Dans 94, RCSB, 4.0, 4x4, 5spd

[Dantheman1540]

Spent some shop time today pulling 3 more leaves out of the rear packs. Now it’s down to a 5 pack from a 13 pack and I think it’s much better. I only drove about a mile so tomorrow will be a better test going to work. It put the ride height at .75” higher in rear which is good.

Also got the front shock mounts built which was just using those f350 towers in the tech section and welding the lower tabs to the radius arms. shocks would actually be on but I didn’t have the correct hardware on hand.

I did make some picture worthy progress which is on the rear bumper. I decided to make the main center section out of the same 3x5 that I used in the front. Made some real thicccuh mounts with some plate I had laying around and made it bolt on to the same bolts as the back two of the shackle hanger. Not sure what I want to do about wrap arounds yet. Might cut the bedsides higher to match the tail gate gap and use some 3x3 I have to wrap around like I did in the front. Or use some 2” well casing I have and ghetto bend it or use pie cuts to wrap the corners. Also have a new receiver to add in of course.

For now this works and I like driving around with a work in progress because it helps me see what I like and don’t like about it for a few days. Not to mention some rear end protection

 

[Dantheman1540]

Made more bumper progress, basically just finished the main exterior with the wrap around pieces. Also not shown in the pics are where the end pieces have a tie in to the frame. It’s a bolt on support arm made of some 2” well casing with 1/4” plate end pieces. Should provide a ton more strength to the bumper overall. I’ll get some pics of those next time I get a chance to drill the mounting holes for it.

I think next it needs some D ring clevis (if I can find the ones I ordered months ago), a better license plate solution, maybe some flush mounted backup lights, a trailer harness mounting solution, and maybe eventually a tire swingout

 

[Dantheman1540]

Haven’t updated this in awhile. Rear bumpers doing good, and mostly done for now. Suspension is 99% dialed in, the 7100s feel fantastic, I’m very glad I splurged on them.

One downside is I’m gonna need a drop hitch.

 

[Dantheman1540]

I had an awesome two days off in this thing! Spent about 100 miles on dirt over the two days and I’m extremely impressed with it, especially the suspension. I did need the winch twice to get out of some deep mud holes with a root ledge at the end that was well taller than the centerline of the wheel. It might have crawled it if I had lowered the pressure under 20psi, or if I had a front locker but the winch made shirt work of it.

Unfortunately I did make a big boo boo to the back window. I was trying to back out a deep water trail and I snagged the end of my paddle board that was hanging 6’ off the back of the truck on a tree. It wedged it straight through one of the two sliding windows shattering it onto me. I was unharmed other than some small cuts luckily.

Now I need to figure out if I can just buy that one small window, or do I need a whole new rear window? If I do, the slider will be gone for good and I’ll replace it with a solid window for sure.

 

[Dantheman1540]

Did some more off-roading today with a buddy who’s actually about to sell his 2011 and had never offroaded before. We hit some of my usual favorite spots including a clay quarry, some 3’ deep water crossings, 40ish miles of dirt trails, and he had to pull me out of some deep clay when I started acting silly. Thank god for kinetic recovery ropes! Also I found out that my rear bumper can withstand a 6k rpm 4lo clutch dump recovery because when I told him “give it a little bump” he went for a full kill.

We also hiked a few miles into a hard to access spring fed pond. Hiked back out and did some suppressed plinking with one of my favorite and first rifles. If you haven’t shot a 22lr with subsonic ammo and a good can, you should!

 

[scotts90ranger]

Subsonic .22 in a 10/22 even with a questionable can is a good time! I have seen one only legal on private property that is a hoot, it's amazing how much of the scopes view you can block off without issue

Looks like a good time, I need to get the '90 out and about again, the snow's starting to come out...

 

[Dantheman1540]

Subsonic .22 in a 10/22 even with a questionable can is a good time! I have seen one only legal on private property that is a hoot, it's amazing how much of the scopes view you can block off without issue

Looks like a good time, I need to get the '90 out and about again, the snow's starting to come out...

Sometimes I wish we got snow just so I could wheel in it like when I lived in SD. Then I realize I only own shorts and shake the thought away. Anyway, you should pull the 90 out and go make a good memory!

You right about Subs out of anything are good, I have an old single shot .22 that I would take with me if it had provisions for an optic. Being closed action is even quieter than the 10/22, but shooting irons gets kinda boring.

 

[Dantheman1540]

So I am sorta starting to plan my next suspension upgrade. I can kinda go one of two ways as I see it.

1: Convert the front to coilovers using Bilstien 8125s with a 9200 series piston swap. Which frees up space to add hydro bumps front and rear.

2: Buy a set of hydro bumps and try to cram them in the already crowded front. If it doesn’t work, throw them on the rear and then continue with the first plan.

I currently just have cheap factory style rubber bumps and although I have not felt myself hitting them. I would like to have hydro bumps for the first time in my life. I don’t really ever see myself linking the rear and at the time my custom leaf pack match with the 7100s feels fantastic. I’m fairly certain it’s the front that I feel needs a bit more help over whoops and rough trails.

 

[Dantheman1540]

Re did my exhaust using the same walker quiet muffler, and Amazon resonator, but this time I bought a slip fit bend kit all in 2.5”. My main goal was for it not to touch anything and rattle anymore. The first exhaust was built before I did motor mounts and boy oh boy did stuff shift after new mounts. Basically pointed the exhaust straight into the frame which drove me absolutely nuts.

This time nothing touches despite having some close clearance, and even better it’s 100% tucked above the frame line. It actually goes over the frame thanks to the body mount and dumps just in front of the rear tire barely visible if you lay down and look. Sound seems quieter even possibly because I moved the resonator after the muffler, and possible placebo. I’m very happy with the results.

I would love to ditch the factory tank and have a fuel cell in the bed to free up more belly clearance. Maybe if I ever engine swap it.

 

[Dantheman1540]

Skipped the gym before work to start tear down in my AC system since it suddenly sprung a leak earlier this week. Looks like the condenser was rubbing on a tall weld line on the aftermarket aluminum radiator which rubbed through some fins causing the leak. Going to have to play with fitment more when the new one comes tomorrow so I can prevent this from happening again.

Also found that the fan motor had somehow been touching the water pump pulley and wore a nice spot through it. Gonna have to double check fitment on that as well.

 

[Dantheman1540]

I wish this wasn’t so but it is, I’ve had so many AC issues over the last two years I got really good at it and I’m fast at it. Most of the issues that trained were in my stick shift swapped 500hp Tahoe, that despite having poly motor mounts somehow kept cracking the line leading to the compressor.

Anyway, I knocked out the new condenser, vacuumed, and filled the system just now. I think the old one was designed slightly differently/worse and the new ones mounts are offset so there’s a good inch of clearance between it and the radiator. despite that I ran some silicon heater core hoses up the sides the make sure they didn’t mate again.

 

[DRanger024]

Man I love that you’re constantly improving this thing. I bet the D30 in my truck would bolt right into yours. The radius arm brackets are almost identical.

 

[Dantheman1540]

Man I love that you’re constantly improving this thing. I bet the D30 in my truck would bolt right into yours. The radius arm brackets are almost identical.

thank you, I like DDing a new project like this until I get it perfect for my needs.

I’ve passed up a few D30s for nearly free and have really considered it. However, I like the TTBs, it’s the main reason I bought the truck. The desert race stuff always intrigued me, and Florida has plenty of sandy roads to blast down.

 

[Dantheman1540]

Spending our 1 year wedding anniversary down at beautiful spring fed river about 2hours from us. Loaded the bikes, kayak/paddleboard, firewood, all our personal junk, and 15gal of “free” fuel I just received. Made the two hour trip into 4 because we headed the opposite direction to start with to go visit some family that just had some health scares. So 4 hours of straight driving with a pretty big load and only had one minor problem. I forgot to top the coolant off before we left, and after I replaced the condenser. So at 65mph sustained the truck started creeping to the M, A, and L on the temp gauge. Whenever I would slow down it would creep back to the cool side. I could have stopped topped it off, but I knew it would blast my with lava and didn’t want to do that. So I took it slow and we made it just fine. After we hung out a few hours I topped it off and it was every bit of a half gallon low.


Very pleased with its performance although I’m pretty sure I’m looking at about a 13.5mpg average . Maybe the way back will be better, it will be slurping down a 50/50 mix of 90no ethanol, and 100ll.

 

[Dantheman1540]

Trip is over and we made it home. Truck did 300ish miles total, and did great, I really love this thing and look forward to more adventures in it. Only downside is the Mrs said no more long two person trips, she’s not in love with the tight cab space and my flatulence lol. Might be keeping this a solo travel truck, and I guess I need to hurry up and get started 4x4 swapping my Tahoe.

Oh yeah 4.56 and 32s is exactly 2500rpm at 55mph, truck doesn’t seem to mind it although it definitely drinks more.