It all started off with a $400 88 ranger STX regular cab long bed. I lifted it 6"s upgraded the axles a little then i met some new buddys that all have crawlers. So i decided to ditch the TTB front for a HP fullwidth Dana 44. I bought a 44 off of craigslist for $200 with all the cast wedges on it. I was going to run them with stock radius arms, bushings, and coils but i decided i wanted to flex alot more than that. I Plated the stock arms grinded them down so i could sleave them with 2" 1/4 wall DOM extended them around a foot and got currie HD johnny joints. made the cross member/t-case skid in a few hours got pre-bent Blue torch 1 3/4 DOM shock hoops welded all that crap on. I got a great deal on 14" 2.0 fox air shocks so i was pretty much ready to flex. I scored a massive deal on 8 lug outers/ 5.13's/detroit/ recentered H1 double beadlocks/6 38" TSL radials half tread/high steer/ heimed dom tierod/ Eaton 14 bolt rear end with disk brake conversion with 5.13s and lincoln locked all for around $1200 I decided to stick with leafs in the rear and picked up some 63" chevys
for $50 and inboarded them and made some shackles. Got the drivelines made ( Steve at South Bay Driveline in San Jose).

All in all it turned out great i have run the con/frank reines/ and hollister a few times with nothing broken. To bad i finished it right before "season ended" so i havent been able to run Four dyce like i wanted too. hope you guys like it heres all the pics i know theres a ton just thought i'd be thorough


the begining:


the mud days:

went to the early 90's front clip:

the start of the Krawler build:















ITS done well sort of ( i know im gonna get **** for the redneck RTI)







heres some pics of its maiden voyage on a hollister shake down run






Decided to Bob the bed i might dove tail it later:





RUBICON:






Frank Reines:






i notched into the crossmember so i could get the johnny joints as high up as possible and the top of the crossmember is opened up to allow the t-case to sit in it its all plated to the max and pretty solid. The c-mounts on the tube are in the stock location i extended the arms so that they were long enough to sit right inside the frame i did however push the front axle forward about 4 inches which puts my wheel base at about 117"s ill post some pics of the crossmember build when i get on my other computer

heres a better shot of the crossmember and arms in action and some random flex shots on the old dodge

 

Hey man, I saw you over on TRS. Amazing rig. I'm planning on a similar swap

HP Dana44 from a 78 full size Bronco, bronco extended radius arms, drop brackets, the 9" with shackle and a progressive multi-leaf flex packs. I'm still in the process of finding a good set of coils. What are you running? What's the spring rate?

Thanks bro,
Adam

 

seen the build up over on pirate..truck looks like a beast!

 

hows this thread get missed for 5 months... awesome truck, i want to do something like that with an older truck or rail buggy in a few years

 

Next mod...........BUY A NEW CAMERA!!!

 

i saw that over on pirate, that thing is SICK!

 

Very, very cool. you have an amazing amount of articulation there I love the "test" truck.

 

love the truck, wish I had the time/money

 

I will be doing a similar build but with a ext cab. I might be coming back to you for some pointers if thats ok.