Innehållsförteckning för September 2019 från Four Wheeler

MORE TURBO POWER, LESS HEAT The Lava Wastegate Shield thermal barrier from Heatshield Products is designed to improve turbo performance and offer more consistent operation of the wastegate valve. An increase in power, better exhaust efficiency, and a reduction in underhood heat are also on tap. The shield does this by protecting the turbocharger wastegate and its internal components from excessive heat exposure, and it does so in a special way—a proprietary volcanic rock–based material that has a heat rating of 1,200 degrees F, while the inner layer is the proprietary Inferno Mat, so overall you’re looking at the ability to withstand constant temps of 1,800 degrees F and intermittent temps of 2,200 degrees F. You probably won’t even have to remove the turbo to install this. INFO: Heatshield Products,…

AFTER DUSTY, HEART-POUNDING DAYS ON THE 4x4 trails of Moab, Utah, thousands of off-road enthusiasts came to the Old Spanish Trail Arena to peruse the rows of exciting wares and goodies offered by vendors and exhibitors. The indoor arena was packed with Safari-goers, and the fun didn’t stop there. Displays spilled out into the outdoor lot, where folks shopped for new parts, tried on event T-shirts, and took pictures next to their favorite trail rigs. We walked every aisle of the show looking for the newest and coolest products, all with the picturesque La Sal Mountains over our shoulders in the background. Read on for 21 of the off-road goods we found. LONG-ARM JL BDS Suspension brought a JL Wrangler with 40-inch tires loaded with the company’s goodies, including its…

STEADY, DRIVING RAIN WAS EXPECTED FOR THE DURATION OF THE WEEKEND, AND IT WOULD TURN into heavy snow in the higher elevations. Some may cancel plans because of this forecast, but ours were only just beginning. Sitting in our loading bay was not just any ’19 Chevrolet Colorado ZR2; it was the collaboration between the Bow Tie and American Expedition Vehicles—the Colorado ZR2 Bison. We had previously familiarized ourselves with the Colorado ZR2 during the 2018 Four Wheeler Pickup Truck of the Year test (it took home the win), but with the ’19 Bison moniker, the truck received upgrades we were itching to try out. In addition to the front and rear electric lockers, Multimatic Dynamic Suspensions Spool Valve (DSSV) shocks, a 2-inch-taller ride height, and 3.5-inch-wider track width, the…

YOU HAVE PROBABLY SEEN (OR SEEN PICTURES of) Jeeps that were professionally converted into campers or motorhomes. We’d be willing to bet that you haven’t seen any quite as bizarre as this one. Let’s travel back in time to around 1963-1964 and see what a West Coast RV manufacturer might have cooked up as an experiment. The exact timeframe and details of this are lost to time, and the principals have long since passed on, but enough clues were left to piece together a rough picture. The Streamline Trailer Company of El Monte, California, had been in business since 1957. By the early ’60s, they had a line of streamlined trailers built similarly to aircraft. This was no surprise since the Los Angeles area had been a center of aircraft…

THERE IS NO MISTAKING THE ZR2 for just a merely mortal, run-of-the-mill Chevy Colorado, and other Colorado owners know it. As it turns out, so do Tacoma owners. From drive-thrus to fuel stops and freeways to parking lots, we’ve gotten lots of thumbs-ups and questions about our badass midsize wheeler. It might be the wide stance, the broad fenders, or the taller ride height, but whatever it is, the ZR2 gets noticed. Clearly, Chevy has done something right to get the word out, because the wheeling world at large is on the trail of the ZR2. And we’ve enjoyed putting the ZR2 on the trail. One thing that stands out on the ZR2 is just how different the suspension feels when bombing down a dirt road—what can sometimes be a…

You’ve heard of dune buggies for blasting dunes and rock buggies for wheeling on rocks, but what is purpose-built for the swamps of Naples, Florida? Nope, not airboats (good guess though)—it’s swamp buggies. The craze was pioneered by Ed Frank, who began wrenching at age 12 and owned his own garage and machine shop by 19. By 1947, he had built a Model T–inspired, fat-tired mud monster. These machines began as tools for traversing the saturated lands of Florida, but as folks began engineering faster and more reliable buggies, it was only natural that one buggy driver challenged another to a race. Whether or not they knew it at the time, the oval-eight course named “Mile-O-Mud” would be the birthplace of the sport and home to the first-ever swamp buggy…

SCOUT DECALS A while back I followed your articles on Project Fiery Redhead but had to write about your editorial on your old ’77 Scout. I never understood why nobody ever went back with the feather decals. I always thought they were one of the best decals IH offered. I’ve seen them on tan, white, terra cotta, and pale-yellow Scouts. I haven’t been a subscriber to Four Wheeler for a while, mainly because I miss my old friend Willie’s articles. I helped him a lot with Project Tonto. I had put a hardtop on it after three years because the soft top had gotten ratty and I was tired of being cold in the winter. Thanks for the memories. EASON LILLEY VIA EMAIL CARBURETOR CHRONICLES My love/hate relationship with carburetors…

IF YOU’RE A NUMBERS PERSON, it’s 6 for 53. As in, Jeep and Mopar built 6 new concept Jeeps for the 53rd annual Moab Easter Jeep Safari. The duo has had a not-bad track record when it comes to developing new production models from their Moab-revealed concepts in the past—or at least lifting heavily from them to enhance existing models and create new parts and accessories. Knowing that, these photos are worth looking at closely for subtle design and engineering choices. We also had a chance to talk to the heavy hitters behind the concepts to learn about the challenges and why they built them to begin with. Read between the lines for clues about what might be in the Jeep pipeline. It’s not surprising that inspiration came in a…

FROM THE START, WE KNEW THAT ONE OF THE challenges of building an ’01 Chevy S-10 Crew Cab was that the aftermarket was pretty slim. This is especially true when it comes to trail-oriented items such as winch bumpers and rock sliders. Despite this fact, we had a hunch that we could take advantage of one of the most heavily supported pickups in the aftermarket—the Toyota Tacoma. In fact, the first-generation Tacoma shares a few similar dimensions with the S-10, making it a good resource all around. For those of you late to our S-10 party, don’t worry—we’ll catch you up. Starting with an LS model Crew Cab S-10 4x4, we’ve replaced the original IFS and stock rearend setup with a custom multilink suspension using parts from Rock Krawler Suspension…

THE SUN HAS LONG SINCE GONE BELOW THE horizon, and the quick shortcut you thought would expedite arrival to camp has quickly become a treacherous procession through a rutted two-track. Rain is falling, and your rig’s incandescent headlights are struggling to reveal even the closest obstacles. While we can’t change whether you think this is a recipe for a memorable night or a disaster, we can say that advances in lighting technology can at least make the situation a bit (or a lot) brighter. We have spent enough time traveling at night to know the value of exceptional lighting—both on rugged trails and on the road to the trailhead. When preparing our ’17 Wrangler for the Four Wheeler 2019 Overland Adventure, we needed lights for three scenarios: street-legal lights for…

LONG BEFORE OVERLANDING BECAME A TREND, going off-road and sleeping in a tent was simply called camping. When we were young, we often slept in the back of our 4x4s to save money on our off-road adventures. Most of the time, we had little more than a sleeping bag and a handful of clothes rolled up into a ball for a makeshift pillow. As our adventures have progressed (and we’ve gotten older), we’ve looked for ways to better our off-road camping digs without overcomplicating our setup. While camping can vary wildly from one person to the next, the goal is all the same—have a sound night of sleep in the great outdoors. As we’ve continued to build our ’18 Chevy Colorado ZR2, we’ve made upgrades that have increased the truck’s…

ULTIMATE IFS SUBURBAN Q I recently remember reading in Four Wheeler, or your sister magazine (don’t hold me to it, I don’t trust my memory 100 percent), that the editor was looking for ideas for a new project. Well, I have an idea that has been floating around in my head for a long time. I own a ’92 ¾-ton four-wheel-drive Suburban. Although that era had some issues, I really like the look of these trucks and think they have a lot of potential. I think the factory IFS sucks, but I’m also not dead set against it. I’ve had this truck for a long time and will probably be driving it until I die. Call me crazy, but I’d like to keep the IFS and have some changes in…

Jeep Gladiator Launch Edition Were you among the 4,190 people who scored a ’20 Jeep Gladiator Launch Edition by preordering a new Glad on April 4 (also known as Jeep 4x4 Day, although we’re not certain that has caught on yet)? The limited-edition pickup will have a special interior look and set of wheels as well as a tailgate badge that reads, “One of 4,190.” Also, don’t try to get one now—the limited run sold out in one of 365 days. April 2019 was an all-around big month for the Gladiator: April 12 was the day it began shipping from the Toledo Assembly Complex (where it’s being built) to dealerships around the U.S. ’19 Ram HD Lone Star, Kentucky Derby Editions Is it just us, or does it seem like…

WE LOOK FORWARD TO THIS WEEK LIKE A child waiting for Christmas morning. Meetings were postponed, our 4x4s were packed up, and we set our sights on the 53rd Moab Easter Jeep Safari. Every year we join thousands of Jeeps as they flock to southern Utah for a week of trail rides, friends, concept vehicles, and some of the most iconic four-wheeling available west of the Mississippi River. The week was spent both behind the wheel and behind the camera lens, working tirelessly to document the happenings around Moab, whether it was uncanny rigs in town or action from the various trails outside the city limits. If you were at the 2019 Moab Easter Jeep Safari, you might see yourself amongst these pages. If you couldn’t make it, don’t fret—read…

WITH A NAME LIKE PIRELLI, YOU MIGHT not expect to find the company’s new tire anywhere but on the tarmac, clocking high-speed laps and apexing every chicane. Interestingly, that was precisely our first experience with the Pirelli Scorpion All Terrain Plus—and we were so intrigued that we wanted to learn more. We met the previous iteration of Pirelli’s all-terrain tire, the Scorpion ATR, more than a decade ago in the Nevada desert, and the tire has since been heavily reimagined. We were told emphasis was put toward building a tire that was visually appealing and capable off-road, while making no sacrifices to handling on the blacktop. Engineers even addressed the tire’s performance in wet grass, identifying an off-road niche they claim to be frequently overlooked. Our initial rendezvous with the…

DO ENTHUSIASTS TODAY EVEN UNDERSTAND just how special the Power Wagon is? In the age of Rubicons, Raptors, ZR2s, TRDs, and Rebels, are people too spoiled to realize just what a game-changer the big Ram is to the off-road world? We were one of the first outlets to drive the original modern-day Power Wagon when it was unveiled in 2004 as a 2005 model, and we immediately fell in love. Available in either a regular cab or Quad Cab, the Power Wagon had a 140-inch wheelbase, a 345hp 5.7L Hemi, a factory lift, 33-inch BFGoodrich All-Terrain tires, a unique factory-installed Warn winch, front and rear electronic lockers with a rear helical limited slip when unlocked, 4.56 gears, an electronic disconnecting sway bar, Bilstein monotube shocks, rock rails, and forged Alcoa…

THE JEEP WRANGLER UNLIMITED Rubicon won the 2019 Four Wheeler SUV of the Year (SUVOTY) title after a week of testing in a variety of terrain and climate situations. It received rave reviews from a team of experienced off-roaders and scored highest overall in the Trail Performance category. As momentous as this achievement is, we thought you deserved a deeper dive (over a longer period of time) into the 4x4 SUV that took top honors. This is the first report in a yearlong test of the SUV of the Year–winning ’19 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon. Power comes from the all-new 2.0L turbocharged four-cylinder engine coupled to a 48V eTorque generator. The 16-valve, direct-injection, turbocharged engine is rated at 270 hp at 5,250 rpm and 295 lb-ft of torque at 3,000…