08 FX4 SAS

[Mr. Bossley]

Shocks and Steering Stabilizer are in. Next up brake lines.

 

[Mr. Bossley]

Well its pretty much done. Just a couple of finishing touches. Getting some bad tie rod roll. Gonna throw in some of those delrin tie rod spacers. Still have to mount my front driveshaft and t case skid. Then take it to the muffler shop and also get an alignment.

Oh and I have to trim the bumper a bit cause somehow my friend convinced me to get 38s...
38 x 15.50 15 Mud Grapplers
Here it is.

 

[Uncle Gump]

Nice… looking forward to some action photos.

It was brought up in another thread a couple days ago... AOR now offers an extended front skid plate for their front bumper. Not sure I will buy one or perhaps copy what they've done.

 

[Mr. Bossley]

Its a 4wd again finally! Getting close to a test run. Just need the cure for my steering, exhaust, and rear shocks.

 

[Mr. Bossley]

Made some ABS extension cords today. Stock ones weren't cutting it

 

[Mr. Bossley]

Some flex shot. Checking clearances. Had more to go but ran out of tires. Hi-lift wasn't tall enough either lol. I'll try again on the forklift when I take it to work. Rear doesn't rub at all. Front bumper has to be trimmed a bit.

 

[Mr. Bossley]

Exhaust is all in. Took it for its first drive yesterday. Not bad overall. Steering all over the place but the cure, alignment and steering stabilizer should make that better. I hope.

And it still fits in the garage! Barely

 

[Uncle Gump]

This truck has been the never ending evolution... lol

Hopefully you have it to a spot where you can just go have some fun and enjoy the beast. Nice work...

 

[09fx4guy]

Absolutely fantastic job, looks amazing.

 

[Bracket racer]

WOW, what a beautiful build! Excellent fab work...kind of feel embarrassed about the crap I post....
Nice clean truck and the work is being done the right way, not cobbled together. Very impressed.

Rust free BC...sigh....

 

[Mr. Bossley]

Thanks everyone.Took it out for the first time last weekend. Little test run to see what still needs to be done.

Looks like the front springs settled more than I thought and the tires rub pretty bad. So I have some 1.5" coil spacers to put in the front to level it out. Also going to trim more out of the front bumper.
The doubler popped out of gear a couple times when under heavy load so I think I just need to tighten the shifter adjustment a bit.
Still have to figure out the steering slop. The tie rod rolls bad. The cure didn't fix it so I need to look into other options. Should have gone to crossover steering i guess.. Its not bad off road but on road its a bit scary.
Then I need to get my skid plates and sliders on and get an alignment.

Just little stuff left. But for the most part everything is working well. Rides nice and doesn't make any weird noises.

 

[Uncle Gump]

That second picture really shows the spring sag.

Those are some big-o tires!

 

[Mr. Bossley]

That second picture really shows the spring sag.

Those are some big-o tires!

Ya it sure does. The truck wasn't sitting on level ground so it looked a lot worse than it was. I got it solved now though. Just threw in a couple of spacers. Truck sits exactly where I want it. About a 3/4" higher in the back with no tent mounted. Also trimmed the bumper a bit more and no more rubbing.

These are definitely the biggest tires I've driven on. Even with the 5.13s it feels slow up the hills. But the traction off road makes up for it. Just gonna take some time getting used to.

I took it out for a good wheel last night and found some deep snow. Over 3 feet in some spots. It did really well overall. The doubler stays in gear now after I tightened the shifter up. And I love the manual trans. Waaay better. So much more control over my wheel speed. I was able to really crawl. Not dig myself down and get stuck.

Only issue I had last night was with my power steering. The brand new pump was making a constant ticking noise a couple hours in. Fluid is full. Maybe there is air in the system, maybe is was getting hot, or maybe the pump just cant keep up. Not sure yet. But either way i'll be looking into upgrades. I'd love to get a saginaw pump in here some how but haven't seen anyone who has done it on the 4.0 SOHC. If anyone has any info let me know. Ill keep searching the forums.

As for my tie rod roll issue, i'm gonna switch to over the knuckle steering to reduce my drag link angle. Then get it aligned, see how it handles and go from there. That's the cheapest and easiest option for now.

 

[twoll86]

What’d you do with the take off parts?

 

[Mr. Bossley]

What’d you do with the take off parts?

Sold everything locally