Don't you just hate it when your wheels fall off?

Well, that didn't take long. In the short time I've had the Traxxas Slash and Slayer RC Truck's I have already managed to have the left rear tire/wheel fall off of the Slash and the left front tire/wheel fall off of the Slayer. Both in separate ways though.

We'll start with the Slash. I was driving it around my front yard on Sunday afternoon because well, I didn't have anything better to do, and on one of the passes full throttle across the lawn I see a tire rolling next to the truck. The Slash had ejected its left rear tire and wheel the suspension dropped to the ground and it skidded to a stop next to my truck in the driveway. And the tire fell right next to it. It was honestly one of the funniest things I have seen in a very long time. A quick trip to Hobby People and $2 latter I was back in business with plenty of spare lug nuts for next time.

Now fast forward four days. It's Thursday afternoon, the Slayer is all broken in (finally) so I decide to rig up a lipstick cam to try and get some "in car" footage to post on our web site. Camera is all rigged up, truck is running great, I jump it off the curb (3-4" high, nothing crazy) and when it lands it skids across the street and comes to a stop against the other curb. The lower left front pillow ball popped out of the knuckle. So I pop the ball back in and give it a second go but it pops right back out. Turns out the knuckle is cracked. Oh well. Another trip to Hobby People and $10 later for a new set of knuckles and we're back in business. 

These things are a blast, but if you're going to really run them hard you had better be ready to wrench on them just like their full scale counterparts! Look for a full feature and videos coming soon! 

Jerrod and I are just loving out new office digs as of this week! Take a peek and check them out!

Our offices have been going through some changes lately which means we are all having to button down and save space. One of the floors closed which means we are now sharing another floor with an already occupied full staff. So, needless to say the attitude around the office is poor. Jerrod and I have a pretty good office setup considering what some others do, we just have to get organized a bit. We also have found a ton of old issues laying around during the move so if you are looking for any back issues of OFFROAD now may be the best time to ask!

Every Yen needs a Yang (or something like that) and what would having an R/C Pro-2 in the fleet be without having an R/C Pro-4? The good people at Traxxas recognized this problem and came up with a solution, and its name is Slayer!

The Slayer from Traxxas is the bigger brother to the Slash. They are both 10th scale replicas of their full scale CORR counterparts, and that is where the similarities end. The Slash is a mini 2wd Pro-2 and the Slayer is a mini 4wd Pro-4. The Slayer comes equipped with the uber powerfull Traxxas 3.3 nitro Racing Engine, two speed gear box, inboard mounted shock absorbers, and a disk brake to name a few things. With it's low and wide stance Slayer is super stable at speed, but when you catch an edge or hit a rut hang on cause Slayer will take you for one wild ride! (well, I guess only if you were 10th scale and inside, but it's still crazy to watch it flip and twist in the air just like a real CORR truck)

Well those are the basics of the all new Traxxas Slayer. Look for much much more coming about the Slayer soon. A full feature and videos are on their way as soon as I can find a place to drive these where the cops won't bother me... haha. Until then enjoy some slightly dirty Slayer photos!

This weekend I took our Project 4x4Link 4x4 Ford Ranger out to Lucerne Valley for the MDR California 250 "Night Race" to do a little prerunning and get some miles on it... I had no idea one day would turn into such a nightmare....

//If you don't feel like reading, or just can't, skip to the bottom there's cliff notes\\

This weekend was the MDR Night Race in Lucerne Valley CA so since I was going to specate anyway I figured it would be a good idea to take the Ranger out and put some miles on it. This was only the second time out since finishing the cage, and only the fourth time out since linking it.

The truck was running great, took it off the trailer Friday night and went for a drive with Adam. Truck was running great for the 10 miles or so we did... and there is where that ended. Got the truck back to camp on Friday night and noticed it idling at about 1500 rpm in gear and 2500 in park. It was late and we were tired so we left it.

Saturday morning we starting looking for the problem and figured out that the Idle Air Control valve was stuck open. It had a bunch of sand and crap in it (good bye K&N) so I cleaned that out and it was good to go again.

So by 8am Saturday it was Desert - 1 Ranger - 0

With the truck idling I had to take it out and see if it was fixed. So Phil hopped in the truck with me and we took off on the race course. We covered about another 10 miles and came back, truck was working great. When we got back to camp however I looked down at my passenger wheel and noticed something missing... my AVM hub was gone. Some how or another it got knocked off.

It's now 10am Saturday... Desert 2 - Ranger - 0

Photo 1 Below
//AVM Repair\\

Fine, so the hub is gone. I can replace that and my cv is still broken so I don't have 4wd anyway. I grabbed a cap from a can of carb cleaner and duct taped it over the hub to keep dirt out of the bearings. With that fixed and the truck aired down we decided to head out to do a lap of the 50 mile race course. Right off the bat the truck had fuel pickup issues. We added 5 gallons to the cell, fired it back up and took off, the issue seemed to resolve its self.

We set off down the course making a pretty good pace for just being out to have fun. For those that know the area we averaged over 45mph from SF to the Rock Pile and hit a max speed of 65mph (stopped to check on the fuel issue, so I checked the GPS). With the fuel issue fixed we set off on the course. We made it to Mile Marker 18 at an average speed of 37mph (not fast, but not slow) when *** hit the fan. I came over a hill into a set of large rollers, hit two big ones, the suspension compressed, rebounded, compressed, rebounded, then there was no dampening.

My friend Brian waves me down and we get out to see what the problem was. Some how or another I ripped the bottom out of my front left coilover. The wiper seal and seal head were resting at the bottom of the shock and the oil had spilled all over the lower arm, and desert floor. The shaft was jammed into the side of the shock body. We had to press on to get the truck back to camp to asses the situation.

11:30am, Saturday, August 16th, Desert - 3 Ranger - 0

Photo 2 Below
//Blown shock, see the shiny part at the bottom, that is supposed to be INSIDE the shock\\

Photo 3 Below
//That stuff, the oil on the ground, is supposed to be inside the shock too\\

Now were in the middle of the desert and need to get back so we push on forward, slowish, but moving. We get to about MM 20 when the fuel issue comes back. The fuel pump start wining really loud and the truck cuts off from lack of fuel. We investigate and find nothing besides a hot fuel line and filter. We get it fired again and keep moving, continually fighting it trying to die from lack of fuel. We make about 25 miles of the course when we find an access road to get us back to camp. The truck stops and dies three more times when we finally give up and send someone back for a truck to tow it back.

1:00pm Saturday... trucks dead... Desert - 4 Ranger - 0

Photo 4 Below
//Towed by a Chevy... gasp!\\

Sunday morning it fires up and drives onto the trailer. Son of a....

So I have a ton of work ahead of me...

Photo 5 Below
//Loaded up heading home, at least the F-1 didn't let me down...\\


If you don't feel like reading all of that here's the cliff notes...

8am Saturday, stuck IAC...
10am Saturday, missing AVM hub...
11:30am Saturday, blown front left coilover...
1pm Saturday, trucks dead, fuel issue.

Now go back and read the story... lol

I'm starting to see a pattern here... a week before the big race I get a phone call, somebody can't make it and there is an open seat, would you like to go? This same thing happened at the 2007 Baja 1000 and has now happened again for the 2008 TSCO Vegas to Reno race.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all, far from it actually! I had the time of my life at the Baja 1000 racing with DXR Racing and Mitsubishi and have no doubt that my time spent at the 2008 V2R race will be the same or better! About a week ago I got a phone call from Chuck Foreman of Foreman Motorsports. Turns out they had set up an opportunity for one of our freelance writers to ride along with them in the race and due to a set of very unfortunate circumstances she was not able to make it and had to cancel. Needing to fill the seat and knowing how much I love racing I got the call to go in her place.

Chuck Foreman along with partner Rich Waite field a brand new Class 8 truck. Sponsored by Maxxis Tires, aFe, NOS Energy, and many other great companies this truck is running in the 2008 Best in the Desert Series. Since this is a brand new truck nobody has any photos of it, yet, thus the sweet photoshop photo of the truck you see here. Chuck has an extensive racing background that includes a Class 8 Championship and two Class 7s Championships.

Well that is all for now. I'll try and check in from Tech Inspection tomorrow, August 21st, in Las Vegas Nevada! Wish us luck!

Just a quick snap to see what's coming in an upcoming issue of OFF-ROAD.

It's not very often that I get into an image from one of my photo shoots. During a recent shoot located in Primm, Nevada, Kelli from KC HiLites snapped a few shots of me doing what I do. No, that doesn't mean telling people what to do. Well, actually at times it does. Enjoy the pic and stay tuned for an amazing upcoming feature with a pair of trucks that will blow your doors off!

So the good ole' UPS man dropped of this large package at the office this morning and what did it contain... it had the latest offering from Traxxas, the SLASH!

The Traxxas Slash is a 2wd 10th scale electric RC Truck modeled after the CORR Pro-2 short course truck. The Slash in stock form is capable of speeds of nearly 40 miles per hour, is nearly completely waterproof, and comes to you fully assembled, ready-to-race, with radio and all. Just pop in a battery (the one thing that is NOT included) and you're ready to go!

I can't wait to get out to the open desert or the track to really test this baby out. Stay tuned for a full feature and even videos of the Slash in action! What do you guys think, is this thing cool or what!

Check out this new TIG Welder that just landed in our office...

Miller just sent us a new portable TIG welder! It showed up today in our office. Why is this welder so cool? Well, aside from being a portable AC/DC TIG welder, it costs aroiund $1600 which makes it now affordable for guys like us to buy and have in their garage!

Check out Off-Road's January issue for a story on Miller new Diversion 165 TIG welder.

Looks like we got some emails mixed up in our 08 October issue.

On page 19 of the October 2008 issue in the Readers Rides section we featured this Ford Ranger built by Anthony Lundberg. Unfortunately, his images got mixed up with another readers email and we said the truck belonged to Dave Johnson. Anthony's wife gave us a call and mentioned the mistake so we thought we would make it right. Anthony built this truck himself from the ground up and has been a loyal reader of OFFROAD for a long time. We hope you continue to love our magazine Anthony and appologize for the mistake. Keep having fun in the dirt!

It sucks how quickly all your hard work and money can be taken away from you.

There is nothing worse than going out to your truck in the morning and realizing something is missing. Something you have worked hard for and spent a lot of time on. Recently, during an offroad excursion to the desert our Baja Designs HID Fuego lights were stolen off our project Toyota Tundra. These are not cheap lights and it really stinks that people like this plague the off-road world. I will be scouring websites like Ebay and Craigslist looking for these model lights for sale. I left some distinguishing marks on the lights in case something like this happened so I will be on the lookout for them in the desert as well!

So we have been given this mandate...

So we have been given this mandate to publish a bunch of blogs all the danged time, and add a bunch of new stories. Sounds great, right? There's just one catch- we don't get any more help or resources to make this happen. I guess they forgot we are producing this little thing called a magazine. But that's okay; none of us really liked sleeping anyways....

So be ready to check in all the time on our site to read a lot of the strangest ramblings you possibly could. We're going to be spending a lot of time in our office building, surrounded by concrete instead of in the dirt where we should be. We're supposed to be blogging everyday from now on. Will we do what they want? Probably not.... But we'll at least make an effort and see if we can keep our jobs a little longer while not being driven to the point of mailman-crazy....

Warn is about to make another leap forward in winches...

Warn is making a big leap forward in winches! I just got back from Oregon and visiting the Warn plant. You should check out the new winch lines! They even have hydrualic winches, and before the end of this year, Warn will have a new winch available to the public that can make a continuous pull for more than 400 feet without burning up!

 20,000-pound hydraulic winches?! Yes please.

Just like you my passion for dirt doesnt expire when the gas runs out. Getting on my bike and hitting the hills is the second best thing to flying through a set of whoops at high speeds.

So what other forms of "dirty" fun are you into? Try and limit your roaming minds with that question. For me its all about hitting the pedals. I recently built a new mountain bike, an Ellsworth Evolve. It's actually the first fully custom bike I have put together. It is also a 29er bike which means the tires are 29-inch in size, 3 inches larger than typical mtb tires. I love how the big tires roll over things so much smoother. Im addicted and not looking back.

When I cant make it to the dirt I clip in to my Kona Paddy Wagon single speed / fixed gear road bike. This bike is a great choice for someone who wants to give road riding a try on a limited budget. At a cost of around $650 its tough to beat. Just remember its only got one gear so you will be forced to put some serious work in if climbing tall hills is in your agenda.

Tell me a little bit about what else you are into that keeps you in the great outdoors?

Is your truck nicer than your friends?

Once again its time to submit your Readers Rides phots to appear in OFFROAD. We enjoy hearing from you, our loyal readers and seeing what off-road creations you drive. Send us a few high resolution (image size should be a minimum of wallpaper size on your computer 1024x768 or larger) images of your truck in action. If all you have is shots of your pride and joy parked in your driveway then its time for you to hit the dirt and quit talking about it. You can either mail it to me at jordan.may@off-roadweb.com or snail mail it to: Offroad Magazine Attn: Readers Rides 2400 E. Katella Ave Site 700 Anaheim, CA 92806 Be sure to include your first and last name, hometown and some specs about your ride. We give away a lot of free schwag in the magazine so if you include your address you mail just get a delivery for doing so. Cheers!

Mic check 1 - 2 live and in full effect!

Okay, so this is my first official Offroad Blog. Are you excited? Sweet. Its now 8:21pm and I am home working on stories for the December issue. An Editor's job never seems to end, just ask Jerrod how often he sleeps in the office? Oh wait, I am not sure I was suppose to share that our building security might get pissed. Damn. Anyway, here I sit writing a feature story that I hope all of you will love and hang on your wall and encourage you to subscribe to our wonderous magazine of off-road goodness. Well, back to work I go I just wanted to see how the blog works and post something up. If you need to reach me or have questions about the mag feel free to drop me an email. Thanks! Jordan

You read that right! After many many late nights and long weekends the roll cage in our beloved '99 Ranger is complete!

Over this past weekend we buttoned up the cage work on 4x4Link. The truck has a nearly full stock interior, including carpet, dash, and working a/c. We also added things like a Parker Pumper and a pair of 2.5lb fire extinguishers.

The truck will be out at Pismo Beach this weekend for it's maiden voyage since finishing the cage work and we'll have action shots for you next week.

Let us know what you think!

The fab work is complete and we're putting the finishing touches on the roll cage in our project 4x4 Ranger!

After several months of back breaking labor, painful burns, long hours and late nights the roll cage in 4x4Link is almost complete.

Over the past two weekends we have finished the roll cage, reinstalled the stock dash (and the truck runs), mounted our Beard Ultra Pro-2 suspension seats, mounted our Crow 5-Point harnesses, re-painted the bedcage, patched the holes in the floor, swapped out our busted up grill, finished rebuilding/revalving all six Sway-A-Way shocks, and cleaned the stock carpet in anticipation of its return to the truck.

With any luck (if I don't kill myself working on it) the truck will be put back together and driving around by this weekend. I'll keep you posted!

Yup, we got some more work done to the cage.

Check it out. More updates to come.

Well, it's been exactly one year since the start of this project, and it's yet another Cinco de Mayo spent alone with my truck...

... lame huh.

Anyway, it has been a year. A project that was supposed to take only 24 days (later extended to like 31) has take 366... thus far. Now granted the truck was driving for about six months in the middle of this it has still taken way to long. So what have I learned through all of this? Well a few things. First is don't set timelines. Deadlines are great, but they need to be flexable since you can't ever plan things out to the day when fabricating. Second, things hardly ever work right the first time. Thrid, don't count on anybody but yourself. No matter what anybody says always assume that they arn't going to be there for you, you're on your own. Period. And lastly, whatever your budget is, double it. I have learned so much in the last  year, about fabrication, about my truck, about myself, about life. I have become one with the truck.

Alright, well that is enough of that.

Over the weekend I got alot more done on the roll cage. It's actually starting to look more like a roll cage than a jungle gym. Keep checking back for more updates.

So I picked up a few more sticks of 1 3/4" .120 DOM steel tubing today to continue on with Project 4x4Link...

...tune in Monday for more updates!

Well the first two rounds of the 2008 CORR season are now in the books. This first weekend of racing was awesome and if the season ahead  is anything like it I can't wait! We've got tons and tons of photos coming, but here a few to hold you over until then!

Click HERE to check out the almost 800 photos from Rounds 1 & 2!

We dig into the Sway-A-Way shocks that dampen 4x4Links' ride...

When cage work can't happen because of lighting and noise restraints (week nights, neighbors don't much like cutting and grinding at odd hours of the night) we turn to working in the garage on other vairous components of the truck that need to be completed. This time it was the shocks. The shocks on the truck are great, with the exception of needing some custom valving, a couple 90* fittings and some upgrades for the old front coilovers.

For now we got the shocks stripped down and parts ordered (sorta). We'll keep you posted when we get back to work on them.

We make more progress on 4x4Link's Passanger Protection System (that's fancy for Roll Cage).

I'm going to keep this short, we made more progress on the cage. If anybody can tell me what we did, I'll send you something cool.

... well part of a cage anyway.

Finally, noticable progress is being made on our Project 4x4Link. There's not much to say really, the tube is all 1 3/4" .120 DOM, the same as we built the rear half out of. Besides that keep checking back for updates as we draw closer to getting this thing back out into the dirt! (and no, that's not the final mounting point for that piece, it's just sitting there, close to where it's going)

So I got to thinking the other day, with gas prices the way they are how long are people waiting to fill up their trucks? 

Me personaly, I fill up when I need to, and I always fill it to the top. Which brings up another question, do you fill it all the way or just a little? Why? I hear people doing this saying gas is expensive so I'll only buy a little, but when you use 10 gallons a week it still costs the same weather you buy it all at once or a little at a time, never really understood that one.

So when do you fill  up? Do you wait until E or do it at 1/4? Do you even fill your tank? We want to know!