Blog

We're going to start something new here at 4WOR, a weekly-ish Blog (that's webgeek talk for an online journal sorta thing). This will be where you get the most up to date info on what we are doing. Cool stuff as soon as we get it, and hints as to what you will see in future issues. Expect a paragraph and a photo per week. Sometimes more, hopefully nothing less.

August 23rd, 2006

Do you know what this guy, this dog, and this girl have in common? Check out the work done at Fabworx Off Road starting in January's issue, as they take a K5 from a dilapidated pile, to a premudder.

What's a premudder? Check out the story

Fiberglass Leaf Springs?! You saw it here first folks. We have some on a YJ that are being tested right now. We'll get you a report as soon as we hear back from our spring abuser...

What?! Jinxy's actually coming out of the garage?! Last time you saw it, we were bolting on some big motor mods, but ran into the issue of not being able to reprogram an OBD1 ECU. A lot of other projects came up, and this poor truck was backburnered. But UniChip has come up with a piggyback ECU programmer that they claim will work to solve our issue. Can it be done? This poor truck has become known as `Parky' because it basically has just been keeping the cement garage floor from floating away. Let's see if we can change that in the next couple weeks...

August 18th, 2006

Wanna Welding Helmet?

Tech Editor Fred Williams is looking for your best Nuts and Bolts questions. And to spur you on he and Hobart Welders are giving away this XTP Professional Auto Darkening Welding Helmet. Send your tech questions to Fred.Williams@primedia.com with the subject "Nuts, I'm confused", but hurry because he needs them quick. Send them to him by Monday Aug 21's 2006, and he'll pick the most useful question to answer and will reveal it in the December issue of 4-Wheel & Off-Road. Then you'll be wearing some sweet colors while protecting yourself as you build your next 4x4 project. Remember he is looking for any tech question about working on your 4x4, but the more useful it is to many readers the better. And here's a hint, Fred is giving away a Welding helmet so he just might be looking for a good Welding specific or fabrication question. Good luck and get those questions in.

August 9th, 2006

This past weekend was a tube twisting frenzy at Poly Performance (www.polyperformance.com) where Tech Editor Fred Williams was re-newing his long lost buggy project. Unfortunately the next few weeks it will again go on the back burner while Fred works on some of the other issues involved in putting out a magazine. The past few days he and Poly's head fabricator Drew have added the roof and door bars and began moving into the interior supports.
Pick up the December issue to see how the chassis was computer designed.

August 2nd, 2006

This weekend Tech Editor Fred Williams spent some more days in the Poly Performance (www.polyperformance.com) fabrication shop with head tube bender Drew Burroughs working on the Fun Buggy project. Built out of a mixture of DOM tubing and Chromoly sheet metal it is slowly coming together into a recognizable machine. Notice the extreme rake of the seats. This will help keep the roof line low and offer a comfortable occupant position, though it will make steep climbs feel even steeper. Watch for more follow up stories on the build up in late 2006 early 2007 magazines

July 18, 2006

Ok, don't kill us, the 4WOR staff has been working triple time trying to get everything ready for Ultimate Adventure 2006, plus put out the biggest 4x4 magazine in the world, and unfortunately for you our dedicated web-wheelers we've been behind on the Blog Updates. Well there have been a few changes around here and we are going to buckle down and try to get back on track with the weekly updates. So here is the latest.

Editor Pewe is out of the office! and that is giving us just enough time to round up a few brews and prepare for his surprise birthday party this weekend. Wanna wish him a Happy 5-0? then send him a card to

Happy Old Man Day PEWE;
6420 Wilshire Blvd
LA, CA 90048.

As for the rest of us, Feature Editor Jerrod Jones has been busy working with the crew at Fabworx Off Road (707 566 7045 ) in Santa Rosa, California on his Boom-Box-Blazer project (he's calling is the Pre-Mudder since it should go fast in both dunes and bogs, but since Jonsey never forgets the tunes we've nick-named it the Boom-box). Read all about this big block monster in the December/January issues.

Then there is Art Director Alan Huber who's quickly preparing his son's first off road vehicle, a Volkswagen Baja Bug. As with most of our projects it's torn apart and slowly being reborn

Not to be outdone with projects Tech Editor Fred Williams has finally started bending tube on his long ago started project Fun Buggy. He's been working with the tube-car parts suppliers at Poly Performance (805 783 2060) for over 6-months fine tuning the design to optimize rock crawling, peeling out, and just plain having fun. The tube creation that Poly's head fabricator Drew Burroughs and Williams have come up with is still more jungle gym than 4-wheel drive trail machine, but expect updates both online and in the magazine in upcoming issues.

Finally let's introduce Jason Gonderman our new head WEB-guy. He's the one that takes our photos, stories and garbage speak and translates it into clean, edible web-food. In return we supply him with an endless supply of mountain dew in Giant Super Big Gulps. Help us out and send the poor guy some posters and stuff for his cubicle, it's pretty bare in there.

And finally, we're still looking for the perfect candidate for the Feature editor position that was left open by David Kennedy, so if you want to join our circus, er Team, then get those resumes in. And include a B-day card for the boss, it just may help. (use the address above)

April 7, 2006
Jeez, what's happened lately? Well, we're all trying to throw a million things together for eight days out of the office and in Moab for what some of us consider the best trip of the year. But we're running into a few problems.

Jerrod wanted to take his Cherokee for the 4th year in a row (it seems to be his ultimate Moab vehicle, every year making it back and forth under its own power and wheeling there all week). He took care of a lot of problems in the last few months: a serious head job on a warped head with a big pinhole leak was performed by Valley Head Service, a Flowkooler water pump was bolted on, a stereo was ordered to replace the one some guy borrowed out of it when he was also permanently borrowing Jerrod's tools, 6-inch tall coils were added in place of the coil and spacer package the XJ was running, and hydraulic bumpstops were added to save the poor Jeep from Jerrod's abuse. Problem is that the XJ's ignition took a dump, and no one can figure it out yet. Not us, not the Jeep dealer, nor other experts. So now it's currently being thrashed on by the pros at Jeeps R Us to try and get the problem resolved so Jerrod has a ride to Moab. Jerrod's old '75 Dodge, the Lawg, could potentially go but Jerrod got halfway through a Performance Distributors D.U.I. ignition install before his attention span got the better of him and he started 5 other projects. Good thing he has some friends with Jeeps, we think he might need a ride... .

Fred was thinking of using his Red Sled (3/4-ton IFS Chevy) to tow out with, but after a funny tranny issue and some thrashing to get an ARB locker in the rear at Off Road Unlimited, he somehow wrangled a diesel Hummer to tow Clampy out to Moab with. That should be a great site to see on the freeway. But Fred isn't in the clear yet. Clampy still needs a new clutch, and it's hemorrhaging fluid from multiple places on the engine. We think Fred will get it together by go-time, and we know his girlfriend will beat him if she misses even a day in Moab, so he's got some pressure on him as well.

Fred is busy monkeying around under Clampy right now. The clutch finally went on his 200,000-mile Toyota, and the engine has started to gush its vitals like a bullet wound victim. Clampy is running, but just barely. Fred has some serious wrenching to do before he leaves Saturday morning.

Rick is going to be towing the yellow Ultimate Adventure Chevy out to Moab, but he had to use a little of his Pw magic to get the hydroboost brakes and steering system working again. Actually, Rick has it more together than his staff does right now. All he needs to do is put our new Goodyear heavy-duty regroovable trailer tires on our trailer at Just Tires. The cheesy donuts that were on the trailer when we bought it have caused us more problems than we care to talk about. These new Goodyears ... well, they weigh more than a 35-inch tire, and have a regrooveable carcass. Something tells us we won't have any more tire problems on our trailer.

Editor Rick Pw took the staff trailer to get some new Goodyear tires mounted at Just Tires. We were having a lot of problems with the tires that came on it when we bought it, and Goodyear's regroovable trailer tire is about the most heavy duty choice we could find for our trailer. It's a good thing too, because Rick is lugging our Ultimate Adventure Chevy all the way to Moab with our 4x4 of the Year 1/2-ton Dodge.

And our art director Alan Huber (who has been at this magazine twice as long as the rest of us and has seen lots of bright-eyed editors come and go) is taking a little different trip than us. He just finished putting on a Rubicon Express lift, a Hanson bumper, and some skinny 33x10.50 BFG All Terrains on his Jeep with the help of Jp Magazine. Alan and his family are going to be scouting around Nevada, hitting some cool sites and trails, and possibly finding some new spots to run. We'll keep you posted.

Art Director Alan Huber will not be joining us in Moab this year. Instead, he's going to be testing out his newly rebuilt Grand Cherokee while scouting out trails and some great sites all around Nevada with his family. They're only taking one vehicle, but we're not too worried; Alan's the guy we call when we get in trouble, so we're sure he'll be able to handle the Nevada terrains with little issue, especially with his new winch and Hanson bumper up front.

March 2006
44th Annual Desert Safari
During the first weekend of March, we made it out to the Tierra del Sol 4x4 Club's 44th annual Desert Safari. We were a little worried about rain earlier in the week, but the skies cleared up by Friday and the weekend couldn't have been better. And we always love late nights around the campfire in the desert.
If you weren't there, then you missed out. But check out the story with lots more pics in the July 2006 issue.

February 17, 2005
On Ultimate Adventure last year, Hobart was kind enough to send out a truck as support for out trip, just in case anything happened to any of the trucks (can you imagine - truck damage on U.A.?). Well, they got a chance to look at some of our welds, and apparently felt so bad for the metal on our trucks that they decided to come give Primedia's truck group a welding tutorial and tryout. And it was pretty cool too. Hobart sets these things up at schools for kids to try as well, helping inspire little ones to start building and creating, right from the get-go. There's a good chance you might run into the Hobart welding truck at some of the bigger off-road events as well, so keep an eye out for their black and orange box truck.

For a little business trip right before the dreaded Valentine's Day, our own John Cappa, Jerome Dziechiasz, Jason Bukolt, and Jerrod Jones flew up to Randy's Ring & Pinion in Seattle, WA before starting a mini-tour into B.C., Canada. They were led by Randy's Ring & Pinion accounts manager Jim McMillan who, (with his wonderful and very patient wife, Rachelle), took this ragtag group to see not only what goes on within the walls of Randy's Washington H.Q., but also some of the cooler sites, trucks, (and snowboard runs!) that Canada has to offer.

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