How to build a T Rex

It's at GTF now and should be finished before I get home in a week!

How do the shocks ride with the added preload? I never had them cranked down that much much because I have small tires

 

Doesn't ride too bad at all! don't really have much to compare em to though It handles so much better with those UCAs who woulda thought?

 

bought a bolt on shackle mount to replace the crappy one that comes on the TRD sports.


brand is rampage, made for jeeps, but bolts right on to the stock holes. Got it for $20 off Amazon. (on sale). Had to buy longer bolts to make it fit since the ones that came with it were too coarse a thread (and probably standard and not metric)

Since it bolts into the existing holes, it kind of comes out at an angle. Sticks out a little bit. However, much much more solid recovery point than what came on it. And you can get a secure shackled connection. It will do until I get a plate bumper.... someday!

Pics!


to show the size


bolted on


close up

 

If I cared enough to have photoshop I would do nasty things to this picture.

 

mounted some stuff up this weekend... now i just need to get power to the CB... and lightbar (see previous posts).


Cobra 29. couldn't really find a clever spot for it and didn't want to pull the faceplate off. I like how it I have it though. Should work out pretty well for me!


Maglite mounted with quick fists

 

Looks good.

 

Finally got my lightbar hooked up. Sat down with a fellow member and had a wonderfully nerdy engineer time while drawing out the diagram for a DPDT switch for On/Off/On with headlights options. Thread on wiring

Wired it up a lot like this


Except the 1/2/3 moved to the 4/5/6 respectively. The way we had it made the back light on the switch stay on even with the ignition off. Not back light right now but i don't mind. Will probably mess with the wires later to light the switch sometime. Not a priority at the time.

Little dirty already...


Then took it wheelin today. Got muddy!!

got hung up on a tree Wish my sliders were on... but damage was minimal and next time they will be outta the garage and on the truck


glad I just put that front shackle mount on!\









New suspension was great Just need some new tires and I will have a proper setup! The grapplers with 20k+ on them were just not cutting it in the super sloopy mud....

 

Oh, and my OTRATTW switch i picked...

 

Something about naked ninjas comes to mind

 

haha. didn't even think of that when I picked the switch.

I do love to ride my naked ninja.....

 

Nice looking rig! I like the Pokemon on the gauge cluster

 

Noticed some oil under my truck... crawled under and found this





Looks like its the front diff oil seal.... guess I will replacing it this weekend.

Pretty sure it went out from the wheeling trip a few weeks ago.... gotta pay to play!

 

I do like the naked ninja, looks like a fun streetfighter Ive wanted to make one out of my CBR but just bought the little HONDA GROM so it will be my mini fighter. The seal shouldnt be to bad to do right , just yank the shaft and pop the seal out?

 

the naked ninja has been a great bike Saved about $300 off MSRP vs the fair ninja

Seal was replaced last weekend. Other than the 35 mm bolt being torqued on as fuckkkkkkkk (broke a wrench and too much for the air compressor run impact) it wasnt too bad to change out. Looks like the leak is gone

 

Finally got some stuff done on the truck!

Old pic from fixing the diff seal. I look so stoked...


Decided to paint behind the grille black. Felt like there was too much going on with the lightbar mount to really pull off the blue.



Annddd finally welded on my sliders! Ended up just doing it myself cause ya know, its only the frame I might ruin. Those aren't important, right? Anyway, after getting the welder dialed in, it turned out great!

doesn't look half bad


I swear that's me!


Shoulda done this before it was on the truck and upside down.... would have looked better. Oh well! guess the truck is permanantly marked as mine now






Now time to go back to king's river and show that tree/bush/shrub thing who's boss!

 

Got my antenna mounted and my wiring for my CB done last night Just need to tune it. Just ordered a 4' antenna. So this one will be replaced with a black one soon.

I mounted it like this so that I could still install a tonneau in the future and the mount would not be in the way regardless of what style i choose.

grounding


painting


Done!

 

Cool like seeing updates. What did you use to remove the cv? I need to change out my passenger side one.... My outer boot has been torn for like 6 months

 

haha it wasnt all that hard. It is suggested that you use a slide hammer with a specific attachment. However, we didn't have one of those so we used a regular hammer and i think a screwdriver (maybe a blunt chisel? I don't remember what exactly we used...) to tap it out. Took a while but it finally popped out.

There is a ring on the inside of the CV shaft that depending on which way you have it either lines up in the groves or is out a bit, locking it in place. You will have to rotate the CV to get this to release and make sure it is oriented the right way when you put it in.... we didn't and it took forever to get back in. This will make more sense once you pull it out

It is a pretty straightforward process. Shouldn't take more than a few hours unless you break tools and take a 3 hour break getting more

 

Hahaha ya I need to do that. I have a new ADD On the way to replace my broken one and i saw that I will be needing new ball joints soon for the LCAs. Plenty of 85,000 mi maintenance in my future

 

You sold me on the shackle mount. Will shop for a day or two and then buy one online. Great pix!