4×4 News

Dacia Duster - Beyond The Limits - A little while back, we had an exclusive test drive with the brainchild of the Dacia-Renault merger. The neat looking Dacia Duster SUV impressed us through its robust feel, the power of the small engine on the particularly light body as well as it's comfort.

Dakar Rally - The ulimate rally race? Just like horse racing has the Kentucky Derby and soccer has The World Cup, the Dakar Rally is the premier event for long distance offroading. Anyone wanting to test their rock-crawling chops will make their way to this event, and it's the perfect place for man and vehicle to show what they're made of. 

Dacia Duster - Until recently, the last Romanian car company had little exposure outside the country. But after a merger with the French giant Renault, the relatively small company became a household brand on the continent, with Dacia cars being spotted anywhere from Morocco to Sweden and from Bulgaria to France.

To replace the car-like steering box in the original Sport Trac I got this rebuilt steering box from an old Bronco. It has to be placed on the left side of the framing, just in front of the steering rod. Here it is being tried out, but it has to be moved quite a bit to the front.

Custom Sport Trac:Removing the Rear AxlePutting the large tires in place helps in figuring out how the planned modifications will be implemented.

Final result is that everything works surprisingly good. For steering it takes slightly more rounds to change from far right to far left than is customary today. Suspension is extremely soft and as you can see - provides a LOT of clearance and travel.

Custom Sport Trac:Preparing The Front Driveline Preparing and building the front driveline on the custom Sport Trac is going to be the most work. Beginning with the removal of the front suspension units.

Already the basic parts of the four link system have been set up. Bottom plate for the air-bags is also in its final position. Upper bars are designed so that their length can easily be adjusted.

Since there is nobody making fender flares that will fit the Sport Trac on 38 inch tires we had been searching for something made for a similar truck. We found some 356 inch flares for Nissan Pickup that looked promising and they ware our final choice.

Fitting air-bags shouldn't be more complicated than fitting coil springs - but there are a few not so minor details to take care of.

Custom Ford Explorer Sport Trac Making a custom Ford Explorer Sport Trac fully modified for 38 inch tires is my current project. In these pages you can follow along and see all the details as they are though out and put into action.

Custom Sport Trac:38 inch tires tried outPutting the large tires in place helps in figuring out how the planned modifications will be implemented.