Reader: Yea, here someone goes again. Another article, "Stock Trucks Stink" (July '06), is a great piece...what happened to the Scout again???
I can't understand why we have to remind the best four-wheel magazines about the International Scouts. A simple six-letter word (Scouts), with a comma before or after any of the other four-wheel rigs would have been great. Don't get me wrong, I liked the information in the article, and it spelled out everything perfectly, but over and over the Scouts are being forgotten in print. I will continue to support 4-Wheel & Off-Road with the hopes of seeing a little something about the Scouts next to all the other great four-wheel rigs out there.
Mike, via 4wheeloffroad.com
Editor:OK, Check out the August issue about our secret Scout fetish, and the November issue should have even more Scout information. Don't give up on us yet!
Reader: Regarding Ginger Esplin's letter about gage being misspelled ("Idiot Lights," In Box, Aug. '06) as well as the editor's response (and support of her position). It's all too obvious that it's not the GM engineers that are the idiots. Every online dictionary I've looked at as well as my hardbound '77 edition of Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary all list gage as a variant of gauge. Even my Microsoft spell check accepts gage. Considering the limited amount of real estate available in a typical instrument cluster, is it any wonder GM opted to use the shortest possible variant? Doesn't anyone know how to use a dictionary anymore?
Steve Byers, via 4wheeloffroad.com
Reader: You really should have saved that letter for next April's "April Fool" because, as any decent dictionary will show you (and Ginger), gage is a variant of gauge.... So there is no idiocy involved, just a correct, but infrequently encountered variation in spelling. This is no more idiotic than that infrequently encountered fullsize rig on the Rubicon. End of mystery, except for my puzzlement at your missing the obvious. I will not tease any further. You guys cover the four-wheel-drive and off-road world respectably. Well, what does it matter if you don't have a dictionary?
Walt K., via 4wheeloffroad.com
Reader: In reference to Ginger Esplin's letter in the August issue, yes, you are an idiot! Pick up a dictionary and look up gages. It's a variant of gauges. If you stack the two words on top of each other in a tight space (like an idiot light square in an instrument cluster...) you'll see "check gages" fits better than "check gauges." I can't believe I'm sticking up for automotive engineers-I work on crap like this for a living!!!
Dan Koch, Williston, ND
Editor:Right all of you are, except for the fact that spell check doesn't understand gage, and there are three listings for gage in my '82 American Heritage Dictionary. I actually checked it out, since it was vaguely familiar, and found definition No. 1 as something given as security against an obligation, No. 2 was a variety of a plum, and sure enough I missed No. 3, variety of gauge, which I can rarely spell myself without checking the (yes, here it comes) idiot light.
Reader: Thanks for writing an article on a leaf-spring suspension ("Don't Leave Leaves," July '06). I am a Land Cruiser guy myself and own an FJ60 and FJ62 with Chevy 350s. I have always had a question about leaf springs and unfortunately I still have it after reading your article. What are the advantages/disadvantages to the placement of the shackle, either fore or aft of the spring? Most front leaf-spring trucks seem to have the shackle at the rear, but a surprising number have it at the front (e.g., LCs, Samurais, and some Jeeps). Man-A-Fre thought so little of it that they offer a shackle reversal kit, but Spector says it is a better rockcrawler with the shackle in the front. With the shackle in front as the spring compresses then the axle must move forward. This would seem to make for a hard ride and it does. It would also seem that it is not good for a turn because the outside spring compresses and moves the outside wheel forward and makes the vehicle turn tighter and have inconsistent steering. However, enough vehicles have this shackle forward design that there must be a reason. Please tell me why.
James, Arizona City, AZ
Editor:Both designs have their advantages and disadvantages. Many companies have shackle reversals for Jeeps and Cruisers, but believe it or not, we've seen reverse-reverse shackle conversions, to take the rear back to the front after it's been swapped. We've run both styles, have built both styles, and find that 87.64 percent of what you read, see, and hear is all hooey. For instance, the premise that Jeep did a poor front spring design with the shackle in the front simply doesn't hold water, as they sure couldn't sell millions of Jeeps for nearly 50 years with the shackle in the front if the design was fundamentally bad.