YouTuber Westen Champlin’s lifted Dodge Challenger Hellcat hits the dirt and chaos erupts—broken hubs, busted steering, and a ticking engine.
Turning a Dodge Challenger Hellcat into an off-road rig might sound like madness, but for YouTube star and Kansas-based car builder Westen Champlin, that’s just Tuesday.
Champlin recently debuted his one-of-a-kind 4×4 Hellcat Challenger—a lifted beast packing solid axles, a custom frame, 35-inch tires, and, of course, supercharged Hellcat power. After more than a year in the garage, the team took the mutant muscle car to Oklahoma’s Crossbar Off-Road Park for its first real-world test. The results? Let’s just say things escalated quickly.
“Handling was terrifying,” Champlin admitted after the first few shakedown runs. Even with a sway bar installed, the Challenger reportedly swayed like a cruise ship in a hurricane. “We wanted something that would work… it works at trying to kill you,” he quipped.
The real disaster struck when Champlin shifted into four-wheel drive for the first time—only to have a locking hub break immediately. A hunch he’d previously joked about became an off-road reality. After limping back to get parts, Champlin hit the highway for a repair run, where the steering system decided to disassemble itself at 65 mph. “You haven’t lived until your off-road Hellcat’s steering falls off at highway speed,” he said.
Things didn’t get better. Once back at the park, the team sent the car into a deep mud hole, where it promptly stalled. “I forgot it breathes through the headlight,” Champlin said, later discovering the engine had developed a worrying tick. “We might’ve blown up the off-road Hellcat,” he sighed.
Despite the chaos, Champlin sees it as a win. “We’re testing to see what’s not good,” he said. “And now we know. A lot.”
The wild 4×4 build may be battered, but it’s not beaten. As Westen put it, “We learned what to fix—and we’re definitely not done.”
