Go with Narrow Tires... Wide tires suck ass... unless you've got a dedicated 440 powered mud bogger, wide tires will only get you stuck... Tall and Skinny is the way to go... Don't belive me? look around the world most notably at the Rainforest Challenge and the Outback Challenge.. all our rigs in OZ ran 36x10 NDT tractor tires...

Cool looking truck, good score. and SA to Boot.

EDIT: ha I just realized how long the thread was and that you'd already gone with the narrower tires... they look great.

Cheers

Dave

 

After a 3 month hiatus, she is back at home, after a ride on her new transportation.



Saturday is my next day off work, and ill be pulling the trans and t-cases then. Ive got a 4.7 gearset to install into the rear case, and i managed to kill a throwout bearing the last trip to the dunes i was on, so thats why the whole combo is getting pulled. I also have my ARP knuckle and hub studs, a set of drive flanges, FROR front frame brace, springs, and a couple other things here to be installed during spring break. If i have the time, i would like to get my front winch plate built as well, but im not sure if ill get to that with work. Working 40 hours a week plus going to school full time really cuts into my time.

 

Nice. are you a trailor queen now?

My next mod is going to be a t-case (as soon as someone makes an adapter) Let me know if you need a hand.

 

It will get trailered to most runs and events, but will remain plated, reg'd and insured so i can drive it arround town and arround the towns the trails are in. I would like to drive it for LOL Adventure this year, but i have no idea the kind of condition it will be in by labor day.

 

Ive been working on it when i have time before and after work, got the trans and t-cases pulled to install this, i hope to have it in by this weekend:

 

Man, i thought it was nice having dual stock cases, but having the 4.7 in the rear case is REALLY nice. So is having a properly working clutch, though it does still need to be adjusted. I have pics from the t-case reasembly, but my camera is charging for tommarows wheeling trip to the Badlands, so i will have to upload them later. Tommarow evening i should have lots of pics.

I placed, and recieved another order from marlin, this time picking up an axle truss, 14" travel Bilsteins, and some other misc parts. But, unfortunately this was the first order that i have had screwed up by Marlin, and it was on a set of snap rings i needed to run my drive flanges this weekend. They sent me a set of inner birf snap rings on accident instead of the outer that i had ordered, an honest mistake. When i called to just order the snap rings i needed, without me even asking Steve insisted that he send me the correct snap rings, free of charge. While it is a small item, it was still just an honest mistake by the guy who was picking my order, and they insisted they send me what i needed for free, without me even having to send them the rings they sent me back. I know it doesnt compare to other stories of Marlin himself showing up at peoples houses to make something right, but it still impressed me and is why i will continue to do as much of my buisness as possible with Marlin Crawler.

 

173:1 crawl ratio, 38.5" boggers, and stock 20 year old rear toyota springs with an add-a-leaf in place of the overload dont mix well. After only 3 hours of wheeling i promptly broke my passenger side rear spring. I also didnt get many pics, but i think some of the other guys i was wheeling with did. Once they upload them ill post them up.

Up until the spring broke, the truck was doing awesome. It went almost everywhere i pointed it, and the only place it didnt go was because of a dropoff next to me that i didnt want to push my luck on without a cage, so i backed off of it. I also noticed that crawl ratio is like a drug, once you experience it you cant live without it, and you always want more. I could already see where 225:1 or so would be nice to have, but im not about to go changing mine, i will be plenty happy with this setup.



Oops, i think i broke something.........


The ultimate use for the stock toyota jack.....



And finally, back home, safe and sound.



Now that i have to fix the rear suspension anyway, im torn between tearing everything out and linking it up like i wanted to, or just throwing some 3", longer than stock leaves in it and running a good anti-wrap bar.

 

sucks about the springs, but glad you made it home~!

did you every sell those 285's?

aaron

 

Nope, i ended up running them on my truck until somebody tried to steal them while i was at work, and after that i switched back to the ones on the truck now.

 

!!! - like "put the truck on blocks" kinda steal??!?? rough neighborhood!

aaron

 

How wide are your boggers? They look to be around 12.5".

Chris

 

In his signature they say that they are 11".

 

Yup, they are 38.5" tall by 11" wide. I like skinny tires, in case anybody hasn't yet noticed.

 

I do too! You used to run Q78's didn't you?

Chris

 

I sure did, ran them for two years on two different rigs.

 

JOEZ...

We need to meet up at the Badlands and wheel this summer. Nice job on the build.

 

Yup, i was leaving work and when i walked out the front door i saw two people running across the parking lot and jump in a car, and i didnt think much of it since i work right next to the highschool and it was a friday night. I left work and was getting alot of vibration, pulled off and most all of my driver side lugnuts were missing, and the ones that were left were loose. I tightened the remaining ones down, and limped it home. Two days later when i was back at work, i checked where i was parked, and sure enough found all but 1 of the missing lugnuts. They may have just been trying to be funny, either was it was weird, and since i had already swapped tires i just left them off. The tires on it now tow better than the MTR's anyway.

 

Definately, as soon as your FT is ready I'm game.

I decided to just order a set of leaf springs from, *gulp* Trail-Gear . Im a little suprised myself, but Marlin doesnt offer a 3" spring and there 4" is WAY to tall for what i need, All-Pro's 3" rear buggy spring is not only to soft for my needs, but the added cost and rediculous price of shipping from them kinda kill that deal. Junkyard spring packs aren't easy to make when you live in the salt belt, as everything in the junkyard is there for a reason.

The reason im not going to link it now is simple, i dont want to spend the next 3 months or longer tearing the truck down and reworking it after only one trip. So, i will evaluate the Trail Gear springs when they get here and see how well they do or dont work, and will let everyone know what i find.

 

Trail gear packages arrived yesterday, and i must say i am impressed with the quality of everything i recieved. I decided to just go ahead and order the complete classic rear lift kit, even though i now have duplicate parts. I added up everything i needed individually, and after i sell off the duplicate parts i will actually come out ahead of where i would have been just buying what i needed.

Pictures, and alot of work are coming soon. Ive got alot of metal to burn and parts to install before our next run in a little over 2 weeks.

 

Its hard to believe its almost been a year, and ive only had this on the trail for 4 trips. Oh well, i guess thats what happens sometimes.

I FINALLY got some time to work on the truck today, and knocked out the rear suspension in about 4 hours. I still need to bolt the shocks on, but thats no big deal. Ive still got alot of stuff here to install, but none of it is really of great importance, so im not going to be rushed to get it all on. Here's a shot of everything ive got waiting to be installed in my garage, obviously taken before I installed the new rear springs.



On to the rear suspension. I ended up deviating from Trail Gear's instructions, and there were some things that i did not do. Like relocating the rear shackle hanger. Instead i ended up moving the frong spring hanger 7 1/2" forward of the orriginal hanger, vs. the 6" that trail gear instructs, and leaving the rear shackle hanger in place giving me a better shackle angle.

First thing to do was measure and tac the spring hanger in place.



Then rip out the old springs and shocks.



Getting the one good spring out nearly gave me a heart attack when compared to the trail gear springs. These springs are TALL, and really had me worried about ride height. I know they will settle, but not this much!



Next, if you are sure that you measured right, you can weld up the hangers like i did. Or, you can hang the springs and then weld if you are happy with it. I knew it would be harder to weld everything up with the springs in place, so i welded mine up before i installed the springs. A bit of a risk, yes, but i had faith in myself.



Next, hang the springs. Why are these looking so rediculously tall?



Then get the tires back on, and see how it sits. Its TOO TALL!



The new springs lifted the back end of the truck nearly 3.5" over what i removed, which were the equivilent of a 2" lift over stock. At this point i was questioning what planet Trail Gear measured their springs on, because it sure wasnt Earth.

I figured maybee i could try and get them to settle by jumping in the bed, and then by flexing it with the engine hoist. This drew the attention of all my neighbors, they had to come see what the crazy guy was up to this time.





At first i was very dissapointed in the flex, until i noticed that awesome limiting strap i had on the passenger side, more commonly known as a brake line. I got so excited that the springs were on that i had not yet changed out the line. Oops. You can see it alot better in this pic.



All in all todays project went smoothly, and after these pics were taken i took the truck for a drive arround town and after just a short while the springs have started to settle. They are still a ton taller than i was expecting, and alot taller than i want, but i will leave them be for now and see how much they settle. I couldnt imagine running a taller spring, this is tall enough as it is, at least for me.

This week i will do my best to get the new front springs on as well, but like i said earlier it isnt something that has to be done, so if i can't get to it at least i can still wheel this weekend. Stay tuned for more.