Harry Situations

My latest video is out now on the Driving Line YouTube channel. I know that I post up every month when we release a new video, but this one in particular I am hoping that you take the time to watch, comment, and share. I spent months trying to figure out how to make a video about outdoor ethics that doesn't just come across as preachy or boring. I am pretty happy with the result, and hopefully you will be too.

Don’t Make These Mistakes When You Go Overlanding Outdoor ethics can be a boring subject, but it is something we all need to learn at some point in our lives. Part of the appeal of going to the outdoors is t...

My latest video is live now on the Driving Line YouTube channel. This one is all about my wife’s Ram truck that she uses to haul hay and horses. Hopefully you like the truck, and the video. She likes it, and at the end of the day that is what really matters.

Is This The Best Ranch Truck EVER? | Harry Situations Trucks are great at a lot of different things, from overlanding through the jungle to blasting across the desert. Modern trucks are so refined and comfortab...

My new video is live on the Driving Line YouTube channel comparing a solid front axle to independent front suspension; specifically a Jeep Wrangler JL and a Ford Bronco. Do you think Ford would have sold MORE or LESS Broncos if they came with a solid front axle?

IFS Or Solid Axle- Which Is Better Off-Road? | Harry Situations The Jeep Wrangler and Ford Bronco are two of the most capable 4x4s on the market. Both are available with a removable top, 35-inch tall tires, locking diffe...

My latest video is live now on the Driving Line YouTube channel. I hear a lot of people say that you can’t rockcrawl with a manual transmission and that has certainly not been my experience. Do you prefer an auto or a stick? And why?

Which Is Best For Off-roading: Automatic Or Manual? | Harry Situations Automatic or manual is a debate as old as gas versus diesel or mud-terrain versus all-terrain tires. The days of manual transmissions providing more gears a...

My latest video is up on the Driving Line YouTube channel. This one is all about off road lights that I have run on my vehicles and things I like (and dislike) about the different setups. If you are considering a lighting upgrade for your vehicle in the future, give it a watch!

https://youtu.be/xJ3DVQUKyu0?si=ZX5xnj8i2TQ3jM

Everything You Need To Know About Light Bars, Lumens, Beam Patterns, And More! | Harry Situations When the sun goes down you generally have to slow way down on the trail in order to get where you are going safely. Off-road lights can help turn the night ...

It may (or may not) surprise you to learn that I was in drama club in high school. I was even the lead in the school play. We were required to take a liberal arts class, and while most of friends took photography (which, it turns out, would have been far more useful for me!), I wanted to be different and so I signed up for drama. Well, maybe it is useful afterall, after all of these years. This is my latest video for the Driving Line YouTube channel and this one was a lot of fun to make, as I got to be a little more creative on camera. Hopefully my old drama teacher would find it entertaining, and hopefully you do as well.

Price vs Performance, Leave Your Off-Road Rig Stock or Modify it? | Harry Situations The old adage says that if a little is good, a lot must be better, but that isn’t always true with vehicle modifications. Should you leave your vehicle stock...

My latest video is up now on the Driving Line YouTube channel. This is a controversial take on swing out tire carriers, but like roof top tents, I don't find swing outs to be worth the weight or expense. In most instances I find that they are more of a hindrance than a benefit, I guess I just don't need my spare tire that often. If you have some time please give it a watch and leave a comment with how you carry your spare tire on the trail.

Watch This Before Buying A Swing Out Tire Carrier | Harry Situations Swing out tire carriers are all the rage on overland rigs. But are they really practical? Swing out tire carriers are expensive, can be noisy, limit the ac...

Just in time for the storm of the century (or at least this month), check out the latest video I made for the Driving Line Youtube channel on driving in snowy and icy conditions. Spoiler... they are NOT the same! The best setup for deep snow is honestly more akin to sand dunes than what works best on icy roads like we are expecting in Tahoe this weekend.

Snow Or Ice: What You Need To Know Before Hitting The Road! | Harry Situations The Inuit people have at least 50 words for snow, because they recognize that there are lots of differences between dry snow, sleet, corn snow, and ice. The...

Check out the new video on my flatfender! I put off getting one of these for quite a while, but honestly they are the best bang for the buck I have found for getting out on the trail.

Are Flat Fenders The Hottest Trend Or Illegal? Discover The Shocking Truth | Harry Situations Flat fender Jeeps starting the off-roading craze over 75 years ago. Since then, these vehicles have been fully restored to stock at one end of the spectrum, ...

I hate a new video up on my YouTube channel about our new Four Wheel Camper. The Northstar we had previously offered a lot of bang for the buck but this FWC is nicer in nearly every regard. And of course I had to tweak and customize the interior for our needs. If you have some time, please give this a watch and leave a comment letting me know what you think.

Upgrading to a Four Wheel Camper Hawk Pop Up Camper After years of camping, overlanding, and exploring with a Northstar 650SC on the back of my American Expedition Vehicles-equipped Ram 3500 it was time for a ...

A little late for a New Years post but I figure I am overdue for a post introducing myself to new followers. This page mainly chronicles my off-road exploits. I was lucky enough to go grow up camping and four wheeling with my family in Northern California and have since travelled all over the world by truck. Now I am back in Northern California, where I have started my own family. My day job involves performing geophysics to clean up retired bombing ranges (a field that itself has provided a lot of opportunities to travel to exotic locations) and my free time is spent wrenching in the garage or out on the trail with my family and friends.

Looking for gift ideas for the off roader in your life? Most tire deflators are under $100 and are useful in slowing the tire to conform to the terrain on the trail and act as part of the suspension. In the latest video I made for the Driving Line YouTube channel I explain some of the more popular options and their pros and cons.

The Great Tire Deflator Showdown | Harry Situations The advantages of lower air pressure off-road include improved traction and a more compliant ride. As a result, there are a lot of different products on the...

I recently had the opportunity to shoot an On The Trail video for Driving Line in my own backyard. This was the maiden voyage for my flatfender after sitting in a field for 30 years, and I have to say that I was really impressed by how it performed! Check out the video and let me know what you think. I bet it will make you want a flatfender of your own.

Back to Basics! No Technology Allowed to Navigate | On The Trail Join us in this thrilling episode of On The Trail as Harry Wagner, in his iconic 1948 CJ Flat Fender Jeep Willys, Jeremy Ricks with his 2014 Wrangler Rubicon...

Did you see the video I made for ARB 4x4 Accessories - USA about their new Old Man Emu MT-64 shocks? Normally I don't include that much information about the local geology or flora in a story, did you appreciate that or would you have preferred if I just focused on the suspension?

From Shocks to Phlox - Testing OME’s New MT-64 Shock Absorbers In Search Of Wildflowers The Lake Tahoe region experienced the biggest winter in 50 years in 2023, resulting in snowpack that lasted all through the summer in some areas. The heavy ...

I actually went to high school with Dave, but he was a couple of years younger than me so we knew each other but ran in different circles. He was an amazing skateboarder and snowboarder, we reconnected randomly 10 years later when he was living in Truckee and I lived in Reno.

Dave worked at the Kragen auto parts store near my house and was daily driving his Bronco, which had a significant pool of gear oil under it every time I saw it. I was in the process of building the Jr Mint at the time and daily driving a 77 F150 at the time. We started chatting, only to realize we were both from Vacaville. We had both filled out quite a bit since then and didn’t recognize each other!

Dave and I started snowboarding and wheeling together all the time, although with open diffs, 3.50s gears, and drum brakes Bronco was pretty terrible. It looked cool on 35s though. I don’t know how he daily drove it from Truckee to Reno, it had half a turn of slop in the steering! Dave never let that (or anything else) stop him from having a good time though.

I was devastated to learn about the death of my dear friend Dave Perez last week in a motorcycle accident. Dave wasn’t on social media but you have undoubtedly seen him and his Death Proof Bronco on my feed and in the pages of Petersen’s 4-Wheel & Off-Road. For years Dave and I were constantly working on projects together and those are some of my most cherished memories. To honor Dave’s life I will be sharing some of my favorite stories with him this week. There certainly is no shortage of them, Dave always lived life to the fullest.

The latest video I made for the Driving Line YouTube channel is live now. This one was a lot of fun to make with my friend Rashad Frazier from CampYoshi. If you have any interest in rockcrawling you should definitely check it out!

Introduction to Rockcrawling l Harry Situations Rockrawling is exploding in popularity with record sales of Jeep Wranglers and the new Ford Bronco. These vehicles are available from the factory with locki...

Do you run amber lights on your rig? My Ram has factory projector headlight housings and I added HID bulbs. The pattern is great and the high beams are pretty bright but I still wanted more so when I added the front bumper I put LP6 amber lights in the bumper. I will confess that I was kind of disappointed, I like the amber light for dust/fog/snow but adding amber covers cuts the light output A LOT in my experience. I still wanted more so added a 30-inch Baja Designs OnX6 light bar to the AEV grill hoop and now the light output is ridiculous. By now you should know that I don’t like drilling holes in my dash. Scott at Nate’s Precision wired the ambers to the foglight switch and the light bar comes on with the high beams.