Hot New 4x4 Products From SEMA

• November 6, 2014
• Story By
  Harry Wagner

Every year companies choose the SEMA Show to unveil their new products, knowing that the automotive world will all be there to see the latest and greatest. True, we have to wade through a lot of stick-on chrome and carpeted bed liners to find the greatest off-road products. The good news is that we have chosen only the best to share here with you here at Driving Line. Old Man Emu has a new line of shocks called BP-51 that feature internal bypass tubes and remote reservoirs. These high end shocks are adjustable on both compression and rebound damping, allowing the user to fine tune them for not only their vehicle but the specific terrain as well. Current applications include JK Wranglers and Tacomas, but expect more models to be added to the lineup in the near future. Warn’s new Zeon Platinum winch builds upon the Zeon platform with a new wireless winch controller that not only allows you to winch in and winch out, but also disconnect the clutch and allow the winch to free spool as well. We expect this system to be popular with Ultra4 racers and mud boggers across the country. Why didn’t we think of this? There are a lot of low dollar import LED light bars on the market, but Rigid Industry stays one step ahead of them with the highest quality components and innovation, like this GoPro mount. In addition to keeping your GoPro safe and securely mounted, the light bar powers the camera so you don’t have to worry about the battery going dead while you are trying to become famous. Dynatrac is best known for their complete axle assemblies, but they also sell axle components as well. Their latest design is a bolt-on brake upgrade for JK Wranglers that uses larger rotors front and rear, along with proprietary brake pads. This braking system dramatically decreases stopping distances and still fits under standard 17-inch rims. The factory calipers are retained (with new caliper mounting brackets), which keeps the price on the new brakes under $1000 for all four corners. Nitto has a new tire out called the Exo Grappler AWT, which stands for All Weather Tire. This aggressive all-terrain is available in sizes up to 35-inches tall and has a Three Mountain Snowflake rating. The snow rating provides excellent traction in snow and ice that can be supplemented by studs for even better winter performance. LeTech supplies portal axles to Mercedes for their AMG G63s. The portals provide 5-inches of suspension lift and ground clearance without adversely affecting the suspension geometry. That adds up to 17-inches of clearance under the diffs with 37-inch tall tires! Extreme Outback Products won the SEMA International Media Award last year for their recovery kit. This year they unveiled two new air compressors, including this SeriousAire electric compressor that is essentially a rotary compressor with an electric motor. That allows you to mount the compressor nearly anywhere and in any configuration. Putting out 8 cfm at 100 psi, the SeriousAire can run air tools or air up tires in a hurry. Dana made news with their bolt-in Dana 60 axles for JK Wranglers. These eight lug axles are available in full float configurations with your choice of gear ratios and differentials. The axles are reported to be available through Mopar, but this is the third year that Dana has had a booth at the SEMA Show and their aftermarket axles still aren’t available to the public. Hopefully this year Dana means business.