Up and coming rig

[PoorCollegeCrawler]

Hey all, been a browser of this forum awhile, and am happy to finally be able to make my own little contribution to the face rocking. I recently was able to get my first off-road rig, here it is right after I bought it and drove the 2 hours back home:


So first thing was, of course, tires. I actually lucked out when I bought it, tires were worn down nearly to nothing, got 600 bucks off, and I was hellbent on getting mickey thompson mtzs anyways. after two weekends of waiting tables I was set (ignore my goofy ass, only pic I have of this stage):


Next thing is sort of an arkansas off-road requisite. Off-roading in our woods can turn your weekends into body-damage repair-athons and while I love working on the truck, I hate repetition. And also I hate those plastic front bumpers, in the three weeks I had the truck before the bumpers I think I kicked that chunk of polymer 50 times out of spite. So in order to alleviate this problem I brought my rig to a metal fabrication shop and had 2x4 steel bumpers and quarter inch steel tubing welded to my frame, wish I had willy's equipment to do it myself, but alas sometimes I have to let other people touch my truck  .




Getting the front finished sometime next week (brush guard style, thick steel mesh to cover my oversized radiator, connecting the sliders with the front bumper to cover fender wells, eventually a stinger). My favorite part of the new bumpers is the rear (no good picture, license plate played hell with digital camera) main problem with my truck for off-roading thus far was dragging my ass end. The new bumper (along with removing the spare tire and hitch) added at least an extra 8 inches of clearence in the back, crucial for those of us that can't afford a lift yet.

And my latest edition was a powertrax no-slip ratchet locker in the rear. got some pics of us putting it in but, being a differential, it isn't that exciting. that was last night and after work, i am supposed to be working right now, we see how much it improved my performance.

after my bumpers are finished I plan to get 2.5 lift, front and back, my front a-arms are dissappointingly low so this gonna be a must, front locker though i am not sure which way to go, and upgrade my rings and pinions for a better ratio, though i still haven't determined my current one. this is gonna take quite awhile and a lot of no day-off weeks, but hopefully by the end it'll be a rig worthy of these illustrious boards.

[Cheesemaker]

Welcome, and nice looking Taco you got there!  Definitely need fender protection, those fenders are so cheap!  I leaned against a buddies taco fender and actually bent it!  But it pulled right back out!

[79coyotefrg]

Next thing is sort of an arkansas off-road requisite. Off-roading in our woods can turn your weekends into body-damage repair-athons and while I love working on the truck, I hate repetition.

ARKANSAS     how did i miss that??

where you at??    get down here  to Arkadelphia  so i can   see what i can do  to fix  that radiator problem

[YotaJosh]

ARKANSAS     how did i miss that??

where you at??    get down here  to Arkadelphia  so i can   see what i can do  to fix  that radiator problem

What's the hourly rate? Might be good to know before he treks to far.

J/K 

Welcome to PoorCollegeCrawler! Good to have anther Arkie around here.

[PoorCollegeCrawler]

haha its a 4 hour drive to arka buddy, i don't think i am gonna have an entire day off for about three weeks. plans changed substationally since i posted this.

no more lift or ring and pinion upgrade. plan is bed the radiator, finish bumpers, save money over college year, then sas, taco box, and 33x10.5 tires which wont require a lift to fit and will effectively be my clearance lift

[Gittinit]

Wahooo!  Another Arkie! Arkies in da house.

[79coyotefrg]

son son son,    you are in better  company than you should be 


  (i always wanted to say that)

Gittinit  is the master fabricator  in this crowd   ,   he  can build  you a  bumper  that will scare the girls  right off the curb


but  seriously   solid axle swap??  all you need is the right friends


what you got to trade    a  older sister perhaps 




JUST KIDDING 

[PoorCollegeCrawler]

i do acutally have an older sister. shes married, but hey hes a mormon, shouldn;t give ya too much trouble 

[Jordan7118]

Sweet! Another college kid! Which school are you going to? Sounds like you might be up here in Fay, and if so, you need to give me a holla'! I'm working on my 85 4Runner this summer. 36s, 5.29s, ARB hi-pinion front, electric locker rear, rebuilt engine, all the small stuff... Give me a call so we can shoot the  I can help you with parts-finding and whatnot as well. Shoot me a call when you feel like kickin' it!

                Jordan
                501.617.3282 c

[PoorCollegeCrawler]

i actually work at uofa in fay, live and work in rogers. you a college kid yourself?

[Jordan7118]

Yep, I am actually working for the University as well. I'm a Student Coordinator for ROCK Camp in the First Year Experience office. Stop by if you get the chance, as I'd love to meet somebody who likes to wheel in this area. I'm here all summer, so just stop by A688 sometime and ask for Jordan.

I'm a 20 year-old college student sinking all his money and free time into his rig...  It'll be worth it in the end! 

[paulwhat]

that's a good start.