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The Joy of Jeep
For anyone with an interest in Jeeps and fourwheeling, Tom Moor's "The Joy of Jeep" is highly recommended reading. It's an ambitious book that aims to be an all-encompassing reference to get even the greenest of Jeep owners up to speed on Jeep models, Jeep modifications, and Jeep activities. The fact that it succeeds is a testament to the author's depth of knowledge as well as his ability to distill such a wide-ranging body of information into a concise 160 paqes of information. |
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Photon Fusion
It's been a few years since we last looked at LED flashlights and a lot has changed in that time. Originally, they were ideally suited for taking over the key-chain, carry-anywhere flashlight market. But the improved quality and reduced prices have now positioned LED technology to start taking large chunks out of the general hand-held flashlight market. A prime example of this is the Photon Fusion. |
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Drill Doctor DD750
A sharp drill bit lets you drill holes more accurately, faster, and with less wear and tear on your drills. The problem with keeping drill bits sharp is that it takes a fair bit of skill and practice (as well as a bench grinder and the appropriate wheel) to properly sharpen a bit. As a result, very few home mechanics sharpen their own drill bits. Instead, they amass large collections of dull drill bits. Ask me how I know. To ease our suffering, Professional Tool Manufacturing, LLC created The Drill Doctor. This ingenious tool, introduced in 1997, gives the amateur metal worker the means to quickly and easily sharpen drill bits with professional results. |
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Air Liquide SG 300 Spool Gun
It's true that steel is much more useful when fabricating 4x4 stuff, but aluminum's light weight and corrosion resistance provide distinct advantages which make it preferable to steel for some projects. By adding an Air Liquide SG 300 spool gun to your MIG welder, you can easily weld aluminum at home. |
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CTM Heavy Duty Universal Joints
If you want a dependable 4x4 for hardcore trails, there is an easy way to make your front axle bullet proof while retaining your investment in your Dana 44 axle: install a set of CTM Heavy Duty Universal Joints. If you want the strongest Dana 44 you can imagine, you NEED CTM joints. |
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Champion Wheel Beadlock Rims
Mike Knorr brings his damaged Centerline alloy wheels back to life and turns them into beadlock rims, thanks to Champion Wheel Company. Read this article before deciding that you need to buy new rims! |
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Hypertherm Powermax 600 Plasma Cutter
Home fabricators have always had a great reverence for the plasma cutter but they rarely bought them because of their high cost. At least that's the way it used to be. Nowadays, plasma cutters are within the range of many hobbyists' budgets. The question is no longer, "how can I afford one?" It is, "what should I look for when buying one?" We answer that question and show you why we chose the Hypertherm Powermax 600. |
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Pro Comp Xterrains
With the introduction of the Xterrain, Procomp Tires has hit another home run. They've created a tire that is both more aggressive and quieter than most others in its class. |
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Ramsey Pro Plus 9000
Chris Lippmann went shopping for a winch and chose the Ramsey Pro Plus 9000. This winch combines an impressive pulling capacity with light weight and a quick line speed. In short, it was the perfect choice for his Jeep. |
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Kilby High Volume Automatic Transmission Pan
Automatic transmissions have lots of advantages off-road but to make them reliable, they require some minor upgrades. One of those is a deeper fluid pan to improve cooling and operation at extreme angles. Kilby Enterprises has the perfect high volume pan for your Jeep's automatic transmission. And best of all, it has a drain plug so messy fluid changes are a thing of the past! |
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2003 |
Bestop's Supertop for Early Broncos (1966-1977)
With winter on our doorstep and the old Bronco wrapped in a soft-top that had trouble qualifying as a wind breaker let alone a moisture barrier, we decided it was time for a new soft-top from Bestop. The new Supertop for Early Broncos rids us of the annoying 1970's era button snaps and has once again made our faithful Bronco water tight and wind proof. |
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2002 |
Air Liquide M200 MIG Welder
When it came time for me to lay down my own hard-earned cash on a welder, there was no question that it would be a MIG unit. I wanted the ease-of-use plus I wanted the ability to weld aluminum which I could do with MIG but not with a stick welder. But which MIG to buy? I looked at the usual suspects but then I heard about Air Liquide's new line of welders...
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BDS Pro-Ride 3" Lift Kit for Jeep Cherokees
Back in 1999, we bought a used '94 Cherokee Sport. It was destined to be our daily driver but that's not the way it turned out. We started using it for more and more off-roading trips and it soon became obvious that we needed to upgrade it for more serious off-road use. But it still had to act as our daily driver and family hauler. We turned to BDS Suspension and their 37quot; lift system. |
Kilby Enterprises Gas Tank Skid Plate
After going through the horror of removing my old, dented gas tank, I decided I NEVER wanted to do that again, so I bought a Kilby Enterprises gas tank skid plate. When it arrived, it only took one look for me to be convinced that my gas tank would never ever again suffer damage from the rocks. With its 3/16" thick steel construction, I'm quite certain it will be immune from small arms fire, too! |
The Redneck Ram - Hydraulic Steering for the Rest of Us
Mike Knorr tries out West Texas Off Road's Redneck Steering Ram. Their hydraulic steering assist gives you the power to control those over-sized tires while retaining the street legal status of a factory steering system. |
Bestop Trail Max Aqua Sport Seats
When you think of modifications to your 4x4, what are the first items that spring to mind? Lockers? Lift? Tires? Yeah, I thought so. And at the end of the list, or maybe not even on the list, are better seats. Worn, sagging seats will tire you out much more quickly because your body has to work harder to maintain its position in the seats while your 4x4 bounces and rocks on the trail. Until you try a set of firm, off-road seats, you'll never know the full worth of proper seats. |
Teraflex Revolver Shackles
For those of us with leaf spring suspensions, the Teraflex Revolver shackle presents an easy-to-install cure for coil spring envy. We installed a set of Project YJ and were impressed with the added flex which came without any side-effects or reduction of the vehicle's stability. |
Bestop Extended Fender Flares
As everyone knows, when you own a 4-wheeler, eventually the stock tires are no longer enough. But once you still wider tires, you then have to deal with the safety and legal problem of having your tires extend past the fenders. We ran into this problem with our Jeep TJ and turned to Bestop for help. |
BFG Mud Terrain T/A KM
The BFG Mud Terrain (MT) has held a dominant position in the radial mud tire market for the past ten years. Reliability, performance and excellent wear characteristics are often cited its legions of loyal followers. So it was with some trepidation that we awaited the debut of the new BFG Mud Terrain KM, the much talked about successor to the venerable MT. Would it be worthy of the name? Would it allow BFG to retain its dominance in this segment of the off-road tire market? We decided to find out by shodding a Jeep TJ with a set of 35x12.5 MT KMs.
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M.O.R.E. 1" Body Lift and Motor Mount Lift
Fine tuning: Project TJ undergoes some out-of-the-box thinking by using M.O.R.E.'s unique lifted motor mounts to eliminate its driveline vibration while retaining maximum ground clearance. We also improve the fender clearance with a M.O.R.E. 1" body lift. |
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2001 |
Doetsch Tech 8000 Shocks
If you're reading this then you're probably one of those people who has done some offroad modifications to your vehicle in the hopes of gaining better offroad performance. You probably also know that one modification leads to another, and another, and another (you get the idea). Well, I was in need of some new shocks in a bad way. My current shocks were no longer handling their damping duties and were also severely limiting my axle travel. After some careful investigation into the different shocks available I settled on the Pre-runner 8000 Series shock absorbers from Doetsch Tech. |
Transmission Rebuild - Auto Trans Inc and Trans Go
Although modern auto trannies are extremely reliable, there are many ways to improve them for trail use. Likewise, there are many ways to abuse them. The biggest enemy of an automatic transmission is heat. Heat breaks down the transmission fluid and wears critical parts such as the clutch bands and the clutch plates. Slow crawling exacerbates the heat problem, especially if the vehicle is under-geared for its tires. These issues perfectly described Project YJ's early years. An overhaul was in order, so we turned to Auto Trans Inc and Trans Go for help. |
Bestop Supertop
After ten years, Project YJ's original factory soft top was heavily battle-scarred from countless whippings from branches and the not-too-infrequent lean into rocks and trees. It's plastic windows were clouded by cataracts, rendering them more translucent than transparent. It was time to retire the top and find a suitable replacement. I could have simply replaced the skin and windows but I wanted to use this opportunity to also address some shortcomings in the soft top frame design, too. It didn't take long for me to decide on Bestop's Supertop. |
Rubicon Express Heavy Duty Rear TJ Axle Brackets
As I mentioned in the front axle swap story, I hadn't originally planned on changing my rear axle. I was quite happy with my swapped-in TJ D44. It was a combination of several factors that eventually convinced me that a 9" axle would be a good choice as a rear axle for my TJ. |
Sun Performance Billet Soft Top Disconnects
Last fall, when I was removing the soft top, I applied too much torque to the bolt and out came the nutsert from the plastic bow end. This meant a replacement. I called a dealership and they quoted the wonderfully low price of CDN$32.00 to replace it. I thought $32.00 to replace them all, not bad...when pressed, however, the voice from the other end "EACH." |
Go 2 Twister Dana 300 Re-Indexer
Go 2 Guy Engineering introduces their cure for the dreaded Dana 300 droop. Gain up to 4.25" of additional ground clearance without lifting your 4x4! |
Explorer ProComp Stage II Dodge Ram Lift Kit
The Dodge Ram 2500 pickup is one of the most popular trucks on the road today. With the excellent Cummins diesel engine, straight axle Dana 60 front and Dana 70 rear, hard use is exactly what the big Dodge is made for. The goal was to improve its offroad performance while maintaining its versatility and streetability. We were able to do this using Explorer ProComp's Stage II lift kit. |
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2000 |
Pro Comp Stage II F350 Super Duty 4
Ford's new F350 Super Duty Powerstroke Crew Cab shortbox is one of the most popular heavy duty pickups on and off the road. It is an extremely versatile vehicle equally suited to carrying the kids to soccer as it is to transporting a full crew of men to the worksite. With a solid front axle and an ultra-torquey diesel motor, this Ford has taken the truck market to a new level. But it can be taken to an even higher level with the addition of Pro Comp's Stage II 4" lift kit. |
Project TJ Gets Detroit Softlockers
I was really pleased with the Detroit Softlocker and its excellent highway manners so I decided to buy another Softlocker for my new 9" rear end. Yes, it cost more than a Lockright but it is way stronger and the labour costs would've been about the same since I was having new gears installed anyway. |
Goodyear Wrangler MTR
When I heard about Goodyear's new MTR tire, I visited Fountain Tire to check them out. Shortly after that, my Jeep had a new set of 35x12.50 Wrangler MT/R tires. Evolved from the previous generation Wrangler MTs, the new MT/R (Maximum Traction / Reinforced) promised a high-level of both on- and off-road performance. Do they deliver? Well, I've evaluated them for almost four months, and here are my results. |
R&R Beadbreaker & Tyre Refitting Tool
Use your brain, not your back
Dying of starvation, thirst or exposure can be a tragic and often times embarassing fate for someone stranded in Australia's great outback. Perhaps that is why it comes as no surprise that the land of Oz has spawned two manufacturers of hand-operated, tire bead breaker tools. In a country where flat tires can mean the difference between life and death (and embarassment), the ability to repair virtually any tire is a necessary skill. The best thing about the R&R tool is that it makes the job easy. |
Rubicon Express Heavy Duty TJ Front Axle Brackets
The Rubicon Express brackets are significantly stronger than the factory brackets and are precision-cut to match the factory set up. As you will see, this project wasn't quite a backyard grease-monkey project, but having the Rubicon Express brackets eased the workload significantly. When the brackets arrived, I wasn't disappointed. They were beautifully made and much thicker than the factory pieces. |
Yukon Gear and Axle's Spool
When discussing the options available for traction aiding differentials, the conversation is usually dominated by automatic lockers, manual lockers, and limited slips. Eventually, spools are mentioned but quickly dismissed as being too hardcore for street use. To some extent, this is true but for some of us, they might be the perfect balance between functionality and price. |
Tiger Tool
My ongoing quest for further mechanic's enlightenment has resulted in my recent acquisition of Tiger Tool's u-joint installation and removal tool kit. This kit, consisting of a u-joint puller and bearing cup installer, is designed solely for the installation and removal of u-joints. This it does quickly and well. You probably think that such tools are a luxury and that your vise, hammer, and mangled socket do just as good a job. I would agree that you could change u-joints without these tools but these tools do a better job and make it much easier. It would be similar to the difference between installing a lift kit with hand tools or with an impact wrench. Besides, Rock Monkeys like cool tools and that's what Tiger Tools makes. |
Portawattz PowerPAC
Thanks to a week of bad luck, I had a lot of opportunities to put the Statpower Portawattz PowerPAC to use. But before I get to my tale of woe, I'll tell you a bit about the PowerPAC. Simply put, it's a 12V gel battery combined with an AC inverter. But like the saying goes, the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. |
MileMarker's 9000lb 2-Speed Winch
If there's any subject guaranteed to cause a loud, opinionated discussion amongst a group of four-wheelers, it's got to be debating the merits of electric vs hydraulic winches. Most 'wheelers have strong feelings regarding which they prefer, and will happily rattle off several reasons why their choice is the best. |
Power Tank
Installing a reliable compressor setup is not as cheap or easy as you might think. A properly installed air compressor setup is a wonder to behold. You will forever be thankful for spending the money on such a reliable and useful upgrade. But if you cut corners and try to cheap-out on the installation, you will be cursed with problems. And that brings me to the Powertank CO2 system. It's a different approach to providing an on-board air supply. Installation is a non-issue and consistency of operation is virtually guaranteed. |
Pro Comp Radial Mud Terrains
When you're a major manufacturer of off-road products, entering the tire market is fraught with the danger of high customer expectations and harsh critics. Explorer Pro Comp has entered the tire wars with a new line of truck tires, the Radial All Terrain and the Radial Mud Terrain. So how does the new kid on the block compare against the established tiremakers like BFG and Interco? Very well, as it turns out. |
Photon Micro-Light II
Fourwheelers are gadget freaks so it's not too surprising when we come across a new product that we "need." The mark of a truly great product, however, is when non-fourwheelers want the same product just as much. That's exactly what happened when I received my order of Photon Micro-Light II flashlights from Photon.com. |
Breeze Industries Cross-Over Steering Kit
Ever wonder if there was a way to get rid of that annoying bump-steer in your Suzuki? Well there is an answer, and it's "Yes." |
TeraLow Dana 300 4:1 Gears
These awesome 4:1 gears transformed Project YJ's Dana 300 transfer case into a rock crawler's dream. Greater control, greater traction, zero effects on highway performance, what more could we ask for? |
Tyrepliers
Take a lesson from the Australian army and equip yourself with the Tyrepliers first aid kit for your tires. This portable tire repair shop is only 24" long and can fit in the smallest of 4x4s. |
Detroit Lockers
Project YJ gets a pair of Detroit Lockers. |
Rancho RS9000 Shock Absorbers
The Rancho RS9000 is probably the most well-known and sought-after shock absorber in the 4x4 world. Having never had the pleasure of owning a set, I was looking forward to testing a set that we recently installed on a Jeep TJ. Would the RS9000s live up to their reputation? |
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1999 |
Spectrum Digital Imaging's Ozi Explorer and BC Maps on CD-ROM
Get the maximum use from your GPS by partnering it with SDI's Ozi Explorer GPS mapping program and their digitized BC topographic maps. These powerful tools provide the components that will let you compile an accurate database of your favourite trails to share with your friends. |
Krill Electronic Lightsticks
Say good-bye to your chemical lightsticks. Kriana Corporation has developed a battery powered, electroluminescent lamp which has all the benefits and none of the disadvantages of its chemical cousin. |
Rhino Lining
How would you like to have your vehicle's interior equipped to handle virtually any kind of cargo without worrying about denting or scratching its finish, and as an added bonus, it would also allow you to hose the mud and dirt out after those extended offroad trips? That's exactly what you'll have if you get your vehicle Rhino Lined. |
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