Lightforce DL230 HTX
Story & photos by Budd Stanley & Bryan Irons
New parts that we liked
So we come to the meat of what SEMA is all about – aftermarket products that you can bolt or weld to your 4WD. While it is easy to get carried away and distracted with all the spectacular show vehicles, in reality these over-the-top builds are simply there to showcase what the sum of all these great parts can create when they come together.
This year did not yield as many brand new products as in years past. It must be said that there was a lot of unimaginative and blatant cloning of already successful products on display. But there were also a fair amount of “that’s a good idea” products that made us do a double take as we scanned through the aisles of new goods on display, great idea’s you wonder why you hadn’t thought of them earlier.
With this in mind, all three editors had a little sit down on the flight home and hammered out our top 10 best new products for 2016. Choosing a top10 from such a gathering is never an easy proposition, and I won’t lie, there was some hard debating, some name-calling, some feelings hurt and the odd tear shed. However, by the time we landed back in the Great White North, we had our top ten.
So here you have it, in no particular order, the 4WDrive Editors Top Picks from the 2015 SEMA Show.
Top 10 New Products:
1 Lightforce DL230 HTX - www.lightforce.com
This easily gets marked down as the “why didn’t I think of that” category. We already knew Aussie based Lightforce built some of the best long-distance auxiliary lamps in the business, but now they have just taken forward lighting to the next level. Like most of their lamps, a 70 watt HID bulb within a 170 mm reflector will reach 1,750 m down the road at 1 LUX. Add to that 20 LED’s that surround the outer diameter that will flood light in closer confines and we feel you have the best of both worlds.
Smittybilt W.R.A.P. exhaust repair tape
2 Smittybilt W.R.A.P. - www.smittybilt.com
Smittybilt's W.R.A.P. exhaust repair tape – Standing for “Woven Repair Active Powergrip,” this exhaust wrap allows you to make easy repairs to cracked exhaust pipes in the field. The water activated heat resistance WRAP is 100 times stronger than duck tape and will hold everything together until you make it home for a proper repair.
Warrior Wrangler Taillights
3 Warrior Wrangler Taillights - www.warriorproducts.com
If, like us, you’ve likely smashed out one or two taillights in the name of wheeling in challenging terrain - Warrior Products has an answer. They will be producing these new steel cased Wrangler taillights with interchangeable LED lenses should you happen to hit something really hard.
Torsen LSD
4 Torsen LSD - http://torsen.info/products/products.htm
Torsen is now offering a Ford 8.8-in, gear driven LSD that can also work as a selectable locker and doesn’t require a friction modifier. If you are looking for the best of both worlds in terms of a locking LSD and the strength of a Ford 8.8, Torsen is well worth taking a look at.
Holley Hydramat
5 Holley Hydramat - www.holley.com
Fuel starvation is always in the back of the avid off-roaders mind. The solution is to hack together your own in-tank baffles or shell out for a surge tank to ensure your engine continues to receive fuel when at extreme angles. The guys over at Holley thought of something much simpler, creating a fluid retentive mat that connects to your fuel intake and works like a surge tank. Hydramats come in several sizes with either NPT or AN fittings
That's the first 5 of our top 10. The remaining 5 will be coming soon.