Winter elicits different responses in different parts of the country. In some areas the 4x4s get put away when they start salting the roads, while others bust out their insulated Carhartts and goggles and wheel all through the winter. “We started going to Tellico in January years ago to avoid the crowds,” Keith Bailey says. And thus, Wild Winter Wheeling was born.

It takes a tough car to win the Griffin King of the Hammers, but it takes a tough man to just finish. Despite efforts from some of the most talented drivers in the world, only 27 of 129 racers reached the finish line. The vast majority of them were not household names but instead, guys who have rockcrawling experience, are familiar with their rigs, and know how to fix things when stuff goes wrong.

Pure Jeep
Vehicle: 2007 Jeep Wrangler JK Unlimited
Owner: Steven Davis, Lexington Park, MD
Tires & Wheels: 34x10.5-15 Super Swamper LTBs on 15x8 US Steel Rock Crawler wheels
Suspension: 4-inch Skyjacker kit with coils, track bars, control arms, sway bar disconnects, and Nitro shocks
Drivetrain: Dana 30 front axle, Dana 44 rear axle
Performance Mods: 3.8L V-6 with K&N cold air intake and chip
Other Doodads: Skyjacker Nitro steering stabilizer, Pure Jeep Crawler bumper, 48-inch Hi-Lift jack
Does everything work the way you want?: You bet!
Anything you would change?: Lockers, thicker skidplates
Anything to add?: I am more impressed with my JK then I was with my TJ build. The power distribution at low rpm is awesome!

The happy drone of BFG Krawlers slapping the pavement and the rumble of dual exhaust from a healthy V-8 can only mean one thing: We’re going wheeling! The pavement part is usually a prelude to the dirt since, sadly, I don’t live next to a 4x4 area anymore, but that just makes a good excuse for a road trip. And if you’ve read this magazine for a while, you know I enjoy a road trip almost as much as going wheeling. Even the packing and loading of the rig and spec’ing out the road route becomes almost ritualistic in an enjoyable way, a building of excitement that hopefully culminates in memories of the entire expedition, not just the location. But with every different vehicle I wheel, a new set of challenges and experiences evolves, especially since I have so many vehicles.

In 2012 King of the Hammers added a race called the Smittybilt Every Man Challenge (EMC) in response to comments that the main race was getting too expensive for the average Joe to compete in. Rules for the stock class are strict, requiring stock engine and transmission and stock suspension configuration, and limiting tire size to 35-inch DOT-approved rubber.

People like to compare the Ford Raptor to the Ram Power Wagon, but these are two very different trucks. The Raptor is a low-slung, go-fast, off-road, 1⁄2-ton, sports car of a truck. The Power Wagon is a big, brutish, 3⁄4-ton beast built for ”off the beaten path” work. However, what if Ford offered the Super Duty 3⁄4- and 1-ton trucks in a package more akin to the Power Wagon? The folks from Offroad Power Products asked just that question. After conferring with the team from Hazzard FabWorx they decided to build this super duper Super Duty to be both Power Wagon and Raptor in one. Most importantly, the Raptor Super Duty (RSD) would have a diesel, the biggest missing link in the Power Wagon offering.

There are two common configurations for solid-axle suspensions located by control arms: those with triangulated links to locate the axle side to side, and those with a track bar (Panhard bar) to locate the axle side to side. If you are using a steering box with a linked front suspension then 99 percent of the time you’ll have a track bar setup. But the triangulated suspension offers advantages such as smooth vertical motion as the axle cycles through its travel, whereas a track bar suspension pushes the axle side to side on extension and compression.

Good & Bad
After a day of showing friends some trails we came upon the last water crossing. I had never gone to the right and tried to “test the waters.” It took a CJ and a JK with winches to pull me out.

Fuel Off-Road Trophy Beadlock Wheel
The newest offering from Fuel Off-Road is the Trophy rim. Forged from 6061-T6 aluminum, it is available in a 17x81⁄2 size with 41⁄2 inches of backspacing and can be drilled for any desired bolt pattern. The finish shown in matte black with an anthracite beadlock ring, but custom finishes are also available. Look for cast beadlock applications and street-locks in early 2013.
Information: Fuel Off-Road Wheels
800.493.7891, www.fueloffroad.com.

With trail closures and land grabs sweeping across our nation, it’s refreshing to see some positive people trying to reverse that terrible trend. The Tierra Del Sol club of San Diego (www.tds4x4.com) has had an adopt-a-trail program going on in cooperation with the Cleveland National Forest for some time, and has recently opened up some new trails for wheeling enjoyment about 50 miles east of San Diego. Club members cut a handful of new side loops off the Gunslinger Trail in the Corral Canyon OHV Area. Approved by the Forest Service, these trails show that they really understand the principles of multiple use management, rather than closing off the forest to all uses.

What Winch?
Vehicle: 1995 Jeep Cherokee XJ
Owner: Rob Simons, Ofallon, IL
Tires & Wheels: 37x12.5R16.5 Goodyear Wrangler MTs on recentered Hutchinson beadlock rims
Suspension: 3-inch BDS YJ leaf springs in front, 4-inch Old Man Emu leaf springs in rear with drop mounts
Drivetrain: AW4 automatic transmission, NP231 transfer case with SYE, front Tera60 with Grizzly Locker, rear 14-bolt with Detroit Locker, 4.88 gears

If you are transferring power in a straight line, you can use a shaft to accomplish it. Add angles and offsets though, and things get tricky. Now you need a universal joint. U-joints are used in driveshafts where you need to get power from the transfer case down to the axles as the suspension cycles. A typical U-joint consists of the center cross (body) with four trunnions, four bearing caps that install on the trunnions, needle bearings inside the caps, and grease seals. We headed to Bayshore Truck, our local Spicer dealer, to compare sizes and types of U-joints for driveline applications.

Steering is one of the two most important systems on your vehicle (the other being brakes). Finding the perfect steering system for your four-wheeler is vital to making it perform off-road. In the last 10 years full hydraulic steering has taken the off-road world by storm, but it’s nothing new. Tractors have been running hydraulic steering for ages and with good reason: They must turn in rough terrain, and the equipment must be simple and easy to fix.

Factory power steering systems are designed for stock vehicles. Adding weight to a truck and/or larger tires increases the force required to steer. Add off-road realities such as low tire pressure and boulders that bookend tires, and the force required to turn the wheels can exceed factory power steering output.

Steering is one of the most important components of your 4x4. If you toast a transmission or break an axle you can still steer to the side of the road. Lose your steering and you are just along for the ride. Factory steering is good for a stock vehicle, but when you start swapping axles or adding bigger tires you need something better. Better materials and increased wall thickness are common upgrades for tie rods and drag links, but oftentimes not enough thought is given to the end of those steering links.

The Ford Raptor came to us for the ’09 model year and quickly earned a reputation as the go-to truck for high speed off-road use. But with their healthy power and look-at-me styling, these trucks have also become a substitute for the midlife crisis muscle cars. Of course, not every Raptor is living a life of luxury cruising the dunes on weekends or hauling golf clubs with the guys. We have a buddy who runs a “facility” in the desert and he has a first-year Raptor that sees work and abuse like a farm truck. He has smashed more than a few bumpers and skidplates, shredded some tires, and left a fair bit of desert pinstriping down the sides of the once glossy black paint.

Nuts, I’m Confused
Heavy Front F-150
Q Hello, I have an ’04 F-150 Fx4 and plan to lift it about 6 inches and run 35s. My question, however, is about aftermarket bumpers from Buckstop. According to the website the bumper (complete with guard) for my truck weighs 190 pounds over stock. I don’t think that includes the estimated weight of a winch. Is there any special considerations I should make while installing the new suspension up front? I plan to use the full suspension kit from Skyjacker with add-a-leaves and 35-inch Nitto Trail Grapplers. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Cody G.
Via nuts@4wheeloffroad.com

There's nothing like the sound of a thundering big-block as it powers a fullsize truck through a mud bog. We get it, and we like it! On the other hand, a quiet four-popper in a flattie cruising along a mountain trail is also music to our ears, as is anything in between these two extremes. The problem of course with enjoying either venue is time and resources (also known as cold hard cash), the lack of which prevents us from delving deeper and longer into what we really enjoy: the 4-Wheel & Off-Road lifestyle. But another form of instant gratification has surfaced in the past few years and is gaining some serious traction (literally as well). We'll be checking it out more and more, even though it can be a strange new sound on the trail.

New Trucks Debut at Detroit, Chicago Shows
Within the next couple of years we will see all-new fullsize pickup trucks from GM, Ford, Ram, and Toyota, and many of those trucks were introduced (or at least teased) at the Detroit and Chicago auto shows. Here's a look at those reveals, plus other significant introductions.

For years the Ford Explorer was the bestselling SUV in the country, yet you rarely see them on the trails in numbers comparable to Jeep Cherokees or Toyota 4Runners. With production spanning two decades and high sales numbers, you can pick up a used Explorer for cheap and be out on the trails tomorrow... well, exploring. Cheesy puns aside, these Blue Oval SUVs offer good dimensions for wheeling along with potent engines and capable suspensions. There are a few pitfalls though, and you need to know what you are looking for.

Original parts are always a compromise, be they tires, drivetrains, or even bumpers. A factory front bumper needs to fend off small cars, look decent, and be mileage-friendly. Because of the latter, bumpers are usually quite close to the ground, which messes up the approach angle. And if there are heavier and bigger things in your pickup’s path than just pesky small cars, then the somewhat flimsy factory bumper doesn’t stand much of a chance.

Late-model lift kits can be surprisingly similar among manufacturers. Functional realities such as maintaining steering geometry and alignment limit the engineering possibilities. In IFS kits, knuckle designs are the main distinguishers. The challenge here is to clear various tire/wheel combos and even aftermarket brakes without fattening the steering radius by radically widening the front track.

Ford was the first of the Big Three to bring a radius arm, coil front suspension to market for a solid front axle, starting on the ’66 Ford Bronco. Ford continued with the F-150 and Bronco through the introduction of Twin Traction Beams (TTB) in the ’80 model year. This suspension configuration has a reputation for providing a smooth ride and admirable wheel travel, with a similar configuration still in use today on Super Dutys.

What's a classic four wheel drive vehicle worth, and for that matter, should it be worth as much as a super car? That's a tough question when you consider all the things a super car can do, things like going fast and.. well, that's pretty much it. When it comes to classic iron four wheel drive trucks and SUV's, we think sometimes they should be worth at least that much!

Wheeling in the dirt isn't exactly the cheapest thing to do especially if you're a teenager working a minimum wage job. So what's an off-road junky with little to no money to do? Well, that's the same question we asked ourselves when we first got the idea for Cheap Truck Challenge. The Idea was to build a budget minded rig that could take us as far as our shoestring budget could allow us. On this episode of Dirt Every Day, we're heading out to Arizona for a good old fashioned off road showdown. It's the 2013 Cheap Truck Challenge!