ARB – RoadTraveler.net

Overland Expo West 2017 — Flagstaff’s Fort Tuthill County Park

New Venue

Overland Expo West is a three-day annual event focused on educating and inspiring folks to explore their outdoor world, both near and far. The big news for the event this year was change: it moved to a new venue, the Fort Tuthill County Park in Flagstaff, Arizona. The park offers about 30% more area and extra separation for truck and moto enthusiasts. There were over 200 classes, workshops, roundtable programs, and inspirational programs, as well as over 300 vendor booths. Fifty exhibitor spaces were added in 2017, with a waiting list for 2018, and there were about 2,000 additional attendees. The Overland Expo team is now focused on getting better, not bigger. Leading industry vendors and OEMs were present, including Ram and Cummins, which is where my coverage is focused.

Cummins’ R2.8 Turbo Diesel attracted much attention.

There can be growing pains… I did overhear someone saying that the general, dispersed-camping areas were too tight and full. My sense is that overall this was a good move for the Arizona event, the growing tribe of overland travel enthusiasts and the vendors that are happy to accommodate their desires for comfortable, vehicle-supported travels and camping.

New Legend 4×4 Meets The Cummins 2.8L

New Legend 4×4, based in Iowa, has been doing impeccable restorations of vintage Scout II and Scout 800 bodies, mounting them on modern chassis, complete with high-performance engines, to give enthusiasts the joy of driving beautiful vintage iron without the poor drivability of vehicles built 50 years ago. They work hard to maintain the original vibe and hard-working focus of the old wagons, while tastefully blending it with modern performance, reliability, and safety. New Legend 4×4 works with their clients to create the ultimate mix of a vintage/modern vehicle. These rigs are meant to be driven, not be garage queens.

I’ve been an International Harvester fan since my youth, partially because my great uncle Clarence had a few, plus I’ve owned a ‘60s two-wheel-drive half-ton and two Scout IIs. The first, a Scout Terra pickup, was my first four-wheel-drive. The New Legend Scout IIs with V8s were very nice, but the rig that made me gaga was this 1967 Scout 800 with a Cummins R2.8 under the hood.

1967 Scout 800 on a Jeep Wrangler chassis.

The FIRST Production R2.8 Turbo Diesel

The Turbo Diesel Register readership needs no explanation as to why one might prefer to repower vintage iron with the new R2.8 Turbo Diesel instead of a gas V8. New Legend 4×4 was one of 25 beta test shops for the Cummins R2.8L in the U.S., and thanks to Steve Sanders at Cummins, they were lucky enough to receive the first production version of this new crate engine just in time to complete this Scout 800 and drive it to Overland Expo. Yes, they drove it from Iowa to Arizona, essentially non-stop, swapping drivers, with lots of coffee and Red Bull, with the blessing and encouragement of their customer as part of the initial shakedown. I interviewed Luke from New Legend to get the details on this beautiful build.

The Cummins R2.8 swap looks factory perfect.

This is a 1967 Scout 800, the body is original but “freshened”, which means cleaned, repaired, and painted to high standards. It sits on a new Jeep Wrangler Rubicon chassis, with the excellent and proven OE Dana 44 axles with electric lockers both front and rear. New Legend wisely didn’t try to invent new Wrangler suspension, instead they use AEV’s proven 2.5” system, which maintains factory geometry and drivability. Luke said, “it drives and handles amazingly”, like a brand new Jeep Wrangler JK, because that’s what is underneath. New Legend teamed with Duluth Pack in Minnesota, because they love Duluth’s made-in-USA waxed canvas, which really helps this particular Scout retain a vintage, rugged look and feel. Just what the customer wanted.

Modified and updated, the interior still looks ‘correct’.

The Cummins R2.8 has it’s own ECM, and Cummins makes it incredibly easy to connect the engine to the donor chassis, essentially just fuel and a few wires. The flier for the R2.8 Turbo Diesel inline 4-cylinder says it produces 267 lb-ft @ 1,500-3,000 rpm, and 161 hp @ 3,600 rpm, with an asterisk indicating “final ratings may vary”. The motor is connected to a NV3550, 5-speed manual tranny, which is backed by an Advanced Adapters Atlas II twin-stick transfer case. The base price for a build similar to this is about $100k, depending on how the customer specs their new vintage four-wheel-drive. Cummins was a vendor at the 2017 Overland Expo West gathering, primarily to support this fantastic, small, light, and powerful little engine. Smart move, as the repower opportunities look promising in this market segment.

American Expedition Vehicles

American Expedition Vehicles (AEV) displayed their Prospector XL Tray Bed Edition, and the new Recruit, Ram 1500 package. The original Prospector XL was a personal project of AEV President, Dave Harriton, that was first displayed at the 2013 SEMA Show, and it has covered thousands of miles on- and off-highway since. AEV Special Operations is creating ten of these “Limited Edition, Unlimited Adventure” vehicles based on the regular-cab, long-bed, Ram 2500 platform. The trucks will feature their signature stamped-steel front bumper, DualSport suspension, lightweight aluminum bed, massive 41” tires, and more. The Prospector XL Tray Bed Package starts around $38,000, plus the base vehicle; I think they will sell all ten quickly.

The timing of this announcement is interesting, as I’ve been a fan of flatbeds since my commercial driving youth and my custom flatbed-equipped ’93 First Generation Turbo Diesel. For several months I’ve been trying to suppress my lust for a new regular cab, longbed truck…keep your eye on my column.

AEV’s Recruit package for 1500 Rams includes a new 4” DualSport suspension for these independent front suspension (IFS) trucks. It increases wheel travel and off-highway performance, while optimizing the steering geometry for improved handling and reduced driver fatigue on-highway. The A206 T4 cast aluminum steering knuckles, new tie-rod ends, AEV-spec Bilstein 5100 series struts and shocks are key ingredients. Under the truck, a stamped-steel 4mm skid plate offers serious protection and maximum ground clearance.

The 4” DualSport suspension include a cast aluminum steering knuckle and upgraded tie rod ends.

Perfect, tight fit for the Recruit’s skid plate.

The Recruit’s heavy-duty grille conversion facilitates mounting their existing HD front bumper. Cast aluminum tow loops instead of the ductile iron pieces reduce weight, and their Heat Reduction Hood helps the Recruit look similar to the Prospector. New 18” AEV wheels are more versatile than the common 20” OEM rims. The Recruit package starts at $15,000.

AT Overland Habitat Truck Topper

The ingenious and detail-oriented folks at AT Overland introduced a version of their Habitat camper for full-size Tundra, F-150, and Ram pickups with both 5.5’ and 6.5’ beds; it was previously only available for mid-size trucks. The Habitat fills the void between a basic truck topper and a slide-in camper. The shell is made with lightweight aluminum and composites, is very robust, and has a base weight of only 340 pounds. Easily opened by one person, the 15’ long tent that deploys provides 96” of standing headroom near the tailgate when mounted on a Ram, and 85” at the front; plenty. When standing outside on the ground, the bed above acts like an awning.

The tent is made from a very durable, Teflon-impregnated, waterproof ripstop nylon (285 grams-per-meter), by American tent and camping gear manufacturer, NEMO Equipment. If customers chose a base camper ($8,800) without optional cabinetry, stove, or refrigerator and such, the camper does not reduce the hauling area of the pickup bed. The Habitat pictured here is on AT Overland co-owner Mario Donovan’s 2017 Ram 2500.

AT Overland’s Habitat topper tent for full-size trucks.

Long and spacious inside a Habitat camper.

AeroContinental

AeroContinental has started making chassis-mounted truck campers featuring stressed skin construction that are designed to be both attractive and field-repairable. Their first effort was on a Ford Super Duty, but their second is more appealing to TDR-minded folks, as it’s mounted atop a 2017 Ram 3500 with AEV’s Prospector package. It’s just waiting for a customer to spec the final layout inside. It makes me think of a vintage Avion camper, or Airstream trailer. “Aerospace meets overland” is one of AeroContinental’s tag lines.

ARB USA

ARB had three new items on display that caught my attention. The coolest being their new Elements Fridge ($1,300), designed to survive tough duty outside, like in a pickup bed. This weatherproof 12-volt compressor refrigerator (not just a cooler) features a stainless steel body and hinges, a gas strut that holds the lid in any position, a pin-code lock plus padlock hole, a light, and more. Once you start using a real refrigerator for camping or tailgating, it’s hard to leave home without one.

The ARB Adventure Light 600 provides up to 600 lumens of LED light ($59), with a lower 300-lumen setting. This portable light can be recharged by both AC/DC power, includes a battery-level indicator, has hooks and magnets, and is dust and rain resistant. There’s little question it’s rugged; one of ARB’s press photos shows a truck driving over the light.

Appropriate tire pressures are critical for performance and safety. Modern TPMS provide a safety net, but the best maintenance practices involve frequent use of a quality tire gauge. ARB’s Digital Tire Inflator ($55) has 23.5”, PVC-covered braided steel hose with a push-on chuck and valve clip, which reduces the need to squat or bend over while filling tires. The backlit LCD readout is protected with a rubber guard; it’s designed to read from 1-200 psi (0-14 Bar, 0-1400 Kpa); there’s a bleeder button and a 200-hour runtime from the two provided AAA batteries.

That’s all for this year, there was so much more, it would take 100 pages to cover it all. Check it out.

Copyright James Langan/RoadTraveler.net/PhotoWrite Intl. LLC.

A similar version of this article was also published in the Turbo Diesel Register.

Sources:

AeroContinental: aero-continental.com

AEV: aev-conversions.com

ARB: arbusa.com

AT Overland: adventuretrailers.com

Cummins: cummins.com

NEMO Equipment: nemoequipment.com

New Legend 4×4: newlegend4x4.com

Overland Expo: overlandexpo.com

Ram: ramtrucks.com

With all my posts about tires it’s not surprising that I receive mail asking for opinions and advice on tires. A gentleman named Guy from Washington recently asked for my input. Below are his questions and my replies. My review and comments on the 255/85R16 Toyo M/T on my old F-350 will continue.

Howdy, hope you can help me a bit with a tire selection dilemma: 2012 two-door JK, that I use as a daily driver here in Wenatchee, Washington. Also do a couple of road trips every year, 2000 – 3000 miles each. Hunting. Fishing. Some overlanding. Did the 600 mile WABDR this past summer. I’d like to use the same tires all year, snow, rain, heat.

The two-door JK is a nice platform, I was shopping Jeep JKs online just a few days ago, including the two-door models. Sounds like your Jeep sees a nice mix of uses. As much as I’m a tire aficionado who tests and often owns more than one set of tires for a particular platform, there are advantages to picking a set of all-around treads and using them until they’re ready to be replaced.

Very basic Jeep. Manual transmission, 4.10 gears, aftermarket air lockers front & rear. 1.5″ Teraflex leveling kit (springs).

Sounds nicely set-up. There’s much to be said for lower lifts, and I love manual transmissions. Aftermarket selectable air lockers, presumably ARB Air Lockers, are accessories that offer a level of control over traction and wheel rotation that is only available with selectable lockers.

ARB Air Locker and 4.88:1 gears during setup

I bought a set of used 16×9″ rims and E-rated 265/75/16 BFG AT’s a week or two after I got the Jeep. Killer deal, $1k for five rims and tires. I’ve put another 25,000 miles on those tires, and they’re getting worn. So I need tires soon. I could just replace them with more 265’s, but they’re a little short.

Several years ago the first aftermarket tires I put on my V8 4Runner were 265/75R16. I agree that 265s are a bit short, most are notably smaller than 32-inches tall. Depending on the tire and tread chosen and the actual height, the advantages to stepping up to a 33-inch-tall tire are quite noticeable. Even with a short thirty-three (32.8″) the approximately one-inch in overall diameter will lift your Jeep a solid half-inch, everywhere. The best lift is tire lift.

I like the 255’s, roughly 33×10’s. Nice! But, I’m afraid they won’t work with my 16×9’s.

You are correct, in addition to being too wide according to the tire manufactures, a 9-inch wheel is a poor choice for a 255 tire for our uses, while a 7–8 inch wheel would be prefect. A 9-inch wheel is also wide for a 265, I prefer to run a 265/7x tire on a stock 7–8 inch wheel. I’ve not shopped for Jeep wheels recently, but I’d image there are many high-quality, original equipment, aluminum take-off wheels for sale on Craigslist. I’ve been a huge fan of the 255/85 size since the early 1990s and have been using them steadily on at least one of my four-wheel-drives since 1998.

New Toyo M/T LT265/75R16E being mounted on 2-door 2005 TJ Rubicon Unlimited

Simple solution is just 285’s, but… I fear that’s an awful lot of tire for a little two-door JK… Maybe ditch the 16×9 wheels? I do like the way they look, but I could swap to a more narrow wheel & tire combo happily.

Surely 285s will work on your 9-inch wheels and that is a simple solution. Tread choices in 285/75R16 are almost endless. However, I’m not a fan of using wheels that are on the wide end of specifications. For 285s I prefer to run a 7.5-inch (the minimum) or 8-inch wheel, both for how the tire fits the wheel and the narrower overall width. I don’t care for tires and wheels that protrude further than necessary. I’ve run a few sets of 285 tires over the past several years out of necessity or a desire to run a particular tread that was not available in a 255, but I’d almost always prefer a 255/8x if I could get what I’m looking for.

Ditching the 9-inch-wide wheels would be my suggestion regardless of what tire you purchase. Choosing wheels that are at least 7.5-inches wide but no wider than 8-inches, will allow you run any of the tire sizes we are discussing here; 265/75R16, 255/85R/16, or 285/75R16.

Toyo M/T tires, new, unmounted, left-to-right: LT265/75R16E, LT255/85R16E, LT285/75R16E — Toyo M/T tires, new, unmounted, left-to-right:
LT265/75R16E, LT255/85R16E, LT285/75R16E

Have four heavy-duty old style tire chains that are a little big on 265’s and fit 285’s real snug.

One old set of tire chains I have fit both 265/75 and 255/85 tires similarly, I believe both tire sizes use the same chains. My chains are too small for 285s.

And of course I haven’t quite made up my mind re tire type either. The AT’s have done surprisingly well, but I find myself looking hard at the Toyo MT’s and Mickey Thompson MT’s. My son runs 33×12.50 Mickey Thompsons – and they’re terrific off-road, but I’m not that impressed with them on pavement.

When I finish telling the story of using the Toyo M/T on my F-350 the rapid wear might surprise a few readers. I’m a fan of Toyo tires, but when I can, I much prefer a tire that will offer less noise and longer wear. Of course tire wear is often specific to the platform, driver, and use.

There are a set of Mickey Thompson MTZ tires sitting in my shop mounted and ready for use on my Tundra, but have only seen about 2,000 miles of travel. I like them, but I’ve preferred the Dick Cepek FC-II treads I’ve been running for most of the Tundra’s miles. The FC-II (replaced by the Fun Country) has less noise, excellent siping, and have been slow to show wear on everything from an F-350 diesel, the Tundra, and a built V8 4Runner. Of course neither the Fun Country nor the Mickey Thompson MTZ tread are available in the 255/85R16 size.

The biggest decision you have to make is tire size. If you chose either a 265/75 or 285/75 your choices are many, both a blessing and a curse. If you decide to try a set of 255/85R16 rubber, then it will be relatively easy because the choices are relatively few.

If the 255 size wins, and you decide you don’t want a loud or faster wearing mud-terrain tire (Maxxis Bighorn, Toyo M/T, or BFG KM2), I’d suggest you consider a set of Cooper S/T MAXX. The S/T MAXX has only been manufactured in the 255/85R16 size since the first quarter of 2014. I’m currently running a set in the 255/80R17 size on my 4Runner.

Tag: ARB

Overland Expo West 2017

2012 Jeep JK Tire Selection Dilemma