"Big Darla" Build Thread

[clvanhorn]

nice build!!! about the mesh. i agree with kage. it looks good with no mesh, but since its your driver you should think about maybe black mesh? i'm just thinking of how bad it would suck for you to be on your drive to or from school and catch a bird in your radiator

 

[XionicWaste]

@kroussinoffroad

might have to get a weekend of wheelin planed next time your up in WIS. I'm always game for a good adventure.

Yeah that would be fun! Im not sure when the next time I will be in Wisco though... I plan on staying in CO from now on, Ill let ya know though!

About shaving the tail lights, I probably wont do that but Ive seen trucks with shaved tail lights and they run caddy lights, thats pretty cool but for an offroad vehicle? Not sure... Photoshop time!

Hmm it could be unique... What do you think?

As for the whole grill thing, I think Im going to run it mesh-less. The bird in the grill is a good point but stock there were huge gaps were something could get wrecked not to mention with the lights there its protected pretty well... Im actually wondering if the lights will block too much airflow:

The lights work great. Here you can see the difference between stock and the new ones:

So on to the work I did today.
I purchased a high jack the other day and its long and needs to be mounted properly in the bed. Here you can see it almost doesnt fit:

I recessed a portion of the box so the high jack could sit more flush:

Then I welded some 1/2" threaded rod to each side:

I then drilled a hole in the end of the rod and tapered the rod so a small lock would fit:

Next I welded a large fender washer to a wing nut and added the lock, this setup works great:

Here's the final product, the high jack fully suspended, not rubbing on anything and locked in place.

That's it for now and I think for awhile... I need to do work on other things like my trailer, snowmobile, motorcycle, etc. Who knows though...

 

[kroussinoffroad]

i had a streak of busin out taillights. allways seemed the side was gettin busted which took out the rest of the lens eventually. I went a much less expensive and more rugged route. check out my truck build for more on that. i did have to permenantly wire in a trailer converter into my harness to make it work properley. and my reverse lights were allready relocated so that didnt matter much to me anyhow

 

[XionicWaste]

I actually like that alot... Congrats on TOTM by the way!

 

[kris97ranger]

I had my lights in the same spot but bumper mounted and there were yhree. i never had any problems with airflow

 

[kroussinoffroad]

my filler panel doesnt line up with the tailgate 100% but at least it's the same on both sides! the actual filler for my truck was over 100 bucks with really wasnt worth it to me. but i can say that after i shaved the lights i never had to replace another light after that. was gonna go with the led rears but after dealing with led turn signals up front i didnt want to have to run around tryin to fake a load on the system to make the flasher work correctly. i even tried the led flasher and it still wouldnt work correctly ended up wiring a bulb in under the hood and painting it black. but if that bulb ever burns out i'll have to replace it and paint it black again.

 

[XionicWaste]

@ kroussinoffroad The painted light bulb is hilarious BUT it does work. When building my motorcycle I decided to run LED blinkers and I had a hell of a time getting them to work, finally I found a LED blinker relay for 15 bucks and it works great.

So I didnt do anywork on the truck but I have some updates.
Heres a pic of the tire siping in the snow, one siped and one not:

Also I found a video of Holy Cross Trail, the Project JK guys took this video. Watch from 1:14 to 1:18 you can see my rig in the background. I dont know why Im so proud but I am. Maybe because of their trail description:"one of the most difficult hard-core trails" in the state of Colorado."

 

[XionicWaste]

So in the time I was supposed to be doing homework I did some photochopping on my friends cummins truck:
Stock:

Rear bob:

Front and Rear bob:

Front and rear bob with a cab bob:

The last one is my personal favorite, the thing is only on 31's too, she'd be straight crawler status on 35's.

 

[Kage]

...Heres a pic of the tire siping in the snow, one siped and one not...

About how far down did you sipe that tread? From the prior pictures, it didn't look like you went very deep.

Are you happy with the results/worth the time of doing it?

 

[Josh40601]

i had a streak of busin out taillights. allways seemed the side was gettin busted which took out the rest of the lens eventually. I went a much less expensive and more rugged route. check out my truck build for more on that. i did have to permenantly wire in a trailer converter into my harness to make it work properley. and my reverse lights were allready relocated so that didnt matter much to me anyhow

those look great brother! I plan to do something like this as well if the Explorer tail lights get in the way as much as the Ranger ones do.

 

[XionicWaste]

About how far down did you sipe that tread? From the prior pictures, it didn't look like you went very deep.

Are you happy with the results/worth the time of doing it?

I went down about 1/4". It took about 15 mins per tire and was pretty effortless with the heated razor blade. My friend and I both siped our tires and it definitely helps with stopping. My friend has the older KM2's and he said on a rainy night if he would get heavy on the brake the tires would lock and he would go into a slide. Now it doesn't happen for him anymore. The sipes on my tires opened a lot more than my friends, I think because my tires are a little softer compound than his. I would recommend doing the procedure if your tires don't hold on the snow very well.

 

[Kage]

... I would recommend doing the procedure if your tires don't hold on the snow very well.

I'm rocking some .mil take offs right now. While I haven't had them in the white stuff yet (or rain for that matter), apparently they suck hard in it. I should have a loaner goover/siper coming my way so I'll attack them and see what happens. At less than a c-bill a tire, I don't have much to lose

Thanks!

 

[XionicWaste]

So Im going to Moab UT next week on Tuesday and will be there till Sunday. Im super excited and ready for some legit offroading. If anyone is interested let me know!

 

[XionicWaste]

Long time no see!

Okay so its been months... I feel like I should update my thread a bit. Lets start with some pictures from my last Moab trip:

The end cap in the female section pushed through and the inner axle shaft pulled out of the differential. A few hose clamps and wire and I was back in business!

I will say it again... time for sliders...

Okay moving on! While in Moab I had one of my rear upper shock mounts peel away from the cross member I put in, 2 weeks later the other one peeled off too. Originally I was going to put in a large cross member then I could bolt a 3000lb winch to it and suck up my rear axle and have a rear winch but I decided to out board my shocks instead.

Removing the rear cross member:

Chopping the frame: I had the f250 shock towers which I was going to run on the front but I decided to just run em in the rear.

The frame is almost cut in half:

All welded up:

Shock Mocked up:

In this pic its hard to tell but there is a decent amount of space for the shock to move around before it hits the frame.

Painted:

I fab'd some lower shock tabs which I welded on top of the leaf brackets:

Here you can see the angle at which the shock sits. This should give the shock enough room when the axle flexes.

Both done and painted up:

New holes in the bed:

I guess I was feeling paranoid that night because I covered my license plate...

Pretty subtle look I think:

So moving on... Lets test how well you know your axles... Guess what I picked up:

Did ya figure it out yet? Ill give you a hint its full width at 66 inches.

Heres another hint, its high pinion.

Another hint, its from an f150... I narrowed this beast 6":

Give up yet?

Okay, okay its a 1979 F150 Dana 44! I payed 326 after taxes, then I bought lots of new stuff for it, hubs, rotors, calipers, brakes, ball joints, seals, 4.88 gears, full spool, new locking hubs, Chromo shafts. The only thing this thing wont have on it will be a truss. I will get a price list up soon.

Old gears looked great! Anyone want some 3.50's?

Gears pulled:

Im going to run the F250 shock towers like the rear and also the F250 12" travel shocks, 300 ppi 23" Bronco coils (think these will be too stiff? what are you guys running?) I am going to move my steering box forward about 3-4 inches and probably flip my pitman arm that way I should get a 4 to 5 or more inch stretch. I need to order more parts so enjoy and leave input or comments!

 

[kroussinoffroad]

I'm running deaver superflex (8"?) f-150 springs. it says in my b4000 build. i got them from bronco graveyard. they felt pretty stiff for the first year or so but after that they were PERFECT. i did end up choppin them down about a turn and a half as my rideheight was stupid high.