Project Fordzuki

[Boggin]

man that thing is sick, we need to see some vids

 

[Loanranger]

Here ya go Boggin, not the best vids, most were from my phone. I still gotta get a video camera.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=kdf9rqeWEdw

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9ZkLlCndaqI

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3cE51MJJkH8

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lDqgGwDvDN8

Here's another
http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Wazuks-evans-run-snowday_160265.htm

 

[Boggin]

awesome vids man, that truck is flexy as hell!

 

[Loanranger]

Not much going on lately, been real busy with family, and working on my Dads ranger. I did however just pick up some harnesses tonight from a buddy, he got them awhile back to put in one of his trucks and never got around to it, needed some cash, so I picked them up for a deal.

G-force black 5 point harnesses. 2 of them

 

[Stumpy]

Liking the harnesses!

 

[Loanranger]

Thanks stumpy, here they are installed.

Now I can flop it and stay in....

 

[Boggin]

look really nice man,
this is a very good build!

 

[Loanranger]

Got me a winch! Me and my dad each got a new xrc8, and been mounting them up last night and tonight. I built the cradle for his first, and after finishing his up tonight, I started in on mine. Got the majority of the cradle made, I just want to add a few pieces from the cradle to the outer edges of the bumper, to kindof tie everything together, and make it look a little better. Still have to drill the mounting holes, cut and drill the fairlead holes, and wire in the winch. Should be done tomorrow night, just in time to try them both out saturday. Here's a couple pics of tonights progress, I'll post up a couple finished product pics tomorrow night.
I had to offset it a bit to the passenger side to clear the steering box.

 

[Loanranger]

Got the winch bumper all done tonight, and the winch mounted and wired. Here's some pics.

 

[Rolled Ranger]

That is pretty sweet. I dont think you will need that very much for yourself but who knows. Looks good, man

 

[dogboy]

Loosk good man. Like RolledRanger said, I doubt you will be using it for yourself much, haha.

Is a "xrc8" an 8000lbs. winch? I'm pretty my dad only had a 4500 winch on our old Samurai...

 

[Loanranger]

Thanks guys. If I can find someone to run the busywild with me, I can guarantee I'll be using it then. Me and my dad went up for the work party yesterday, and most of the work was being done on the busy, so we wandered over there, and started our way through. We got to the first gnarly spot, and there were a couple fullsize blazers, and a couple toyotas there, the first blazer spit a cap off the ujoint on his front driveline, the second one blew the seal out of his steering box, and one of the toyotas exploded a birfield cup. After helping out there for a few, we decided to turn around, not wanting to break anything on my dads ranger. We headed off to the Easywild, and made a good run through there. I would like to run the busywild when I find someone equipped enough to run it with me.
Ever since I extended the front shock towers, I have been having troubles with the front driveline rubbing things. First it was the trans crossmember, so I cut the hoop out, and extended it up a couple inches. Then it started rubbing the trans bellhousing, and the plate between the motor and bellhousing. Well, aparently I have way too much flex up there, because at some point yesterday it ended up hitting the oilpan, which is a good 4 inches away at ride height. So yesterday on the way home from Elbe, I stopped and picked up some more DOM tube, so I could retube the driveshaft, which got bent hitting a bump and coliding with the trans crossmember. It was just a slight wobble, but between that and the two spots it had rubbed, I decided to just retube it. First I had to take care of a few things to keep it from rubbing again, so I started this morning by taking out the old shaft, and removing the front axle. I wanted to roll my pinion back down from where I had set it when I first built the rig. So I cut the perches off, cleaned them up, and set them back on. Before rolling the axle back under, I added a leaf per side that I had taken out awhile back to get some added flex. This will actually level it out a bit, cause the rig had a little rake towards the front, and with the added weight of the winch, it was looking like a shackled up GTO. So I got the leafs in, rolled the axle back under, and set my pinion angle to where I wanted it, and tacked the perches on. Rolled the axle back out, and welded the perched the rest of the way on, and back under the rig it went. I got the front end buttoned up, and moved on to rebuilding the driveshaft. I ground and knocked the ends out, cut the new piece of tube, and pressed the ends into the new tube, making sure both ends were perfectly in phase. The shaft is bolted in now, ready to balance out, tack, and pull back out to fully weld the ends on, which I will get to tomorrow night.
The bellhousing/plate where the driveshaft was rubbing. Luckily no break through.

The oilpan where the pinion and ears of the driveshaft yoke collided

A shot of the front axle out.

And dogboy, yes the xrc8 is an 8000 lb winch, really shouldn't need that much, but for the price, I couldn't justify getting anything smaller.

 

[dogboy]

Yeah, that's true, can't pass up good deals!!


I'll run the Busy-Wild with you!!!



Just joking....



I wanna try the 311 and a few other trails at Evans this summer though. I bet everything at Evans Creek is getting to easy for the Zuk isn't it? And Tahuya... The only thing remotely challenging is probably the rock pile, right?

 

[Loanranger]

Yeah, that's true, can't pass up good deals!!


I'll run the Busy-Wild with you!!!



Just joking....



I wanna try the 311 and a few other trails at Evans this summer though. I bet everything at Evans Creek is getting to easy for the Zuk isn't it? And Tahuya... The only thing remotely challenging is probably the rock pile, right?

We'll just wrap a bunch of bubble wrap around your truck, and you should be just fine...

This next weekend I'll be up at Elbe again with some guys from Wazuks, but the weekend after that, the weekend of the 4th, I'm gonna head back up to Evans to see how much snow has melted. The 102 and the 311 are a walk in the park with Fordzuki, but I'd like to hit some of the other trails, 196, 197, and 198 spedcifically. When I built the zuk, I had Evans in mind, so it's gonna be fun seeing how it works out on some of the harder trails. Tahuya is getting too easy, it seems like I always come back with damage though, cause I'm trying to make it chalenging. The rocks and the couple hill climbs are about the extent of the fun out there for me, and those few things aren't really worth the drive for me now that Elbe and parts of Evans are snow free. I would like to get up into some snow before it's all gone at Evans, now that I have a winch to get me out of trouble.


As an update, I got the front driveshaft retubed tonight, had a hell of a time balancing it out, because one of the ends lost it's tolerance and kept wanting to pop out, but I got it trued, and it spins straight with no wobble. I also ground one little weld that was still barely rubbing on the trans crossmember, ground the lower lip of the bellhousing out a little, and took a hammer to the oilpan to even out the dent. Should be good to go now. I just have to wait on the paint to dry on the driveshaft and reinstall it. I took it out on the road in 2wd high, and let go of the wheel, and it stays straight in both forward and reverse, and the steering seems alot better now with the caster back in spec. I didn't realize it the first time, but by trying to keep the pinion up, I had put the caster at 1* negative, which isn't all that bad for a trail only rig, but it did tend to wander at speed on the gravel roads between trails. Now it's back at about 2-3* positive, so not only does it ride like a cadilac, it handles like a ferrari....

 

[dogboy]

If you don't mind, I might like to tag along on that Evans run on the 4th. I guess there is a rock crawling comp out at funny rocks at Naches on July 5th supposedly. Not sure if that's true, but it is a bit of a drive too for a couple hours of watching. My dad wanted to go, and the only car we have that will get to Funny Rocks is my Ranger, so if he really wants to go, then I'll have to do that instead of Evans Creek.


Now you just need to paint it bright red and slap ferrari emblems on it!