Innehållsförteckning för December 2020 från Four Wheeler

JERED.KORFHAGE@FOURWHEELER.COM INHOSPITABLE TERRAIN TRANSPORTER Let’s talk numbers about the Torsus Terrastorm—a trick off-road people-mover. Power comes from its 2.0L turbodiesel and is sent to either a six-speed manual or an eight-speed automatic transmission. Ground clearance is 11.4 inches, approach angle is 26 degrees, departure angle is 20 degrees, and—depending on the package—it can splash through up to 32 inches of water. A locking rear differential, Bilstein B6 shock absorbers, and 17-inch wheels with 235/75R17 all-terrain tires are also part of the package. The Terrastorm can be outfitted for use as an ambulance, off-road transporter of goods and people to remote logging or mining operations, or the starting point for your next van-based adventure build. TRX is Almost Here After teasing us since 2016 with a concept truck wearing the TRX…

jered.korfhage@fourwheeler.com After being shaken from a deep sleep by shrill sounds in the night, the owner of this ’05 Wrangler Unlimited hurried from the nearby ground tent to the driver seat. Igniting the Jeep’s incandescent headlamps only just illuminated the low-slung figure of an audibly disgruntled mountain lion prowling the campsite some 100 yards away. The situation left him wanting a bit more from the lights on the LJ Wrangler. In addition to its commuting duties, this Jeep spends enough time winding through twisted mountain roads, crunching over miles of dirt two-track, and braving snowy nights to warrant upgraded illumination. Another benefit to improved lighting is to make pitching tents and cooking easier in the dark. Denali Electronics produces lights for the motorcycle and off-road communities, and the company’s M7…

jered.korfhage@fourwheeler.com After waiting anxiously for years, we finally had the opportunity to swing our spurs into a spankin’-new ’21 Ford Bronco—but we’d be remiss to say the new Bronco is all we experienced. Ford invited us to a celebration just outside Detroit. The occasion was the Bronco’s 55th birthday and what better way to celebrate than to experience our first (passenger) seat time in the company’s long-awaited off-roader, with a few extra surprises. The party was attended by an array of Broncos old and new: famed off-road racer Rod Hall’s ’68 Bronco, Hagerty’s ’72 Bahama Blue Bronco, the long-lost ’69 Boss Bronco, and the Bronco R race prototype were among the honored guests. Before experiencing what the ’21 Bronco family had to offer, we were steeped in Bronco history, in…

jered.korfhage@fourwheeler.com Stephen Garrett’s engine-powered interests did not always involve dirt. Muscle cars and the import tuning scene were once the outlets for his gearhead tendencies until he reached an epiphany. “I’m spending all this time working on cars I can only use to their full potential on the track,” he recalled. “I wanted to have more fun, more frequently.” And he did just that, purchasing an ’07 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited with a three-link suspension, manual transmission, 37-inch tires, and a suite of off-road mods at the ready. “I cut my teeth on that Jeep,” Stephen told us. “Especially learning how to choose lines and proper recovery techniques.” As the years rolled by, Stephen’s trail experiences piled up and Jeep released the JL Wrangler—prompting a few reevaluations. “I loved my JK,”…

editor@fourwheeler.com Lifted JK Wranglers with big tires are everywhere. So much so, they seldom invite a glance from jeepers anymore. This Gobi tan-colored ’17 Wrangler isn’t one of them. It deserves not only a second look; it’s earned a close inspection. Built to be a competent backcountry explorer as well as a daily driver running (only) 35-inch tires, this Jeep is not a “budget build.” The mods address the JK’s weaknesses using some of the best parts available today. Have you been considering some upgrades to your JK? If so, this build will give you some valuable info. Read on to see what parts were used and why this Jeep is second-glance worthy. SOURCES Baja Designs bajadesigns.com BFGoodrich Tires bfgoodrichtires.com Carbon Off Road carbonoffroad.com Classic Motors classicmo.com Eaton eaton.com/us/en-us/catalog/differentials/eaton-elocker-differential.html EVO…

JERED.KORFHAGE@FOURWHEELER.COM In light of the theme for this issue of Four Wheeler, we opened the archives and flashed back to November of 1991 where we were finishing the buildup of our second-gen Ramcharger, taking it from bland to blinged-out. The four-part process included tasks such as improving the suspension, adding wheels and tires, outfitting the truck with a winch, and a whole truckload more. Everything done to the Ramcharger was said to make it “more capable on the street and trail, and any item used should represent good value.” In this final segment, we focused our attention on lights for the Ramcharger. Quandaries like “the stock foglights are too high to be useful,” “floodlights aren’t much good for highway use,” and “we need a special light to locate trailheads and…

JERED.KORFHAGE@FOURWHEELER.COM READY FOR RACK-TION Build. Attach. Set. Explore. That’s the acronym within ARB’s BASE Rack system. The fully welded aluminum design boasts increased strength while keeping overall weight low. The rack can be had with varying side rail designs—full rail, ¼ rail, trade rail, or ¾ rail—depending on your needs. ARB offers a full range of accessories to mount equipment to your BASE Rack and the system can be made 100 percent flat to transport items like plywood. INFO: ARB, 866/293-9078, arbusa.com FALCON’S NEST Roofnest’s Falcon XL rooftop tent is 60 inches wide, 90 inches long, 6.5 inches tall, can sleep up to three adults, and weighs 160 pounds. Its lightweight, all-aluminum construction keeps the tent low to the vehicle’s roof and the integrated rail system allows the tent to…

editor@fourwheeler.com Our ’10 Ford F-150 SuperCrew pickup has undergone a variety of mods, including a ReadyLift SST lift kit, EBC Brakes rotors and pads, Fuel Vector 18-inch wheels, and Fuel Gripper A/T tires. We’ve removed all the exterior chrome for a mix of parts that included a Raptor-style front bumper and grille, a factory Ford Raptor rear bumper, and a set of Addictive Desert Designs flush-mounted side steps. We added a BedRug bed cover to clean up the scratched and dented bed area and we upgraded the worn and dirty interior with a set of Carhartt seat covers from Covercraft. But one thing we hadn’t addressed was the lighting. One of our goals was to de-chrome the truck and the job was almost complete except for the chrome in the…

editor@fourwheeler.com Moab not only has amazing rockcrawling, but hotels, breweries, and activities for the entire family that keep us coming back year after year. Sometimes, though, you may be looking for something a little more remote, away from the crowds and traffic lights. That is what motivated us to visit Hole In The Rock (HITR) Trail, three hours south of Moab near Hall’s Crossing on the shores of Lake Powell. Hole In The Rock Trail should not be confused with Hole In The Rock Road, which is on the other side of the Colorado River. Hole In The Rock Road is graded and accessible by car, while Hole In The Rock Trail is 70 miles of technical rockcrawling. The two have the same origins; Mormon emigrants trail blazed from Escalante…

editor@fourwheeler.com Chances are, if you are into off-road and would consider using a carburetor on your 4x4, you’ve heard of the Motorcraft or Autolite 2100 or 2150 two-barrel and the Quadrajet four-barrel carbs. These carburetors are the go-to carbs for off-road use. Other aftermarket carbs, even those aimed at the off-road market, just don’t work like the 2100 and 2150 do. Still, carburetors are old and need to be rebuilt occasionally. This article is about rebuilding the Motorcraft or Autolite 2100 and 2150 carburetors. These two carbs are very similar and are used for several factory applications, like for many AMC V-8s found in Jeeps and several Ford applications. The carbs are also commonly swapped onto Buick V-6s and on Jeep/AMC straight-sixes. They are relatively easy to rebuild and easier…

EDITOR@FOURWHEELER.COM RAMCHARGER REWIRE Q What’s the easiest wiring harness you’ve used to rewire an old 4x4? My ’75 Dodge Ramcharger needs a new wiring harness bad. I’m tired of fixing something on every trip. @B5RTSHAKER VIA INSTAGRAM @CAPPAWORKS A If the plugs and connectors in your Ramcharger are in bad shape, you may need to try and find a good used harness. If your plugs and connectors are useable, you have some options. If you have more time than money, you should be able to go through the entire harness and find the bad spots. Repair anything that looks chaffed, burnt, or hacked into. A second option is to go with one of the many different universal wiring harnesses available. Companies such as Painless Performance (painlessperformance.com), Kwik Wire (kwikwire.com), and…

jered.korfhage@fourwheeler.com When the sun goes down and the road turns to dirt, you may find yourself wanting more than what the factory lights on your 4x4 can offer. Thankfully for you, and that deer lurking in the roadside bushes, lighting technology has evolved in its cost-effectiveness, package size, efficiency, and the staggering amount of bright you can add to the front (back, or anywhere else) of your vehicle. Follow along and we’ll explore halogen, HID, and LED lights, with a few more bright ideas mixed in. Halogen Halogen lights are ubiquitous and have been used in homes and for brightening streets for most of the last half-century. They were also the automotive gold standard and remain a viable option for your vehicle. Similar in function to a conventional incandescent lightbulb,…

jered.korfhage@fourwheeler.com You can’t buy this rooftop tent setup at the outdoor store, and you surely cannot find this truck at a dealership lot. Instead, Joel Elliott’s overland recipe includes hearty helpings of DIY and old-school cool, and the main ingredient is a ’49 International KB2. But Joel wasn’t always into the overland lifestyle. “I grew up on a farm in South Central Pennsylvania,” he told us. “So, you could say I’ve been into off-road driving all my life.” For Joel, that meant driving tractors before automobiles, starting with the Ford 800 used for chugging around his family’s dairy farm. He looks back on memories of riding around the farm in his dad’s blue Dodge and also sliding behind the wheel of an old Ford F-250 when it was time to…

editor@fourwheeler.com The Ford SVT Raptor was the first production pickup built to tackle the untamed desert of the Southwest United States and Baja, Mexico. Until the Raptor’s debut in 2009, SVT was all about high-performance street machines, so this was new and exciting territory. Ford engineers did an impressive job and the truck proved to be a wild success. Through the years, as owners pushed their first-generation SVT Raptors to go faster and faster, the limit of the factory components was quickly found. Enter ICON Vehicle Dynamics, a company that is intently focused on high-end, high-performance suspension systems. Seeing these shortcomings and the rabid desire of Raptor owners to go farther faster, ICON has brought to market a line of products aimed at doing just that. Best of all, they…

editor@fourwheeler.com If there’s one downside to modern HD diesel trucks that we’ve found, it would have to be the painfully low-capacity fuel tanks. Sure, some manufacturers have offered upgraded tanks over the years; however, most of them have remained smaller than their gasoline counterparts. Current-generation trucks have given up space to accommodate the diesel exhaust fluid tank, and older diesels, such as our ’02 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD, only offered small-volume tanks. Thankfully, the good folks at Titan Fuel Tanks have a solution for nearly every truck’s fueling needs, from extra-large underbed storage to in-bed transfer tanks, and even custom auxiliary tanks. Titan constructs its tanks in the United States, and it offers a limited lifetime warranty. Our Silverado arrived from the factory with only a 26-gallon fuel tank. It was…

JERED.KORFHAGE@FOURWHEELER.COM December 5 What: Off-Road Driving Essentials Where: Ellenville, New York Hosted by: Northeast Off-Road Adventures Info: nyoffroaddriving.com December 5 What: Shriners Ride Where: Shreveport, Louisiana Hosted by: High Lifter Off Road Park Info: hlprovinggrounds.com December 5-6 What: International Off-Road & UTV Expo Where: Scottsdale, Arizona Hosted by: Westworld of Scottsdale Info: offroadutvexpo.com December 6 What: Guided Reindeer Run Where: Pine Grove, Pennsylvania Hosted by: Rausch Creek Off Road Park Info: offroad-consulting.com December 10-13 What: McKenzie’s Rage at the River Where: Laughlin, Nevada Hosted by: SNORE Info: snoreracing.net December 11-12 What: The Revenge 150 Where: El Paso, Texas Hosted by: Southwest Texas Off Road Racing Info: storracing.com December 12 What: Open Trail Ride Where: Garrettsville, Ohio Hosted by: Southington Off Road Info: southingtonoffroad.com December 12 What: Wheelin’ 4 Toys Where:…