged 3.5L EcoBoost V-6 and 10-speed automatic transmission. With these changes, it wasn’t much of a surprise when the redesigned Ford F-150 Raptor won our 2017 Four Wheeler Pickup Truck of the Year. Since then, Raptors have proven exceedingly popular, with the 2017 and 2018 allocations sold out at most dealerships. We’ve seen Raptors marked up for more than $100,000 on the lot, and even the Raptor that won our contest had an as-tested price of $65,825. So if you’ve ever thought the price of a Raptor was out of reach and wondered…