yea...couldve sworn that i saw iroks in a couple pics.


Honesly.....how the hell did i miss this thread!>????? Trucks lookin' great man.....what an awesome build!!

 

when can you do mine?

 

i'm guessing this is you?
Featured in Crawl mag. one of the best ones ever!!

i never thought i would see any specs on the truck!
wanna build me a front bumper? because thats the exact one i was going to base mine off lol

 

where in u.p. i go up there all the time?

 

Thanks for the comments guys.

Most of the pictures were taken in the Houghton / Lanse Area. I went to school at Mich Tech so thats where we did most our wheeling at.

That bumper isnt attached to a stock frame so it would be hard to make another to fit a stock-ish truck.

Drop it off anytime, ill send you the bill later

 

LOL I would hate to see that bill!

 

oh it might as well be stock compared to yours..


we could make it fit.. or i could just tube the front as well

when are ya open?

 

So its finaly starting to come together. Still a few small things to do but its getting there.

Hopefully I will have some wheeling pictures next weekend.









I'm still trying to dial in the ride hieght. I think its too high now but i want to see how much it settles after i put some miles on it.

















The whole git up...

 

Looks great, what is your wheelbase it right now? also could you give some pics of what you did for the belly? and as far as the outer cage, did you have functional rear doors to design around?

Have you ever put any thought into narrowing the front clip as well?

 

very nice chris,let the fun begin,oh btw you planing to go to telico any time soon??

 

The wheelbase turned out to be 115in. About as short as i could go with out getting into the cab.

Yea the rear doors are functional... and still are.

Not planning on narrowing the front clip. I still drive it quite a bit on the road and want it to remain looking somewhat legal.

I wasnt planning on tellico this summer. Maybe next summer if they open it upper and lower 2 back up. We were thinking about hitting up Harlan this summer instead.

I got to drive it today and there is still some bugs to work out.

- The steering ram is causing the suspension to jack up pretty bad on right hand turns. I think im going to have move it back to the axle.

- I have some pretty bad driveline vibes in 4x4 so i may have to use a cv shaft in the front.

- Power steering sounds like a dying cow. I just cant seem to get a pump that doesnt suck after 2-3 runs.

Anyways... its good enough to wheel next weekend so I should have some pics next week sometime.

Thanks for the compliments guys.

 

looks awesome chris. cant wait to see it in action

 

look great Chris, I really like what you have done with the truck

 

Great job Chris, and as Zach said, I really like the back-half work, with the 4-linked rear and air shocks all around. Can't wait to see pics of it in action!

 

yeah if my ever goes strait offroad. its getn airshocks all around

 

thats about the wheel base I want to shoot for. did you move the front axle forward any at all?

also did you use a bending program for your outer cage? would there be a way for me to get some measurements off of you?

I was also curious about you ram mounting position, its quite a weird location, especially on full droop I would imagine.

are you running a doubler as well or just one case?

lastly, I was thinking those airshocks would be not so road friendly with the lack of rebound. what length stroke are they? what sort of flex travel are you getting? how much uptravel as well if you could.

again looks great, If you ever want to make it out to colorado youve got a place to stay here and lots of great rock crawling areas!!

 

a couple more questions, are you still running a body lift, I thought I saw blocks. also what is your clearance to the frame rails under the cab?

 

The front is 3ish inches forward of stock. I've got a line on a set of 40in Irocs that may force me to go out a few more inches.

We didnt use a bending program just a tape measure. If you let me know what you want measured, i can get whatever you need.

Yea the ram location isnt ideal but not as bad as you might think. Its mounted very close to the pitman arm so the angle on the ram doesnt change much. I did it that way cuase at the time thats the only place it would fit. I think i have room now to move it down onto the axle so if it gives me problems this weekend, ill move it.

Just one case for now. I have a 5.0L H.O. in the barn that will ill be going through this winter and installing into the truck. Then i shouldnt need a doubler. The truck is a turd right now with the 3.0L but it gets the job done for the most part.

The air shocks are 14in in the front and 16in in the rear. I drove it around yesterday a little bit and its actualy not as i thought it would be. There is still quite a bit of rebound damping in them and im running the 2.5's which dont unload as bad. When we were mocking it up the front had 5 in uptravel and the rears had 6in. I left the truck about 1.5 in high for now to see how much it would settle. I still have alot of playing around to do to get the suspension dialed in.

Im not sure what that is translating to the wheels yet. I havent even flexed it yet. It going to be a trial by fire next weekend. I just hope it stays together.

Im sure i will have a long list of things to do after the shake down but thats what makes it so entertaining.

I am still running a body lift. If i could go back i would have taken it out. The axle to frame clearence in front have been f-ing me for years but it would take a ton of work to get it out now. Plus it made it very easy to flat belly.

 

Chris I noticed in your pictures I did not see any straps for the fuel cell, how is that mounted?

I know what you mean about axle/frame clearance, my rebuild its been bugging the crap out of me as well. I want to do what you did in the front to gain some clearance. Maybe in time.

 

so you did a flat belly? pics? did you clock the tcase somehow to get that? what about stock transmission crossmember?

Your work is fantastic I must say. but with that crawl ratio Im sure its definately a turd. do you have a specific terrain you built it for or is it more of the all arounder? hate to ask again but you could you get a ride height measurement from the belly? with pics!!

thanks for answering all my questions, your truck is very exciting to me... and you actually wheel it!

also could I get a few up close pictures of how tight the halo is above the doors and the b pillar behind the rear doors?

 

Looks awesome!!!

 

The cell had tabs welded onto it to bolt to the frame.

Its going to take me a while to get pics / measurements. I'm back in KC for the week so i wouldnt be able to get specific pics till next week sometime.

The truck has had a flat belly for a little over a year now. Definatly one of the best mods yet. When we did the frame section in the front i raised the motor approx 2.5in so when i went to raise the t-case, it didnt need to be clocked. All made possible by the body lift.

There is alot of pics in that album on webshots. Anything that isnt in there i can get, it just may be a few weeks.

I wanted it to be a good all rounder. We do a lot of woods trails here in michigan but i have traveled all over (tellico, badlands, silver lake sand dunes, ect.). Plus i still plan on driving it on the road on the weekends.

Thanks for all the compliments guys. Hopefully it inspires people to get more rangers out on the trail. Im sick of wheeling with jeep guys.

 

I want to go wheeling with you! But my skill level of wheeling is weak. So I am a newbie.

 

truck looks sick!!! can't wait to see it in use

 

thanks for the info, it sounds like the body lift is a great thing in your situation. I like your idea of then engine lift I hadnt thought of that. I would imagine you even have the possibility to trim the height of the frame rails under the body and do a minor boatside, am I correct?

Also like I said, Whenever you want to hit colorado. this summer I hoping to get a lot of work done, including coilovers on all four corners and a similar design to yours, but I was planning on taking the body lift out and clocking the tcase with the DDmachine doubler kit Ive got.

again looks like a great build, with plenty of fresh ideas.