Four Wheeler September 2017

I’m writing this a few days after boomeranging back to my office from the 2017 Easter Jeep Safari (EJS) in Moab. One of the many impressive things about EJS is that 2017 marked the event’s 51st anniversary. Yes, 51 years. That’s remarkable. An event has to be pretty incredible to boast this kind of longevity, and EJS is, well, pretty incredible. Not only has it drawn, and held, the attention of wheelers the world over, it has also caught the attention of a number of aftermarket 4x4 parts manufacturers who run trails all week and then set up shop at the Jeep Expo, a massive two-day vendor show that is part of EJS. The event has even caught the attention of new vehicle manufacturers, and many have made the trek to…

KEN.BRUBAKER@FOURWHEELER.COM NOTEWORTHY ACCOMPLISHMENTS I just read a great article asking what the greatest accomplishments of the last few decades would be (Trail’s End, May ’17). I would say hands down it would be the Internet. We now have access to search engines that help us locate parts suppliers, blogs and forums to improve or diagnose our rigs, pictures to motivate us, our beloved 4x4 mags, etc. Yes, we have made some big steps in terms of LED lightbars, engine swap combos, etc., but I feel KNOWLEDGE has been our greatest leap forward. I can plan an easy upgrade on my truck knowing I have done all my homework on some great forums, found the companies that make fabricator parts, watch YouTube videos to teach myself how to weld, and found the obscure,…

EDITOR@FOURWHEELER.COM AAA did a study, and we bet we’re more surprised than you are with the results. It was found that more than 30 million Americans are likely to buy an electric vehicle—as their next vehicle. To quote: “The number of Americans interested in an electric vehicle approaches the number planning to purchase a pickup truck.” Scientific American and Nature Communications have educated us on the fact that the brain has its own GPS system, based on memories of where we’ve traveled/ navigated. But with our newfound reliance on apps, the parts of the brain that do this navigating are becoming inactive. China, meet the Ford Ranger. Ranger, meet China. You’re coming for each other in 2018. Sportsbettingexperts.com gave the prop-betting touch to autonomous vehicles, as in, the betters set some odds for safety…

707 horses. 645 lb-ft of twist. 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. Quarter-mile of 11.6 seconds. Top speed of 180 mph. What, you need to know more about the ’18 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk beyond that it’s quick, and the most powerfully potent SUV to date? OK, then pacify yourself with the fact that it has a tweaked TorqueFlight eight-speed auto trans hooked to the supercharged 6.2L V-8, as well as some interesting tech, such as a forged-steel crank with induction-hardened bearing surfaces that can withstand firing pressure of almost 1,600 psi, and that the specially tuned crank damper has been burst-tested to 13,000 rpm. And that high-strength pistons and powder-forged connecting rods use high-load-capacity bushings and carbon-coated piston pins, and that the cylinder heads have been treated for thermal conductivity, plus that…

Toyota named this off-road concept FT-4X. (Side note: We dig that name way more than what it’s abbreviated for: Future Toyota-Four Wheel Drive Crossover.) Toyota’s also calling it a “four-wheel-drive toolbox,” with an “X Theme” design, featuring a description of that design that frankly made our eyes glaze over—something about how “at the rear, the bowed vertical X can be seen at the rear hatch, again placing the door handle at the center and creating a protective space. Now, imagine another X, but this time horizontal, or flat, placed at the top and bottom of the vertical Xs…” We should probably not attempt to explain the vehicle’s three “zones” either, but allow us to simply say two of them are “Clean” and “Wet.” Anyway, specs: 167 inches long with a…

You’re gonna notice the tires first, so let’s just start there. The Nissan Rogue concept—or, probably more accurately, the Rogue one-off that’ll inspire no future Nissan vehicles—has Dominator Tracks from American Track Truck, which are 48 inches long, 30 inches tall, and 15 inches wide. To fit such ginormous rolling stock, the suspension and wheelwells had to be massaged, but everything else is factory. Although, the bolt-ons are not—there are custom fender flares, tinted and LED lights, ARB gear basket, and Warn winch.…