Thanks man, I appreciate that! I like looking back in my build thread and see how my thought process, plans and maturity have changed over the last 10 years. I’m glad you are enjoying it and can find something useful from it!
No major updates right now. I built the seat mount for the PRP seat, I’ll get some better pictures this weekend when I pull it out again. I have to add the harness bar still so that will be my project on Saturday.
The other issue I am fighting is fuel lines. About 2 years ago I turned all my lines in stainless -6 lines for the fuel system. It worked great until about 3 months ago. I have had three different sections of the line decide it wanted to be an irrigation hose and piss gas all over. After the third leak, I decided to scrap all of the braided lines. I couldn’t find PTFE fuel lines local or very cheap, and same with hard lines. I needed to get the truck back on the road so I bought -6 blue push lock hose and fittings and got it up and running again. I took a video of it leaking under the truck and it’s in the video below:
I really liked the look and abrasion resistance of the stainless braided hose, but I just couldn’t trust it anymore. It would just randomly leak everywhere. One section of hose was less than a 1 year old and leaked. Hopefully these hoses will last longer.
I am really liking how easy the push lock was to put together and it will be easy to carry spare line for a trail repair of need be.
I got the harness bar welded into the back of the cab and mounted the shoulder straps. Here is a picture of how I mounted the seat. I cut the rivets from the stock seat bracket that held the sliders to the floor bracket. I used 1x1 tube to make the frame and welded that to the stock floor bracket.
I finally went wheeling and did a quick shakedown run. The links, coilovers, bumps and sway bar have provided a massive improvement in ride quality and stability off-road. I’m excited to do further testing, tuning and wheeling!
I have updated all of the changes I have done in the post below. I like going back and seeing when my truck was a complete truck. I always have my eyes peeled for another truck to fix up and restore and not turn into a wheeler.
Engine and transmission:
351W V8 (with GT40 intake) from a 1989 Ford Bronco*
Engine bored .30 over / Keith Black 11:1 pistons
1.7 roller rockers
Comp Cams Extreme 4×4 cam
Hedman 88400 headers
ZF 5 speed transmission from F-250
Atlas 2 speed transfercase 4.3 ratio
Twin sticks
Suspension:
James Duff 78-79 Bronco radius arms
James Duff panhard bracket
King 2.0 14” travel coilover 200/200
Fox 2.0x2” bumpstop front
Knuckles and pitman arm reamed for Ruff Stuff steering kit
Custom triangulated 4 link setup
2”x.250 links
Ballistic Fab flex joints
King 2.5 16” travel coilovers 100/150
Fox 2.0x3” bumpstop rear
TK-1 racing sway bar
Axles:
Ford 9-Inch rear axle with 4.56 gears, Grizzly Locker, 35 spline moser chromoly axle shafts
Fullwidth Dana 44 front axle with Yukon chromoly shafts, Yukon hardcore locking hubs, 4.56 gears and Grizzly locker
Ruff Stuff diff cover
Tires & Wheels:
37×12.50 R17 Goodyear MTR Kevlars
Procomp 17×8 wheels with 4.5-inch back space
Other Features:
2-Inch body lift
2x6 rectangle tube sliders
Custom bed / cage
Custom bumpers
Smittybilt XRC8 winch
Jaz 22 gallon fuel cell
Summit fuel filler kit
Holley in-line fuel pump
Jegs pre pump filter
Sony Xplod ipod deck
Speedhut gauges
PRP premiere seat & 4 point harness
We headed down to the Chile Challenge OHV event on a Wednesday afternoon, and we had signed up for three days of trails. We stayed at the riverside campground in the Caballo Lake State Park. It was about 160 miles and took us about 3 hours of driving from Albuquerque. I drove the Ranger and we trailered the Suburban down.
On the first morning we had to get to the event pavilion early so our rigs could get inspected. We were required to have a fire extinguisher, med kit and cb radio. They also made sure we had rigs suitable for the trails we signed up for. After inspection we had to get our undercarriages pressure washed by event staff to clear any invasive species out.
The trail we signed up for is called lost boys. It is rated hard. We met up at the staging area at 0800 and headed out with about 13 rigs for the trail. It was about 8 miles down the highway to the trailhead where we aired down. The trail leader decided for the group that we would run a moderate trail called scratch that lead to lost boys. It wasn’t supposed to take long. We headed down scratch, it was a narrow canyon with bushes on the sides and a few small-medium sized boulder fields. The first issue of the day was on the Ranger. I stalled it in a small boulder patch and it wouldn’t restart. Starter was struggling to crank, there was fuel and spark though. Engine bay was super hot, but motor never got over 200. We waited about 15 min and it wouldn’t start, we strapped up the suburban to the front and got the ranger to start by pull starting it. I think my starter may be going out or it was heat soaked.
A Toyota in the front of the group sheered some steering bolts, but I wasn’t up far enough in the group to see anything. After lunch we finally made it to Lost Boys a little after 11.
Lost Boys was a narrow canyon with lots of medium sized boulders everywhere. There wasn’t many obstacles that were challenging or technical but some of the boulders were fun. Most of them were annoying because they were just big enough to snag on your diff. Toward the end of the trail is the only real obstacle, a 6 foot waterfall called Game Changer. It was fun to play around on, and there is a bypass for people who do not want to try it. The carnage for the day was 2 bent tie rods and a shredded tire.
Once we were finished on the waterfall, we still had about 6 miles of dirt trail left ahead of us. The suburban cut a sidewall on the most unsuspecting rock ever, and we borrowed a spare to get it off the trail. We didn’t get off the trail until 6 pm, and got back to camp about 630. It was a very long day, mainly due to running two trails with 13 people. I would never run either of those trails with that many people, I think 10 would be the high end limit. Overall, Lost Boys was fun but unspectacular. Not much technical crawling, and the only rewarding part of the trail was the waterfall at the end that you can play on.
The Ranger performed great other than the starter not working in the morning. I didn’t shut the truck off many times that day after that happened, but it started up no problem the rest of the day.
I will be getting new tires soon, the rocks in southern NM are sharp and gashed my sidewalls and chunked what tread I have pretty bad. I got tons of dents on the sliders, bent my t case and tranny crossmember pretty good, dented my wheels and gouged my hubs pretty good. Everything operates great, the truck crawled really well.
It would be interesting to find out where these trails are. I never wheeled down in the Caballo area much. Our club forged a trail on the east side of the lake between the mountains and the lake about 30 yrs ago. Lots of fun. The major problem with that was 16 flat tires between 5 trucks. A lot of time spent with perma-plugs and compressors.
Our club dissolved about 25 yrs ago and I haven't done any serious 4-wheeling since. It's been great to follow your adventures in the Albuquerque/New Mexico area.
It would be interesting to find out where these trails are. I never wheeled down in the Caballo area much. Our club forged a trail on the east side of the lake between the mountains and the lake about 30 yrs ago. Lots of fun. The major problem with that was 16 flat tires between 5 trucks. A lot of time spent with perma-plugs and compressors.
Our club dissolved about 25 yrs ago and I haven't done any serious 4-wheeling since. It's been great to follow your adventures in the Albuquerque/New Mexico area.
Trip report: Chile Challenge day 2
Trail: Backstage Pass
Sorry for the delay in updates, I like posting videos to go along with the trip report, but I was delayed in making this trail video.
Day 2 of the Chile Challenge was a wet one! It rained from around 5 AM all the way until 9 PM that night. It made for a soggy campground and slick trails. We met the group at the staging area at 0845 and headed out with 8 rigs. It was a great group of people and a great group of rigs. The trail Backstage pass is rated as a “difficult” trail, and it was my favorite trail from the Chile Challenge. The trail climbs up a canyon, crosses a ridge-line and then drops down another canyon back to the trail head. On the way up was several ledges, boulder fields and water falls. The rain pretty much never let up all day and it made everything slick and muddy. I aired down to single digit tire pressure to try and get some traction on the wet stuff, but the rain really exposed my need for some fresh tires. This trail was a blast and kept the driver challenged and engaged for the entire ride. The rain put a damper on the pictures, but we did get good video. At the end of the trail is an optional waterfall that is about 6 feet tall, and the base of the water fall is loose boulders and dirt. The trail leader in his buggy made it look effortless, but it proved to be rather difficult. I chose to bypass the waterfall since the Suburban was already down on the trailer, we had another trail to do tomorrow, and I had to drive this rig back to Albuquerque still. On the water fall, one Toyota broke his front main leaf in half, and that then separated the front driveshaft. He put the shaft back together and cargo strapped the axle in place and drove it out. Another Toyota broke his driveshaft right after making it up the waterfall. All in all it was a great day even though it was sloppy. We definitely would run this trail again because it was so much fun.
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