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Offroading and traveling in the back country is inherently a dangerous activity. Even if you are just tackling an easy drive down a scenic two track dirt road, there are things that can cause you to have a bad day or will run a weekend. This article will highlight five things that will help you be safe during this Memorial Day Weekend and during all you adventures. Each of these points could really become a full blown article in itself and you could spend all day coming up with potential risks and ways to mitigate or avoid those risks, but the idea here is to encourage you to consider risk assessment during your adventures and your daily life.
1. Drink water. The next time you are marking a tree or bush, check bout the color of your urine. If its clear then you are well hydrated. The darker that urine is, the less hydrated you are. I keep a Camelbak with me but my wife and both kids also have their own. Watch out for signs of heat cramps or exhaustion like headaches, nausea, excessive sweating and dizziness. If you or someone in your group begins to experience any of these symptoms, then take a break, cool off and get some water inside.
2. Alcohol and driving doesn’t mix – ever. Each state and country has their own laws regarding legal limits but I’d like to encourage you to completely abstain from consuming alcohol if you are expecting to operate a vehicle within 8 hours. Driving down an empty paved street while impaired is dangerous. How much more dangerous do you think is is rock crawling, driving a shelf road or blasting through the desert is while impaired?! Don’t drink and drive.
3. Conduct good preventative maintenance on your vehicle and your gear. If you’re like me, then you’re likely to be pushing the limits of your equipment at some time. Spend some time going through your equipment in the driveway where you have control of your surroundings so that you aren’t broken down in an area where you don’t have control of the environment and access to all your tools and parts.
4. Don’t travel alone. If something does happen while you’re out then having a buddy to help assist you, you’ll be in much better shape. Traveling alone requires you have have a well thought through contingency plan or two (or more). Know what to do when things go wrong before they do so that you are prepared with a solid plan of action. But I understand how enjoyable it can be to get out and experience Creation, which leads me to the last point.
5. Tell someone your plans. In the military we use an acronym – GOTWA.
G – Going; as in where you are going.
O – Others you’re taking with you.
T – Time. Let sometime know when to expect you to come back or at least check in.
W – What to do if I don’t return or check in at the pre-designated time.
A – Actions to take if things go wrong.
Please consider these safety suggestions and be safe! If you have any experience in these areas, please let me know what happened or if you have some other safety suggestions.
Look carefully at this picture and tell me what you see. Do you see a piece of plywood or do you see the beginnings of a storage system?
This is in fact, the start of the storage system that when complete, will house the chuck box, dutch oven, recovery gear and tools. I also plan on it having a psuedo-tail gate and it will be lockable. So if you have any experience with building these kinds of things, please leave me any suggestions in the comments.
I have to apologize for not producing as much content for you, the faithful audience member of The 4×4 Podcast. Real life happens to all of us and I consider myself extremely lucky because I have a full time job and can provide for my family. I also like to be able to get out have my own adventures and share those experiences with you. When I’m not producing content for The 4×4 Podcast, I’m consuming content from other areas around the internet. My time is extremely limited so I try to only spend time following the very best of the adventures from people that inspire me. I’d like to share which places I go to find offroading and adventure content to inspire you when you’re not listening to the podcast.
The Overland Expo, in Flagstaff, AZ has just wrapped up and I really wish I could have been there. However, I feel like I got to see all the best sights and heard some of the sounds from the event. For the sights, I made sure to follow the Grab Wrench blog at http://grabawrench.com/overland-expo-2013-live where instagram photos are/were being compiled in real time.
Hopefully you’ll be inspired as well by some of these great resources! You can also catch these updates and many more like it on Facebook at http://facebook.com/the4x4podcast.
On episode 32 of your favorite offroading podcast, we bring you coverage on the Go Topless Day New Hampshire Jeep event at Backwoods Farm in Rumney, NH.
Go Topless Day was originally organized by All Things Jeep to celebrate fun and sense of adventure that comes from owning a vehicle that can go anywhere and do anything, as well as drop the top for some open air fun. There are events all across the world and most of them will be on May 18th for 2013. If you’d like to find a Go Topless Day event in your area, just head over to All Things Jeep and check out their listing.
Back in episode 28, we talked to Tom from Backwoods Farm, NH about their fundraiser where they are raffling off a brand new 2013 Jeep Wrangler. With over 300 Jeeps and their families in attendance, this was an offroading spectacle! The 2 mile long trail ride was well organized and was as challenging or as easy as you’d like it to be with difficult options and easy bypasses. There was an obstacle course that was a boulder shewn area with some nasty tractor tires and broken concrete culverts mixed in. I watched a bit and saw more than one vehicle hauled off the course by a front-end loader. The mud bog nearby was extremely deep and was giving even the purpose build mud trucks and Jeeps a real challenge. I also had the chance to cruise through the vendor area and catch a couple interviews with some non-profit organizations that you should check out.
Wheeling for the Lost (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wheeling-For-The-Lost/143739025674317) is a non-profit to help raise funds for the National Center For Missing And Exploited Children. Please ask all your friends to “LIKE” our page so we can reach as many people as we can to help keep children safe. You can also find out more by sending a message to WheelingForTheLost@gmail.com.
Crawling For A Cure (http://crawlingforacure.org/) is an organization that is working to raise funds to help breast cancer research and the survivors.
Walk a Mile in Their Boots (http://www.walkamileintheirboots.com/) is a fully registered non profit organization that was established with the sole intent to raise awareness and support for other Military Organizations as well as our Veterans. It was started by two women Kelly Merchant and Amy Boynton, who believed in reinvigorating and recognizing other organizations that directly support our Active Military Service Men and Women, as well as our Nations Veterans from previous wars from every Military Branch. They may be New Hampshire based, but they strive to help wherever the need may be.
Any offroading trip is made better when its combined with some great camping with family and great food! This weekend was the first real test of the chuck box that I’ve been working on. Everything worked flawlessly and the only changes that I feel need to be made are the contents. I have too much flatware and not enough spices to be ready for any meal. There was quite a bit of rain but I felt comfortable leaving the chuck box out in the elements because I used a quality latex paint and weather seal around the lid and door that will prevent any water from seeping in. I was very pleased with how everything worked during this first shake down. Over the rest of the summer, I’ll be working on the storage system in the XJ where this chuck box will eventually reside full time. Once that time gets closer, I will probably add some additional protection to the corners and the edges in the form of some metal trim pieces. This will protect it from scuffs and bumps better and will allow it to slide in and out of the storage system better without the need to add actual slides.
On the 31st episode of The 4×4 Podcast, we talk all about the New York International Auto Show. I have previously posted about my thoughts and feelings about the Dodge and Toyota booths, as well as the Jeep Experience. This show has more in depth discussion on those particular topics. In the show you’ll also get to hear some of the sounds from the show floor including reactions from other attendees. I also managed to catch a short interview with the author of the children’s book and builder of the Log Dog, an exquisitely built 63 Ford pickup. The new Range Rover Sport was on hand, looking very svelte in its 20 inch wheels and white leather; I wouldn’t want either on an offroad vehicle. The updated Land Rover LR4 was nearby as well which I would take offroad but I have a few issues with the mechanics of how the rear seat operation was designed.
One of the most exciting things that I saw was the new Jeep Cherokee. Now I say “exciting” but don’t get me wrong; that doesn’t mean I’ll be paying money for one any time soon. I mean exciting because it is such a controversial vehicle and has been very polarizing with some people stating that its the worst Jeep ever built. I agree with the fact that it does have a quite ugly face and the rear end could easily be mistaken for a misbadged Kia but there is a reason for all of this. I spent a lot of time (far more time than anyone in my family enjoyed) looking through the Cherokee and laying my hands all over it. By the way, apparently they don’t like it when you open the doors on a roped off vehicle but to them I say, “you should just lock it if you don’t want people opening things.” I talked to a lot of people to find out what their opinion on the Jeep was and it was a very mixed response. There were a few people that said that they were planning on buying one. One guy even said that he would gladly pay $35,000 for a well optioned Cherokee which had me putting on my best poker face to hide on shock. But that shows that there is an appetite for a mildly luxurious SUV/crossover that can handle bad weather and some trail duties but still fits in the Jeep family tree somewhere under the Grand Cherokee. And if you want all that but you still want to get 30ish miles per gallon, you absolutely have to make some compromises. I firmly believe that Jeep could do more with the 3.2 liter Pentastar motor to get even better power and efficiency but they intentionally left out those modifications for future revisions of the platform.
Believe it or not, there were a lot of new cars at the auto show that were never intended to be taken off road! I know its a strange thought, but there were some pretty cool looking cars such as the Chevy Z28, the new Corvette, the new SS, the Acura NSX concept, Mercedes Benz SLS AMG, a concept Hyundai Genesis and much more.
Be sure to click through the whole gallery and leave a comment on the show notes to let me know what you think of the auto show.
If you’re like me then you’ve got ideas and aspirations that are much larger than your wallet or garage can handle. But maybe you’re in the right location and the right place in life to pick up a new project rig. And since Jeep is now celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Wagoneer so I thought it would be appropriate to re-share this classic luxury SUV that really, is the grandfather of the modern SUV.
The listing says that this is from the second owner and is in original form. Original paint, body, V8 motor, transmission, transfer case and interior. This one had less than 72,000 miles. It does have some minor issues but not to many. So is $1700 a great price or a money pit?
I jumped into my Jeep at lunch the other day and when I started it up, I heard that screeching sound that is a tell-tale sign that my serpentine belt on my 99 Jeep Cherokee was about to let go. I quickly shut the engine off and popped the hood which let some smoke start to creep around the edges of the hood. Serpentine belts are a pain because they wind through so many pulleys but that’s not too bad. I loosened up the belt tensioner pulley and pulled the belt off and began the inspection process to determine what when wrong. The belt was showing some signs of dry-rot since it had been on the engine for at least 7 years but it didn’t look like that was the root cause of the smoking belt.
I started checking the pulleys to see if maybe a pulley bearing had seized which would cause a great load of friction which would lead to a belt failure. Sure enough, I discovered that the air conditioner compressor clutch had seized which roasted the bearings and caused my belt failure. I called around to the local parts places and picked up a new belt ($35) but I was having a hard time finding a new AC compressor clutch and bearing. I later discovered that I was going to have to get a whole new compressor with clutch and bearing already installed. Working on the AC system does require a EPA 608 certification so that you aren’t accidentally releasing the refrigerant which is hazardous to the ozone – I do not have the EPA certification. So I called around to some local shops for an estimate and let them know exactly what was needed to solve my issue. The lowest estimate I received was over $570 – OUCH!
I already had my new $35 belt so I went back to my parts places, AutoZone, Advance Auto Parts and NAPA and they were all around $210 for a new AC compressor. Then my wife reminded me that someone from the church we attend co-owns a salvage yard. I called up Eiss Brothers Auto Parts in Watertown, NY and found a used compressor for $135 + core charge – WIN! The next problem to solve was how to evacuate the system so I don’t have to live with the mental burden of being personally responsible for killing all the polar bears, penguins destroying the rainforests by depleting the ozone with my R-134 AC refrigerant. Fortunately I have a few friends that have the certification and the recovery machine so problem solved!
Replacing the compressor is extremely simple and only took me 30 minutes from start to finish. The system had already been evacuated and the belt had been removed. All that was left was removing the four long bolts from the compressor that go into the bracket, disconnecting the refrigerant hoses and then disconnecting the electrical connection. I was a bit clumsy in holding the old compressor which let to me spilling some of the oil down the bumper so if you attempt this job, be sure to take care not to spill excess oil and make a mess – more on this and how Blue Ridge Overland Gear helped me keep things clean and tidy at the end of my story.
I dropped the new (used) compressor on to the bracket and installed it in reverse order as the removal. Now once I actually go back and have new refrigerant and oil added to the compressor, I will also be replacing the O-rings to ensure I can enjoy a nice long, leak-free AC system. For now though, I just needed to get the compressor with working clutch and pulley installed so that I can drive the Jeep and my wife and have her Suburban back. But for now, the compressor was installed and allowing me to route the 30 foot long (this might be an exaggeration) serpentine belt which will give me all the accessories back making the Jeep drive-able. You have to remember that the belt also drives the power steering and charging system – both necessary to drive a vehicle on 35” mud tires more than 2 miles.
Once everything was tightened down, belt installed and tension adjusted I was ready to fire up the engine for a quick test – it roared to life with only normal engine sounds so everything was good to go! Here’s how the cost has broken down so far:
· AC Refrigerant ~ $50 – AutoZone or Advance Auto Parts
· Edible bait to entice buddy to help with EPA 608 certification and easy my conscience – Priceless
The last step in this process is to return the old compressor to Eiss Brothers and get my core charge back which means I have to transport this oil covered unit back to their warehouse without making a mess in the Jeep. I already have Husky Floor Mats so my floors are pretty well protected but I didn’t want all that oil to run around and make a bigger mess – enter Blue Ridge Overland Gear oil bag http://www.blueridgeoverlandgear.com/The-overland-oil-bag-p/21fb.htm. I have had this bag sitting in the back of my XJ with some motor oil, liquid wrench, coolant and power steering fluid for quite some time because I know that if any of those containers were to leak or burst, the mess would be contained inside the vinyl coated polyester bag. This was a perfect solution for hauling my compressor back to the shop and have peace of mind that the double stitched seems and VCP material would keep the compressor oil contained should it roll over while driving. I love the peace of mind knowing that I can transport some extra vital fluids for my Jeep without the worry of them leaking all over the other gear that I carry with me everywhere. I highly recommend that you pick up one of these bags because you know you should be carrying spare fluids on the trail and you know that it’s just a ticking time bomb of a mess that should be well contained.
Blue Ridge Overland Gear has constructed a phenomenal product, as usual. Here are the technical specs for the oil bag:
– 550 Milspec Paracord
– ITW Nexus Ghillie TEX (QASM)
– 5’x6’ plastic tarp. No Eyelets
– TW Nexus Sliders
– 500D Cordura
– VCP Vinyl Coated Polyester — What bouncy houses are made from
There were two things that I really wanted to accomplish while at the New York International Auto Show: see the 2014 Jeep Cherokee for myself and take a ride in the Jeep Experience. I had already seen all the pictures of the new Cherokee but I really wanted to see it for myself because I kept thinking, “it can’t possibly be as bad in person as it seems in the pictures.” And I have heard so many great stories about how people react to the Jeeps being put through the obstacle course that it would have been a shame to miss out on that.
The Jeep Experience was a very large area placed outside the Javits center which attracted attention from everyone as they drove by the event. The air was crisp and the sky was clear making this a perfect day to introduce the city-dwellers to the capabilities of some Jeeps.
As you approach the exhibit, you follow a red carpet through a height check station which prevented my 5 year old daughter from taking a ride since she was under the 44″ height requirement by a few inches. She was pretty bummed about that but everything was made better when I reminded her that we get to go offroading to more exciting places in daddy’s Jeep at home. Going forward, we came to a registration/survey desk. The only payment required for the ride is a signature on the consent form and the time to fill out a survey about your thoughts and feelings about the Jeep brand. Once finished with the survey, we received a badge and lanyard with a QR code to identify us at the survey station at the end of the ride. The line continued to snake around past screens playing Jeep commercials and signs bearing interesting Jeep trivia.
The Jeeps on the course consisted of Wrangler Rubicons and Grand Cherokees. The Patriot was just a static display but I made sure to ask, “why isn’t the Patriot giving rides?” The answer was somewhat humorous, “well, we have a lot of people to get through the course and we want to use vehicles that make it easier to get in and out of.” What I heard though was, “Yeah, that thing has a Trail Rated badge but we don’t think people will want to buy one after being on this course. And they will feel cheated when their friends ride in a Rubicon or Grand instead of the Patriot.”
But lets talk about what is on the actual course and why you’d want to wait in line to ride on a manufactured pseudo-offroad course. The course was comprised of obstacles that were specifically designed to highlight the capabilities of Jeep’s offroading vehicles. The first obstacle is a 30 degree side hill and as the Jeep climbs onto the ramp, the lockers get a bit of a work out. 30 degrees is quite a bit; probably more than I would feel comfortable with in my own Jeep due to its raised center of gravity. There are actually two ramps so you get to experience the pucker-factor from both sides.
Next up was a platform made of logs of various lengths standing on their end designed to demonstrate ground clearance. It was a fairly rough but I don’t think it was a real good demonstration of ground clearance because the setup was built for the Jeep wheelbase and break over angle making it feel a bit deceptive.
The next area was designed to highlight the suspension by placing logs perpendicular to the wheels. This does a really good job of demonstrating what a suspension is capable of, especially when a sway bar is disconnected. I think however, that the logs could have been much larger to really show off what the Rubicon is capable off. Instead the logs were only about 8″ in diameter so there wasn’t a whole lot of axle flexing.
The last obstacle was the hill climb. The steel slope was at a 35 degree angle and climbed 18 feet high. This is something I have definitely done far worse in my own XJ. The expanded metal provided a high traction surface allowing the Jeeps to crawl up to the top with ease when placed into 4-low. The steep incline allows the drivers to show off the hill descent control, which is something that other manufactures has had for many years. The hill descent control prevents the transmission from shifting gears and automatically controls the brakes allowing a slow controlled drive down the slope without using the brakes at all.
The hill descent assistance is a very nice feature that I expect will be very useful to new offroaders. All the new systems provide these modern offroad machines such capability that make getting farther from civilization and then getting back home safely much easier. The experience provides shock-and-awe to people that have never experienced offroading before. That shock-and-awe is a sensation that continues to make this demonstration a tremendous hit with the crowd at every event that Jeep bring it to. If you’re at an event and Jeep is has their demonstration setup, I recommend that you check it out! For more info on this, be sure to check out episode 31 of The 4×4 Podcast!
I started this project a long time ago and then it was abandoned for other projects. But as spring-time gets closer to arriving here in central NY, I figured it was about time to get this project wrapped up. So I dug out my gear and took some measurements and got started. I wanted to have all the back country kitchen essentials right at hand to make it that much easier to get out of town at a moments notice and know that I didn’t forget something important.
I’m not the best woodworker, as you’ll see in the video, but I’m good enough to get the job done. I still have a few things that I want to take care off before this chuck box goes out for its maiden voyage. Here’s the short list:
– paint to seal the wood
– weather stripping around the doors
– better latches
– retention cables to keep the doors from opening too far
– carrying handles
– compartments to mitigate shifting contents
– possibly legs to make this a free standing unit
Just around the corner from the Dodge offerings was the Toyota section. Toyota didn’t have any new unveilings but they did have a few attention grabbers which pulled me in for a while. Being a gear head I couldn’t help be take notice of the Sequoia outfitted to move a family of five down the quarter mile in a hurry! This clean looking Matco sponsored SUV fit somewhere in limbo because it didn’t quite fit the bill as a full on drag racer and it wasn’t even close to be a comfortable weekend cruiser. A full on drag racer certainly wouldn’t have the additional seats and for sure not a kid size Mastercraft in the middle of the second row. The rear seat entertainment screens seemed a bit out of place too unless it was just to display the speed and G-forces you’re pulling while doing a wheelie down the strip! All that nonsense aside, this was a good looking truck that I’m sure would be a really fun tire slayer.
One bad Sequia
One bad Sequia
Back in October Toyota pulled a bit of publicity stunt when it used a Tundra to pull the space shuttle Endeavor towards its retirement home at the California Science Center. This towing feat was accomplished by an unmodified truck which is a pretty amazing achievement. It did require a bit of preparation though. 1,700 lbs was loaded in the bed and the tires were aired down to help the truck get as much traction as possible. I’m fairly certain that NASA or the California Science Center could have selected an American-made truck to pull this national icon but that’s not relevant here. The very same truck that pulled the space shuttle was on display and was being used as target practice….by kids throwing paper airplanes. Such a noble truck relegated to a kids toy. It was fun to fold some paper space shuttles with my kids but getting those poorly balanced paper crafts to soar through the target set in the Tundra’s bed was not an easy task.
Trying to toss a paper space shuttle into the Tundra’s bed
Trying to toss a paper space shuttle into the Tundra’s bed
THE space shuttle pulling Toyota Tundra
The most exciting things I got to crawl through was the 2013 Toyota Land Cruiser. I have never owned a Land Cruiser myself but I’m always been fascinated with this offroading legend. One of the things I love most about the Land Cruiser, I mean besides the 5.3L V8 that cranks out 381 HP and 401 lb-ft of torque, is the fold down tailgate. The Land Cruiser (and of course its fancier sister, the Lexus LX570) is one of the only SUVs that you can still buy that has a drop down tailgate. That seemingly unimportant feature is so full of utility that I feel that it should be standard on every offroad vehicle. The third row seat in the Toyota Land Cruiser also performs a neat trick by folding up into the sides. This method performs the same basic thing as other SUVs, getting that extra seat out of the way when not in use, but the execution just makes more sense going up to the sides insead of folding farther into a vehicle which is harder to deploy or remove.
That V8 motor is extremely powerful and would make pulling a trailer an easy task. The Toyota Land Cruiser is rated at 8,200 lbs which should be plenty to pull a trailer loaded with your hardcore wheeler or other plaything to the trail head. Of course that 13 city/18 highway MPG is not real great compared to even the full-size truck offerings at the show. While the fullsize SUV field isn’t as cut-throat as the mid-size SUV/cross-over field, the drivetrain is due for refresh to keep it current and a valid contender in its market. The biggest drawback, at least in my opinion, is the base price of $78,555
Now thats sticker shock. $78,555 base price?!
We all like the Toyota Land Cruiser but that price has me turned off. Give it 10 years….
Be sure to let me know what you think of the Toyota vehicles in the comments below, through Facebook, Twitter or G+.
