We recently visited the FOX Factory shock service department in El Cajon, California, where the company builds and services many of its performance off-road shocks. The dedicated crew here builds to custom order and offers revalve and rebuild service to customers ranging from weekend warriors to the top race teams.

If you don’t want to get stuck, then stay off the dirt. Some of us venture far from pavement into sand, silt beds, mud, water, snow, and slush. And when our tires tread on those unstable surfaces, we’re bound to get stuck, stalled, or maybe even flopped over. It’s then that some good, basic recovery gear can get you righted and back on the move.

Off-road winches are often our saviors when we choose to push ourselves just a bit too far into some rocky abyss or nose way too deep into the gooey slop. They give us the confidence to push our rigs just a bit further knowing we have a rescue line on the front or rear bumper. And, they can also help us put four tires back on the ground when gravity wins in our fight to keep the rubber side down. Modern manufacturers offer us a huge variety of winches to choose from, ranging from sub-ton ATV winches up to heavy behemoths with huge pull ratings. It’s great to have all the choices to fit most any application and budget. We found a number of winches on the market that stand out to us for those looking for specific features. These are some of the more unique offerings. OR

If you remember all the way back to January 2013's issue ("Budget-Built Small-Block: Part 1"), we started to build a basic small-block 350 with a Summit Racing Top End kit that could be had for less than $1,300. A somewhat unique truck purchase (shortbed 3/4-ton GMC) for only $900 had inspired us to dump some money into the engine, and Summit's aluminum heads, manifold, camshaft, and timing chain package was the best bang we could find for our buck.

Too often, updates to an existing tire are nothing more than a little flash and maybe some sidewall enhancements. Toyo wanted to make sure this was not the case with its new Open Country A/T II. With taller tread blocks, a more aggressive overall pattern, and a new wear-resistant tread compound, Toyo succeeded in truly redesigning their all-terrain. And thanks to a 45-day/500-mile No-Regrets guarantee on this made-in-The-USA tire, you can rest assured that you’ll be happy with an Open Country II purchase, no matter what. OR

If you spend any significant amount of time in difficult terrain, you're bound to encounter a recovery situation at some point. It could be either your vehicle or someone else's. And a winch may be the proper tool at that time. This is a good time to review recovery techniques and rigging concepts. Keep in mind that these tips and the information provided here are not a substitute for proper training, sound judgment, and quality equipment.

We ideally like to test tires in a variety of conditions from mud to rocks to snow to sand to pavement. After all, that’s where off-road tires are going to get used. Unfortunately, seasonal conditions combined with limited test budgets sometimes keep us from doing all the examining we want to do in a standard testing period (thus why we have our “Long-Term Updates” section). But large tire companies have a few more resources on hand and can take the initiative to bring potential road conditions and terrains to a single testing facility that can give measurable data to help Cooper tire & Rubber not only manufacture but also continuously improve upon their tires.

Anyone who has owned and spent time in a MasterCraft Safety seat can tell you about the high quality and comfortable support. We wanted to show you what goes into the Baja RS recliner, one of the most popular models in the MasterCraft Safety line.

The average car guy usually has more than the average number of cars in his/her household. Are we wrong? Look outside; are there more than 2.5 vehicles in your driveway? That’s OK—us, too. And if you’re a multi-vehicle owner like us, you probably have to deal with run-down or dead batteries from time to time. It happens—that’s why the auto industry invented trickle chargers. But we don’t own three or four trickle chargers.

Quality rocker protection for pickup trucks is sometimes hard to find. Sure, there’s always the option of custom-welded tube sliders, but some owners are looking for a simpler way to gain some lower-body protection. Randy Ellis Design (RED) is filling some of that void with their Sleekster Rockers, bolt-on body-mounted rocker protection that requires no welding or cutting on your truck.

There aren’t as many engine shops around as there was when I was growing up. Ready-to-go crate engines and large-scale engine remanufacturers with computerized plants have lowered the buy-in price of a new or remanufactured engine, making the process of rebuilding your existing engine actually more expensive than just purchasing new equipment. As the aftermarket engine business evolved, a number of machine shops died out. The ones who stuck around … stuck around for a reason.

Go Ahead—Ask Us!

What do you want to know about? Is there something we tried out in the pages of this magazine that you would like to know more about? Send an email to updates@off-roadweb.com and we'll make sure we get you an answer.

So, just how do you reinvent the wheel? Well, that’s easy: Make it lighter, stronger, and better looking! that’s how we’d do it, anyway. Warn Industries decided to improve the construction of winches by innovating an all-new design to once again set the industry standard--something they’ve been doing since 1948. Since we’re pretty good at getting stuck off road, we’re always interested in the latest and greatest in recovery equipment. so, we jumped at the opportunity to get a firsthand look at Warn Industries’ newest product when they invited us up to their factories in Portland, Oregon, (which employs more than 500 workers) for the unveiling of their top-secret project. The Zeon line of truck and SUV winches are like nothing you’ve ever seen before!

Until recently, all single bead lock wheels adhered to a common format whereby the outer bead of the tire is sandwiched between two flat flanges, which is then locked in place by up to 48 bolts. This technology was originally developed by drag racers looking to keep slicks from rotating on their wheels during hard launches on asphalt. While effective for drag-racing applications, this locking method leaves several problems for the off-road enthusiast.

Trucks ain’t what they used to be. Years ago, you bought a truck because you needed to haul stuff or do other manly (sorry, ladies) chores that required payload capacity. They were typically noisier and rougher riding than cars, and they lacked some of the more refined creature comforts. The 21st century has changed all that, and today’s trucks offer the best of all worlds with their ability to haul/tow and wrap you in comfort on the street or in the dirt.

So far our new 6.7L Power Stroke Super Duty truck is living up to every demand we’ve made of it and running flawlessly to boot. While our plan is and has always has been to leave everything basically stock under the hood of our ’11 F-250, we figured a mild tune on our truck couldn’t hurt matters. Four hundred horsepower and 800 lb-ft of torque (straight from the factory) is more than enough for any legal pulling duties we’ll ever do with our truck, but we’ve discovered that we are those greedy types that are never quite satisfied, no matter how much power we’re given.

The front wheel hubs on most late-model trucks use sealed, non-serviceable unit bearing assemblies. Such is the case with the Ford F-150 2WD from ’04 to ’08. In addition, the front wheel hub and brake rotor are a single piece. When Ford first introduced these, you had to buy the entire expensive assembly if you had either a rotor problem or a wheel-bearing problem. Now, you can buy aftermarket rotors and the unit bearing separately. To perform a bearing swap requires a press to remove or replace a bearing in the rotor hat.

Have you ever felt like your windshield-mounted portable GPS isn’t really worth using anymore? Some people are ditching them in favor of the smart phone that is always carried on their person. There is no denying that the GPS-specific devices are better at map displaying and navigation, but with emerging technology, the smart phones are catching up fast.

Go Ahead—Ask Us!

What do you want to know about? Is there something we tried out in the pages of this magazine that you would like to know more about? Send an email to updates@off-roadweb.com and we’ll make sure we get you an answer.

To make a long story short, we bought an ’82 GMC C20 3/4-ton diesel truck … with a shortbed and a 350ci small-block. Someone had swapped in a gas engine, cut the frame, added a shortbed, and done a clean job of the conversions to boot. For $900 we purchased a cool 2WD truck with no emissions testing requirements and an engine that “needed work.”

As nice as it’s been to have a self-contained, automatic-locking differential in the rear of our ’04 4Runner, there were compromises that came with the territory. Some didn’t seem that bad, such as the occasional popping or banging noise as the locker locked and unlocked. You get used to it. Handling changed as the automatic locker engaged under acceleration and disengaged under deceleration. Again, you get used to it. One thing that got old too fast was the accelerated tire wear. Every time a corner was rounded with a foot on the gas (which was more often than not), the rear tires were scrubbing all the way around the turn. And it’s no secret that off-road tires aren’t cheap.

There are two simple reasons why you should add hydraulic-assist steering to your oversized-tire-laden 4x4: 1) it makes it easier to turn the wheels, and 2) it takes stress off the steering system.

When you add larger tires to a vehicle, you put more strain on all the steering components. The ball joints wear more quickly, tie rods and draglinks often need to be upgraded, and the steering boxes can quickly get sloppy or even break.

Ford builds a great Super-Duty chassis. That is a backhanded way of saying that the Navistar-built 6.0L and 6.4L Power Stroke diesel engines that Ford sourced sometimes have a few issues. The 6.4-liter is a big improvement over the 6.0-liter, but that’s like saying a buffalo is skinnier than an elephant.

Diesel engines may be the most impressive internal combustion engines currently being produced. Though they’re fairly heavy compared to their gasoline counterparts, they can be built up easily by the average wrench slinger.

With a few modifications, modern diesels such as the Ford 6.0L Power Stroke can produce some jaw-dropping power numbers while still doubling as a reliable off-road tow rig engine. It’s no surprise that problems usually surface when the boost pressures are turned up to the point where the factory intercooler just can’t keep up with the demands of the boost-happy turbocharged diesel engine.

After 40,000 trouble-free miles and trying out a number of suspension combinations, heights, types of shocks, and tires on our Ford 3/4-ton diesel 4x4 truck we finally figured out what we wanted for our 2011 Super Duty.