Photo: AEV
If you feel your Jeep is not rugged enough for what you have in mind for it, then American Expedition Vehicles is the company you call. For decades now the group referred to in the industry as AEV has established itself as one of the premier sources for off-road parts and accessories.
Obviously, all of the parts that are created for monsters such as the Colorado ZR2 Bison or Jeep vehicles are tested both in the lab and in the field, so that they perform as advertised. AEV says each year it "undertakes extensive field-testing to re-examine the performance and durability of its products," and now they decided to let us know how they do this.
The off-roader seen in the gallery above is a 470 hp V8 Wrangler test mule that this year has been put through its paces on three of the most “grueling” off-road courses. The adventure started on the Dempster Highway in sub-arctic Canada, went through the Back Country Discovery route in Oregon, and ended on the Dusy Ershim Trail in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains.
On the Dempster, the Jeep went above and beyond its assigned task, completing not only the 417 miles of the road itself, but also 5,000 miles roundtrip between Seattle and the Canadian road, and 300 miles on the Mackenzie River Ice Road.
More hard testing took place on the Oregon Back Country Discovery Route (OBDR), where for 1,000 miles the Jeep had to navigate through wagon tracks, Jeep trails, logging roads and patches of pavement.
In both trials, the car itself and the parts fitted on it suffered “zero mechanical failures,” AEV says. On the OBDR though, three bolts on an AEV control-arm bracket had loosened.
Something a tad more serious occurred after the car completed the 33 miles of the Dusy Ershim Trail and the extra 2,000 miles roundtrip from Seattle to California. According to AEV, a CV-joint on the front driveshaft seized.
Keep in mind though that this happened at the end of a 9,700 tormenting trip. By the time other cars would have failed completetly, all this Jeep had to face were some loosened bolts and a seized CV-joint.
The off-roader seen in the gallery above is a 470 hp V8 Wrangler test mule that this year has been put through its paces on three of the most “grueling” off-road courses. The adventure started on the Dempster Highway in sub-arctic Canada, went through the Back Country Discovery route in Oregon, and ended on the Dusy Ershim Trail in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains.
On the Dempster, the Jeep went above and beyond its assigned task, completing not only the 417 miles of the road itself, but also 5,000 miles roundtrip between Seattle and the Canadian road, and 300 miles on the Mackenzie River Ice Road.
More hard testing took place on the Oregon Back Country Discovery Route (OBDR), where for 1,000 miles the Jeep had to navigate through wagon tracks, Jeep trails, logging roads and patches of pavement.
In both trials, the car itself and the parts fitted on it suffered “zero mechanical failures,” AEV says. On the OBDR though, three bolts on an AEV control-arm bracket had loosened.
Something a tad more serious occurred after the car completed the 33 miles of the Dusy Ershim Trail and the extra 2,000 miles roundtrip from Seattle to California. According to AEV, a CV-joint on the front driveshaft seized.
Keep in mind though that this happened at the end of a 9,700 tormenting trip. By the time other cars would have failed completetly, all this Jeep had to face were some loosened bolts and a seized CV-joint.
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