Nissan 5.6L Endurance V-8
Nissan did it right when they built the 5.6L V-8 Titan engine. Their all aluminum engine delivers a huge amount of stump-pulling power which naturally makes it a great engine choice for underpowered Nissans. The tough bottom end torque of the 5.6L V-8 as well as its highly efficient 32-valve DOHC design help this engine perform like the big block that it isn't.inline_mediumwraptextright26703460/tech/0912or_best_off_road_truck_engine_swaps0912or_04+best_engine_swaps+nissan_56l_endurance_v8.jpgTrue

The '73 to '87 Chevy trucks and their straight front axle Blazer cousins (up to 1991) have long been fullsize favorites and a great base onto which one can build a fun off-road machine. These 4WDs have come equipped in numerous forms with a wide variety of engines, transmissions, transfer cases, and axles. There is significant parts interchangeability and replacement parts are readily available thanks to the great numbers of these vehicles that were manufactured and the number that still remain on the road today.inline_mediumwraptextright26648389/tech/0912or_off_road_design_chevy_blazer_lift_kit0912or_01+1991_chevy_blazer+side_view.jpgTrue

What is the key to finishing any off-road race? We're sure you're all offering a number of ideas here, but the team over at Dean Schlingmann Motorsports (DSM) in Covina, California, would claim durability at the top of any list. If it can't run for hours on end, be exposed to the gnarliest of environmental conditions, and still bring you to the finish line, it's just not good enough.inline_mediumwraptextright30936807/tech/0912or_351_windsor_408_stroker_engine_durability_factory_100912or_01_+408_windsor_engine+engine.jpgTrue

Our Big Block 1979 Bronco had been running fine with the factory cast iron intake manifold, but with bigger tires in this truck's foreseeable future, the heavy and restrictive manifold was simply holding back the power the 460 could pump out. With less than 1,000 miles since its stock rebuild, we went to work removing the old carburetor and intake manifold to make room for its new Weiand Stealth intake manifold along with a Holley 770 CFM aluminum Truck Avenger carburetor and a Holley 14-inch Power Shot air cleaner. The teardown was straightforward and easy, you can easily perform this mod with a few simple hand tools, a drain pan, gasket sealant and adhesive.inline_mediumwraptextright30938790/tech/0912or_1979_ford_bronco_holley_aluminum_truck_avenger_carburetor0912or_01+1979_ford_bronco+side_view.jpgTrue

Nitrous oxide (NO2) can be a finicky power adder for your engine. It is composed of two oxygen molecules for every one nitrogen molecule. This mixture is not a fuel and doesn't produce power by itself, but it gives you the ability to burn more fuel to create more power-think of it as a catalyst. If used improperly, it has the potential to blow engine parts through your truck's hood. However, when used correctly with the sufficient components, nitrous oxide will without a doubt provide the most amount of power for the least amount of money. It can be used on nearly any engine without severely degrading the life of the engine. Generally, nitrous is considered a mod that only gets plumbed into little tuner cars or large V-8s that displace lots of cubic inches and have a quarter mile to go. But with so many guys trading in their V-8s for four and-six-cylinder ORVs, it was time to see what a bottle of NO2 could do to a mild Jeep I-6. We didn't want a kit that would break our bank, nor did we want one without any safety parameters that would stop the nitrous flow if the fuel flow stops. It sounded like a stretch, but after talking to Zex we were confident it could be accomplished with its 4 &-6-Cylinder Nitrous System for EFI engines.inline_mediumwraptextright30931422/tech/0912or_jeep_cherokee_i6_zex_wet_nitrous_system0912or_01_jeep_i6_zex_nitrous+kit.jpgTrue

Repeating "Heat is the number one killer of all drivetrain parts," never seems to get old. Perhaps it's because it's one of those things that, no matter how well you know it, you'll ignore someday and it'll bite you in the ass. We've fried multiple transmissions, axles, transfer cases, engines ... you name it, we've fried it. That's why adding coolers and extra-capacity pans to engines, transmissions and axles is never a bad idea.

Since there's not too much attention paid to '74-to-'93 Dodge truck suspensions, we cut and pasted together what we think is a pretty good kit for a Dodge W200 3/4-ton truck. Using a Rancho Dodge suspension, a Chevy triple shock hoop, and some Offroad Design shackles, we turned out a pretty nice Dodge that was good for wheeling but rough as heck on our backs! Next time we'll get replacement leaves for the rear instead of building off the non-flexing plates of metal Dodge passed off for leaf springs in the 1970s.inline_mediumwraptextright26650294/tech/0912or_dodge_w200_4x4_lift_kit_install0912or_01+dodge_w200_truck+front_view.jpgTrue

KC HiLites KC-Pod
It's tough to talk ill about this light. It's big, bold, and bright as hell and is off the charts in coolness factor because of its luscious carbon skin. Over the past six months the only problem we've had with these lights is the wiring job we fashioned up in our garage. That is, of course, our fault. Getting used to adjusting the light direction took a few tries as the KC system is different than most off-road lights. Light output is consistently bright, and for only three lights, we've yet to be outshined by any other threesome we've come across.inline_mediumwraptextright26519614/tech/0912or_december_2009_long_term_updates0912or_03+long_term_updates+kc_hilites_kc_pod.jpgTrue

Nothing says '80s quite like quad shocks-even in 1978. Ford engineers may have had their hearts in the right place (and were even ahead of their time) when they built the first fullsize Broncos in 1978, but the aftermarket has had almost three decades to improve on what Ford first put out. We decided that our Bronco was destined for a better suspension that could actually perform off-road in various scenarios. Our Bronco was already fitted with an antiquated 6-inch suspension lift that was probably sagging to about four inches taller than stock. We had enough room to clear 38-inch tires but hated the fact that even our 35-inch tires would rub against our stock radius arms at full turn. Needless to say we could never perform a U-turn unless we were off-road.inline_mediumwraptextright30872970/tech/0912or_cage_off_road_ford_bronco_long_arm_lift_kit0912or_01+ford_bronco+front_view.jpgTrue

As great as today's Dodge trucks are, they still have a few areas in need of improvement. One of these is the feared fuel-economy-robbing unit bearing assemblies found on the front axle. Since 1994, 4WD Dodge trucks have been equipped with unit bearings. This switch was made simply to save money producing the vehicles. Unit bearings actually have a longer service life than a standard hub, but they are not rebuildable. The problem with the absence of a locking hub is that there is no means of preventing the axle components from spinning while in 2WD. As a result, premature wear, reduced mileage and a heavy feel to the steering can exist. The guys at Dynatrac have a great solution for the OEM shortcomings. We ordered up their Free-spin HDHC (heavy-duty hub conversion) kit with the optional DynaLoc hubs and went to work bringing the Dodge up to snuff! Oh, and for you Ford fans, Dynatrac offers a kit for you, too!inline_mediumwraptextright26649697/tech/0912or_dodge_ram_3500_dynatrac_free_spin_kit0912or_01+dodge_ram_free_spin+in_air.jpgTrue

Let's start off by saying who this story is not for. If you've worn out three sets of mud-terrains. If you have ever built a lower control arm from scrap iron on the trail. If you not only know how to change a front axleshaft assembly, but can do it in 30 minutes or less. If more than half of your truck's body parts have trail damage on them, then this article is not for you.

If you've lifted your IFS vehicle, there are a few things you're probably already living with that you wish you weren't. One may be vibration coming from the front drive axle assembly. Perhaps you live in fear of applying too much power off-road when you have the wheels turned at all. You might have already blown up your share of CV joints, or heard enough stories about other people doing it that you don't want to experience it yourself.

Pocket tools are often found to be used properly (and improperly) much more than normal tools are these days when off-road. The chances are that your tools are locked away, but your pocket tool... that's in your pocket! Chances are you'll always give the pocket tool a try before digging something else out.

We have a few friends who would argue that the 14-bolt rear end is the most badass axle ever built. "How can you say this?!" we ask. "The 14-bolt wasn't even made in a front-axle application! On top of that, it's heavy and it hangs low!" Our friends did have some good points: the 14-bolt houses a 10.5-inch ring gear, it is easy to set up the gears on it, stock axleshafts are good enough (even for hardcore use), and they only cost about $200 used. On top of that, they're readily available everywhere and parts are cheap and plentiful. But the 10.5-inch ring gear 14-bolt axle does have some downfalls. First of all, it's heavy-heavier than a Dana 60. It also has a low ground clearance due to an overly large centersection casing. Even if you did get over these two downfalls, you better not want one for your front end because they've only been made in rear applications.

OFF-ROAD's HD Dodge tow/chase truck was in need of a gearing change due to an increase in tire size. Having the 6-speed manual transmission has enabled us to put off this upgrade for a while due to its extremely low first gear, but we were starting to miss our granny gear off road. The problem was that it's not every shop out there that has gears for the newer AAM axles found under 2003-to-current Dodge Ram 2500s and 3500s. Gears for these newer axles have proven to be tricky to get aftermarket replacements for, but we found a shop that has any gear option we could want: JT's Parts & Accessories has AAM axle gears from 3.42:1 to 4.88:1 ratios. The solution was to change out our 3.73 gears for some 4.10s we got from JT's. This may seem like a (numerically) low jump to make since 4.10s come standard in the automatic trucks, but 3.73s are what you get with the manual tranny Combined with 37-inch tires, the 4.10 gears would bring our effective gearing to about the same as from the factory.

It's not like you never heard the name "Hella" before. It's been on race trucks and performance vehicles for as long as most of us can remember. Hella's halogen off-road light line has forever been some of the best-bang-for-your-buck lights on the market, and its Xenon series high-intensity discharge (HID) lights have been top quality for years. But there was always the pesky problem of finding a place to mount the external ballast that came with the HID auxiliary lights. Thankfully, the technology has finally come that has allowed Hella to move to an internal ballast design without raising the cost of the light. We checked them against a friend's original external ballast Hella HIDs, and the light output seemed the same. In other words, don't go run out and buy these internal ballast lights if you already have the Hella HIDs, but the new design is definitely a welcomed upgrade and makes mounting these lights that much easier.

ARB Adventure 4x4 Light
This little gem has been following us around at events from Baja to Ohio. It's super bright, has a 16-foot-long cord, can be powered off battery terminals or a cigarette-lighter plug and has a hanging hook on the top. We have dropped ours countless times and even ran over it in a mud hole and it keeps on ticking. It has definitely survived when other lights have failed in the past.

Much like our readers, we often wonder what happens to the trucks we see being built up in magazines. Is the truck holding up? Are all those aftermarket products doing what they promised? Would the products still be recommendations after jumping, mashing, pushing and wrenching on them for a couple years? This month we wanted to share how our '07 Toyota Tundra SEMA Project vehicle is doing. Although this truck was originally built for a show, we have put it through its paces off-road because that's what we do.inline_mediumwraptextright26428189/tech/0911or_2007_toyota_tundra_project_truck_update0911or_01_z+2007_toyota_tundra+front_view.jpgTrue

Not too long ago, fancy race-style axle housings were only used by, well, race teams. Sure, a few deep-pocketed enthusiasts ponied up cash to have a custom rearend fabricated (or tackled the job themselves), but the vast majority of us built traditional axles, doing our best to prepare for the rigors of the particular type of 'wheeling that our vehicles would encounter. No longer, however, do we have to work within the constrains of an OEM-style housing. Thanks to companies like Camburg Engineering, we have options.inline_mediumwraptextrightCamburg's new 9-inch race style rearend housing.26432602/tech/0911or_camburg_engineering_9_inch_axle_housing0911or_01_z+camburg_engineering_axle+axle.jpgTrue

Dynatrac has added another quality product to help end your axle woes. The original OEM ball joints on AAM and Dana 50 and 60 front axles (Dodge Ram 2500/3500s and Super Dutys) have a reputation for wearing out quickly-especially when subjected to hard use. Trashing a set of ball joints with one weekend of use is not unheard of. Worn ball joints can cause steering issues and uneven tire wear.inline_mediumwraptextright30631395/tech/0911or_dynatrac_pro_steer_ball_joints0911or_01_z+dynatrac_pro_steer_ball_joints+upgrading.jpgTrue

If there's one thing that '95 Ford Explorers were good for, it's for axle poaching. That Ford 8.8 in the back of them came with a 5x4.5 bolt pattern on 31-spline axles (hello, Ranger and Jeep guys), disc brakes, and a whole lot of potential. The axle's biggest downfall is the C-clip design. For about $400, you can find these axles readily available. They're great axles for building and are the correct width and bolt pattern to swap into a lot of newer Jeeps and Ford Rangers.inline_mediumwraptextrightSuperior's Super 88 kit comes with chromoly shafts, c-clip eliminators, heavy duty axle retainers with spacer rings, ten 1/2-20 threaded studs, and a set of 3/4-ton Timken Roller Bearings & seals. All you need to finish the installation is some tools, grease/gear oil, and that naive friend who really thinks he is just coming over to have a beer or two.....30639723/tech/0911or_superior_axles_super_88_kit0911or_01_z+superior_axle_super_88_kit+kit.jpgTrue

Long-Term Updates is a new monthly department in OFF-ROAD Magazine that will be showing up from now on. We created this section because we remember how we always felt as readers-seeing cool new stuff in the magazine and finding out what would happen during the product testing or install, but never knowing the long-term survivability. What happens to that part or product a ways down the road? What happens after time, over-aggressiveness, and the rigors of off-road take their toll on something? We always wanted to know those things, so we're guessing you want to know, too! Therefore, we'll cover a ton of the stuff we've installed, driven, built, or tested ourselves over the past couple of years, and even a lot of things that our friends, enthusiasts, and other industry people have tried out as well. Sure, we'll probably end up burning ourselves with an advertiser or two, and maybe even get ourselves fired in the process, but we'll be able to get some pretty good information to you while we're at it. So, please enjoy the first installment of Long-Term Updates.

There are a lot of vehicles out there that that have custom engine swaps, modified frames and bodies, or are just too old to have a readily-available bolt-in air intake system for it. If you fall into one of these categeories, then you've either accepted that you'll be running a 14-inch chrome filter element forever, or you'll be spending big bucks to have something custom made.

Shackles are a vital part of a leaf sprung suspension. Flexing of the elliptically-shaped leaves changes the straight line distance between the spring pack's mounting eyes. A shackle is placed at one end of the spring pack to allow for this change in length.

For the past two years, Twisted Stitch has been making quite an impact on the off-road world. Although a relative newcomer to the seating market, its quality and quick turnaround have made the company a solid choice when seating time arrives for your new project. We wanted to see for ourselves what goes into its seats and make sure it's not just a fancy wrapper stuffed with weak innards. We're trying some Twisted seats out ourselves in one of our trucks that gets beat hard, and we'll let you know how they hold up in the future.