Where To Write
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Letters
Four Wheeler
6420 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90048-5515.
All letters become the property of Four Wheeler, and we reserve the right to edit them for length, accuracy, and clarity. The editorial department also can be reached through the Web site at www.fourwheeler.com. Due to the volume of mail, electronic or otherwise, we cannot respond to every reader, but we do read everything.
Shunning The 'ZU
Reader: I've been wondering for some time now why you continually shun the Isuzu. I thought I must have missed an article even though I've subscribed for several years. "Four Wheeler's 40 Favorite 4x4s" (June '02) confirmed my suspicion that you just don't cover this fine line of vehicles. My '98 Trooper, with just over 70,000 miles showing on its odometer, has hauled me and mine through dirt, sand, mud, some snow and ice and thousands of pounding interstate miles. One warranty repair fixed the rear-seat cup holder, and that's it, save for routine maintenance, tires and a battery. Fit and finish remain superb, and the Trooper delivers a solid 16 mpg around town and 19-20 mpg at 70-75 mph. I've had 4x4s since 1980 and this is the finest since my Scouts, one with a turbodiesel. In that time, I've regretted the purchases of a Jeep Cherokee, a Ford Explorer and a big GMC Jimmy. All were loaded with factory defects, all needed expensive repairs, and none made it past 40,000 miles before forcing me to ditch them. The Trooper has my vote for 4x4 of the year-any year.
Peter Wyckoff
Southport, North Carolina
Editor: Pete, we don't shun the Isuzu. In fact, we kinda have respect for 'em. It's just that none of the judges employed for our "Four Wheeler's 40 Favorite 4x4s" felt that any Isuzu's products, for all their quality, had exerted sufficient impact on four-wheeling to be named one of our 40 favorites.
Slippery Stuff
Reader: A while back you did a series on building small-block Chevy engines (Mar. '01). You mentioned using a preluber during assembly. I saved the article, but now that I'm looking for a preluber, I can't find one. Will you please advise me what type to use and where I can get it?
Ken McDowell
Elmer City, Washington
Editor: Sure thing. This is something we'd ordinarily send on to Willie Worthy, but as it happens, we can supply the answer, thanks to our pal Jeff Smith, editor of Chevy High Performance, who says this: "Crane, as in Crane Cams, should be able to provide you with what you need-check out www.cranecams.com/CraneCams.htm for more information on this stuff. It's a little bottle of thick, red oil that sticks to the bearings very well, so that even if an engine sits for an extended period, the oil doesn't slide off of bearing surfaces. We think that Federal-Mogul may also sell a similar potion. It's not a moly paste-that nasty black stuff that comes in a tube. Don't use that anywhere except on a flat tappet lifter bottom and on cam lobes. Use the red stuff on bearings and regular engine oil on everything else." As to where to find it, it's tough for us to know who in your area might carry it. We'd shop the Web, and we'd check out the hot rod and performance shops, and places like NAPA Auto Parts stores.
Unsafe Cars, Unsafe Drivers
Reader: I just got the July issue of Four Wheeler and was reading Limited Articulation, and then Low Rage, and I noticed that Reese and Thompson were talking about a belief that trucks are unsafe. This really ticks me off because I think it's the other way around. I have been driving trucks for most of my life and I still have a clean license. I did have a little car for a little bit and I found that I was speeding and not paying attention to my driving because the car was too easy to drive and my mind didn't stay on driving. If the normal person can't drive these trucks properly, then they shouldn't get behind the wheel.
Jason Finstad
San Juan Bautista, California
Editor: Yep, we agree. It all comes down to driving skill, our willingness to be responsible drivers and the willingness of the authorities to be sure that the people they license to drive actually are fit to drive.
The Value Of Personal Responsibility
Reader: Jon Thompson and Ted Reese both hit the nail squarely with their comments in the July '02 Four Wheeler. Jon's friend Paul is typical of those who do not believe in personal responsibility. They want everybody to conform to their idea of what is right. Adding to Jon's comments, remember that NASCAR, Indy and Formula One cars will all roll over, given circumstances beyond the cars' limitations. The dangerous imbeciles are the Honda and BMW drivers who act as if their cars make them invulnerable to the laws of physics as they drive like the morons that they truly are. Equally stupid are the yuppie SUV drivers who drive as if they are in Porsches or Corvettes. Rollovers, and all other car accidents for that matter, are caused by drivers, not by the cars. Maybe next month I'll tell you what I really think.
Martin Goetsch
San Dimas, California
You Read What?
Reader: I recently read an article in Car and Driver about how companies in the automobile industry have been putting bigger, meaner engines in their high-dollar cars. Why hasn't anybody put these shiny new 500-plus-hp engines into the new trucks? I have become saddened to see that as time goes by, the only decent four-wheelers will be expensively modified new vehicles or the old trusted vehicles that are kept alive through constant work. I can't afford to buy a lift and larger axles for my '98 Dodge Ram, which I chose carefully for its solid axle and good stock tire clearance. I hope that you will do the best you can to steer the automakers into keeping some off-roadability in the vehicles, even if it's at the expense of on-road handling and comfort, and to adding power, even if it's at the expense of gas mileage. Call me old fashioned, but I think a 4x4 should be built to go four-wheeling.
Chris Kahl
Merced, California
Editor: "Quick, doctor, this man needs help! He's been reading one of those magazines that caters to drivers of BMWs, Hondas, Porsches, Corvettes and the like."
Fill In The Blank
Reader: OK, I'm sure you're going to be inundated with messages like this, so I'll give you what you expect: "Just read your '10 Best Classic 4x4s Revealed' in the July issue, and HOW could you [insert favorite dimwit reference here] leave out the [Name Your Favorite Vehicle here]?"
Seriously, it is rather incredible that, other than Mr. Aneiros (2nd), and Mr. Currie (7th), your panel of "experts" chose to totally deny the existence of the Jeep Cherokee XJ, an inexpensive vehicle that kept a basic design for 18 years, which freshly minted off the assembly line with no special enhancements, could actually hang a quick right and crawl over a mountain to "get to the other side," like one of those Jeep ads of the '90s.
Mike Giannone
Alexandria, New Jersey
Editor: Well, we've denied the existence of lots of things over the years-traffic tickets, when talking to our insurance agents; new parts, when talking to our wives; excess speed, when talking to traffic cops. So why should this be any different?