"Mini Me" Low COG B2 Crawler/Jumper Build

[Dugan]

First time going to any event:

Quickly learned C clip axles suck.

This is where the rear shaft broke, you can see why. It got moser axle shafts after that.

Made my own brackets for a 2000 mustang GT caliper setup.

I sell the bracket is anyone is interested, this is for a 28spline 8.8

Ran a MX track with the truck, it jumped fine, but didnt like high speed turns.

Forgot to get new bolts for the steering box, the stock bolts had a thread holding them on.

Power steering pump was shot, also wanted to go hydro assist. Started to rebuild and drill and tap the box.

Had to enlarge my stock pully for the new Ppump

Realized my 8" ram was too big, ordered a 6"

 

[Dugan]

Added a rad catch can finally.

I found out it tows trees.

Took it out a few weekends ago to rausch creek:

Crazy angle caused the trans to find air and pump fluid out of the vent. Stopped me from moving entirely.

All i broke in the end was a passenger side axle shaft at the wheel, but with my C clip eliminator it appeared the spring would hold the other parts together. So i drove back to camp and realized I lost all of my inside axle parts. I was quite made because of how much work they take to setup. Looks like the weld broke on my u joint which caused my caps to go flying.

The lockrite locker in the axle is barely locking up anymore, I may get a spartan or aussie for the time being.

I was going to go d50 slip yoke for the 1350 but its gonna take a ton of time and effort to make the 1350 work.

Ordered some chromo axles from JBGY. So well see how it goes. I may eventually go 1 tons and start building some. Because the TTB def doesnt fit my wheeling style.

 

[Jim Oaks]

WTF am I looking at?!

It looks like some kind of Willys coming towards you. A little confusing because you're counting grill slots, but there aren't any smaller lights under the headlights. Wait, is that body a Bronco II? Probably has solid front axles. Dana 60's, because nobody would build a crawler with anything less than Dana 60's. Is that TTB?!! The man code says that real offroad trucks have to have a solid front axle! I guess it's a Dana 44 TTB. No wait, A fricken Dana 35??!!!

I love this thing! It defies everything!! I feel like this thing flips the finger to all of the offroading expectations and stereotypes.

Can we get a list of all of the specifications?

 

[Dugan]

WTF am I looking at?!

It looks like some kind of Willys coming towards you. A little confusing because you're counting grill slots, but there aren't any smaller lights under the headlights. Wait, is that body a Bronco II? Probably has solid front axles. Dana 60's, because nobody would build a crawler with anything less than Dana 60's. Is that TTB?!! The man code says that real offroad trucks have to have a solid front axle! I guess it's a Dana 44 TTB. No wait, A fricken Dana 35??!!!

I love this thing! It defies everything!! I feel like this thing flips the finger to all of the offroading expectations and stereotypes.

Can we get a list of all of the specifications?

That's what I was going for, you picked up on the slot count too haha.

I may end up 1 toning it because im not wide enough, well see.

1988 b2 (or whats left of one).
Dana 35 TTB, Trussed, Clearanced for 20" of travel but limit strapped at 15* camber max., 4.56 Gears, Lockrite Locker, Warn Jeep Hubs (Indestructible per Warn), Moog Joints, Stretched 6.5" forward and each beam is stretched 0.5" for an additional width of 1" overall. Ball joints moved out.
8.8 28 spline rear with moser axles, disc brakes, trussed, 4.56 and locker.
2.9
C5 trans built with upgraded C4 trans parts, and RMVB. Winters shifter
1350/1354 t case doubler, twin stick
4x King 2.5" 14" coilovers
4x Fox bumps.
39.5 Iroks with steel beadlocks.
Full exo cage with internal supports behind driver.
Water proof Relay box behind seats.
PRP fixed seats.
Fuel cell and remote trans cooler.
Drilled and tapped steering box, F350 Ppump and hydro assist, remote cooler.
Front custom made Cj3a/Cj2a Grill with added 2 slots to fit the ford mantra. Front turn signals perform flash back just like the head lights.

 

[Dugan]

WTF am I looking at?!

It looks like some kind of Willys coming towards you. A little confusing because you're counting grill slots, but there aren't any smaller lights under the headlights. Wait, is that body a Bronco II? Probably has solid front axles. Dana 60's, because nobody would build a crawler with anything less than Dana 60's. Is that TTB?!! The man code says that real offroad trucks have to have a solid front axle! I guess it's a Dana 44 TTB. No wait, A fricken Dana 35??!!!

I love this thing! It defies everything!! I feel like this thing flips the finger to all of the offroading expectations and stereotypes.

Can we get a list of all of the specifications?

JIm,

Just googled my build post to check on something, and I found your write up , thank you for that chuckle. Mission accomplished.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Since I just saw this again, I gotta ask, what bushing do you have in the passenger side swinger for the steering? I have a dumb idea for a project that will happen soon hopefully and I'm going to need to build one... It kinda looks like a red poly leaf spring bushing...

Since you're having issues with the D35, have you heard about the JANA 54? That's what I'm planning on building for my V8 Explorer with a 10.25" out back... basically it's a TTB D44 housing with TTB D50 outers, shafts and center section, gets you equal length beams set up for coil springs... I mean it's pretty cheap, so far I have about $500 into 2 D50 housings, 3 10.25's and a D44... I think that included two steering boxes oh and one whole rolling frame of a F250... . I'm planning about 5" lift and 36-37" tires, I'm not setting up for rocks more sand and general wheeling but the D60 outers should be fine with whatever...

 

[Dugan]

Since I just saw this again, I gotta ask, what bushing do you have in the passenger side swinger for the steering? I have a dumb idea for a project that will happen soon hopefully and I'm going to need to build one... It kinda looks like a red poly leaf spring bushing...

Since you're having issues with the D35, have you heard about the JANA 54? That's what I'm planning on building for my V8 Explorer with a 10.25" out back... basically it's a TTB D44 housing with TTB D50 outers, shafts and center section, gets you equal length beams set up for coil springs... I mean it's pretty cheap, so far I have about $500 into 2 D50 housings, 3 10.25's and a D44... I think that included two steering boxes oh and one whole rolling frame of a F250... . I'm planning about 5" lift and 36-37" tires, I'm not setting up for rocks more sand and general wheeling but the D60 outers should be fine with whatever...

Ill have to look that up! Bushing is just a basic poly bushing, similar to a leaf bushing.

 

[Dugan]

After rolling over above because my junk lockrite locker didn't like to engage, and breaking a shaft, I did some front axle upgrades.

Replaced the Lockrite with a spartan (been awesome since).

Also decided to get some 4130 Chromo shafts (or at least the ones sold for a d35) and spicer joints from JBGY.

Also chose to do some snap rings on this setup.

This stuff is amazing for keeping things cool.

Made some diff guide pins, they work amazing.

Did all this in the cold (also in the snow later) and this mini diesel heater is a life saver. I wanted to go wheeling so it had to get done haha.

Ended up doing a little tig welding on each to make sure nothing comes free.

I have a 1200 sqft pole barn (Where security camera is mounted thats taking this photo), but yet its full of projects and im working in the snow. +1 for diesel heater.

Well the new locker worked amazingly on the pole in the parking lot next to my house haha.

 

[Dugan]

When your friend forgets that his locking hubs have to both rotate toward the front of the vehicle and not like a normal setup, you get stuck waiting for him while hes in the mud.

Atleast the heat cranks in this thing.

Same buddy once again got himself into a pickle (red jeep)

Some how he got a rock stuck between the oil pan and the back of the front diff.....

We tried multiple ways to get him off it, in the end we just winched to his cage and pulled him over and had him back up while leaning hard.

Wasn't any action vids or pics of me, just this one of me crawling out of the tombstone trail first while the others struggled.

Climbing out of Tombstone

And of course, my buddy in the red Jeep once again had issues. He ripped his steering box off the frame and we had to drill and easy out the bolt pieces. Thankfully I have a long set of thin socket head bolts in my trailer from when I broke my steering box off the frame! So we ran back and grabbed them and got him fixed up. I was so happy I didnt have any issues this trip, until the ride back. I started to overheat for no reason. Then my windshield fogged up. Blew a heater hose and my waterpump was dripping from weep hole.. Ugh. So sick of 2.9 water pumps, ive replaced it like 30 times. I replaced it yet again, however this time I threaded the weep holes and put set screws in there haha. if it fails oh well.

So after that trip, my brother did the worst thing possible, he told me I should put my 6.0 LS in the bronco.

My response was "Theres no way they have a bellhousing to adapt to a c5 transmission from a chevy engine."

Annnnnnd that is where I was wrong, and the tism started to take hold.

A company named JW performance makes a bellhousing for SBC to C4 trans (same as c5). However JW doesnt have it listed on their website.

View attachment 143306

So since there was a huge christmas sale for Holley, I ordered a term X max kit for the truck.

Also, we had some major snow storms. It was so bad no one could drive through the neighborhood and everyone was getting stuck. So I went joy riding and letting people hook themselves up and id pull them out.

Also came across a set of 07 Superduty axles cheap. May 1 ton swap the b2? What say thee?? I do love the ttb but it doesnt fit my wheeling style on the north east.

 

[Dugan]

So we went down to Florida for the big mud event every February. My brother brought the orange truck that we built years ago, that has a fresh 5.3 LS in it. And I brought my turd to just put around in. And our buddy Scott with his bronco.

I got caught in the action cruisin around. Never got to see it from the outside before. It was eating up the bumps great at 50mph. I took my buddy who lives in Florida for a ride and went straight for the whoops section as fast as it would go. He was about to crawl out of his seat, then we hit it and he just looked at me and laughed. It ate the whoops so good and we didn't feel a thing.

Where's Waldo?

Video:
Video of the B2 hitting some whoops.

Got a chance at another spot in Florida to hit some whoops fast again. Sadly these were small compared to other spots but it still eats them up. Well it did until my fuel started boiling in the fuel rail. Never had that issue before. But it made for a long drive back.

So while I was in florida, I got a call from the place I ordered the trans bell housing for the new build from. They were asking which tooth count I was going to use on the flywheel, I was confused because none of the options given matched the LS engine. So after a bunch of calls between the place I ordered and JW transmissions to figure out the issue, I realized that JW was an hour from my sisters house. (the issue is they all thought I wanted a powerglide bell). So i decided to drive down to JW and pick up my order vs shipping it.

What an awesome group of people. They have been around for over 50 years. The wife of the owner greeted me and provided me with the bell housing. Gave me a tour of the whole place (nothing is imported, everything is done in house), and also gave me a goody bag with stickers and a t shirt. Was a great exp. Got to meet the owner, who has to be in his 80s now, he and I sat down and went over my build and came up with a custom torque convertor to make it really move.

Torque convertor came in, and seemed to fit perfectly. I asked a buddy of mine, that sold me my c5, if I could borrow his personal core one to make sure all my mock up measurements were good.

Right on the money

This was not fun to line up alone haha...

Got the 6.0 all torn down. I was told it has 80k miles on it. Everything was really clean.

Oh and between everything else going on, my brother decided he wanted to revive his bronco, the one this is the "mini-me" of.

So we started getting parts. I bought him a set of 5 tons for storing a truck of mine for a few years.

Then we drove up to NY to meet someone we know from the mud world for some 23.1x26 check marks for the new axles.

 

[Dugan]

So someone I know had a set of 243 Aluminum heads and a TBSS intake for my build. However the 243 heads were dirrrrrtyyyy and one cylinder had dropped a valve. So I was curious if the head distorted the head at all.

Did some home-style decking with Dykem blue and a straight edge with 400 grit. This head needed a little love. The other one needed quite a bit, but I was able to get it perfect. Went over them with 1500 grit blocks before installing.

Oh also, get an ultra sonic cleaner if you have ever wanted one. This was after 1 round at 30mins and 60*C.

I have been putting everything in it now haha.

The ultra sonic cleaner has def made life easier with this build.

(this was tonight 5/25/26), going to bolt the intake on and wire it and set the tune and run it on the stand and see how she is. My first ever complete tear down engine build. Should be around 450-500 hp at the crank. Compared to what I probably have now at 80hp haha.

Oh also, I decided to try and register the b2 as a street rod. Took a chance and got lucky. It passed!

Surprisingly it drives very well on the street. With a home made drive shaft and 40 inch tires haha. I've had it up to 65mph, and its straight as an arrow. But my god is it loud. I just have cats and a dump behind the passenger seat haha. 3k rpm in 3rd is 50-55mph. 3500 is 65mph. The 2.9 does not like the doubler t case in high-high. Takes a bit to get up to speed! Cant wait for this LS engine.

I also added a Wolfbox g900 tripro, its amazing.

And before any purists get on me for the LS, look at the damn thing. There is nothing pure about this monstrosity.