4BY4tech magazine 1-4

4 4TECH



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 

  

       



      



AREA

BFE HELLDORADO

      

       

 

          

    

 

PG 60 - Mickey Thompsons new mud terrain the MTZ P3 PG 64 - Grants steering wheel security system - hard to steal a car without a steering wheel!

PG 68 - One of my favorite Washington state wheeling areas. Naches Washington and Rim Rock Lake.

PG 76 - Don’t skip the back page!!!! 20+ SEMA Desert Racing Trucks!

Issue 1-1 a new beginn ing Catch up b y clicking th ! e past years covers here ! All free an d always w be. ill

Issue 1-3 Return to M oab and Pritchett C anyon

Issue 1-2 K icks off in th e Oregon Sand dune s one of my favorite pla along the O ces regon Coas t.

MAXIMUM ARTICULATION

        

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4 4TECH BY

                               



                                    

                                 

                             

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4 4TECH BY

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4 4TECH BY



$'(0!.%9570"6-195&9.19

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4 4TECH BY

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                     

     

4 4TECH BY



   

     



4 4TECH BY



      



   

   

   

     

        

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   

            

    

     

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   

      

  

   

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                                     

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 

                

                       

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                             

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                    

                  

 



           

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

4 4TECH BY

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 

                         

          

                 

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                          

                                           





4 4TECH BY

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           

 

                       

                           



                

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             

                                               

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 

              

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       

      

          

          

       

     

       

     

 



4 4TECH BY



  

      

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                

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NISSAN TITAN CUMMINS 5.0L

This issue we get to pit the two full size truck offerings in North America against each other – the Nissan Titan and the Toyota Tundra. Both have come a long way in their development over the years. The Titan came straight into the market in 2003 with a standard 5.6 V8 with 317hp. The truck has remained relatively unchanged until the 2016 model year where along side the standard 5.6L V8 engine, a Cummins 5.0L turbo diesel was added producing 310hp and 555 ft. lbs. of torque. Along with the new engine came a host of upgrades, transmission rear axle size, towing ability and a redesign both inside and out. The Toyota on the other hand started back in 1993-1998 as the T-100. This was prior to Toyota giving their trucks real names. The T-100 design wasn’t a very large truck – in reality the new Tacoma is much closer in size to the T-100 than the Tundra platform is today and it has generally gotten larger as well over its production run. The Tundra kicked off in 2000 with a pair of V6 engines and one 4.7L V8. When the truck grew in size in 2006 so did the engine offerings ranging from a standard 4.0L (dropped in 2012 the truck is just to heavy for this engine) to a 381HP By: Albert Vandervelde WWW.4BY4TECH.COM

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Baby Cummins! The 5.0L is a different motor than found in the Dodge trucks its a V8 configuration and produces 310HP and 555 ft. lbs. at 1600RPM. The turbo diesel engine has a graphite iron block with aluminum heads. With its equipped emission systems the engine is near zero out the tail pipe. Yes is sounds like a Cummins too!

The interior on the Pro 4X was exceptional and the cab offered little road noise and minimal noise from the diesel engine. The Pro 4X is an off-road package and the tire size and stance was higher than the Tundra.

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The box was packed with storage devices; tie down rails in the bed, under box fifth wheel towing in place, and an easy down rear tailgate. All of these storage devices are interesting but if you plan to haul loose material of any kind you will want to forgo most of them as small stones and dirt will get into everything.

All were well designed and thought out though.

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5.7L. In 2010 the Tundra got fresh body work and interior changes and I can say both the Titan and Tundra today feel very much on par with the North American cousins to the point that if you did not see the badges you really could be in any of the 5 ½-ton trucks currently offered in the market.

Nissan Titan 5.0L Cummins.

We will kick off with the new kid on the block – well new to the full size diesel market that is. I have not spent a lot of time in Nissan vehicles and my first impression stepping inside and hearing that solid Cummins sound was – wow they have finally come to the game with a ringer. The inside was excellent, comfortable and well laid out.

Pulling away from the curb this truck felt planted, as in 5-ton truck planted and I have owned diesel light trucks in the past. Right out of the gate is feels like you can stuff a full trailer behind this truck and haul to your heart content. But lets be honest if that’s your game your going for the heavy haul big three diesels as towing, power and ability are much higher all at a very close price to a fully loaded ½ ton.

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Planted also has a little draw back. My wife felt that for her it was a no-go as a daily driver, the steering was just too heavy in tight parking lots and she drives a Ram ½ ton every day, so not a biased car driver here. She just got tired of sawing at the steering wheel in parking lots. This truck could benefit from some low speed steering boost, I too found it a little much after a while and these trucks will be daily drivers – not construction site haul rigs. Another slight downside is turbo lag, from a standing start I was finding myself waiting for large gaps in traffic to pull out – it just felt a little slow on launch and I was not confident that darting across busy lanes was a good choice. One other little peeve came from transmission shift points, tow/haul mode or not – the trans just felt slushy and slow to downshift which makes the truck feel as if its underpowered – which on paper it is not and when slowing to a light the downshifts felt hard and very noticeable. Inside you get everything that’s expected in a fully loaded ½ ton, excellent finishes loaded with technology, everything in easy to reach places and a very

quite cabin, despite the diesel under the hood. Diesel exhaust fluid is needed like all other modern diesels and fuel economy was a little disappointing. When you factor in the Dodge Ram diesels miserly under 10KM per 100K economy the Titan was working in around the 14L per 100K and when factoring the other big three full displacement diesels getting in the 12L per 100K this truck is pretty thirst for a diesel. Maybe there was some break in time needed here still as our tester had a mere 900kms on the clock when we picked it up. Out back the box is filled with hooks, rails, boxes and towing stuff from in bed ball hitch, rails on the sides and bottom of the box – but keep in mind if you shovel some rocks or sand in the back your going to fill those tracks and be spending a lot of time cleaning. If that’s your game – skip a lot of the hooks and gadgets. Over all a very pleasant truck that needs some transmission tuning and a variable power assist steering rack for tight slow speed maneuvering to elevate it to excellent.

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Toyota Tundra 5.7L V8 1794 Edition While not a fully new model enough styling changes have taken place here to really impress me. I’ve always found Toyota trucks a little underpowered a little lack of tech and styling compared to other options in the market and a lack of owner design choices that the big 3 seem to have wrapped up. That said this fully loaded Tundra is the closest in feel inside and out to a North American truck as it ever has been. Strange words as many have always felt that imports from all over trump North American cars in fit finish and style – but not so in the ½ ton truck market. This truck feels much different than the Titan. Where the Titan felt solid and planted the Tundra feels nimble and more “sporty”. The throaty sound of the TRD exhaust has a nice rumble which is a big part of this feel and a good solid transmission that shifts quick and takes advantage of the 381HP and 401ft. Lbs.

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The Tundra came with a full tow package less a set of usable tow mirrors, which I found strange. However the trailer brake controller and back up camera were both welcome additions and worked well with my flat deck trailer while on some errands for shop projects. If you do any trailer towing - get a back up camera I still curse myself for not getting the option in my current pick-up truck.

Another excellent interior! Both of these trucks rival some of the nicest vehicles I’ve driven for fit and finish. Unlike the Tacoma, which felt very tight inside, the Tundra has room to sprawl.

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The Toyota Tundra 5.7L V8 offers 381HP and 401ft lbs of torque and when properly equipped can tow 10,500lbs. This rivals all the big three’s 1/2 ton trucks while the titan comes in at a whopping 12,300lbs, you have to set into the heavier 3/4 ton class with most other trucks to reach this capacity. The only downside was slightly elevated fuel consumption over other trucks in this towing class for daily usage.

I had a little bit of time to tow with the Tundra trailer and load about 3500lbs and it handled all well enough - though the truck was sorely missing towing mirrors.

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Finally a Toyota truck interior I really have no complaints about. It’s well laid out full-featured ,nice seats, nice grumble to the TRD exhaust and a huge back seat.

Between the Titan and the Tundra, when it comes to driving experience, my wife was not interested in the Titan due to the heavy steering but would not hesitate to drive the Tundra every day. That’s the gas truck to diesel truck trade off...

I had to look up the 1794 moniker – it really didn’t make much sense but the truck was fun and enjoyable to drive so I didn’t really care. For those of you that do here you go: “The Toyota Tundra plant sits on land that Toyota purchased from the oldest working cattle ranch in Texas. 1794, refers to the year that this ranch was established by Spanish colonist Juan Ignacio de Casanova.”

Can you say targeting the King Ranch, Dodge Laramie and GM High Country segment?

I had a chance to haul around some Jeep frames on my 16foot flat deck with the Toyota and it handled all very well but a complete absence of tow mirrors was a little unfortunate but thankfully are optional – you will want them. With recent test drives in most of the big three’s trucks I found this Tundra to also be on the thirsty side in this segment where the other manufactures are working hard to bring down the fuel consumptions numbers in a market that sees trucks as family haulers and daily drivers, Toyota and Nissan seem to forgo these concerns to make their truck feel and compete more fully as “trucks” in North America – some better fuel numbers are needed for commuting.

Both of these trucks are worthy contenders, but I’m still not sure if Titan is going to swing a Dodge Cummins owner into their truck and still not sure if Toyota is going to lure a lot of F-150 buyers into theirs but they will keep their true buyers very happy with some great iron to haul family, trailers and gear around.

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           

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                            

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           

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                     

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        

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            

       

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           

      



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



4 4TECH BY

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        

               

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                                                                  

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                           

                     

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88843/+ 616423/



                 

8884#3..9'423/



8884% 3315+2#7+59,423/



8884*67,15+&9.+-9423/



8884+1+1+7+-2423/



888416 3761+ +76.423/



8884*6+-.9,,*95 35/6-29423/



8884*,2/3735,*357,423/



8884/6,795256 7,6 97'423/



                  

#77*()) 5 73*,423/

 8884%35 9,3-423/



#77*()) 367% +.7423/



88847/52 ,73/,426



#77*())88842-2%56 9,423/)

4 4TECH



BY

4 4TECH BY





$'(0!.%9570"6-195&9.19

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  

       

                         



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



        

         

      

  



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

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



          

         

       



    





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



 

    

    



4 4TECH BY



         





               

     

       

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      

 

                       

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

        

        

         

                      

                

                    

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    



      

    



4 4TECH BY

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    

    

              

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 

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4 4TECH BY



                        



4 4TECH BY



                  





8884/+2 9'7#3/*,3-7+59,423/

4 4TECH BY



4 4TECH BY

 

      

$'(0!.%9570"6-195&9.19

                  

           



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



 

 

    

   



               

  

    



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

 

  

                             

        

             4 4TECH BY

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ee, ee,Funny Funny Rocks, Rocks,Moon Moon Rocks, Rocks,Rattle Rattle Snake, Snake,Shoestring Shoestring

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                     

           

           

 

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                                 

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                                     

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                                                      

                     

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DEPARTURE ANGLE 2016 SEMA is almost here and I still have lots of epic images from the 2015 show I haven’t used. So lets lay on a pile of Baja trucks. This year there was a small jump course in the parking lot where visitors got to strap into cars and trucks and take a ride around the course. Lots more class one truck just follow the red box at the bottom!

Nothing to see here but Class 1 Baja trucks from SEMA. Click to the right for images of all the great trucks from SEMA 2016 - SEMA 2017 is just around the corner too!

Oh yeah and click to subscribe!!!!!

Got a great shot for the back cover?

Send it in albert@4by4tech.com and if I use it I’ll stick $50.00 in your pocket!

Until then SUBSCRIBE!!!!!! still free.

Yes you can click here to do that too!