Getting turnt... hydraulicly

Hydraulic Steering 

This seems to be the line where you really commit to hardcore wheeling, you have the tires, lift, lockers... probably even some useless light bars... your rig is pretty damn capable, but the fact is, it steers like crap! Your steering stabilizer isn't cutting it on the street, and in the trails you are wrestling the steering wheel all day to get your rig to go where you want it to go. taking the leap to hydraulic steering will make all of that better, and make you wonder why you waited so long to do this?!

Options-

So what are your options? There are a few companies that can help you with your fluid power upgrade, I'm not going to go into the specifics of those but I will add some links to the end of this blog. Really there are two options, each with their own benefits and drawbacks.

1. Hydraulic Assist- This uses your power steering pump and steering box to supply hydraulic pressure to a ram that gets mounted to your axle, and the other end gets attached to your tie rod. There are LOTS of different ways to accomplish this, some guys swear by going the cheapest possible way and modifying their pump for more flow, drilling and taping their factory steering box, and adding a cheap hydraulic ram from the local farm supply store. This method will work, but isn't that reliable, so be prepared to have shit break.
   The best option is to replace the entire steering system with a complete kit that is designed for how you intend to use your rig. My hydraulic assist from PSC uses an upgraded pump, remote fluid reservoir, upgraded steering box with the ports already in it, and a purpose built ram with the correct amount of stroke. I have used this kit for the past 4 years with zero issues.
   
   
   
   
2. Full Hydraulic- This setup is more for the hardcore, trail only rigs, it eliminates all of the steering linkage from the steering box to the axle and relies solely on a ram (usually double ended) to move the tire side to side. There's no actual connection between your steering wheel and the tie rod, so there is no feedback. When it comes to shoving around 40"+ tires in the rocks it's fantastic, and packaging of your crazy suspension design is easier because you don't need to worry about steering connections beyond where to route the hoses. The drawback comes from the lack of connection itself, if you were to lose the pump, or blow a line your have ZERO steering! It's for this reason that this setup is not street legal, and isn't allowed in some racing classes.
   

The costs of either of these options can be a bit of a deterrent, an ultra cheap setup as I described above using a farm ram will probably run you less than $500, going to a complete kit from PSC is closer to $1,500-2,000 and the full hydraulic setup is closer to $3,000. But having the ability to have a rig that can go down the street with good manners, and still be able to make a turn while you are in a tight spot on the trail with big tires is pretty great. It's not for everyone, but if you are running 35" tires or larger you should definitely consider adding it to your build budget!

 PSC Steering

AGR Steering

Trail Gear

4 Link Suspensions

This blog has been on my to do list for a while, I had great intentions of doing a full photo shoot and maybe a short video or two from the garage to show examples. The reality of that is much less exciting, as usual time is limited, and I'm stretched pretty thin. So I am going to need to share some resources in this one to give you good solid information and keep it interesting.

Four Wheeler Magazine did a great write up

Here is some info on front suspensions

There are tons of different ways to set up your own custom suspension, sure you can wing it, it might work, but chances are it won't work the way you had in mind. There's also the chance that in an attempt to make your rig ultra cool, and the baddest thing on the trails ends up with bad behavior, it could be set up in such a way that you can't actually put the power to the ground, or worse, be so unstable that it rolls over rather than crawls the obstacles. And then there's the safety factor, we are talking about welding and bolting the pieces that are holding your entire rig together here, be honest about your welding skills, if you can't put down top quality welds you should find someone that can.

Luckily there are now lots of companies making tabs, brackets, and all of the other parts to build your own suspension. But there are always guys that feel they can "do it better" in an attempt to save a few bucks they make all of their own parts, this is not a great plan for a beginner. The pieces available are well thought out, laser cut, and CNC bent pieces that have been proven on some of the hardest trails out there. And the price of these parts isn't that expensive when you take into account the material costs, your time, and the tools needed to make them. For me I would rather be able to open a box and immediately start fitting and mocking up pieces rather than spend my day trying to make a basic link mount.

Ruff Stuff Specialties

Artec Industries

I am by no means an expert on suspension design, and tuning. But there are a few places I did my research in order to feel confident enough to start building custom suspension, rather than repeat all of the info here i will just supply you with the best links I have used to figure out the different terms and what they all mean. There are lots of "rules" people use to build there suspensions, but once you understand what each piece does it will all make sense.

Excel suspension calculator

It's pretty amazing how 4 little links can have so many functions, but they are all important and must be addressed in order to have a properly functioning rig. The other factor that will limit you is the available space under your vehicle, there isn't much room under a Jeep once you start putting all of these pieces in there so you will probably need to either compromise on proper suspension angles or cutting away parts of your vehicle or moving things like fuel tanks and exhaust.

   

Winter Projects

Ahh winter, it sneaks up on us every year, no matter how much we think we are ready for it we are never as prepared as we want to be. Christmas seems to come out of nowhere, and consumes much of our time; and our budgets! Then New Years comes and we all make resolutions that we know damn well we won't follow through on. But then what? What do we have to look forward to after that? It conjures up images of being snowed into our primitive log cabin's huddling around the fire, and hoping to make the rations hold out till spring.

But for the offroader winter means so much more, it means it's time to take care of all the little issues with your rig that you put off to get you through that last trip out on the trails before putting it away for winter. It seems every year we come up with a grand list of upgrades and changes that we need to get done during our winter maintenance. Perhaps it's a faulty wiring harness that has been causing your electric fan to cut out and make you overheat, or you are finally going to make those half doors you've been wanting for a couple of years. Some guys take this time to all out rebuild their rigs, new engines and drivetrains, adding more lift, or maybe even a whole new suspension, or a custom roll cage. For me I have locked myself into a complete new build before spring, and haven't even unstrapped the new Jeep from the trailer from when I bought it back in October!

Whatever the project, this is the time of year that we all swear we are going to get it done, and that we "Won't wait until the last minute like i did last year" But the truth is that the rig is probably sitting in our shop, maybe in some level of disassembly... meaning you put it on jack stands and pulled the tires off before walking away from it. But soon the pressure will be on, as the days get a little longer, and we get that unseasonal warm day we all get the itch, and then we look at the calendar and remember that spring is right around the corner!

Our club has been doing an annual Easter trip to Windrock Park in Tennessee for the past couple of years, and it's been a great way to shake off the winter funk. But that also means that we have all locked ourselves into a solid date to get our shit together! This year the trip is a full week, so that means making sure that whatever you have planned for upgrades better be reliable!

So let this be the reminder to all of you guys like me that have been putting things off, and thinking you still have all the time in the world... GET OFF YOUR ASS, GET IN THE GARAGE, AND GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!

My wheeling family

Off roaders are a strange bunch, most of us dedicate portions of our lives to a pile of parts that isn't worth any where near what we have into it. I paid just $300 for my ZJ, I stopped counting when I passed the $10,000 mark on parts; my "new" one cost me just $50 and I'm sure it will end up costing me WAY more than I told my loving and understanding wife it would cost to get it trail ready. We happily give up our weekends, late nights, early mornings, heck sometimes even holidays just to get our rigs ready to go to the next event.

So why do we do it? Why do we give up so much of our free time? So much of our hard earned money? There's no prize for crawling over a hard obstacle, we certainly don't get paid for that long hot day out on the trail. But damn is there a reward! It seems every time we load up and head out to an event, or just a weekend at an off road park or trail we meet new people, it doesn't matter where you are from, or what you are driving, you WILL find someone that you connect with instantly. Most of my closest friends are people that I've met out on the trail somewhere. Half the time we don't even know each other by name "hey, you're the guy with that wicked WJ on tons right?" and BOOM that's how it starts!

Social media has made it super easy to stay in touch with your wheeling family, hell, I talk to them more than I do my real family! My wheeling family spreads from my home state of Maine, to my current home in Wisconsin, extends to Minnesota, North Dakota, Colorado, and down to North Carolina. We are all from different backgrounds, wheel completely different types of rigs at all different levels. But we are all connected, and wouldn't think twice about lending a hand on any given Sunday to get that new locker installed, or help recover your stuck/broken pile off the trail; sure we would talk crap the whole time, and laugh at how stupid you are... But we know that the next time the tables will probably be turned.

My wheeling family may be mouthy, drink to much, be a bit odd, and certainly be the worst possible influences out there that will almost certainly talk you into hitting a line that you have no business attempting, but they are what makes that 8 hour drive to the trail worth it.

I'm an addict!

Hello, my name is Jason, and I am an addict... I am addicted to the off road world. Some may say that given the state of the nation that making light of being an addict is in poor taste, and not "politically correct". But anyone who knows me will attest to two things, I really don't give a damn about being PC, and that I am without a doubt addicted to the off road life.

I guess you could say I was born with this addiction, from a very young age I was pushing my toy trucks through "trails' as I got older my toys got bigger, and more expensive! Through my years I have owned many different vehicles from ATVs, snowmobiles, Jeep's, trucks... even a couple of cars... I have never bowed to the brand loyalty that others seem to cling to, I have a mutual respect for the individuality of whatever anyone anyone dedicates their time to building, and crafting into what version of cool they want it to be.

My current rig is a 1994 Jeep ZJ Grand Cherokee that I saved from the scrap yard for just $300, 6 years later and has gone through LOTS of changes! I built it to be what I wanted it to be, for what I wanted to use it for. As a father, and a husband I wanted to be able to cruise the hard trails, hit the hard obstacles, and make it all looks easy all while spending time in the woods with my family.



I'll go into detail about my ZJ in a later post, as once again it is going to go through some significant changes this winter/spring. I will also be going into some of the finer details of another project that I am building for a friend, it's a Jeep J10 with an LS swap, custom suspension, and a full cage!

Stay tuned for some great tech articles, build ideas, and some trip details of some of the great places I've gone!

Check out a short video!