6:1 & Four-Speed Atlas Cases Coming Soon
Advance Adapters has just released two new Atlas transfer cases. A 6:1 for those who are seeking the outer limits of low gearing (shown), and the new Atlas 4SP, a four-speed transfer case. Yes, a transfer case for street, dunes, mud, and rock! Each unit still comes with a heavy-duty, 32-spline front output shaft and will be custom-built for individual applications. The price depends on your rig, but expect a drop in price for the two-speed cases, and the four-speed case priced competively to any other aftermarket transfer case. The full story will be coming soon. For more information: Advance Adapters, 800.350.2223, www.advanceadapters.com.
Proform Helps The Troops
This may sound familiar to some of you: A guy trying to keep his old Chevy truck running is in need of an HEI distributor. He contacts an aftermarket company looking for help.
Now here's the rest of the story: The "guy" is First Sergeant James Hamm of I Company, 4-159th Aviation Regiment, the largest aviation maintenance unit in Iraq. The Chevy is used to maintain a flight line of Chinook helicopters, and he's taken up a collection to buy a new distributor since the truck, which they inherited from the Air Force, isn't in the Army's supply system. (Sgt. Hamm says his guys prefer the flatbed to the standard-issue Humvees since it has more room to carry tools and test equipment.)
Proform stepped up and sent the soldiers the distributor they were looking for, along with a company banner. In return Proform got some photos of the guys and a Certificate of Appreciation. "Your company is a shining example of why we are here liberating this country and establishing a democracy in a land that has never known what it means to be free," wrote Sgt. Hamm. "Because of people like the employees of Specialty Auto Parts/Proform, I am proud to be an American, a Soldier, and to be in your service."
More Large Wheeled Objects
Last month we showed you a Hemi powered Big Wheel trike that was created for a contest sponsored by Chrysler. This month gets weirder: How about a huge, mud-bogging shopping cart? Credit goes to the students of the West Point Career & Technology Center in West Point, Mississippi. The Metal Trades class designed and built the cart, which was put on a drivetrain assembled by the Industrial Technology class.
We thought this photo, with the mud-flinging Chevy nearby, would give you an idea of how big this contraption is. Just visible between the 44-inch Ground Hawgs is a Chevy 4.3 V-6, which sends power through an NP231 transfer case to a Dana 44 in front and a 60 in back. According to Rob Smith, the technology applications instructor who sent us the pictures, "It feels a little tippy from the driver seat 10 feet in the air." But judging by the mud-slinging video that Smith sent us of the cart in action, he got the hang of it pretty quickly.
Faux Wheeling
Here's the perfect gift for your favorite Four Wheeler reader: Spray on Mud. Certain to give any poseur 'wheeler the look of real off-road action, each bottle of Spray on Mud contains actual mucky water gathered from the England/Wales border, "plus some secret ingredients to improve stickability so that it dries before it runs off the paintwork," says Colin Dowse, who sells the stuff in the U.K. Simply mist it on, and any faux wheeler can spin his own ripping yarns of ultimate adventure.
Yes, this is an actual product that you can buy by visiting the company's Web site: www.sprayonmud.com. Apparently it's quite controversial in England. Law enforcement agencies are worried that people will use the stuff to obscure their license plates and then flaunt the country's speed limits, as police cameras will not be able to record their plate numbers.
The $2 Jeep
No, this isn't some mythical flatfender in a crate covered in cosmoline. The California Association of 4 Wheel Drive Club's annual Jeep Raffle is coming up, and you could be the lucky winner of this built TJ, all for the cost of a $2 raffle ticket. Cal 4Wheel's dream Jeep rolls on a Rubicon Express lift and 35-inch BFGoodrich tires and sports ARB lockers, a Warn winch, Hanson bumpers, Kilby onboard air, Tuffy boxes, Currie Anti-Rock, Superior Axles, and an Atlas II transfer case. The raffle takes place in February, and you needn't be present to win. For all the scoop, call 800.4x4.FUNN (494.3866) or log on to www.cal4wheel.com.
17-Inch 'Stones
Firestone has announced the availability of three new sizes in its Destination M/T tire line, including a fitment that will accommodate 17-inch wheels. The new sizes are LT265/75R16, LT305/70R16, and LT265/70R17, all in load range E. The additions expand the tire line to a total of 14 sizes, for 15-,16-, and 17-inch wheel diameters and in load ranges C, D, and E. The tires are available with black sidewalls or raised white letters, and all are pinned for studs for severe winter weather.