PTO Winch Fan
I liked the vintage advertisements in the latest issue (Trail’s End, Oct. ’12). I have a couple of PTO winches myself. My first ride was a ’68 half-cab Bronco. It sported a front mounted PTO winch that ran off the transfer case. It looks exactly like the one pictured on a Bronco in your article. With the trans in Third gear, it would spool up fast. It worked very well, but it wasn’t as simple to use as an electric winch. This was generally not a big deal, until one evening when I was precariously perched at the top of a rather nasty gulch. The only thing keeping me in that position was both feet on the non-power brake pedal. My new friends had no idea how to operate my winch. I was understandably flustered and therefore in no mood to give a crash course. I still have that awesome old Bronco, because every time I stopped for gas some old-timer would approach me and tell how he used to have one and wished he’d never gotten rid of it.
My current ride is a ’91 Dodge Ram with a Cummins, NV4500, NP205, locked Dana 60 frontend, and a Dana 70 rearend. It’s all iron, big, ugly, loud, brown, and beautiful. I was going for a rat rod look in a 4x4; I call it a Moose Rod. I stumbled on to a PTO winch setup on Craigslist and talked the guy out it for peanuts. I got it home and did a little Interneting. It turns out it’s a Ramsey 10,000-pound winch. With five forward speeds and reverse hooked to turbodiesel torque, it’s pretty awesome. The weak link is the cable. I’ve been tossing around the idea of getting a synthetic rope for safety.
Jesse Thomason
Via email
Do They Crush ’Em?
What happens to the one-off vehicles that the Mopar UnderGround brings to Moab, Utah, for the Easter Jeep Safari? Do the engineers keep them, sell them, or what? Every year they bring something new. After all these years they must be stacking up somewhere. Please don’t tell me they are crushed.
James Ramsey
Glendale, AZ
Since the Mopar UnderGround crew builds both Jeeps and Ram trucks for the event, we went straight to Nick Cappa at the Ram truck brand for the lowdown on this one. Here is what he had to say:
“We build a number of concept and image vehicles every year for different events. A lot of times these vehicles are used to test interest in a new design theme or feature Mopar performance parts and accessories. The vehicles spend their life on the road at auto shows and other events. Some find their way into museums or receive updates to become a different vehicle entirely.”
Nick Cappa
Ram Truck Media Relations
Chrysler Group LLC
Time-Warp CJ
In “We Are the Champions,” (Oct. ’12), you show a vehicle identified as a “1992 Jeep CJ-7.”
CJ-7s stopped being made in the U.S. around 1986, but yeah, it’s clearly a CJ-7, and you guys generally know what you’re talking about.
So how does a CJ-7 end up with a ’92 model year?
Rick Lippincott
Haverhill, MA
Since the owner, Geby Wager, pretty much custom built the CJ-7 from the ground up in 1992, he considers it a ’92 Jeep—despite having a CJ-7 body.
Bubba Or Blue Chip
John, let me begin by saying I generally like your writing and opinions on 4WD equipment. I have always thought that you’d be someone I’d like to wheel with. That said, your October ’12 editorial about camping (Firing Order) seems to have but two objectives—provoking controversy and name-calling. Why excoriate overlanders who enjoy the challenge of backcountry camping in style? Stylish and comfortable backcountry camping takes intellect, planning, and yes, money. I remind you that spending money is what your advertisers want your readers to do.
Most off-roaders begin as low-tech campers, but slowly becoming overlanders—they evolve. As overlanders, we are not as you say “missing out on what is so awesome about camping in the first place.” We simply don’t care to continually be dirty, sleep on the ground, or eat from dirty camp pots. My early off-road camping trips were just as you described in your editorial—but I’ve evolved. I had fun then, but I also have fun now. I was off the grid then, and I’m off the grid now. The difference is that now, for example, I can use my ham radio or personal locator beacon to call for help for others or myself. Why would I reject the use of these wonderful survival tools? Since I now walk upright and don’t chip at flint to make arrows and spears, my evolution has increased my camping enjoyment.
Bob Wohlers
Gridley, CA
Gun Advice Of The Month
After reading nerd or redneck (“Hi-Tech or Redneck?” Oct. ’12), I have just a small comment. If all you want to do is kill cans, you can do a lot better than that hogleg wannabe. Any good .22 will get the job done, and you can buy 100 rounds of .22 ammo for what you will pay to fill those six big holes. If you are worried about anything bigger, a Smith and Wesson 29 with a 4-inch barrel will take care of all your needs.
The one thing, well two things I did not see: a shovel or a porta-pot of any kind. I for one am not a fan of trail muffins.
Joe Santos
New Haven, CT
Although we may not agree with Mr. Santos that the .45 is too big for plinking cans, we can’t argue against his financial logic. So for that we’re sending him a DVD/Blu-ray video of The Bourne Legacy. The Bourne Legacy comes to Blu-ray/DVD this December.
Where To Write
Address your correspondence to Four Wheeler, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 or send an email to john.cappa@fourwheeler.com. All letters become the property of Four Wheeler, and we reserve the right to edit them for length, accuracy, and clarity. The editorial department can also be reached through the website at www.fourwheeler.com. Due to the volume of mail, electronic and otherwise, we cannot respond to every reader, but we do read everything.