High powered diesel trucks usually represent a means of getting your toys to the adventure. Whether it’s towing an open trailer full of fourwheelers and SxS’s, a boat, or the toy hauler, the ideal experience involves the driver and passengers in climate controlled comfort pulling in high gear without feeling compelled to watch the gauges. The Roxor represents a departure from this. It’s open cab and 1940’s era suspension doesn’t just take you to the adventure. Driving it is the adventure.
To test this theory, I endeavored to take the Roxor on a 650 mile tour across the great state of Wisconsin using a combination of rustic roads, atv and Jeep trails loosely referred to as the ‘Trans Wisconsin Adventure Trail’. To see it for yourself, head over to the similarly named facebook page and download the GPS files. As far as I can tell it was built by dual sport motorcycle enthusiasts who connected fun back road routes with as many ATV trails and logging roads as possible while heading from Galena Il. to Cornucopia Wi. There are no official trail markings and very few motorists along the way. In fact, on our trip we encountered only 6 dual sport bikes on the dirt trails.
Because every adventure requires a co-pilot I brought along my 9 year old son, Will. Departing our house the first day would require that we put 150 miles on the Roxor at highway speed before we’d have any chance of seeing dirt. We were on the road by 5:30am, and though it was June and fairly warm, 55 degrees and cloudy at 60 MPH will put a chill on you pretty quickly. We both added a light coat and a pair of gloves about 5 miles down the road. 50 miles of wind noise later I inserted ear plugs. We couldn’t hear each other over the road noise anyway and this gave us an opportunity to hone our father-son hand signaling. Interestingly the Roxor is speed limited to 45mph from the factory, but with 52rwhp it’s barely able to get there anyway.
Of course our Roxor is capable of much higher speeds, sporting 165rwhp as a result of tuning and a larger Rx41 Turbo from Calibrated Power Solutions. This particular rig is also sporting an Rx intercooler and water/methanol injection kit to keep it cool and happy while using the extra ponies. Still, anything over 65 mph sustained speed is working the platform pretty hard, requiring significant throttle usage and 2400+RPM on a (~3100 redline). Really though, if you’re interested in this platform it's probably because you’re looking for something fun and rugged for chores and off-road travel. This is where the Roxor experience starts to shine.
It shines in a way that makes you and your passengers respect the earlier days of off-roading. My friend and his two boys joined us on the trip in their 2010 Wrangler. By the start of day two all of the boys wanted to ride in the Roxor and all of the luggage was in the Wrangler. The Wrangler is way more comfortable and plush over the potholes, washboards, protruding stones and knee deep puddles we were running through most of the day. Still the boys appreciated being tossed up against their lab belts, breathing dust, and being rained on after every puddle. They did this while laughing and pointing at the dirt being flug rearward just missing the grill of our air-conditioned pursuer.
With a 3.73 gear and stock BFG’s the Roxor tolerates 3 gear pretty well and can even toss the rear end around a bit if you’re feeling frisky. Some of the newer models offer lockers and steeper gearing which I think would have been nice off road. The gear spacing on the 5 speed manual is wide even with the extra power, and open differentials are comedy. I think a 4.10 or 4.30 gear would be perfect for stock rubber. I’d go steeper yet if you’re thinking of going with 33’’ tires. For slow speed work where the trails were overgrown or when we ventured off trail up some rougher logging roads I found myself preferring low range. It really helps the gear spacing and with 5 gears and overdrive you can still run along at a decent clip if you want to. It takes a bit of finesse to shift the T-case in and out of 4wd but you’ll get used to it. This is the type of vehicle that you learn and adjust to.
If you’re looking for the quickest, most comfortable off road vehicle then look elsewhere. The Roxor lets you enjoy the adventure by allowing you to hear, taste, and feel the outdoors as you drive. Will and I look forward to doing it again next year. Maybe I’ll change the gears and put a limited slip differential in it before then, but first it needs a bath.
