Cgoss's "crawler" build

The truck has been working great lately. Theres always something i can improve, but it also hasnt broken anything major since my last update.

Ive been busy since then, lots of personnel life changes and less truck changes.

I attended winter jam in sand hallow utah in january, i believe we did The Fallen and Risky Biz.

Later in april I attended Best Of The West with warfab in montrose colorado, made a detour in moab to run Pritchett again and Top Of The World.

After that i made another trip to sand hallow and ran Double Sammy, Milts Mile, and Johns Trail.

Finally it was time for some upgrades, ive had some serious axle wrap issues since I switched to a shackle flip. So i installed a ruff stuff anti wrap bar, boxed the frame a bit more.

Then i found a great deal on some used bfg krawler reds 39x13.5.

Hopefully the truck does well with the larger tires, but i have a feeling i might be using my spare diffs soon

 

Ill text you about it.

 

Browns camp sept 2022 was fun. Drove 19 hours there and back and would probably do it again with the same group.

Day 1started with me welding my double sheer that had cracked. Then we went and hit a trail where i broke my rear diff after the trans started slipping and i did a couple 4k rpm nuetral drops. Probably not the smartest idea of the weekend, but also not the dumbest.
Luckily i brought my spare stock diffs. But the front was Open so we decided to weld it. Didnt take long to swap both front and rear diffs.
Day 2 was an interesting day, got about half way through the trail and broke a cv axle while a buddy was driving. Ended up pulling the front diff out on the trail, stripping it down and taking the ring gear off and center pin out to get the stub shaft out that broke inside the diff. At the same time i think i broke the rear diff mount. Ended up putting a hole in the upper oil pan from the diff hitting it.
Day 3 was cut short but we went back to the same obstacle i blew my rear diff on, gave it a solid try and bumped it a few times. No luck though and i still pulled winchline.

Probably worked on the truck just as much as i wheeled it, but that was one of the best trips ive had. Met alot of cool people.

 

Couple weeks later i went to rock therapy oct 2022 unfortunately i dont have any great pictures from this trip. But we did hells revenge twice, pritchett canyon and coyote canyon. Coyote kicked our butts and we only did half the trail before turning around. Broke my rear driveshaft on devils hot tub, broke a cv getting off the trail and then broke a winch line on coyote.

Next i attended hump and bump early novemeber 2022, its a local event down here for las vegas. I volunteered to help lead some trails. Everything went well until the last day where i was chasing some SXS and hit a huge ditch i didnt see and that broke my shock.

 

Next month, december 2022, i went to sand hallow with a couple friends and ran a couple trails and tried a couple lines i havent been able to do before.
I was able to get my rear diff repaired just before this and threw in my 529s back in.


Then i picked up some new (to me) 40x13.5x17 nitto kspecs and started the process of tubbing. I also found my UCA balljoints were bad and added limit straps.

 

Next trip was KOH 2023, this was one of the longest trips ive done, almost 2 weeks from start to finish. It started with blowing my rear 529 diff as i was loading on the trailer. Swapped it out the next day for my stock gears again. We were out there supporting Warfab racing and their pink barbie jeep, this started with a photo shoot with some of their sponsors. I didnt wheel much at koh, it was a bit crowded and the truck really wasnt ready for hard stuff. We did try and do wrecking ball but i blew a fuse and broke a tie rod bolt. Got towed back to camp and fixed the electrical issue and made double sheet gussets for my steering.
Later in the week i had a chance to meet up with martec and take some photos together.

 

March 2023 i took another trip to sand hallow, it was wet and muddy and traction wasnt great, but this was the first time i didnt break anything. Showed a couple friends around and i think its their new favorite wheeling spot.

Next was BOTW in april 2023
Big turnout this year, i didnt break anything till i loaded it back in the trailer and now its doing a crank no start issue. Need to get it fixed so i can get back out there before it gets too hot. Lots of fun and lots of laughs, the best event of the year hands down.

 

Awesome thread here, looks like tons of fun. I'm hoping to see some of these wheeling spots some day. Keep the updates coming.

 

Love this thread. I just went and read all the posts you have some sick journaling of your build and trips!

 

Bad ass. What type of welding/welder?

 

This is still one of my favorite builds. Debating doing a mild streetable FJ cruiser build next, but the thought of steering on 37’s with the tacos stock rack still haunts me. The thought of doing another SAS makes me equally unenthusiastic.

Gotta keep this one street and kid friendly. Trying not to just buy a Rubicon and be done with it because I guess I’m a glutton for punishment.

That being said- what ended up giving you the best steering characteristics when you went full hydro? Anything you could do to make it better? I’m guessing placement is key for ifs. Lower pivots etc. probably helped a bunch. Any ideas on getting it further back to stock location?

 

A 2.5 ram could fit further back, but packaging with diff mounts and ram mounts becomes difficult, but with enough caster and the correct Ackerman it should work well. Mine works best with a welded front diff , I would almost daily drive it if it didn’t tear through tires. But having a direct link to steering is also nice and I’ve seen some guys using a double ended ram with a steering box recently and it has me excited to try that on the new single cab.

 

Got a new truck, cut it apart and doing a trailing arm setup with about 21inches of travel

 

Rushed to get the truck done for trail hero, had a blast out there. Back in the garage cleaning up some stuff on the truck and redoing a couple things. There’s a lot left to finish up on the little truck, but atleast I can wheel it while I’m building it for now.