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So if you get the magazine, you already knew this. But this week is Ultimate Adventure week on the Motortrend channel on YouTube.
The rig was driven by Cooper Rasmussen of Offroad Power Products in Spokane Washington.
The Off Road Power Products crew is always a good time, and this year the Spokane-based team of Erik “Cooper” Rasmussen and Mike Kim was great entertainment. Instead of bringing one of their usual diesel-powered vehicles, the OPP crew built a 1975 Cherokee Chief that had lots of great parts and just the right amount of patina. The fresh build had the expected number of gremlins to work out, but in a first for the duo, there were no major failures . The fresh 360 was topped with MSD Atomic fuel injection for reliability, while a 14-bolt and beefed-up Dana 44 sent torque to the 37-inch Falkens. Some sheetmetal was massaged along the way, but Rasmussen managed to avoid the full smash treatment this year and was able to drive it off the last trail at the end of the week, a first for him.
>Drivetrain
Engine: AMC 360
Transmission: TH400
Transfer Case: NP205 with ORD twin-stick
Front Axle: Dana 44, ARB Air Locker, Chromoly axleshafts, 4.88
Rear Axle: GM 14-Bolt, ARB Air Locker, Chromoly axleshafts, 4.88
>Suspension
Springs & Such: 3-link with 12-inch Fox coilovers (front); 4-inch BDS leaf springs with Synergy 6-inch shackles and OPP spring hangers (rear)
Tires & Wheels: Method 105 beadlocks with 37x12.50-17 Falken WildPeak MTs
Steering: PSC ram-assist with Artec arms
Winch: Warn Xeon 10-S
Lighting: Mixture of KC and Baja Designs
Other Stuff: Full rollcage, PRP seats, Atomic EFI, MSD ignition, Mercenary Off-Road front and rear bumpers, Art Carr shifter, SPod accessory wiring
This year was definitely the year of lots of mud.
Every day this week is a new episode, here is episode one:
I think I posted on here (or maybe the FSJ network FB page) as this was happening.
FYI it's looking real good for me to run the UA again this year. Now that the old dually (with it's new 8.1l engine and gearstar 4l80e) is running good, I just need to buy a GN trailer and do some work on the honcho....
I think I posted on here (or maybe the FSJ network FB page) as this was happening.
FYI it's looking real good for me to run the UA again this year. Now that the old dually (with it's new 8.1l engine and gearstar 4l80e) is running good, I just need to buy a GN trailer and do some work on the honcho....
That's very cool. They sell off the parts they don't need, or use locally, too. One of their shop guys was selling two Willys trucks at their home. I went to look at them for parts for my thrift sides. I ended up not getting them, but he was building a dodge sportsman van into a cool camping 4wd machine.
Every once in a while if you drive on Trent RD. you can see some of the rigs they're building in their parking lot. Pretty impressive stuff.
Very cool! I was watching the ultimate adventure episode of the "Dirt every day" show on youtube and I saw a FSJ in the background but didn't find anything else about it with a casual google search.
1978 Cherokee Chief S; 360, TH400, BW1339, stock aside from header back dual exhaust. Currently: Repairs/maintenance in progress, roadworthy soon (I hope!)
