John Cappa
Former Editor, Four Wheeler
If you find yourself anywhere near the Fairplex in Pomona, California, in early October, you should stop by the Off-Road Expo. The 2015 event was said to be bigger than ever. It was certainly packed with cool new products, functional Jeep builds, and lots of other high-end off-road vehicles you could steal ideas from. We meandered through the aisles, crawled up and under the Jeeps, and spoke with several manufacturers. The Off-Road Expo is much more relaxed than many of the other industry events. It’s more like going to the fair, only there aren’t any rides. Although, you still get the awesome really-bad-for-you BBQ, hot dogs, ice cream, and beer. Because it’s a more relaxed event, the manufacturers seem to have fun and can spend time talking to you about your Jeep project and how they might be able to help you achieve your goals. Here are a few of our favorites from the 2015 Off-Road Expo. For more information about the show, go to offroadexpo.com.
IFS Wrangler in Waiting
We have been seeing this CRC (facebook.com/CRCJeep) Wrangler pop up at events for about a year now. It features a race-inspired independent front suspension and a trailing arm rear suspension pushing 16 inches of wheel travel. No word on when the suspension kit will be available.
Custom Reading
It’s a little-known secret that the Auto Meter Custom Shop (ampcustomshop.com) can create gauges with personalized bezels using your artwork or colors. Now you can match the gauges to the theme of your Jeep, or simply make the gauges match the color of your interior. Nearly anything can be screen printed on the gauge faces.
Fat Cut Cladding
EVO Manufacturing (evomfg.com) now offers lightweight aluminum body armor and bumpers for the Jeep JK Wrangler and Wrangler Unlimited. The aluminum parts are designed to still protect your Jeep with only about 1/3 the weight of steel.
LS Swap Pump
PSC (pscmotorsports.com) brought out a new high-volume power steering pump and reservoir kit with mounting brackets for the LS engine. It was designed around the tight constraints of a JK engine bay. The company also introduced new trick-looking nickel-plated single-ended steering rams.
Adventure Tote
If you’re in the market for a capable adventure trailer, Smittybilt (smittybilt.com) may have what you are looking for soon. The company has been developing and testing this affordable camp trailer for many months. Keep an eye out for updates.
Dial in Dampers
Walker Evans Racing (walkerevansracing.com) brought out a new shock line. The adjustable Velocity Series 2 1/2-inch piggyback shocks looked fresh out of the machine shop. They are currently available as a bolt-on replacement for UTVs, but we suspect you’ll see Jeep applications coming soon.
Cranky Swap
Advance Adapters (advanceadapters.com) offers an aluminum bellhousing with a crank trigger sensor port that simplifies putting the NV3550 or fuel-injected 4.0L into an older Jeep. The company also had sliding motor mounts that allow for an infinite amount of adjustment.
Open Fender
Looking for more wheelwell room to fit bigger tires on your Jeep JK Wrangler? MetalCloak (metalcloak.com) now offers new Hardline front and rear tube fenders that feature a sleek and smooth design that matches the factory JK bodylines.
Bigger Damping
Bilstein (bilsteinus.com) introduced its new 8125-series coilover shocks in 46 mm and 60 mm sizes with travel lengths from 5 to 16 inches. They are said to be designed to be more affordable for everyday off-road enthusiasts than the full race shocks.
Flippy
FLIP Custom Switch Products (squareup.com/market/bpgb) offered up rocker switches with hundreds of different laser-etched icons. Custom icons are also available. Each switch comes with a lifetime warranty and can be backlit to match the interior lighting of your Jeep.
Tool Rotisserie
We were kinda drooling over this unique tool cart from Red Baron Tools (red-baron-tools.myshopify.com). It stores more than 200 commonly used tools in only 24 inches of space. The whole unit rotates for easy access and several drawers in the base allow for storage of bulkier items.
Retro Wheel
We liked that American Racing (americanracing.com) brought back vintage oval-hole styling. The new wheel is available in a machined aluminum version (pictured) and a satin-black painted version. Both wheels feature a reinforced bead area to make them more durable in the dirt.
Action!
Don’t miss the opportunity to catch every minute of your buddy’s poor driving antics. Red Peak Off Road (redpeakoffroad.com) now offers the new Element HD 1080p lipstick-style Wi-Fi action camera that will help you share the mayhem with the rest of the online world. Many different clamps are available to attach the Element camera to any 4x4.
Bolt-On Coilovers
Normally you have to be able to weld and fabricate to put coilovers on your Jeep. Rebel Off-Road (rebeloffroad.com) now offers the completely bolt-on Recon coilover kit for the front and rear of ’07-’14 Wrangler JKs. The kit includes King coilovers and allows for 4 1/2 to 8 inches of adjustable lift.
Fueled Wheels
Fuel (fueloffroad.com) decorated its booth with many different wheels. The Trophy beadlocks certainly caught our attention. They are available in several finishes and popular lug patterns in cast and heavy-duty forged versions.
Wick It Up
Off-roading regularly involves driving at all different angles. If your fuel tank isn’t full, there may be times that the fuel pump is sucking air. The Holley (holley.com) HydraMat fuel pickup keeps that from happening. It’s available in several shapes and sizes to wick fuel from the bottom of both fuel cells and traditional fuel tanks to keep you moving up the trail or down the road.
Rock Racing
Rock Krawler (rockkrawler.com) offered up the 5 1/2-inch Rock Racer long-arm suspension kit for the Wrangler JK Unlimited. It features a coilover and a bypass shock at each corner and provides 14 inches of wheel travel front and rear.
Bump Around
Crawler Conceptz (crawlerconceptz.com) brought out a ton of different aftermarket Jeep bumper designs. The company has heavy-duty bumpers for Jeep JK, JK Unlimited, TJ, and LJ Wranglers. The bumpers are available in Skinny Series, Ultra Series, and Ultimate Series. Each bumper series offers different features to fit your off-road needs.
Back in Black
If you are shopping for black painted wheels, KMC Wheels (kmcwheels.com) has you covered with its XD Series lineup. Some wheels that were previously only available in polished or machined aluminum are now available with a black painted finish.
Silt Free Fueling
Dusty off-road environments require extra air filtration to keep your engine running. R2C Performance (r2cperformance.com) specializes in high-performance filters designed to be used in the dirt. The company offers everything from bolt-in cold-air intake kits to components for building a centrifugal filter system.
