4-Wheel & Off-Road welcomes letters to the editor. Letters must include an address or a telephone number so the sender can be verified. Once verified, your name may be withheld at your request. Letters published in this magazine reflect the opinions of the writers, and we reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, brevity, or other purposes. Due to the large volume of mail we receive, we regret that we cannot reply to unpublished letters or return photos. Digital photos must measure no less than 1600 x 1200 pixels (or two megapixels) and be saved as a TIFF, an EPS, or a maximum-quality JPEG file.
Write to:
Editor
4-Wheel & Off-Road
6420 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048-5515
fax 323.782.2704
E-mail to:
4wheeloffroad@primedia.com
Reader: Does the guy who owns the Suburban on the cover (Sept. '06) know he has his Michelin XCLs on backward? They are a directional tire, aren't they? Or is there a reason he has them on backward? Perhaps he likes to run trails in reverse.
Kevin Mokracek
via 4wheeloffroad.com
Editor: Yes, they are a directional tire, and Michelin recommends running them opposite of what you see on the cover. However, many directional tires seem to work as well or better when mounted in opposition to the recommended direction. Take for example Clifton Slay of Poison Spyder Customs, who was on the Mar. '06 cover with his Suicide Sally rig. Those Mickey Ts are directional tires and are on backward, and Clifton swears by that mounting method.
Reader: I read "The Best 4x4s Ever" (Sept. '06) article, by Rick Pw. I was Intrigued with the Scorpion MKI vehicle on page 124 by Soni Honneger.
Do you know if there are any plans out there I could get my hands on? I would like to build one of these critters for myself. Maybe use a Mercedes Diesel and a few M-class chassis components.
Philip Jingozian
Northport, AL
Editor: Yes and no. There is only one MKI, but other options are available. You need to contact Dwaine Jungen at Preferred Chassis Fabrication Inc. in Arizona (520.975.6498, www.scorpion4x4.com) and tell 'em we sent ya!
Reader: Thank you for featuring an article on some 4x4s that don't get the opportunity to grace your pages as often as some of the "in crowd" trucks ("4x4 Orphans," Nov. '06). My Xterra has more than impressed me by its off-road capabilities, and I would love for people to know that there are some great trucks out there that don't wear an oval or a bow tie. I would like to mention two very informative Web sites for Xterra owners that were not listed in the article: www.xterrafirma.com and www.clubxterra.org, along with an awesome event for non left-coast wheelers-the East Coast Xterra Challenge (www.ecxc.com). Thanks again for a great article and a great magazine!
Anthony DiMattia
Rochester, NY
Editor: Thanks for the update, as we know there are plenty of other Nissan wheelers who want to know what's going on.
Reader: A while back, one of the 4x4 magazines ran an article about a tapered reamer and bolt that is used to fix '70s Ford steering. I have moved and can't find the issue it was in. Could you provide me with the addresses of the companies that supplied the reamer and bolt?
Michael
via 4wheeloffroad.com
Editor: As a rule, we aren't able to handle these types of requests. Since we don't have a master database for our own magazine-much less all of our competition-it's impossible to find such information. Lucky for you, however, our art director, Alan Huber, wrote that story and remembered when it was. "Ford Track Bar Repair" appeared in the July '05 issue of 4-Wheel & Off-Road. The information you are looking for is for the bolt and tapered reamer:
Track-bar bolt, PN 84979 from Ingall's Engineering (800.641.9795, www.ingallseng.com)
Tapered reamer, PN KDT-2044 from Mytoolstore.com (702.871.7178, www.mytoolstore.com)
You lucked out this time. If you wish to get a copy of the magazine, try going to the Web site under Back Issues, and see if they have any left.