Joel's 98 "Mean Green Desert Machine" Budget Prerunner Build

joelc92 · Aug 19, 2014

ok guys so ive had the truck since October 2013. picked it up for a sweet deal I couldn't pass up had 152k miles 33" tires, front prerunner bumper, fabtech 5.5 kit up front, glassworks fenders, pulled bedsides, deaver f31 leaf packs, and a single tube rear bumper. heres how it looked the day I got her.

first thing was to fix the little mechanical problems to get it to pass smog. then on to the cosmetics. it is my dd so pulled the skid off and repainted the bumper tubes

drove it like this for about a week and seemed bare so I picked up some hella 700s and got a light hoop bent and welded on at work :icon_welder:

got home and painted the hoop

ill upload more tomorrow hope you like it :icon_thumby:

jhammel85 · Aug 19, 2014

Really nice! Welcome to the boards!

joelc92 · Aug 19, 2014

jhammel85 said:
Really nice! Welcome to the boards!

thanks bud :icon_thumby:

more pics on the way :headbang:

joelc92 · Aug 19, 2014

ok so next thing on the list was to ditch the fabtech lift coils, truck rode terrible as it was at full droop and the uca was contacting the frame. got some junkyard coils off a 3.0 mazda and installed them. same day I rewelded the limit strap tabs on the frame. truck rode way nicer and was quieter. forgot to mention truck has corbeau Baja ss bucket seats!

next thing I did was made a light bar for the bed to mount some dust lights

first offroad trip was out to lytle creek, a mountain trail near my house. truck did great but blew out a driver wheel bearing and got stuck with my buddy lol

also added the 3" fogs to fill the gap in the light hoop

joelc92 · Aug 20, 2014

so after driving the truck for a while I decided I needed to get out to the desert and do some shooting and offroading with the girlfriend. heres a couple pics I got

after shooting we did a short night run back to the highway and hit a mudhole and ruined my air filter so ordered up a new afe racing filter. after a good cleanup I decided to make the rear bumper to my liking. heres a picture of what I did with a buddy of mine

joelc92 · Aug 20, 2014

finally found a set of spare rims at the junkyard one weekend then got a bfg spare.

ended up finally picking up a lincoln mig welder to do all the plate work and welding myself. same weekend I pulled the upper arms and cut out some uca mount gussets and got them welded up :icon_welder:

don't mind the shitty welds it was my first time mig welding with this machine(taught myself to weld with a Lincoln tombstone ac 225 stick welder).

got my tax return so I picked up some 2.5x10 FOA coilovers to replace the shitty stock coils and blown fabtech shocks.

also added some small side steps to make it easier to get into the bucket seats

leafs were sagged out when I bought it so I had a leaf added and the packs re arched

while the truck was torn down in the backyard I decided to build a roof light bar. picked up 6 4" kragen red rings for a steal from a buddy selling his inventory. so got straight to it and knocked it out in about 2 hours

also picked up 2 maxxis bighorn mts from a guy on DR and got those mounted

and finally the biggest change of the truck, mounting the coilovers. being an xlt had to plasma cut out the stock coil buckets and plate in the frame. went to my buddys shop, bbm offroad in brea, and used his plasma cutter. cut out the buckets and cut out the plating and got it all welded in. had the temporary shock hoops fre fabbed and installed :icon_welder:

got it all mounted up and drover her home. as of now that's all I have done to the truck but things are already in the works for the next fe months so stay tuned :icon_thumby:

AgPete139 · Aug 21, 2014

nice build. I'm staying tuned.

joelc92 · Aug 22, 2014

thanks man the next few weeks I should have some updates. hoping end of October to start the front end build :headbang:

02MIranger · Sep 3, 2014

Could you post a better pic of the roof light bar?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

joelc92 · Sep 5, 2014

02MIranger said:
Could you post a better pic of the roof light bar?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I will tomorrow after work.

rear is currently under the knife. pulled the bed doing some frame bracing and mounting shocks :icon_welder:

joelc92 · Sep 30, 2014

sorry for the lack of updates guys was busy with work and just went on a 10 day hunting/camping trip. pics are on the way

joelc92 · Sep 30, 2014

02MIranger said:
Could you post a better pic of the roof light bar?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

as asked for more pics of the light bar. and my trs windshield banner :headbang:

joelc92 · Sep 30, 2014

and heres the update on the truck. I pulled the bed cleaned up the grease oil and gunk. welded the seam on the frame and the gas tank cross member. was gonna do more tubes between the frame but I ran out of tubing so that will be down the road. I cut out the stock crossmember that held the charcoal canister because it was in the way and cracked. moved the shackles and hangers back to gain droop and minimize leaf separation. mounted 2.5x 10 foa shocks just enough to clear the bed and maximize travel while keeping the angle somewhat decent. will be changed eventually as I plan to canti the rear and do sua. so when I first tore the truck apart leafs cycled 11". after moving the shackles hangers back went up to 16.5 with no shocks and with little leaf separation. limiting my droop was the driveshaft hitting the crossmember. gonna bend a 180 at my buddys shop and weld that in place of the crossmember down the road sometime in the future. once shocks got mounted cycled 15.5. got the pack together and had little to no leaf separation at full droop. only thing left is to get straps mounted. already have 20" straps. next thing on the list is to get all the parts together for the front kit and buy material. heres the pics I got.

heres the shock mounts that I got from bbm offroad. in house cnc cut

full bump

full droop

will post more later this week :icon_thumby:

joelc92 · Nov 15, 2014

picked up a few more goodies for the truck recently. bought a new coolant reservoir that's lower profile than the stock one to mount on the engine cage. a duralast platinum battery. modified the stock battery tray and core support to clear it but fit almost perfectly. got a 9" rear end from a ranchero with the heavy duty housing its roughly 6" wider than my current axle should track with the front pretty good just need to regear it to 456. picked up the 1.75 .120 DOM for the engine cage. I have all misalignments, heims, bungs, uniballs, bushings, crush sleeves, weld washers, BMS steering clevis', and all hardware for the front kit so hopefully can get started on the it after the new year and I get a more steady job again. my brother recently picked up a full front lift and rear deavers for his 02 edge and it came with calipers so im hoping to use them on the 9" but not sure what rotors I can run with them. if you guys have any suggestions on where to start that would be awesome.

joelc92 · Dec 17, 2014

found out that front rotors off a 98 jeep will fit the flanges of the 9" and work with the calipers. front glass has been repaired and rattle canned black. will be needing 6" glass with the front kit so these will go soon. got the 9" all stripped and ready for install but I need gears. what do you guys recommend for gears? will be running 33s, may possibly step up to 35 eventually but wont know till I get the rear done. should I run a spool on 28 spline axles? truck wont be driven too much on the street after its built hopefully

Joel's 98 "Mean Green Desert Machine" Budget Prerunner Build

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