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Old and new OME
My FJ40 Land Cruiser has been riding on an Old Man Emu suspension for about eight years now. It’s OME’s standard kit for the FJ40, comprising a useful but easy-on-driveshaft-angle two-inch lift...
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Ceramic knife . . . fail
The one certain thing about any knife on earth is that it will eventually become dull with use. Since steel was first created by the accidental introduction of carbon into iron, knife makers have...
View ArticleLand Rover's invisible hood
Very rarely am I left open-mouthed by a new automotive invention, but this one left me gobsmacked. Land Rover is experimenting with a system that employs a camera, mounted in the front bumper, which...
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The Micro-Start XP-1
Experienced mechanics don't often sound giddy over the phone, but Dave Anderson sounded giddy when he called me from his Flagstaff, Arizona, shop, the Good Carma Garage (which really should be a radio...
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The LS2 MX453 Dual-sport Adventure helmet
$400 Arai Xd-3, left; $160 MX453, right (Editor's note: Carla King recently conducted one of her typically thorough tests of a new and very affordable helmet from LS2, on a trip to Baja with Jonathan...
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A tale of two owner's manuals
My friend, master mechanic Bill Lee, sent me these photos. Ponder for a moment the difference between the owner's manual for a 1985 Toyota Land Cruiser, 144 pages long, and the suite of manuals for a...
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The 2015 F150 should have been the 2014 Tundra
The 2008 Tundra . . . shrug. I’ve been about as loyal a Toyota fan as one could imagine for a long, long time. My first car was a 1971 Corolla with the nifty little overachiever 1600cc hemi-head...
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Shock absorbers: gas-charged, or . . . ?
Look at reviews of shock absorbers for four-wheel-drive vehicles in U.S. magazines, and you’ll probably find just two types listed and described: Mono-tube, high-pressure gas-charged Twin-tube,...
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Brown paper packages . . .
. . . tied up with string. This is how your purchase from the Adventure Tool Company arrives. Stylish - and more importantly, it speaks of pride in the contents. More soon . . .
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Shipping a motorcycle to South America
Reader Matt Caggiano posted this question: I'm trying to find a reasonable price to air freight my KLR650 from Phoenix AZ to Buenos Aires, Argentina. I was hoping you may have some contacts that can...
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23,000-mile review: Klim Latitude jacket and pants
by Alison DeLapp, www.AlisonsWanderland.com Pockets galore! (on the Altiplano in Peru) As a female motorcyclist, choosing a viable suit for long-term riding is met with limited options. Despite the...
View ArticleInstalling an ARB diff lock, part 2
We're back from Silver City, New Mexico, where Bill Lee of Bill's Toy Shop installed an ARB locking differential in the rear of the JATAC (see below for part 1). We've created a 13-minute video...
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Installing an ARB diff lock, part 1
Once you've installed better tires, the number one modification you can do to a four-wheel-drive vehicle to improve traction is to add a differential locker. Lacking traction control or lockers, a...
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British reserve . . .
I'm reading Valerie Pakenham's book shown above. She references a letter sent by Joyce Cary, a district commissioner (and later a well-known novelist) in northern Nigeria in 1916. Comparing...
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Et tu, Filson?
Lumberjacks well-equipped in early C.C. Filson clothingThe history of exploration in the 20th century is littered with outfitters that got their start and earned fame by offering high-quality,...
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An unexpected truck review
The Ram 1500 in front of the Very Large Array in New Mexico Christmas day found Roseann and me driving a rented pickup from Tucson to Cubero, New Mexico, due to an unexpected family situation. We wound...
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The über camera strap
The camera straps included with pro-level DSLRs from the Canon/Nikon/et al factories have improved significantly over the years, from the stingy half-inch-wide strips of yore to reasonably...
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A brief tutorial on hill-descent control
Truck and SUV manufacturers are incorporating more and more technological gadgets into their vehicles with the goal of enhancing off-highway performance and safety. One that is becoming nearly...
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