Jeep trail is a term originating in the United States to designate unpaved roads designed and maintained for use solely by high-clearance four-wheel drive (4WD) vehicles, regardless of the vehicle manufacturer. Only the more difficult unpaved roads are considered jeep trails while gravel or dirt roads passable in conventional vehicles are simply unpaved roads. The word jeep in this usage is normally spelled with all lowercase letters, the brand name of Jeep being just one of many that is drivable on difficult road surfaces.
Jeep is a brand of American automobiles that is a division of FCA US LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Italian-American corporation Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Jeep has been a part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with remaining assets, from its previous owner: American Motors Corporation (AMC).
Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case providing an additional output drive-shaft and, in many instances, additional gear ranges.
One of the most well-known jeep trails is the Rubicon Trail located west of Lake Tahoe in California. The town of Ouray, Colorado serves as a hub for four-wheel drive excursions through mountain passes such as Engineer Pass and Cinnamon Pass—together forming the Alpine Loop National Back Country Byway—as well as Imogene Pass and Black Bear Pass. Trails in the Moab, Utah area include Hell's Revenge, Pritchett Canyon, Metal Masher, Moab Rim, Cliff Hanger and Poison Spider Mesa. Canyonlands National Park contains several 4WD roads including White Rim Road, Elephant Hill and the Doll House. Other national parks, including Arches, Capitol Reef and Death Valley, have 4WD roads leading to various features within their boundaries.
The Rubicon Trail is a 22-mile-long route, part road and part 4x4 trail, located in the Sierra Nevada of the western United States, due west of Lake Tahoe and about 80 miles (130 km) east of Sacramento.
Lake Tahoe is a large freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at 6,225 ft (1,897 m), it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America, and at 122,160,280 acre⋅ft (150.7 km3) trails only the five Great Lakes as the largest by volume in the United States. Its depth is 1,645 ft (501 m), making it the second deepest in the United States after Crater Lake in Oregon.
Ouray is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Ouray County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 813 at the U.S. Census 2000 and 1,000 as of the U.S. Census 2010. The Ouray Post Office has the ZIP code 81427. Ouray's climate, natural alpine environment, and scenery frequently has it referred to as the "Switzerland of America".
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Sport-utility (vehicle), SUV or sport-ute is an automotive classification, typically a kind of station wagon / estate car with off-road vehicle features like raised ground clearance and ruggedness, and available four-wheel drive. Many SUVs are built on a light-truck chassis but operated as a family vehicle, and though designed to be used on rougher surfaces, most often used on city streets or highways. In recent years, in some countries the term SUV has replaced terms like "Jeep" or "Land-Rover" in the popular lexicon as a generic description for light 4WD vehicles.
An off-road vehicle is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with deep, open treads, a flexible suspension, or even caterpillar tracks. Other vehicles that do not travel public streets or highways are generally termed off-highway vehicles, including tractors, forklifts, cranes, backhoes, bulldozers, and golf carts.
A transfer case is a part of the drivetrain of four-wheel-drive, all-wheel-drive, and other multiple powered axle vehicles. The transfer case transfers power from the transmission to the front and rear axles by means of drive shafts. It also synchronizes the difference between the rotation of the front and rear wheels, and may contain one or more sets of low range gears for off-road use.
The Jeep Gladiator, Jeep Pickup or J-series is a series of full-size pickup trucks based on the large Jeep SJ (Wagoneer) platform, which was built and sold under numerous marques from 1962 to 1988. The Jeep Gladiator / Pickup design is noteworthy for remaining in production for more than 26 years on a single automobile platform generation. The Gladiator was the basis of the first post-war U.S. Army trucks designed to be civilian vehicles and adapted to military use. Numerous versions of the Jeep pickup were built in other markets, including Mexico by Vehículos Automotores Mexicanos.
The AMC Eagle is a compact-sized four-wheel drive passenger vehicle that was produced by American Motors Corporation (AMC) from 1979 to 1987.
The Jeep Compass is a four-door compact crossover SUV introduced for the 2007 model year, and is now in its second generation. The first generation Compass and Patriot, its rebadged variant, were among Jeep's first crossover SUVs. The second-generation Compass debuted in September 2016 in Brazil and at the Los Angeles International Auto Show in November 2016, sharing a modified platform with the Renegade.
A drive wheel is a wheel of a motor vehicle that transmits force, transforming torque into tractive force from the tires to the road, causing the vehicle to move. The powertrain delivers enough torque to the wheel to overcome stationary forces, resulting in the vehicle moving forwards or backwards.
A dirt road or track is a type of unpaved road made from the native material of the land surface through which it passes, known to highway engineers as subgrade material. Dirt roads are suitable for vehicles; a narrower path for pedestrians, animals, and possibly small vehicles would be called a dirt track—the distinction is not well-defined. Unpaved roads with a harder surface made by the addition of material such as gravel and aggregate (stones), might be referred to as dirt roads in common usage but are distinguished as improved roads by highway engineers.
Rock crawling is an extreme form of off road driving using vehicles anywhere from stock to highly modified to overcome obstacles. In rock crawling, drivers drive highly modified four-wheel-drive vehicles such as trucks, Jeeps, and "buggies" over very harsh terrain. Driving locations include boulders, mountain foothills, rock piles, mountain trails, etc.
Jeep uses a variety of four-wheel drive systems on their various vehicles. These range from basic part-time systems that require the driver to move a control lever to send power to four wheels, to permanent four-wheel systems that monitor and sense traction needs at all four wheels automatically under all conditions.
Easter Jeep Safari is an annual event hosted by the Red Rock 4-Wheelers off-road club, where 4-wheelers come to challenge the rough terrain of the backcountry in the Moab, Utah area. Although its title does say it's a festival of jeeps, a few take on the trails in 4x4 trucks. The Easter Weekend safari lasts for nine days, going through Easter Sunday.
The North Bass Trail is a hiking trail located on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, in Grand Canyon National Park, located in the U.S. state of Arizona.
In automotive design, an F4, or Front-engine, Four-wheel drive layout places the internal combustion engine at the front of the vehicle and drives all four roadwheels. This layout is typically chosen for better control on many surfaces, and is an important part of rally racing as well as off-road driving.
State Route 279 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Utah. The highway was constructed in 1962–1963 to service the Cane Creek potash mine and processing plant southwest of Moab. The highway was named one of the most beautiful highways opened to traffic in 1963. The entire length of SR-279 has been designated the Potash – Lower Colorado River Scenic Byway by the Utah State Legislature, however is known locally as Potash Road.
Petersen's 4-Wheel & Off-Road is a magazine dedicated to 4x4 and off-road trucks and SUVs. The first issue was published in 1977; it began as a special-interest publication from the editors of Hot Rod magazine. 4-Wheel & Off-Road covers a range of topics for the do-it-yourself light-truck enthusiast, including real-world 4x4 performance modifications, new products and product evaluations, off-road event coverage, new-vehicle evaluations, travel, and lifestyle. In March 1978, the magazine officially became a monthly publication, and in 2013, 4-Wheel & Off-Road celebrated its 35th anniversary. It is published by the Motor Trend Group.
The Jeep Renegade (BU/520) is a subcompact crossover SUV produced by Jeep. The off-road vehicle was first shown to the public in March 2014 at the Geneva Motor Show and production started in late August of that year. Standard Renegade models come with front-wheel drive. The vehicle offers the four-wheel drive systems Active Drive I and Active Drive Low, both of which are paired with Jeep's Selec-Terrain System.
An all-wheel drive vehicle is one with a powertrain capable of providing power to all its wheels, whether full-time or on-demand.
The White Rim Road is a 71.2-mile-long (114.6 km) unpaved four-wheel drive road that traverses the top of the White Rim Sandstone formation below the Island in the Sky mesa of Canyonlands National Park in southern Utah in the United States. The road was constructed in the 1950s by the Atomic Energy Commission to provide access for individual prospectors intent on mining uranium deposits for use in nuclear weapons production during the Cold War. Large deposits had been found in similar areas within the region; however, the mines along the White Rim Road produced very little uranium and all the mines were abandoned.
The Jeep Wrangler (JL) is the fourth generation of the Wrangler off-road vehicle, available in two- and four-door bodies. Unveiled at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show on November 29, 2017, production of the vehicle began in November 2017.
