Fully polished TuRD

Jelly of how much you use your rig to actually wheel. Mine just sits mostly and it bums me out.

 

Looking good, how's that new rear frame section holding up?

 

Then go wheeling!! I'm making up for when it sat and I didn't use it!!

Holding up good, now the remaining sections between the two new pieces is denting, bending and rotting so I need to figure out what do with it in the next few years.

 

I always prioritize 2 wheels over 4 these days. Now that my son is getting older we are slowly getting into the rocks together.

 

So my muffler fell off one day driving home from work. I didn't hear it drag or hit the ground, the truck just suddenly got loud . It was barely hanging on after dragging it over a boulder a few trips back. So I ordered some parts up from rockauto and decided to attempt to make a less ghetto exhaust. Ended up going with a 6" round muffler and tucked it up high. Also of note this is the first time in roughly 17yrs that the truck has an exhaust that exits out the rear and doesn't just dump under the bed.


I'm going wheeling in 2weeks for a forum run in another forum I'm on, then it's getting parked in the garage and the front suspension is getting cut off and re done this winter. I actually may get my hydro assist installed, I only bought the ram for it in 2017....

 

The bed dump exhaust got old for me quick.
Felt like a whole new truck once I had it routed out proper

 

Yea all my ice melting before I even got to the campsite sucked dong.

 

27 years is a long time to tolerate water filled coolers

 

typo fixed ....

 

Final wheeling trip of the year it was at Uwharrie NF here in NC.

 

Is that the rock garden on the new trail?

I miss URE and need to make a trip down there next year.

 

Yea, the rest of the trail I did in 2wd, basically a dirt road. It's good they are making new trails though. They filled in a lot of the other obstacles.

I woke up early this morning and power washed the truck, planning on laying under it with a tape measure to see where I need to move this front axle to gain up travel after work one of these days. So far just flipping around the rear front spring mount I can push the front sxle 4.5" forward, that should get me the uptravel I need. Probably put it up on jackstands next weekend and start tearing the front end down and seeing what additional parts I need to order. There was a reason I did what I did when building it, I can't remember and I guess I'll find out LOL!!!

 

What are you planning on doing with your fenders / bumper? I have always been interested in this idea to stretch out the wheelbase. In my wildest drams I would love to build a ultra 4 style truck kind of like the Justin Reece style. Something that can hit some rocks and run 80 through the socal desert, and in my opinion the best way to do this is with a extended wheelbase.

 

My truck is pretty long for what I'm doing, but right now I have only like 2" of uptravel due to the steering being too close to the oil pan. If I push it forward it should clear all that and ride better. For the fenders it's cut and beat with a hammer, for the bumper, cut parts off and weld them somewhere else.

 

Played in the garage tonight:

Bye bye big ass Ford box that got in the way of everything:

Axle will be tore down for the 5th stud mod and inspected for anything broken or wore out:

I stopped here for the night and did a bunch of boring stuff like lay under it with a flashlight looking for broken stuff, and taking measurements.

Plan is to push the front axle 4.5" forward so I get some uptravel, hydro assist with a Toyota box, notch the frame in a few spots, move the front airbumps, and fix some stuff that I did wrong when I did the initial swap on the truck.

 

Spent most of the day yesterday getting showered in sparks and grinding dust, man I hate this part of the build. I actually made jigs and ensure stuff was square, hey news flash it wasn't before. Ordered up some more parts from fail gear, Barnes and sky off-road. All I have left to buy is some stuff from radial dynamics and psc for the steering.

I actually was smart and measured the center line of the truck and welded the spring hangars to some angle iron so it's actually centered and square under the truck

I also cut off the air bump and shock tower, I over built them and paid for it here. I really need to buy a damn plasma cutter.

Next up will be tacking in the rest of the shackle mounts and swinging the springs and axle back under it to flex it out and notch the frame and start hacking the core support apart for the new steering box.