Crankshaft Culture Gear Garage: Sea to Summit’s 6L Watercell ST

June 27, 2021 / Mercedes Lilienthal / 2 Comments

Next to air, water is the next most precious thing. Without it, especially when traveling remotely, bad things happen. We’ve tested the Sea to Summit 6L Watercell ST to see how it stacks up against its hard-sided water-carrying cousins. Over the years we’ve reviewed a variety of hard-sided water containers. However, they’re bulky and take…

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New Ford Maverick: A Return To Compact Pickups?

June 8, 2021 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment

As you may have heard, the new Ford Maverick compact pickup debuted today. It’s a compact unibody FWD or AWD pickup truck. It comes as a crew-cab only, seats five, gets up to 40 MPG, and isn’t intended to be a Super Duty. Sure the Honda Ridgeline has been out for a long time and…

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Crankshaft Culture Gear Garage: VSSL Java Coffee Grinder

May 26, 2021 / Andy Lilienthal / 1 Comment

We’re coffee geeks. We love good coffee. We’re willing to skimp on some things, but not when it comes to our java. That includes when we’re on the go or while camping. And the first step to good coffee is good beans. The second step is grinding them. There are a variety of portable coffee…

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Ralliart Returns: The Mitsubishi Performance Sub Brand To Be Revived

May 12, 2021 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment

Stop the presses: Japanese automaker, Mitsubishi, is going to be bringing back its Ralliart performance sub brand. The in-house tuner has been dormant for over 10 years. But according to Forbes, it’s coming back. Forbes is calling it a timely return as well. Yes, Ralliart returns.

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Crankshaft Culture Gear Garage: On-the-Go Camp Essentials

May 5, 2021 / Mercedes Lilienthal / Leave a comment

We’re all at that breaking point. We’ve been cooped up for over a year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, political unrest is clawing its way throughout the globe, and job insecurities have us nervous. However, the new norm for taking your mind off of daily challenges may have transitioned from what was into enjoying the…

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Crankshaft Culture Gear Garage: 5.11 Tactical Load Ready Utility Large Tote

April 29, 2021 / Mercedes Lilienthal / Leave a comment

Everyone needs a great tote bag. No joke. No matter if you’re lugging around heavy vehicle recovery gear or oddball-sized items, owning a durable go-to carrying case is important. Enter 5.11 Tactical’s 39-liter Load Ready Utility Large tote. In our opinion, it’s all that and more.

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We Are United By Horsepower

April 26, 2021 / Andy Lilienthal / 3 Comments

These days it can seem like we’re all so separated. There’s a pandemic that has kept many of us apart for more than a year. There have been deep political rifts that have divided people. And in the automotive spheres, social media allows people to split up into their own camps on just about everything….

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Mitsubishi In Moab: We take our Pajero to Easter Jeep Safari

April 7, 2021 / Andy Lilienthal / 2 Comments

We typically go to Easter Jeep Safari for the annual gathering of off-road enthusiasts, primarily Jeeps—duh. I’ve been to the event for work many times. We even drove our Jeep Cherokee out there one year. We barely made it, but that’s another blog post. This year, we took our 1992 JDM Mitsubishi Pajero, aka the…

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Dangerously Slow New Cars?

March 24, 2021 / Andy Lilienthal / 2 Comments

I was recently reading a post on a Facebook group about the Subaru Crosstrek. We all know this lifted Impreza isn’t going to set any land-speed records. They’re not going to light up the drag strips on Saturday nights, right? They’re designed to let people go down rutted gravel roads or just as easily hop…

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2020 Alcan 5000 Rally Memories: The Sourtoe Cocktail

February 18, 2021 / Andy Lilienthal / Leave a comment

It’s been nearly a year since we participated in the mother-of-all-winter rallies, the 2020 Alcan 5000. We’ve been reflecting on some of our favorite moments and are putting together some fun memories. One of these was our night in Dawson City, YT Canada and the infamous Sourtoe Cocktail.

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