We're going to start something new here at 4WOR, a weekly-ish Blog (that's webgeek talk for an online journal sorta thing). This will be where you get the most up to date info on what we are doing. Cool stuff as soon as we get it, and hints as to what you will see in future issues. Expect a paragraph and a photo per week. Sometimes more, hopefully nothing less.
August 23rd, 2006
Do you know what this guy, this dog, and this girl have in common? Check out the work done at Fabworx Off Road starting in January's issue, as they take a K5 from a dilapidated pile, to a premudder.
What's a premudder? Check out the story
Fiberglass Leaf Springs?! You saw it here first folks. We have some on a YJ that are being tested right now. We'll get you a report as soon as we hear back from our spring abuser...
What?! Jinxy's actually coming out of the garage?! Last time you saw it, we were bolting on some big motor mods, but ran into the issue of not being able to reprogram an OBD1 ECU. A lot of other projects came up, and this poor truck was backburnered. But UniChip has come up with a piggyback ECU programmer that they claim will work to solve our issue. Can it be done? This poor truck has become known as `Parky' because it basically has just been keeping the cement garage floor from floating away. Let's see if we can change that in the next couple weeks...
August 18th, 2006
Wanna Welding Helmet?
Tech Editor Fred Williams is looking for your best Nuts and Bolts questions. And to spur you on he and Hobart Welders are giving away this XTP Professional Auto Darkening Welding Helmet. Send your tech questions to Fred.Williams@primedia.com with the subject "Nuts, I'm confused", but hurry because he needs them quick. Send them to him by Monday Aug 21's 2006, and he'll pick the most useful question to answer and will reveal it in the December issue of 4-Wheel & Off-Road. Then you'll be wearing some sweet colors while protecting yourself as you build your next 4x4 project. Remember he is looking for any tech question about working on your 4x4, but the more useful it is to many readers the better. And here's a hint, Fred is giving away a Welding helmet so he just might be looking for a good Welding specific or fabrication question. Good luck and get those questions in.
August 9th, 2006
This past weekend was a tube twisting frenzy at Poly Performance (www.polyperformance.com) where Tech Editor Fred Williams was re-newing his long lost buggy project. Unfortunately the next few weeks it will again go on the back burner while Fred works on some of the other issues involved in putting out a magazine. The past few days he and Poly's head fabricator Drew have added the roof and door bars and began moving into the interior supports.
Pick up the December issue to see how the chassis was computer designed.
August 2nd, 2006
This weekend Tech Editor Fred Williams spent some more days in the Poly Performance (www.polyperformance.com) fabrication shop with head tube bender Drew Burroughs working on the Fun Buggy project. Built out of a mixture of DOM tubing and Chromoly sheet metal it is slowly coming together into a recognizable machine. Notice the extreme rake of the seats. This will help keep the roof line low and offer a comfortable occupant position, though it will make steep climbs feel even steeper. Watch for more follow up stories on the build up in late 2006 early 2007 magazines
July 18, 2006
Ok, don't kill us, the 4WOR staff has been working triple time trying to get everything ready for Ultimate Adventure 2006, plus put out the biggest 4x4 magazine in the world, and unfortunately for you our dedicated web-wheelers we've been behind on the Blog Updates. Well there have been a few changes around here and we are going to buckle down and try to get back on track with the weekly updates. So here is the latest.
Editor Pewe is out of the office! and that is giving us just enough time to round up a few brews and prepare for his surprise birthday party this weekend. Wanna wish him a Happy 5-0? then send him a card to
Happy Old Man Day PEWE;
6420 Wilshire Blvd
LA, CA 90048.
As for the rest of us, Feature Editor Jerrod Jones has been busy working with the crew at Fabworx Off Road (707 566 7045 ) in Santa Rosa, California on his Boom-Box-Blazer project (he's calling is the Pre-Mudder since it should go fast in both dunes and bogs, but since Jonsey never forgets the tunes we've nick-named it the Boom-box). Read all about this big block monster in the December/January issues.
Then there is Art Director Alan Huber who's quickly preparing his son's first off road vehicle, a Volkswagen Baja Bug. As with most of our projects it's torn apart and slowly being reborn
Not to be outdone with projects Tech Editor Fred Williams has finally started bending tube on his long ago started project Fun Buggy. He's been working with the tube-car parts suppliers at Poly Performance (805 783 2060) for over 6-months fine tuning the design to optimize rock crawling, peeling out, and just plain having fun. The tube creation that Poly's head fabricator Drew Burroughs and Williams have come up with is still more jungle gym than 4-wheel drive trail machine, but expect updates both online and in the magazine in upcoming issues.
Finally let's introduce Jason Gonderman our new head WEB-guy. He's the one that takes our photos, stories and garbage speak and translates it into clean, edible web-food. In return we supply him with an endless supply of mountain dew in Giant Super Big Gulps. Help us out and send the poor guy some posters and stuff for his cubicle, it's pretty bare in there.
And finally, we're still looking for the perfect candidate for the Feature editor position that was left open by David Kennedy, so if you want to join our circus, er Team, then get those resumes in. And include a B-day card for the boss, it just may help. (use the address above)
April 7, 2006
Jeez, what's happened lately? Well, we're all trying to throw a million things together for eight days out of the office and in Moab for what some of us consider the best trip of the year. But we're running into a few problems.
The head was fixed up by Valley...
The head was fixed up by Valley Head Service and reinstalled by Jeeps R Us, but after about 100 miles, the ignition mysteriously cut out. The distributor has been replaced, multiple coils have been tried, the distributor cap has been swapped, even a few different ECUs have been tried. And still nothing. Right now it's Thursday night, and Jrod is supposed to be leaving for Moab tomorrow. Good luck, Jerrod.
Jerrod is busy prepping his...
Jerrod is busy prepping his 5KXJ for Moab, but he's got more work to do than time to do it in. The XJ may not make it out to Moab this year. It would be a first no-show since its purchase a week before Moab four years ago exactly.
Jerrod wanted to take his Cherokee for the 4th year in a row (it seems to be his ultimate Moab vehicle, every year making it back and forth under its own power and wheeling there all week). He took care of a lot of problems in the last few months: a serious head job on a warped head with a big pinhole leak was performed by Valley Head Service, a Flowkooler water pump was bolted on, a stereo was ordered to replace the one some guy borrowed out of it when he was also permanently borrowing Jerrod's tools, 6-inch tall coils were added in place of the coil and spacer package the XJ was running, and hydraulic bumpstops were added to save the poor Jeep from Jerrod's abuse. Problem is that the XJ's ignition took a dump, and no one can figure it out yet. Not us, not the Jeep dealer, nor other experts. So now it's currently being thrashed on by the pros at Jeeps R Us to try and get the problem resolved so Jerrod has a ride to Moab. Jerrod's old '75 Dodge, the Lawg, could potentially go but Jerrod got halfway through a Performance Distributors D.U.I. ignition install before his attention span got the better of him and he started 5 other projects. Good thing he has some friends with Jeeps, we think he might need a ride... .
Fred was thinking of using his Red Sled (3/4-ton IFS Chevy) to tow out with, but after a funny tranny issue and some thrashing to get an ARB locker in the rear at Off Road Unlimited, he somehow wrangled a diesel Hummer to tow Clampy out to Moab with. That should be a great site to see on the freeway. But Fred isn't in the clear yet. Clampy still needs a new clutch, and it's hemorrhaging fluid from multiple places on the engine. We think Fred will get it together by go-time, and we know his girlfriend will beat him if she misses even a day in Moab, so he's got some pressure on him as well.
Fred is busy monkeying around under Clampy right now. The clutch finally went on his 200,000-mile Toyota, and the engine has started to gush its vitals like a bullet wound victim. Clampy is running, but just barely. Fred has some serious wrenching to do before he leaves Saturday morning.
Rick is going to be towing the yellow Ultimate Adventure Chevy out to Moab, but he had to use a little of his Pw magic to get the hydroboost brakes and steering system working again. Actually, Rick has it more together than his staff does right now. All he needs to do is put our new Goodyear heavy-duty regroovable trailer tires on our trailer at Just Tires. The cheesy donuts that were on the trailer when we bought it have caused us more problems than we care to talk about. These new Goodyears ... well, they weigh more than a 35-inch tire, and have a regrooveable carcass. Something tells us we won't have any more tire problems on our trailer.
Editor Rick Pw took the staff trailer to get some new Goodyear tires mounted at Just Tires. We were having a lot of problems with the tires that came on it when we bought it, and Goodyear's regroovable trailer tire is about the most heavy duty choice we could find for our trailer. It's a good thing too, because Rick is lugging our Ultimate Adventure Chevy all the way to Moab with our 4x4 of the Year 1/2-ton Dodge.
And our art director Alan Huber (who has been at this magazine twice as long as the rest of us and has seen lots of bright-eyed editors come and go) is taking a little different trip than us. He just finished putting on a Rubicon Express lift, a Hanson bumper, and some skinny 33x10.50 BFG All Terrains on his Jeep with the help of Jp Magazine. Alan and his family are going to be scouting around Nevada, hitting some cool sites and trails, and possibly finding some new spots to run. We'll keep you posted.
Art Director Alan Huber will not be joining us in Moab this year. Instead, he's going to be testing out his newly rebuilt Grand Cherokee while scouting out trails and some great sites all around Nevada with his family. They're only taking one vehicle, but we're not too worried; Alan's the guy we call when we get in trouble, so we're sure he'll be able to handle the Nevada terrains with little issue, especially with his new winch and Hanson bumper up front.
March 2006
44th Annual Desert Safari
During the first weekend of March, we made it out to the Tierra del Sol 4x4 Club's 44th annual Desert Safari. We were a little worried about rain earlier in the week, but the skies cleared up by Friday and the weekend couldn't have been better. And we always love late nights around the campfire in the desert.
If you weren't there, then you missed out. But check out the story with lots more pics in the July 2006 issue.
 We spotted our buddy Carl...  We spotted our buddy Carl Knoll in his big ol' Dodge running the biggest Iroks available during the TDS's safari ride. Carl's a mud lover, more importantly a Dodge mud truck lover, and he thinks it's such a shame we don't take the Lawg muddin' (the Lawg has a future as a reliable tow/recovery vehicle). |  This guy got in a way-too-bad...  This guy got in a way-too-bad situation. We're not sure what broke, but it looked kinda stuck, and the owner was nowhere to be found when we pulled up. |  John Cappa of JP Magazine...  John Cappa of JP Magazine can really ride a little kid's motorcycle. In fact, if it weren't a little kid's bike, we'd almost be impressed! |
 Too bad some of our friends...  Too bad some of our friends have to suffer sometimes for our amusement. |  We ran into this club from...  We ran into this club from Tijuana, Mexico that had a bunch of great drivers. We'll be taking a ride with them down in Mexico in the near future, so stay tuned! |  4-Wheel and Off-Road Publisher...  4-Wheel and Off-Road Publisher Jeff Nasi flogs his 1967 Kaiser M715 |
Hobart spent the morning at...
Hobart spent the morning at the Primedia offices helping some of the editors gain new experience in metal fabrication. Heck, half us who were there didn't even know you could stick-weld aluminum. All it takes is a different stick type, but the machine is the same.
February 17, 2005
On Ultimate Adventure last year, Hobart was kind enough to send out a truck as support for out trip, just in case anything happened to any of the trucks (can you imagine - truck damage on U.A.?). Well, they got a chance to look at some of our welds, and apparently felt so bad for the metal on our trucks that they decided to come give Primedia's truck group a welding tutorial and tryout. And it was pretty cool too. Hobart sets these things up at schools for kids to try as well, helping inspire little ones to start building and creating, right from the get-go. There's a good chance you might run into the Hobart welding truck at some of the bigger off-road events as well, so keep an eye out for their black and orange box truck.
 Robin Stover of Four Wheeler...  Robin Stover of Four Wheeler Magazine showed the rest of us that he's actually a pretty darned good MIG welder. We guess we're gonna have to stop razzing him about not being able to weld on his own junk; he actually can. Darn, well, we'll find something else to give him a hard time about. |  Even our publisher Jeff Nasi...  Even our publisher Jeff Nasi came out in his fancy shoes to give a little tryout with a Plasma cutter. "Coooooool!" was his first response. We understand - something that is able to cut through 1/4-inch plate in just seconds is cool! |  Here's a close-up of Nasi's...  Here's a close-up of Nasi's handiwork. He's using an Air Force 250 cutter that runs on just 110V AC. It can cut up to 1/4-inch plate cleanly, but for anything thicker, you'll want to invest in one of Hobart's larger plasma cutters. This 110V unit is cool though, because it's small enough to throw behind your seat, and will plug into any normal 110V electrical outlet. |
If you ever get the chance...
If you ever get the chance to be up around the West coast U.S./Canadian border, check out the San Juan Islands. They're slightly impressive.
For a little business trip right before the dreaded Valentine's Day, our own John Cappa, Jerome Dziechiasz, Jason Bukolt, and Jerrod Jones flew up to Randy's Ring & Pinion in Seattle, WA before starting a mini-tour into B.C., Canada. They were led by Randy's Ring & Pinion accounts manager Jim McMillan who, (with his wonderful and very patient wife, Rachelle), took this ragtag group to see not only what goes on within the walls of Randy's Washington H.Q., but also some of the cooler sites, trucks, (and snowboard runs!) that Canada has to offer.
 Some years ago, Randy's Ring...  Some years ago, Randy's Ring & Pinion stepped into the drivetrain industry and changed the price of axle parts as you know them. They simply offered quality parts for hard-to-beat prices and quickly became one of the nation's leading drivetrain depots. They are so big that their ring and pinion orders come in chock-full 40-foot storage containers. |  Jerrod tried to buy this truck...  Jerrod tried to buy this truck and bring it back to go wheelin', but he couldn't get it across the border. Something about being a possible weapon of mass destruction, and we for some reason think Jerrod couldn't stop laughing fiendishly while trying to drive it past the border guards (that always makes 'em uneasy). |  Super-secret stuff you might...  Super-secret stuff you might see coming out from Randy's Ring & Pinion very soon. This is just a hand-casted machining sample. The finished production knuckle that will be available soon will have a flawless finish. |
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