"Big Darla" Build Thread

[Kage]

HEY THANKS! Your truck is sweet too and you did SO much to it, dont envy mine too much!

True, but I'm a sucker for the 'quick' down and dirty builds that get wheeled hard as much as possible. Proof that not everyone needs 1 ton junk and other high zoot parts to go have a blast.

 

[XionicWaste]

True, but I'm a sucker for the 'quick' down and dirty builds that get wheeled hard as much as possible. Proof that not everyone needs 1 ton junk and other high zoot parts to go have a blast.

Remember mine is a daily driver still. There are times I wish I could just Dove tail, Exo, run full widths, and build a 5000 lb rig and to be honest I am already pushing my limits for an on road daily driven beast. I do like the sleeper status off road rig. People always doubt my "little truck" but I know its built to keep up with the rock buggys. Sure she gets some body damage but Im over babying it.

 

[Kage]

... People always doubt my "little truck" but I know its built to keep up with the rock buggys. Sure she gets some body damage but Im over babying it.

Speaking from experience, that's the best place to keep things (IMHO anyway). Jumping up to FW's, big rubber, and of course a tow rig gets very expensive quick. Also, as you make things less 'street worthy, it becomes that much more of a hassel to go wheeling, especially if your wheeling spots are seperated by a few miles of paved road.

Resist the urge to go bigger, at least until you can afford a tow pig, and probably another 'little' wheeler to keep around for when you just want to run up and down the mountains some

 

[Josh40601]

Speaking from experience, that's the best place to keep things (IMHO anyway). Jumping up to FW's, big rubber, and of course a tow rig gets very expensive quick. Also, as you make things less 'street worthy, it becomes that much more of a hassel to go wheeling, especially if your wheeling spots are seperated by a few miles of paved road.

Resist the urge to go bigger, at least until you can afford a tow pig, and probably another 'little' wheeler to keep around for when you just want to run up and down the mountains some

Troof!!

 

[Josh40601]

Yeah rockers are back to normal ish... When I do sliders I will cut the bottom of the rockers and fenders and replace that cut area with steel. The XJ guys weld their body to the sliders and make it look super clean but they have a Unibody so the frame and body isnt on bushings like the rangers. Our bodys flex so I dont think welding them will work. Neat idea though.

If youre going to come from Kansas you will be there for the whole week yeah? We normally come for the last weekend but I would come for the whole week if you were. I know its a long ways away but Im excited already! I love Moab.

Questions on the doubler too... When I make one will my rear driveshaft flange be higher after the doubler? and how much shorter was your driveshaft after you installed it?

I like the sliders welded to the frame with a gap better than the XJ style. Cutting out and raising the slider is an awesome idea. Worked great for me. For the new D the sliders will be much lower and act as steps more than sliders.

I'll be coming from Kentucky (national champion state), not Kansas (wish they were national champion state). We would stay the whole week. Only way to make that long of a trip worth it.

I want to say it was around 6". I didn't change anything except the length of the shaft. I only had problems when I drug the axle across a rock. And I drove the truck everyday

 

[jesse93]

truck looks awesome, good luck on truck of the month

 

[dieseldane]

I'll be coming from Kentucky (national champion state), not Kansas (wish they were national champion state).

Hey easy there! Our trophy case is overflowing anyways, and our guys were distracted by that big furry animal attacking that guys face!

 

[Josh40601]

Hey easy there! Our trophy case is overflowing anyways, and our guys were distracted by that big furry animal attacking that guys face!

That's how our boys roll! Distract you with awesomeness. Lol

We just build a bigger trophy case

 

[XionicWaste]

So I was looking through my tread and I forgot to post that I fixed my drive shaft.

I picked up a sploder shaft for 100 bucks and cut it down. Heres the cut near the u joint:

Popped it off and sliced a chunk off, the sploder shaft was a few inches shorter than my reg cab long bed original shaft.

Welded:

Its great, no vibes at all.

I also saw this beauty at the Junk yard... Im interested!

A few posts back I said I was thinking of doing something like this and I started that project:

I started by getting some 24 gauge sheet metal and cut it down:

Then I bent it to my tail light shape:

If you scuff the edge with the grinder/cutting disc you should be able to peel the metal around:

I decided to go with a white backup light sense the lights I got had the tail/turn/running light functions.

I had to hard wire a trailer converter to get these to work but theyre sweet. I like how it looks and it will look great when its cleaned up.

Thanks all who are voting for me. The TOTM voting thread is heating up over there... Check it out, its actually kinda comical.

 

[Kage]

So I was looking through my tread and I forgot to post that I fixed my drive shaft...

Dat gum that's some coint for a used DS! Dig the tail lights, it'll be nice to have something that won't break everytime you rub them.

....Thanks all who are voting for me. The TOTM voting thread is heating up over there... Check it out, its actually kinda comical.

hey hey HEY NOW! TOTM is serious bidness 'round here

 

[escort_gts]

So what about side markers?

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[n_bannerman]

Digging the tail light mod! Looks good!

 

[kroussinoffroad]

side markers up here werent mandatory.

I stoped by the cop-shop prior to doing this on the mazda and asked them how "legal" it would be. They said 100% legal if they are legal to run on a trailer they are legal to run on a truck. however i'm sure there is a loop somwhere that they could really nail me if they wanted to as they werent designed to be on a vehicle.

cant wait to do this on the explorer.

 

[dieseldane]

As long as the lights have the letters DOT on them somewhere and a number they're good to go for whatever they are labeled as on any vehicle!

 

[XionicWaste]

Dat gum that's some coint for a used DS! Dig the tail lights, it'll be nice to have something that won't break everytime you rub them.

Yeah up in the mountains theres only a few RBV's in the salvage yards so they can charge whatever they want...

Digging the tail light mod! Looks good!

Thanks guys!

So I went wheeling the other day I met up with a few guys I met over winter and theyve got some sweet rigs. Ones a land cruiser on 37's, supercharger, lower slider/exo. The other is a Toyota truck stock axles (with longfield ChroMos) on 39.5's, the other is my buddys jeep:

40's below the frame when drooping is legit:

(I took the lil guy line haha) I need to talk to Kyle M Clicky! about how he got his bushings to flex so well... I think I need to remove my upper spring retainer and just run a center post.

37's would fit perfect!

So if you noticed in the earlier pic my headlights and corners are smashed (Moab got em) so I ordered some euro style clear headlights and corners and they look pretty nice. The head board or whatever its called (thing behind the grill which holds the lights on) was all smashed too (I really need a front bumper to protect things.) I cut that board and will run my winch, and incorporate a bumper too. You can see I cleaned up the front end (I cut in front of the tires)

Ill do something like this for a bumper: