JTFisherman's 2004 DC

Likely from being 10+ years old the softopper had shrunk up and was nearly impossible to get snapped on one side much less both. Some snaps wouldn't hold and some were broken so first step was to replace broken snaps.

After replacing snaps the cover still wouldn't hold in place so I tried re drilling the pivot holes about 3/4" along the main beam to lower down the top and gain a little room to get the top snapped. This worked for me to get all of the snaps fastened but the front corners would still come undone at highway speeds. I Fixed this by clamping down the snaps slightly with pliers to tighten them up.

New pivot hole:

 

Went out wheeling and snapped a heim on the swingout. Probably a combination of fatigue, the heavier tire, backing the tire into my garage, and hitting a big gravel washout going too fast.


I ran it pretty hard and didn't break a CV to my surprise



Got jammed up between some trees... east coast wheeling strikes again.

 

I debated swapping to just a plain HC rear but ended up ordering a Chromoly replacement heim that should be close to 2x as strong and repairing the swingout.

I got annoyed by tight clearances and worse departure angle with the bigger tire in the rear and wanted to angle the tire to see how i liked it so this is how it sits now. I am a fan of the change. and that should bring everything up to date on the truck

 

Put on a snorkel because I was tired of mud in my intake

 

Bounced into a tree over the weekend. Window wouldn’t close but I got it bent back and cleaned all the sap off the paint.