If there’s one thing gearheads love, it’s the sound of a real engine, a piston-powered engine. Oh sure, some like the quite whir of an electric motor, and some love the roar of a jet, but there’s nothing like the sound of combustion in a cylinder pushing a piston down a bore. Nothing. For some, this celebration of sound and power culminates in racing, while others just like driving, flying, working, or even just sitting around listening to an old one-lunger go pook-pook-pook.

Hitch2Tire
Finding a good spot for that fullsize spare tire just got a little easier. New from Wilco Automotive Products, makers of the TireGate, comes the Hitch2Tire spare tire carrier. The hitch-mount holder simply slides into your vehicle’s 2-inch receiver and is rated to carry up to 150 pounds. The holder is shipped with a semigloss black powdercoat finish and can be outfitted with an optional gas tank holder and/or a utility rack.
Information: Wilco Products
877.945.2684, www.tiregate.com.

Do you think you and your 4x4 have what it takes to spend a week off-roading with us? Can your truck go from extreme trail to highway while being self-sufficient? Can you? Can you handle hanging out with strangers, camping and wrenching in the dirt, being away from home for two weeks, and doing it without whining? If so, read the following rules and requirements then send your personal and vehicular info with a photo, description, and something about yourself that would be interesting, to 4-Wheel & Off-Road Ultimate Adventure, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245, or on the web at goo.gl/NGYZj. We need all applications here by March 1, 2012, and we’ll let you know if you’re chosen by April 1, 2012. As for where Ultimate Adventure is heading next year, that’s on a need-to-know basis, and a true adventurer doesn’t need to know until it’s time to go.

This happened on my last deployment to Northern Afghanistan. One of my vehicles called an M-ATV (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All Terrain Vehicle) led a movement down a small path and across a land bridge that spanned a 15-foot gap. Overnight, Taliban forces flooded the gap and washed out the base of the land bridge. When we drove across that morning, the bridge gave out and caused the vehicle to drop into the gap. Once the dust cleared, the commander of the truck, Staff Sgt. Ben Fletcher, came across the radio saying, “Punisher 1-2 is stuck.” Everybody inside of the vehicle was able to climb out of the gunner’s hatch.

Imagine your 4x4 equipped with larger-than-stock tires ripping across the desert or mud bog when all of a sudden a hidden berm, log, or ditch sends you skyward. You land with a crash and likely do one of two things: get out and check for damage, or spin a U-turn and do it again because it was so much fun. Either way you may want to consider just how much abuse your axles are taking.

Some guys just can’t own enough off-road machines. Anthony Miller of Billings, Montana, is one of those. A longtime Jeep owner, he fulfilled his quest for a rig a little bit different when he ran across this retired ’88 W.E.ROCK Samurai buggy.

Toby Boyer didn’t know he wanted a Cummins-powered Grand Wagoneer, but a few years ago he headed to Moab with his friend Todd Farrand from Mercenary Off-Road for the Easter Safari, and after a week of watching folks climb slickrock and traverse boulder fields he started to get the itch for a rig of his own. On the drive home Toby mentioned wanting a 4x4 and the discussion lasted most of the drive back to California.

If you’re new to four-wheeling then you’ve probably heard about changing gears and adding lockers. If you pictured shifting your transmission with locking boxes in the bed, that is not what we are talking about. Four-wheeling gears and lockers can change your truck from zero to hero as much as suspension and tires.

BluFerd, our ’79 Ranch Raptor (aka F-150) is a good truck, but even though it’s shod with the tough General Grabbers we’d hate to walk home from the back forty if we ever encounter a flat tire. We mounted up a fifth 35-inch Grabber on a 15x8 Mickey Thompson Sidebiter as a spare tire and in an afternoon wrangled a homebrew bedside mount for the big rubber.

What’s the Case?
Q: I finally decided to step into the 21st century with regards to my daily commuter. As much as I love the four-door JKs, the used ones are still really pricey so I have decided on a ’99-’04 Jeep Grand Cherokee WJ. They seem to have all of the modern amenities that will keep my wife and kids happy. Plus, I can cruise the highway at modern speeds without concern and they appear to have plenty of aftermarket support.

Big tires are often to blame for projects that grow larger and larger over time. For example, if you’re building an old Jeep, a small Suzuki, or even a mini truck and you want big tires (35s or larger) you may soon find that you want larger axles as well. The stock parts are great to a point, but eventually the leverage of big tires, low gears, and locking differentials can take their toll on axleshafts, gears, and housings. A lot of us keep running the small parts to eke out every last bit of use, while others like to upgrade for the security of not having to wrench on the trail.

To celebrate 70 years of Jeeps, we wrap up our series with recent vehicles, events, and the people who helped distance the brand from its imitators. The year 1997 was significant for two reasons. First and foremost, the TJ was introduced with eye-raising quad-coil suspension and a welcome return to round headlights. Also introduced that year was the Scorpion MK1. Soni Honnnegar and Heath Biggs’ long-travel, tube-framed rock buggy went way beyond the limitations of stock-framed vehicles.

We enjoy testing new tires. And more often than not we find ourselves putting the most aggressive and knobby mud-terrain varieties at the top of our test list. For our most recent tire review we put aside our mud-terrain bias and grabbed a hold of Falken’s WildPeak All Terrain. Falken is among the few tire companies that are virtually reinventing the traditional all-terrain. This means fitting A/Ts with larger, deeper, and more aggressive tread patterns to improve not only the tire’s looks but also its off-road prowess.

Axle guts are not pretty. Spending the time and money to pull out your open differentials and add lower gears, stronger axleshafts, and locking diffs will never win you a trophy at the show ’n’ shine. It won’t impress the layman like shiny wheels and big tires. However, when the going gets tough, the rocks big, the mud deep, and the trail steep, you’ll be glad you invested in your axles and not your glossy paint and loud radio.

Cover Truck
I was wondering about the criteria to make the cover of your magazine. A certain company will give me a full sponsorship if I can get a contract for one cover from an esteemed magazine such as 4-Wheel & Off-Road. I have a brand-new ’11 Tundra TRD Rock Warrior and will be decking it out with their parts, and may also have a car audio sponsor lined up as well. Would my truck interest you at all once it is completed? Again, they will give me a complete sponsorship with a cover contract. Please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you!
Christopher Desautels
Batavia, NY

Nearly five years ago I began my stint here as feature editor. Like many of you I was a longtime reader and never could imagine that I would actually land what I truly considered to be my dream job. It wasn’t long after getting my position at the magazine that I got the opportunity to transform my completely stock ’97 Ford Ranger 4x4 into a truck capable of surviving our Ultimate Adventure. With little money and limited time I managed to convert my TTB (twin traction beam) Ranger into a solid-axle crawler in just five weeks.

Some adventures are so exciting and memorable that they turn into tales that folks will tell for the rest of lives—the JK Experience is that kind of adventure. The on- and off-highway weeklong excursion is in its third year and has been one of those quests for hardcore four-wheeling that’s left all of its participants with an adventure they’ll brag about for years to come.

Vroom! You’re heading down the trail.
Pop! What was that?
Sssss! Uh oh, a tire’s got a problem.

This happens every weekend on trails across America. It happens to the best of drivers and the best of tires. Nothing is perfect, so round up a tire plug kit and throw it in your 4x4.

This year’s SEMA Show, the annual showcase for new aftermarket accessories held in Las Vegas, was more crowded than ever, as parts makers, buyers, sellers, and wholesalers did all they could to pump life into our uncertain economy. We let Tech Editor Fred Williams do the heavy lifting by finding the best new products at the show (see New Products, page 80); our job was to photograph the coolest project vehicles on display. This year’s assortment ran from the sublime to the just plain strange.

Hot Shot
Hail to the Jeep
Vehicle: 1984 Jeep Grand Wagoneer
Owner: James Schaerfl, El Paso, TX
Tires & Wheels: 35-inch MTRs on Eagle Alloy wheels
Suspension: Custom 6-inch
Drivetrain: 727, Dana 44 front, AMC 20 rear, Detroit Lockers, 4.56 G2 gears
Performance Mods: 360ci, Edelbrock Performer package, Flowmaster exhaust
Other Doodads: 3-inch body lift, custom roof rack
Does everything work the way you want?: Of course not. It’s a 28-year-old Jeep!
Anything you would change?: Upgrade the transfer case and add rear disc brakes
Anything to add?: After getting caught in a hailstorm with the Jeep I found myself with the tough decision of scrapping it altogether or making it my wheeler. I am glad that this is the way I went.

SEMA, the Specialty Equipment Market Association, holds a trade show every year in Las Vegas for industry folks, where dealers and sellers meet and media guys like us sneak in to snap pics of upcoming products. Some are early prototypes, some are available now. Here are a few of our favorites.

What you want and what you need are rarely the same. Often our eyes go for the bigger slice of cake, the higher-horsepower engine, the more extreme tire. Truth be told, most of our 4x4s live on the street, and although massive muddies may look the best and work better in the slop , when it comes to a daily driver or tow rig those tires are, as Mr. Spock would say, “simply illogical.”

Out of-the-box the ’97-’06 Jeep Wrangler TJ is an extremely well-performing off-road machine. Add a small lift, lockers, and knobby tires and it will take you far. Unfortunately, many of the open-top wheelers have a ticking time bomb of a rear axle, known as the Dana 35. In the stock configuration the 71⁄2-inch ring gear and 28-spline C-clip axleshafts on the Dana 35 are adequate at best. When you add big tires and tough terrain into the mix the light-duty diff just can’t keep up. So what’s a wheeler to do?

One of the cheapest and simplest ways to improve your 4x4’s off-road performance is to reduce the air pressure in your tires. When you lower the pounds per square inch (psi) inside your tire, it allows the tire to flex and grip the terrain more effectively. For light-duty wheeling a traditional tire and wheel set can safely be aired down to 12-15 psi. While those air pressure numbers may seem low, on today’s Load Range D and E tires they often barley put a bulge in the tire—especially when mounted under a lightweight rig like a Jeep Wrangler. To get the most performance out of the tire while safely running extremely low air pressures, a beadlock wheel is an excellent upgrade.

The high-pinion Dana 30 and Dana 44 front axles found under the ’07-to-current Jeep Wrangler JK are a vast improvement over the low-pinion front axles of the previous generation of Wranglers. While the current Wrangler front axles are fine in stock form, when larger tires, heavy bumpers, and hardcore wheeling are put into the mix the factory front axle inherits a few problems.