Event Date: Saturday August 28, 2010
Parade line-up (no registration required): 5:00 AM – 9:30 AM (1st come, 1st in line)
Location: Liberty Park (Around 900 S 700 E) and surrounding streets
Parade Start: 10:00 AM
Rally Start: Around 11:30 AM (or when parade is over)

Take Back Utah protects access to our public lands and defends the freedom of all American’s to explore and experience America’s Wild Places, while preserving America’s small town economies and rural lifestyles through responsible land use.

Last year, 4000 outdoor enthusiasts and multiple users of public land from around the country gathered in Salt Lake to march on the capitol in protest of land restrictions placed on Utah’s public lands by the federal government. The protest ignited a string of events that has changed the course and direction of local and state leaders regarding the importance of public land access in the state.

If you have always wanted to be a part of something or make a difference in your quality of life, then you need to be sure to attend this FREE event.

The time has past when it was sufficient for you to simply work your job, attend to your family, and participate in church and local civic functions. If those of you who care about public land and its management want to see positive change then you MUST become involved now. If you care about the direction of this country you cannot ignore the need for you to do more. We all MUST be active citizens. We need you to step up and come to this event. Your attendance WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Commit to attending and then spread the word and get ALL YOU CAN to do the same. PLEASE take this appeal for your attendance seriously. Please come and unite your voice with all of ours.

All of the available TeraFlex Staff will be at this critical event. Please make sure that you are there too!

For more information check out www.takebackutah.org

We got a call from John a couple of months ago, and he wanted an extreme update to his 2-door JK. After a consultation with him, we figured we had enough information to put together an awesome build that would allow the Jeep to handle anything from Oregon’s I-5 to California’s Johnson Valley.

A plan was set, and the Jeep was delivered. Bob, Ben, and Jason took over from there. The Jeep was gutted from the frame down, and the slow process of rebuilding began.
It might not seem like one of the biggest builds, but with such a unique suspension design, geometry and handling was very important. Several days were dedicated to the process of figuring the major suspension areas – including virtual reaction point, roll center, center of gravity, and up/down travel.

Bob’s fabrication skills were put to work with over 160 hours of detailed effort. The Jeep doesn’t look like it has that much into it, and that is precisely the point – it is a sleeper. The 37″ BFG tires, and the Walker Beadlock wheels are the only hint of the true machine that lies beneath the steel blue shell.

Once the 5.7L Hemi engine is fired up and the Jeep is put in gear, you know that this is not any ordinary 2 door. A quick blip of the throttle and you are set back in your seat, the Fox Coilovers soak up everything in your path, and the SpeedBump bumpstops and swaybars keep all four tires on the tarmac. Once off-road, the Jeep settles in to it’s real duties and starts looking for the biggest obstacles it can find. Truth be told, we didn’t have too much time behind the wheel before John took it off our hands to go thrash it on a 3-week Colorado trip. From all reports, this project was a huge success – and Bob can now catch up on some well needed sleep!

Check out the specs below to see everything that makes this a true sleeper.

FRONT SUSPENSION
• Custom coilover mount
• Fox 14″ Coilover w/remote reservoir
• 14″ limiting straps
• 4″ Travel SpeedBump Bumpstops
• Elite LCG Long Arm front suspension
• 4.5″ suspension up-travel (limited by Hemi)

REAR SUSPENSION
• Custom coilover mount & crossmember
• Fox 14″ Coilover w/remote reservoir
• Double triangluation 4 link rear suspension
• 16″ limiting straps
• 4″ travel SpeedBump Bumpstops
• Notched frame for coilover clearance
• Stretched rear wheelbase 2.5″ (98.5″ total)
• 6.75″ suspension up-travel
• Currie Antirock swaybar & custom mount

DRIVETRAIN
• 1350 CV Driveshafts
• Big Brake rotor kit
• 17″ Walker Evans Racing beadlock wheels
• 37″ BFG Goodrich Krawlers
• 5.7L Hemi Conversion (performed by Burnsville OffRoad)
• Atlas 3.8
• Tera CRD60 JK specific axles front & rear
• Detroit Lockers front & rear
• 5.38 ring & pinion gears

BODY PROTECTION & SKIDS
• Custom crossmember for rear triangulated arms
• custom belly skidplate
• GenRight relocated fuel tank
• High clearance Evap Canister relocation
• Twisted Tube roll cage
• Poison Spyder Crusher flares

Check out the photos, and see some of the build process, then take a look at the action shots that John has sent back in.
This thing works great, and they are obviously having a blast!

Keep it Rubber side down John!

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Where: San Rafael Swell, Utah

This is going to be an overnight trip for those who want to tag along!  We’ll be leaving the TeraFlex PLUS Showroom at noon on Friday the 11th and heading down.

Directions:

Head to Price, once there take Highway 10 to Huntington, take the exit to Castle Dale.  Head East on EM401 towards the “Wedge Overlook”, we’ll be staying at the Wedge Overlook Campground.  I’ll get the GPS coordinates posted as soon as I get them.

We have maps of the swell in the showroom for those of you that would like to pick one up.  Stop by and ask the guys at the desk.

For those of you not wanting to stay overnight we’ll be leaving camp at 9:00am.  It’s only ~2 hour drive down there so if you’d like to meet up with us Saturday morning let one of our guys in the showroom know and we’ll get you in contact with Dennis.  There was cell service at the campground last year so we’ll have no problem meeting up.

Hit us up with any questions!  We hope to see you all down there!

Where: Miller Motorsports Park

printable show flyer
Registration Form

That’s Right, Salt Lake’s best off-road show is back again! We will have the show at the Miller Motorsports Park Off-Road Course again this year. Last year’s show was awesome! we had a huge turnout, everyone was able to run portions of the course, try the RTI ramp, and many walked away with a trophy. Don’t miss this year’s event, it promises to be better than the last.
We will be having a huge raffle to raise money for the Utah 4 Wheel Drive Association. All proceeds will go towards keeping YOUR trails open! Hit the link for registration information and fliers!

For a printable show flyer click here
For a printable registration form, click here. Pre-registration is $15, or day of the show is $25.
Registration is filling up fast, so don’t wait to register or you might be too late!
See you there!

If you would like to have a booth at the show, give us a call – 801-713-3314.

-TeraFlex PLUS Team

Due to a lack of snow on the Blackrock Trail, we decided to make a slight change in plans and head over to the Rattlesnake and Constrictor trailheads. The decision paid off! We found plenty of mud and snow, enough to break everyone’s rigs in for the season! We had a great turn out and got some great pictures of the run, hit the link to see them!

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Hit the jump to check out Dave Card’s awesome rollover (don’t worry, he’s fine!)

Dave Card took quite a tumble in his TJ, as you can see from the video! Luckily only the Jeep suffered major injuries, hopefully it will be back on the trail soon!

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Let’s begin with a quick explanation of what lockers do. Simply put, a locker is a device that controls power distribution to your tires and control how power is redistributed to the tires in different situations, such as changing terrain and tire spin. Housed in the differential case, lockers come in two options, Selectable and Automatic. We’ll divide these into two sections for simplicity’s sake:

Selectable Lockers: These types of lockers allow the driver to control when the locker is engaged and when it disengages, hence the name “Selectable”. These lockers are controlled either pneumatically by an air compressor, or electronically by the use of magnetically charged currents.

Animation of ARB Air Locker courtesy of www.arbusa.com

Air-actuated Selectable Lockers: Air actuated lockers are usually controlled by a switch mounted on the dash. The switch controls an air solenoid that in turn sends pressurized air down a pneumatic air line to the axle housing and into the air locker in the differential. The compressed air actuates the piston and clutch gear, moving the gear into the “locked” position. The side gear is locked to the housing providing 100% traction lock-up between the two axle shafts.
The locker is deactivated by a flip of the switch, forcing the solenoid to release the air pressure. In turn the piston springs return to the pistons and the clutch gear returns to its original open position. The best example is an ARB Locker like the one in the animation to the right.

The benefits of Air Actuated Selectable Lockers:

100% traction on demand without driveline wear
Easy to install, operate, and maintain
Simple design with minimal moving parts, making it ultra-durable
No extra tire wear
Option to disengage in places that an automatic locker could not such as hill-sides or rocky areas where an open diff would perform much better than a locked one.

The disadvantages of Air Actuated Selectable Lockers:

High initial cost
Must have an air compressor
Require air hoses and fluid to work

Electronic Selectable Lockers: Electronic Lockers operate very similarly to their air counterparts, with the exception that instead of using compressed air they use electromagnetic pulses to engage and disengage the locker mechanism. These electronic signals are also controlled by a switch that the driver can easily control. An example would be an Eaton ELocker.

The benefits of Electronic Selectable Lockers:

No compressor noise
100% traction on demand without driveline wear
Easy to install, operate, and maintain
No extra tire wear
Can disengage in places that automatic lockers would self-engage, such as hill-sides or rocky areas where an open differential would perform much better than a locked one.

The disadvantages of Electronic Selectable Lockers:

High initial cost
More moving parts
Requires electricity to operate

Oxlocker: Functions the same as an Electronic locker, except using cabling to control the locking mechanism instead of electronics.

The benefits of an Oxlocker:

Does not require electricity or air to operate
Less costly

The Disadvantages of an Oxlocker:

Cheaper material
Cable malfunctioning, or getting caught on something

Automatic Lockers: This type of locking system is not user controlled; rather, it is controlled by certain conditions such as speed, torque, and tire spin. There are several different types of automatic lockers, which vary in cost and usability.

Torque Actuated: A torque actuated locker is automatically controlled by the amount of twisting force exerted on the differential. This type of automatic locker is essentially always engaged, as the driver has no direct control over the components. The locker can sense turns and it will disengage itself when going around corners, as long as you aren’t giving it gas, allowing the wheels to spin at different speeds to properly turn the vehicle. Examples include Eaton’s Detroit series Locking Differentials.

Gleason-Torsen: Similar to a Detroit Trutrac. Was more popular 15-20 years ago but they aren’t seen anymore.

The benefits of Torque Actuated Automatic Lockers:

Never have to worry about when to engage your locker.
No extra components such as switches or air lines are required.
This is the only automatic locker that can work when one tire is completely off the ground.

The disadvantages of Torque Actuated Automatic Lockers:

Almost always engaged
No way to control, completely automated
Increased tire wear

Limited Slip: Limited slip lockers are a good bridge between your standard differential and a full locking diff. These lockers are not capable of 100% full lockup; however they provide a lot better traction when off-roading than an open carrier.

The benefits of a Limited Slip Automatic Locker:

More cost-efficient to manufacture
Never have to worry about engaging it
More forgiving on the street than a Torque Actuated Locker

The disadvantages of a Limited Slip Automatic Locker:

Do not provide 100% lock-up
Requires special oil friction modifier

Spools: Spools are the simplest way to lock your differential. Simply put, a spool is a solid carrier that allows for no wheel speed differentiation. Spools are always engaged. This type of locker is usually seen in competition and drag racing.

The benefits of Spools:

Extremely cheap
Permanently locked
Allows no change in wheel speed differentiation

The disadvantages of Spools:

Tire wear
Low turning radius
Additional stress applied to shafts

Mini-spools: Mini spools replace the spider gears in an open differential into a full non-differentiating diff that locks both shafts together. This would make it just as strong as the stock carrier is.

The benefits of a Mini-Spool:

Most cost-effecient locker available
Can use the same stock carrier

The disadvantages of a Mini-Spool:

Like all other automatic lockers, cannot control when engaged
Prone to break

That’s it for almost all of your options for lockers for your Jeep. Choosing which works for you will depend on what you are planning to use your Jeep for. Will it be a daily driver as well as an off-roading machine? Do you want to control when the locker is engaged or would you rather not have to worry about it? How much are you willing to spend on the proper equipment? Just a few examples of questions you should ask yourself when making a decision. Give us a call if you still have questions and we’d be happy to help figure out what works the best for you and your build up!