Clayton or bust

[mudtoy67]

I’ve been dying to go wheeling forever, and I’ve decided I’m going this year no matter what. So now I need to find some combination of the three trucks I have to make a decent truck to wheel. Here’s what I’ve thinking so far:

The 95 Ford is in the best shape as far as the way it sits now, it could be wheeled. And now that I have a daily driver if I break it I don’t have to worry about having to fix it to go back to work when I get home. But with stock gears, open diffs, and 33s its trail capabilities are somewhat limited. So I’ve been mulling over what I have available to me, and some ideas that might be affordable as far as mods go.

Here’s what I’m thinking…

Find a cheap set of gears for front and rear---4.10 or 4.56
Weld the rear 8.8
I think I’ve got a line on a dana 44 trac-lock
For tires I’ve got some 36” hummer tires and six lug 16.5” rims---I think I know where to find some waggy parts to make the front axle 6 lug, and I’ll just drill the rear axles.
Problem with the wheels is that they are 10” wide, which makes me a little leary about losing beads frequently. I might try the Muttlock I saw on Pirate a while back (some guy stuck a small tractor front tire with inner tube in his Swampers, kinda like the Staun internal beadlock works). Only problem with that is I would probably have to trailer it to Clayton, and I don’t think CDR wants to go so I won’t have a tow rig.
I’m also gonna need to make some new traction bars, and do some bracing on the TTB drop brackets to keep doing any more tweaking on the frame.

Other ideas I’ve tossed around…
Swap the leaf sprung Dana44 from the ’77 in
Swap some parts for a radius arm Dana44 setup
—I’d like to do the SAS but while researching it today it looks like it would take more money than I would want to put into this truck
Swap in the C6 I’ve got for a little more help negotiating the trails
Get the 77 F250 running….it needs a lot to be trustworthy, and the tow rig issue comes up again
Get the FJ running….it just needs to much and I don’t want to just kluge it together like I did the first time.

What do yall think?

[TxCruzr]

I think you think it's april fools and I didnt even read the post

[mudtoy67]

You sure don't waste any time

[robertf03]

whats wrong with the FJ?

[BMFScout]

Ride with me and I'll let you take a spin behind the wheel on something. Then fix the FJ up like you should and make it to Clayton next year. I don't doubt you could make something work and get it to the trail, I've seen you do it. I think you'd be putting money into something else, when it should go toward the cruiser.

[Doug Krebs]

Oh hell yeah!

[mudtoy67]

whats wrong with the FJ?

Hmmm....

No trans, tcase, radiator, steering box, steering shaft, steering column, steering wheel, electrical wiring, and a dissassembled rear axle among other things

I might have to take you up on that Jimmy...I've gotten the trip approved but the funding is another question.

[TxCruzr]

Get the FJ running by March 14th and be at katemcy on march 15th

[sasquatch]

wheel the '77 fo show

[KrazyKarl02]

...I've gotten the trip approved but the funding is another question.

Man, I am surprised the brains of the operation approved this, and by brains of the operation, I mean Hank

[jerryg79]

I would ride/walk at clayton and let my biggest and most stressful concern be how im going to fit all this beer into that cooler.

[jerryg79]

Man, I am surprised the brains of the operation approved this, and by brains of the operation, I mean Hank

joke stealer

[mudtoy67]

Man, I am surprised the brains of the operation approved this, and by brains of the operation, I mean Hank

I know how much you love your old buddy Hank...I'll make sure to bring him

[BMFScout]

No ride for Hank!!

[eight]

That's alot of work you want to do to that pickup. I think in the time it'd take to do that you could get alot of the work done on that cruiser. If you want to wheel the pickup maybe think the minimum amount of work needed. You know, like check that everything's still in OK condition, and that the traction bars are there. Maybe weld the 8.8. What's wrong with the tires it has? The 36s on normal 16.5s will suck because you can't air down much.