Tabla de contenidos para June 2022 en Four Wheeler

In The News TRUCK QUOTE FROM CHEVY’S SILVERADO EV VEHICLE CHIEF ENGINEER, NICHOLE KRAATZ, WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE INFLUENCE THE INNOVATIVE AVALANCHE HAD OVER THE SILVERADO EV’S DEVELOPMENT: “THERE ARE DESIGN CUES THAT ARE REMINISCENT [OF AVALANCHE]. WE ABSOLUTELY DID NOT HAVE AVALANCHE IN MIND WHEN WE WERE DESIGNING THE TRUCK. WHAT DROVE THE DESIGN OF THE TRUCK WAS REALLY THE GROUND-UP APPROACH TO THE ARCHITECTURE. WHAT WERE WE GOING FOR? WE WERE GOING FOR 400, OR MORE, MILES OF RANGE. WE WERE GOING FOR DESIGN STYLING THAT LOOKS MORE ATHLETIC, MORE SPORTY.” Nissan’s latest trio of concept vehicles was released at the Chicago Auto Show featuring its redesigned Frontier. Is It True? ■ Are faulty valves in some ’21 Ford Bronco 2.7L V-6s causing engine failures? ■ Can we…

We’re amazed at the popularity explosion early CJ Jeeps are currently enjoying, specifically the WWII-era Willys MB and Ford GPW, early Willys CJ-2A, CJ-3A, and Korean War-era M38 Jeeps. Known more affectionately by their nickname, flatfender or flattie, these early Jeeps have long been a crowd favorite for modification, but now a new movement has taken hold with an increasing number of off-roaders enjoying them in mostly stock form. So, assuming you’re not going to automatically throw all the factory parts away for new aftermarket “upgrades,” in no particular order, here are some things to look for and consider when shopping for a flatfender. Dash and Interior It’s not very common to find an early Jeep with an unmolested dash. Over the decades since they left the factory, many get…

In the previous two installments of our V-6-to-LS V-8 swap (Apr. ’22 and May ’22), we covered the removal of the damaged V-6 and the installation of the LS engine. In this final installment, we dive into the post-operative stage. The expected bug phase. And we definitely have/had our share. The alternator we found during our search for a small-body alternator that fit between the PSC Motorsports steering box and the new location as positioned by the ICT bracket kit wasn’t able to hold up to the high demands of our electrical system, so we sourced an alternative from custom alternator shop AutoTech Engineering in Riverside, California (no relation to our install shop Auto Tech & Tires in Sonora, California). Sam from AutoTech Engineering was able to quickly recommend the…

When we started our ’02 Chevy Silverado 2500 Duramax project, we set out with a few goals in mind. We wanted the truck to be reliable, first and foremost. We also wanted to put 700 hp to the rear wheels and we required the truck to ride on 37-inch tires. A full engine build brought us to the power goal and a BDS coilover conversion lift kit got us rolling on 37-inch Nitto Ridge Grapplers. However, the combination proved to be a lethal one for the truck’s 200,000-mile-old factory Allison transmission. Knowing this was going to be an issue, we quickly made plans to upgrade the truck’s tired transmission. To keep us moving forward, no matter the situation, we turned to the Duramax specialists at Pacific Performance Engineering (PPE). PPE…

Going down the 4x4 van trail one night in the Four Wheeler office, this citrus-colored Ford leapt out at us from the pages of the March 1988 issue. Intrigued, we sought to find out more about this van and its builders, a story that involves various paintjobs, multiple custom van shows, and a rendezvous with a legendary monster truck. This ’77 Ford E-350’s original owner installed a Pathfinder 4x4 kit lifting the van about five inches over its stock ride height. All the suspension components were chromed, a set of Gumbo Monster Mudders and American Vector wheels filled the wheelwells, and the custom orange paintjob bore pinstriping and the name Moonshine Rider. In reference to its name, the interior was fit with cedar paneling, seats carved from whiskey barrels, and…

Aside from 1980s-era Tina Turner’s legs, one of the most memorable things from the movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome is the line, “Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves.” That pretty much sums up the blood-in-the-arena ethos of my automotive journalism career. At my core I have to admit my guilty pleasure is pitting two (or more) things against each other and devising diabolical testing criteria that ensures only one true victor emerges. I just love a good product shootout. I’m not alone, because no matter what the genre, one of the most widely used search words is “vs”. Apple versus pumpkin pie, vegetarianism versus veganism, blender versus juicer, you name it, somebody out there has compared something you’re interested in against something else you’re interested in, even if you didn’t…

SMART 4X4 AUDIO Alpine’s all-new iLX-F511 11-inch Multimedia Receiver and the iLX-F509 9-inch Multimedia Receiver come loaded with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capabilities, Bluetooth hands-free calling, a 1280x720 high-resolution display screen, a single-DIN chassis built to fit a variety of vehicle applications, and much more. Alpine’s sleek new unit features a tapered display housing and silver trim for a clean, modernized fit and finish along with a floating-style display with a mounting bracket allowing for height, depth, and angle adjustments. You’ll find built-in HD radio; inputs for USB, AUX, and HDMI; MP3/WMA/AAC/FLAC/APE music playback capabilities via the USB drive; as well as compatibility with many Alpine expandability options (sold separately). INFO: Alpine Electronics, 800/421-2284, alpine-usa.com BOOSTED THROTTLE Take the wires out of the throttle sensitivity adjustments on your 4x4!…

Of the three prototype jeep designs of 1940, the Willys-Overland fielded the most powerful engine, but that advantage was largely negated by it being in the heaviest vehicle. Being well over the Army’s weight limit nearly cost Willys the opportunity to bid, and only political intervention kept the company in the game. Predictably, the Army’s unrealistic weight limits moved upward, and by the time Willys’ July 1941 low bid was accepted for the first contract, the standardized design weighed as much as the original Willys prototype. Thusly, the Willys 134ci Go Devil four-cylinder engine became the heart of the jeep and part of the legend. Had Ford or Bantam won the bid, it’s very likely their final designs would also have had a bigger engine by necessity. Willys’ part in…

Our Falken Wildpeak M/Ts nearly died many horrible deaths over the course of a year, but they didn’t die. That’s with 12 months and roughly 6,000 miles of heavy use on- and off-road that bordered on abuse. Tires are quite literally the interface between your off-road vehicle and the world on which it rides. Tires are a wear item, and honestly their lives are hard, which is to say most drivers aren’t particularly nice to them (we drive like we’re blind) … and let’s face it, most everything in the world is out to kill a tire, especially on hard-core off-road trails. Ultimate Adventure (UA) is definitely a serial killer—a serial killer of tires. Even if UA hasn’t killed a Falken M/T any time recently (we’ve lost tires from other…

MYSTERIOUS SENDING UNIT I have a ’97 Wrangler TJ with a 4.0L that developed an antifreeze leak on the driver side of the block. Upon further investigation, we found the leak was coming from a sending unit (it looks like a pressure sensor) attached to the block with a 90-degree elbow. I believe the 90-degree elbow was added to keep the sensor from hitting the exhaust pipe. We took the pressure sender out and plugged the ⅛-NPT hole in the elbow, which solved the leak problem. The pressure sender was attached to a seemingly factory wiring plug that went into the wiring harness above it. The question is: What is the switch/sender for? I have looked at various wiring diagrams and can’t find a coolant pressure sender on it. I…

CRAIG’S 1974 FORD ECONOLINE 300 QUADRAVAN I’m from Arlington, Virginia. I always bought all my parts from my local dealer, Dick Blanken Ford in Arlington. One day on my way in to get my parts, I saw a van parked in front of the showroom with a for sale sign in the back window. After I got my parts, I went into the showroom to see about the van. Turns out, the showroom was being painted and the guy painting it owned the van. It was his painter work van. If you take out all of the carpet, cabinets, and interior, there is still a lot of paint spills and spatters on the floor and walls. This was 1976. I bought it the next day and became the second owner.…

There is an event in the desert that tests the mettle of driver, the strength of their fiber, their skills off-road, and pushes the limits of machines. No, we’re not talking about some Ultra4 race you didn’t know about. It’s not some sort of high-end overlanding adventure with titanium cutlery and fancy cooking discs … although we hear Skottles are great. What we’re talking about is the second annual 2021 Go Devil Run (often referred to simply as GDR). There are rules for GDR. The main decree is that it’s only open to Jeeps from the 1940s, 1950s, or 1960s powered by the venerable 134ci L-head, the Go Devil engine. The more stock, the better. Sure, rules are made to be broken and bent, so many run limited-slip differentials (which…

If you have been reading Four Wheeler for any length of time, you’ll know about our extreme love of flatfender jeeps. In fact, you might remember Project Colonel Mustard, this author’s ’51 Willys CJ-3A. Unfortunately, after having my first child, I found myself in a position where I had to sell it, and I have wanted to get back into a flatfender again ever since. My love affair with flatfenders started in my early teens with my uncle’s ’42 Ford GPW on his ranch in Southern California. The first time I ever drove it, he upgraded me from the three-wheeler I used to run around on and handed me the keys to his prized ranch “jeep.” It was at that point in the mid-’90s, after running around the roads on…

You can go off-roading to some degree with almost any 4x4 vehicle under the sun, but if you’re expressly wanting to go rockcrawling, then there are some things you really need to consider for your vehicle before you venture into a rock garden. Simple trail riding, light mud whomping, and sand exploration have their distinct array of hazards, but none holds the potential for inflicting vehicular damage to your body, undercarriage, and drivetrain components as rockcrawling. Whether it’s contact damage from a rock hitting your 4x4’s sheetmetal and preventing your doors, tailgate, or hood opening and closing properly; smashing differential covers, oil pan, transmission pans, or driveshafts with boulders; slashing tires on razor-sharp outcroppings; or simply imparting too much torque to tires benefiting from high levels of traction causing driveshafts,…

What motivates Aneta Zarzycka? It’s that fear of missing out (she calls it FOMO) on all those exciting places that require a bit more than your average 4x4 to access. For her, it took a mixture of tragedy and warming up to a new vehicle platform before she was ready to explore the United States in a coast-to-coast fashion. The Gladiator here wasn’t Aneta’s first Jeep, but a Jeep was her first vehicle. When she was in her early 20s, she got her license and the vehicle she had always wanted—a Shale Green ’03 Wrangler. Aneta and her boyfriend, Steven Walla, built identical TJs with modifications, including 35-inch tires, long-arm suspension kits, and attention-grabbing stinger bumpers. The couple enjoyed many of the off-road venues local to New York and dreamed…