Rock Eternal Mopar® Style

The Mopar® off-road engineering and design teams in concert with the Jeep® Product Design Office did it again, creating yet another amazing fleet of “Moparized” Jeep and Ram Truck vehicles that invaded Moab, Utah, for the 44th annual Moab Easter Jeep Safari.

The Mopar® off-road engineering team, led by Keith Montone, Manager – Mopar Jeep® and Ram Off-Road Engineering, and the Mopar design team, a small band of dedicated engineers, designers and fabricators led by Mark Allen, Chief Designer – Head of Jeep Design Studio, knew the difficult challenge ahead. Create a fleet of “Moparized” Jeep and Ram Truck vehicles for the 44th annual Moab Easter Jeep Safari in Moab, Utah, to rival their creations from years past.

It wasn’t an easy task for the two collections of Chrysler Group LLC employees. The teams have been customizing production vehicles for years and have introduced nearly 20 concept vehicles to the throngs that invade the Moab trails—among the most formidable in the world—for the Jeep Safari event each year. Could the Chrysler Group LLC gang top themselves yet again and create an even more amazing line-up of vehicles to prove Mopar is the only choice when you want to go off-road?

Judging by the heads that turned like Linda Blair’s in The Exorcist and the is-that-even-possible, dumbfounded looks the “Moparized” Jeep and Ram Truck vehicles drew on the trails and Moab’s main street, the answer would be an unqualified “YES!”

The names of the new vehicles were almost enough to make the Moab trails cry “UNCLE!” Mopar ImMortal. The General. Jeep Nukizer 715. Mopar XJ Stroker. Mopar Ram Runner. Jeep Wrangler J7. Jeep Patriot Extreme. The Ram PowerWagon. Jeep Wrangler Trail Boss. Together, they took on all comers, trails with fearsome names such as Steel Bender, Hell’s Revenge, and Wipe Out Hill and said, “Is that all you got?” And when the “Moparized” vehicles parked, they drew admirers like a celebrity attracts paparazzi.

“Our customized production vehicles show how Mopar can accessorize Jeep and Ram vehicles that are on the road today while our image vehicles showcase directions we could take in the future,” said Pietro Gorlier, President and Chief Executive Officer – Mopar Service, Parts and Customer Care, Chrysler Group LLC. “We will gauge reaction to these vehicles. And as we develop our next generation of new Mopar parts and accessories, we will listen closely to this dedicated group of hard-core off-road enthusiasts.”

Some of the Moab attendees needed a little reassurance that the vehicles were brought not just for show but to go.

“I had one guy looking at the ImMortal ask, ‘This is real isn’t it? It’s not a model or something. It really works?’” recalled Montone. “I told him of course it really works, because if it doesn’t, we won’t bring it. We come out to Moab and we build these vehicles for the customers to see for many reasons. Most important is that we want them to come to Mopar. We want them to see that we are on the cutting edge. No one can do it as good as we can. We’ve got the technology, the intelligence, the history behind it. If you want to hop up your Jeep or Ram Truck vehicle for off-road excitement, you’ve got to come to Mopar.”

Added Allen, “Moab is a proving ground for us to test our vehicles on extreme trails alongside our customers. We will take all of the feedback we get from our customers right back to the design studio with us.”

Preparation for the 2010 Moab Jeep Safari began as soon as the 2009 event ended. “We get together and start discussing ideas,” said Montone. “We talk about what the customers are driving, what would be cool, and we think about it for a few months. Then we start in earnest on the builds. We locate the vehicles, locate the parts we want or engineer new parts. It gets hot and heavy right after Christmas. We know what parts we want and we start assembling the vehicles usually on the weekends and late nights. So our families are pretty understanding before Moab.”

Chrysler engineers consider Mopar’s entire accessory line-up when assembling off-road packages for Jeep and Ram vehicles.

“Our task is to take the full array of Mopar accessories and combine them into packages that show our customers the possibilities,” said Pat Muldoon, Senior Manager, Product Development Engineering, Chrysler Group LLC. “Moab is first and foremost an effort to develop accessorized four-wheel-drive vehicles that delight our customers at rest and in motion. Everything we bring to Moab must be real or it doesn’t make the trip.”

The contributions from many were on display in the 2010 creations. The General, the first vehicle produced in Mopar Blue paint and trimmed predominantly in Mopar graphics, features a custom Mopar 4.5-inch performance lift kit installed on a 2009 Jeep Wrangler. A new flat fender kit and Mopar/Hutchinson Rock Monster beadlocks allow tire pressure to be safely lowered for extreme driving conditions—which you can believe the The General encountered in Moab. Front and rear off-road bumpers and rock rails provide serious protection while the Mopar half-door kit offered improved visibility.

The Mopar XJ Stroker started with a stock 2001 Jeep XJ and built a full-blown, off-road rig using Mopar performance parts. The first step was to upgrade the stock engine with Mopar’s new 4.7-liter I-6 Stroker long block assembly. The direct “bolt in” long block is complete with crankshaft and pistons. For optimum off-road visibility, the doors were replaced with Mopar’s XJ tube doors, helping to locate the rocks and obstacles that were everywhere on the Moab trails. XJ front and rear bumpers and custom rock rails were also installed.

The Jeep Nukizer 715 paid homage to the beloved military-only Kaiser M-715 truck. With a military-issue Jeep J8 4-door, the Mopar team converted the vehicle into a pickup body style by adding an aftermarket AEV Brute pickup box built for a TJ. To increase the size of the vehicle, the wheelbase was stretched to 124 inches from 116 inches. Enforcing the brand’s iconic M-715 is a new front clip produced in carbon fiber that re-creates the characteristic forward slant of the M-715 truck. To top it off, Bestop provided a unique soft top which artfully captures all of the quirks of the original.

Drivetrain upgrades include Dynatrac Pro-Rock Dana 44 front and Dana 60 rear axles filled with 5:38 gears and ARB Airlocker differentials. Power is distributed by an Atlas II transfer case spinning custom driveshafts from Tom Woods. To keep the military look, tires are 38-inch BFGoodrich Mud Terrains mounted on Hutchinson beadlock wheels. For body protection, Mopar added Jeep Wrangler rock rails and off-road bumpers.

The mighty Ram PowerWagon proved the better of Wipe Out Hill, navigating the steep downhill with ease. For Mopar’s Ram PowerWagon image vehicle, the team mated a unique 120-inch wheelbase chassis to a regular cab and step-side box. Axle articulation is greatly increased by utilizing the rear link-coil suspension of the Ram 1500. To gain additional ground clearance, Mopar added a new 4-inch suspension lift and 40-inch tires. Body protection comes from Rock-Slide Engineering-supplied sill guards, and custom front and rear bumpers. Visually, the team chose a two-tone black-on-white look, inspired by the wild paint schemes of PowerWagons in the 1970s.

The Mopar ImMortal was an amazing sight to behold, bringing to mind a spider scaling a wall as it easily glided over some of the toughest obstacles on the Moab trails. The Mopar ImMortal is a Jeep Wrangler featuring portal axles, a 5.7-liter HEMI® and off-road bumpers. Military-grade portal axle ends are engineered to mate to Mopar’s Pro Rock and Power Wagon performance axles and adapted to fit the suspension. Portal axle ends provide 5 inches of lift and contain a 1.5 gear reduction. Combined with 
the 4:1 transfer case, the result is a hard-core 100:1 crawl ratio. The Mopar ImMortal is sheathed in Jeep performance body armor for intense protection with a distinctive green paint scheme.

“The portal axles on the Mopar ImMortal vehicle have really taken the town by storm,” said Montone. “Everybody wants to see them and know what we are doing. The Ram Runner kit is also generating interest.”

The Mopar Ram Runner, inspired by Baja-style desert racing, literally flew over the trails during its Moab visit. Off-road racing requires large tires, plenty of ground clearance, extreme durability and a sophisticated suspension system capable of withstanding tremendous impact—which all came in handy during the Mopar Ram Runner’s high-speed runs on the trails and also at the dunes during the Mopar media event.

“It’s an off-road pre-runner racing kit for the vehicle,” said Montone of the Ram Runner. “It’s taking dunes, going 40 mph over the whoop-de-dos. It can pretty much do what no other truck we have can do.”

When asked to pick a favorite “Moparized” vehicle from the 2010 Moab line-up, Montone said, “I’m torn because I like the ImMortal for the rock crawling, but I think the Ram Runner is opening up new windows for us. When you’re five feet in the air with all four wheels off the ground, it’s pretty exciting!”

With the 2010 Moab Easter Jeep Safari a success for Mopar, no doubt the planning has already begun for the 2011 trek to the trails. Can the Mopar off-road engineering and Mopar design teams possibly outdo their 2010 line-up of Moparized vehicles?

“Come on back and see!” said Montone.

Sounds like a date!

To view the entire article download the following pdf.

May June 2010 Cover Feature - PDF