Innehållsförteckning för December 2021 från Four Wheeler

Is It True? • As more EVs hit America’s roadways, could we see a tax based on drivers’ annual mileage? • Will we see GM bring a Bronco fighter named “Grand Blazer” to market? Overland Roadster ■ The Morgan Motor Company is a longtime purveyor of quaint roadsters seemingly unaffected by the passage of time. Morgan got together with Rally Raid UK, a specialist with a huge amount of Dakar Rally experience, to hone this Plus Four CX-T roadster into off-roading shape. Doing this entailed using modified wishbones from Morgan’s Plus Six, as well as EXE-TC coilovers, complemented by modified wheelwells and an increased track width. With the under-armor fitted and a side-exit exhaust system tucked tighter to the body than the stock unit, ground clearance measures in at around…

Historically speaking, if there’s one thing Jeep’s Wrangler has been lacking over the years it has been a diverse selection of drivetrain options. For the YJ and TJ years you got either a gasoline I-4 or I-6, then the JK came along and narrowed the selection to a single gasoline V-6. The JL Wrangler launched with just the choice of a gasoline V-6, as well. However, in the years since its debut, Jeep has added a stunning amount of engine choices to the buildsheet. Buyers of the ’21 Jeep Wrangler now have six different engine options to put under the hood. These are the 3.6L V-6, the 3.6L V-6 with eTorque, the turbocharged 2.0L I-4, the 3.0L EcoDiesel V-6, the 6.4L Hemi V-8, and the plug-in hybrid electric Wrangler 4xe…

OK, let’s start this off by listing all the cons to installing a Gear Vendors under/overdrive in your vehicle. For starters, it adds 12.25 inches to the rear of your drivetrain. Done. Oh, unless you’re talking about a long-wheelbase vehicle that can benefit from having the rear driveshaft shortened by about a foot. Then you can add that to the advantages. As for the pros, get comfortable because the list ain’t short. The Gear Vendors under/overdrive is an extremely heavy-duty auxiliary transmission that’s easy to install, gives you an 0.78:1 underdrive or overdrive, can improve your fuel mileage up to 20 percent, extends engine life by allowing your engine to turn more slowly at a given road speed, makes towing up grades easier, can handle up to 1,200 horsepower, is…

One of the unique things about the off-road world of custom-built 4x4s is this: When you come across a cool build and pop the hood, more often than not you’ll find the engine that’s powering it isn’t the same one that vehicle left the factory with. We’ve seen diesels in Ford Broncos, Chevy engines in Range Rovers, Range Rover engines in Jeeps, Oldsmobile engines in Chevys, Cadillac engines in GMCs, and any host of other non-original powerplants. You can look for some sort of rhyme or reason: Perhaps one engine is better than the other off-road, or perhaps one has inherently more low-end torque than the other, more durability, or more power. But all that aside, after decades of close study we chalk it up to nothing more than the…

I’m getting ready to put 1-tons (’05-up Dana 60 and Sterling 10.5) and 40s on my ’78 F-150 regular cab shortbed (it is very much inspired by Harry Wagner’s Raymond F-150 featured in 4-Wheel & Off-Road magazine). My approach for this build has been to try and do things right the first time around, which is very expensive. Specifically, what I am trying to figure out is: Do I run Detroit Lockers front and rear or break the bank and go with an ARB Air Locker/Eaton ELocker setup from the start? While I have a second car for daily driving, I want the truck to be something comfortable enough to drive to and from the trail and take long trips in (that’s why I installed air conditioning, will be upgrading…

DISTRIBUTION OF POWER Bring the comforts of home on your next weekend getaway or extended off-grid adventure with REDARC’s new Manager30R with RedVision Display Screen and mobile app. The REDARC Manager30 combines a multi-stage 30-amp DC to DC charger, a multi-stage 30-amp AC to DC charger, solar regulator, dual battery isolator, load disconnect controller, and remote battery monitor all into a small and simple system. The Manager30R is a state-of-the-art battery management system designed to maintain and charge auxiliary batteries using the DC output from your starting battery/alternator, 110V AC shore power, or your solar panel array. The Manager30R is compatible with all vehicle alternator systems and battery types, including lithium batteries. The Manager30R features a color LCD screen that displays live system data and transmits live to the company’s…

When our friend Lawson came to us with his ’96 Toyota Land Cruiser FZJ80, we were excited for two reasons. First, the 80 Series is remarkably competent right out of the box and makes for a terrific off-road build platform. Second, his rig was virtually unmodified and ready for some trail-oriented attention. Lawson’s goal was to make a handful of small modifications to the Land Cruiser that improved its utility without going heavy on the “bling.” So, we hatched a plan. Exploring off-road with the Cruiser meant it could benefit from armor in the front and rear. Bonus points if that armor has recovery points and provisions for carrying water, fuel, and for mounting a heavy-duty winch. Since those additions mean more weight, the FZJ80 would need suspension upgrades designed…

Not everyone comes to the table with the inherent knowledge of what does and doesn’t make a good tire. Often when shopping for new tires for your truck or SUV, price is the one and only determining factor. But we’re here to tell you that price should be far from the first consideration when you’re looking for new tires. Setting aside the fact that cheaper tires frequently wear out tens of thousands of miles faster than quality tires, meaning in the long run you’ll be buying two or three times as many sets of tires over the life of your vehicle, there’s a safety factory to consider. In many cases, cheaper tires are just way worse. We’ve driven bargain-price tires that made our vehicle super squirmy just driving down the…

RIDICULOUS ROVERS: A LOOK BACK Rovers caught our attention as we took a look back through the March 1985 issue of Four Wheeler. The first was an extravagant piece owned by King Khalid of Saudi Arabia. Known for his impressive stable of luxury cars filled with many a Rolls Royce, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, and Mercedes-Benz, the king commissioned a 6x6 hunting support vehicle of sorts. Panther Car Company, of England, started with a stock four-wheel-drive Range Rover and stripped it down to the chassis. The 6x6 hunting rig would be wider and longer than the original Rover, so Panther added 10 inches in the center of the frame and 35 more in the rear, for a total growth of almost 4 feet. The extended wheelbase made space for the third…

6.9 DIESEL DRIVER I liked reading your column about your appreciation for the old and simple in the truck world (Firing Order, Nov. ’20). Here’s my ’86 F-250 4x4 Lariat with a 6.9L diesel and four-speed manual transmission. I don’t do long trips with it, but I did when I bought it in McMinnville, Oregon. I got in and drove it home to Ohio without a glitch. Got 17 mpg. It gets 15 mpg running around home. The hood and top of the cab have newer paint, the rest is original paint. Keep it simple I say! NAME WITHHELD VIA EMAIL SIBERIAN WHEELIN’ First off, thank you for your fantastic magazine. I’ve been religiously reading it for the last 25-plus years. I had a question/suggestion regarding a future article. Recently,…

SPONSORED BY When we last checked in with the participants of the 2021 Overland Adventure, they had settled down outside Escalante, Utah. Brooding skies greeted yawning faces as campers opened trailer doors and unzipped tents, seeking out the first cuppa morning joe. If you’re just joining us, this is Day 2 of the 2021 Overland Adventure Presented by Jeep. It Began With a Call to Adventure For 2021, Overland Adventure Presented by Jeep set its sights on southern Utah. We selected 20 participants from a pool of applications submitted through our website, fourwheeler.com. To be considered, vehicles were required to have true four-wheel drive and bear unique sleeping accommodations, among other items. Nena Barlow was again chosen to lead this year’s adventure for many reasons, including her lifetime of off-road…

Marcos Cardenas will tell anyone that his Toyota Tacoma has never let him down. “I’m definitely a Toyota guy,” he says, and any future truck of his would be a first-gen Toyota truck or something older with four doors. But, until then, even after 360-something-thousand miles on the clock, his current Tacoma is holding up just fine. For Marcos, off-roading began at the beach when he was young. Growing up in Texas meant routine trips to the sands of South Padre Island in his dad’s Ford F-150, and that was his inspiration to one day drive a lifted 4x4. When Marcos went off to college in 2014, his dad gave him the black ’00 Tacoma you see here, and the process of upgrades and improvements began. “The paintjob was awful…

Brian Kaufman wanted to restore a vintage Toyota Land Cruiser, so he went to many of the major Land Cruiser restoration companies around the country to check out what they had to offer. During the search he happened across an ’81 Chevy K5 Blazer parked on a street corner in Jupiter, Florida. Brian approached the owner and was told that the vehicle was recently purchased from Mecum Auctions, but there was the possibility for Brian to purchase the K5. The Blazer was in great shape given its age, due in part to spending most of its life in the Raleigh/Durham area of North Carolina. A deal was struck and the K5 was brought to its new home in Massachusetts where it would spend summers serving Brian’s needs. The ’81 K5…

“Huh? What? Say that again!” That’s pretty much the gist of a front-to-back seat passenger conversation while driving our long-term ’20 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon on the freeway at 80 mph. Part of that noise is the optional $3,995 Sky One-Touch Power Top, which to us is a bit louder than either the full hard or full soft top. Part of it may be the Falken WildPeak M/T tires our Rubicon model has been wearing for almost 20,000 miles now, admittedly with little-to-no rotation schedule. And part of it is, hey man, it’s just a boxy Jeep so shut up and enjoy it! Really though, our impressions of the Sky One-Touch Power Top aren’t unbiased because prior to this particular vehicle we lived with the full soft top-equipped 2.0L-powered Wrangler Unlimited…