Four Wheeler June 2019

The other day a commercial for a monster truck race came on my television. I had the TV on, but it was just generating white noise because I was face-planted to my iPad hunting for an inexpensive 3⁄4-ton 4x4 pickup on Craigslist. Nonetheless, the sound of screaming engines and crashing trucks lured me away from my task. That commercial was the catalyst that forced me to wander down Monster Truck Memory Lane. Do you remember the first time you saw a monster truck? The first time I saw one was in Rockford, Illinois. I’m guessing it was in 1979 or 1980. It was Bigfoot #1, I believe, and it was crushing a couple of junk cars on the State Street Bridge as a stunt to promote a local indoor truck and…

NO JACKET REQUIRED I totally agree with you that trail food is often the best food (Firing Order, Mar. ’19)! One spring day in Wellsville, Ohio, a group of us stopped on the trail for lunch. We were muddy and a little cold, but miles from anywhere. We had chunks of smoked turkey (prepared the day before by the trail leader), homemade macaroni salad with shrimp, and homemade pies and cookies. I will take that meal, standing in the mud with my friends, over any “jacket required” joint any day! NAME WITHHELD VIA EMAIL JOSHUA TREE Living in Southern California there are many weekend four-wheeling destinations. My most recent was Joshua Tree National Park and the surrounding area. Joshua Tree is only 2 to 2.5 hours from South Bay SoCal. Joshua Tree has so much…

There’s an app that you need to try. Not the fitness one and not the one that’s an alarm clock that yanks you out of slumber by reciting headline news. Those will be featured on a “Where Are They Now?” edition of something down the road. No, we’re talking about the wildly popular, extremely useful, and everlasting Four Wheeler app. We mention this because the app’s mass quantities of feature trucks, tech, road tests, products, installations, adventure and travel, news, and other must-sees are definitely what you’d want in an app or a lifestyle choice that was themed in the off-road world. Download it at the App Store.…

Have you wondered what 1,000 lb-ft of torque feels like? The ’19 Ram HD can answer that if you get the 400hp high-output 6.7L Cummins diesel. In fact, the truck will also answer the question of what the ability to tow 35,100 pounds and have 7,680 pounds of payload feels like. There are actually two versions of the Cummins; the other is worth 370 hp and 850 lb-ft of torque. The high-output model has new cast-iron cylinder heads and a new block, coming in lighter in weight than the previous one. The high-output engine has the Aisin AS69RC six-speed automatic; the standard-output Cummins has the 68RFE six-speed. There’s also a new TorqueFlite eight-speed auto trans paired with the 410hp 6.4L Hemi. Additionally, the new Ram got new front and rear…

LEATHER GRIPPER PRP introduces its new line of steering wheels. Like all of PRP’s products, these steering wheels are said to be specifically built for off-road use. Each steering wheel is made from high-strength aluminum with a matte black finish and comes with a PRP emblem plate. They are available in flat and deep-dish models with either a suede or leather grip. You can choose from red, blue, silver, or orange stitching. The steering wheels feature a six-point bolt pattern, which is said to be the most common for off-road quick-release adapters. INFO: PRP, 800/317-6253, prpseats.com FJ80 BYPASS ARB 4x4 Accessories now offers BP-51 adjustable internal bypass shock absorbers for the Toyota Land Cruiser 80 Series. They are said to be engineered to be a bolt-on installation on the FJ80. The suspension package…

EACH JANUARY, AS WE PENCIL IN THE CALENDAR, we scan the globe for off-road events with badass reputations. Over the years, Four Wheeler has featured most of them, but there is a long-running debate on which is the toughest, meanest hombre on the block (or at least on which ones land in the top 10). For example, the U.S. has King of the Hammers, Mexico hosts the Baja 1000, and South America is the adopted home of the Dakar Rally. We headed across the Pacific to Southeast Asia for what we considered a little event with a big reputation, the Rainforest Challenge (RFC). What we found was a very unique, formidable event. We arrived in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur to a gala parade celebrating the RFC, grand presentations with…