Haymaker

Archive for February, 2010

Given Charley’s offroad background, he wanted the truck to be able to get way back, “because the farther it can go, the better the fishing will be.” True. But a heavy-duty offroad truck is also an asset in more “civilized” locales, such as muddy riverbottoms, slick steep boat ramps, and nasty dirt-and-gravel access roads to out-of-the-way impoundments. First, Charley fitted the F350 with a rear manual locking differential and air compressor from ARB. The locking differential provides much-needed extra traction in rough spots; the air compressor inflates tires that have been aired down to run on beaches while you’re fishing for striped bass or over slick rocks when chasing native cutthroats in the Rockies. The compressor also helps inflate float tubes and air mattresses.
The auxiliary driving lights came from IPE Charley chose a discontinued model because he picked them up for a song. “Just because the lights were discontinued doesn’t mean they weren’t good. I saved a lot of money,’ he said. Good idea. Many mail-order and retail outlets offer great bargains on discontinued items. One word of caution, though. Invest in quality items only. Second-tier products— no matter how good the “savings”—aren’t worth the money.
Charley is a big fan of manual transmissions. He feels he gets better fuel economy and offroad performance because he can select the precise gear required for the situation. That’s why he ordered his F350 with the stock five-speed manual and the 7.5-liter big-block V8. Even so, he felt the engine could use a power boost, so he installed a performance chip. Doing so gave the engine about 10 percent more horsepower
When it came to picking a winch, Charley remained with his Superwinch S9000, the winch used to pull the truck off the talus slope.As he says, “Break down one time in a place like this, and the winch pays for itself.”