Keith Bailey and Sam Gillis were back again this year in Keith's one-owner CJ-7. Still sporting the TH350 transmission they installed at the Cliffs Extreme Terrain Off-Road Park on last year's Adventure, they were prepared for anything this time. Keith ditched his bias-ply Swampers this year to give BFGoodrich some feedback on its new DOT-legal 39-inch Krawler. He was amazed at how much more stable these new radials made his Jeep feel, especially when making quick steering changes or braking on off-camber obstacles.
Speaking of breaking, the Most Dramatic Carnage of the Week Award goes to Rick Franco of Sam's Offroad. After pounding his Dana 44 front axle for three days, the front knuckle ripped off the Jeep and required our trail leader to pull him out of the way till it could be fixed.
Unfortunately, during the short tow the steering knuckle (which was still attached to the tie rod and drag link) got jammed up between the shackle and the front bumper, ripping the mount out of the frame. Terminal? Nope, not for Rick Franco and Mike Cox of Sam's Offroad. They freed the knuckle, bolted it back in place with the old ball joints, and drove the Jeep back to camp, where Hobart welded the twisted shock mount back into position.
Making a fashionably late entrance this year, Stephen Watson and his dad, James, rolled into our campsite before dawn and were out wheeling with us on zero sleep. They claimed to have been plagued with TH700R4 transmission troubles back at the Off Road Design shop in Colorado - but we ain't buying it. If you're familiar with the Watsons' 1982 Blazer Wally, you'll notice that it was completely restored prior to this year's trip. The rebuild included a fresh 504ci big-block that sits lower in the chassis, and it now drives with full hydraulic steering to take advantage of all 16 inches of front suspension travel.
It wouldn't be an Ultimate Adventure without Tom Boyd. He came to the party with his freshly skinned 1971 Bronco (yes, that is the 2004 F-150 front clip from our March 2004 cover truck) with a mission to make it all the way through this year's trip. After having to sit out the final trail on last year's UA, Tom swore that he wouldn't let that happen again. Tom showed us his conservative side all week ... and spent more time on his side, nose, and cage than we can ever remember. Well done, Tom.
The Ultimate Adventure brings out some of the most radical street-legal 4x4s on the planet. And this year Clampy came too. Feature Editor Fred Williams brought new meaning to the term "last-minute thrash" when he completely revised the suspension and drivetrain of his beloved Toyota to handle the new 39-inch DOT Krawlers for this year's trip. We still don't know how he pulled it off, but this is one underdog truck that everyone dug.
We don't know what it is about Broncos and Ultimate Adventure. As if following in the path of Tom Boyd and John Hughbanks, Jake "Yeah, we have rocks in Kansas" Good and Dave Fuggett gave the photographers an action-packed week with their stretched 1971. Jake's Bronco is one of those rigs that seems really stock - until you start studying it. The rear suspension has been linked and runs coil springs like the front. The steering is full hydraulic, and he's got an almost 100:1 crawl ratio with an automatic transmission.
The Ultimate Tire
The Ultimate Adventure would not be possible without the BFGoodrich Krawler T/A K/X. It's the only tire we trust for wheeling thousands of miles of the nastiest terrain on earth and getting us back home again. Way beyond being just a championship rockcrawling tire, the Krawler cut its teeth on our annual Ultimate Adventure on/off-road trips. From its prototype form that we debuted in Utah and Colorado in 2002, to the production 37-inch Krawler and prototype 39-inch tire we tested in the southeast mud in 2003, we've always been impressed by this extreme traction tire. This year BFGoodrich brought us a new version of the Krawler, a 39x13.50R17 tire with a DOT approval. Designed to handle the heat generated by on-road use, the 39-inch Krawler shares the same prize-winning tread design and construction as the competition-only version. But for 4x4s that will also see street use, these tires benefit from the harder tread compound used by the production 37-inch Krawler. With just over 4,000 miles of use on our Ultimate K10 - mounted on a set of Hutchinson Rock Monster wheels and run at pressures from 9 to 35 psi and temperatures from 50 to 118 degrees - these tires never let us down.
We'll leave you hanging here in Arkansas while we shower up and get ready for our road trip to Clayton and Poteau, Oklahoma. Reception is a bit spotty in camp, but using returning reader Aaron James' high-tech redneck cell tower trick, we should be able to phone in most of this story on time.