Thread: A little info and a lot of photos about my truck... AKA My Ride.

looking good, bud! whens the mojave trip???

Joey

Bought one from Centroid products. Had it custom made for my toyota gauge. I believe they have the data for Rangers already so it would be an easy one for you...$79 WELL spent lol

Originally Posted by OCPrerunners

So how did you get your sender to work?

Mclaren F1? Hell no! Apollo Lunar Lander yo! Sweet idea!

Originally Posted by atomicjoe23

Cool, surprisingly I like it. . .reminds me of the McLaren F1's!

Originally Posted by Diamond Dave

Mclaren F1? Hell no! Apollo Lunar Lander yo! Sweet idea!

Ha, ha!

Update time..

This should give you an idea of where I'm at with the truck... the first picture is a pile of link mount that got torched off yesterday. Next are my two passenger side links off the truck, one with a bad heim and one with a bad bushing. And for a happy picture the last one is a couple nice blue machines, my new Spectrum 375 and Diversion 180.

Nice! What are you going to do about the link mount that you chopped up?

I heard he's going back to leaves.

Originally Posted by Motiracer38

I heard he's going back to leaves.

1/4 Elliptical to be exact. I road in an old race truck a few years ago that was linked with a 1/4 elliptical spring set up with four 'white rockets' per side and it actually road really well!

Ok, so here's a real update.. .


I finally got all the parts to build a new exhaust system for the truck. Two new Cat Converters, a new Flowmaster 10 Series muffler, O2 bungs, O2 sensors, flex joint, collector, coupler, ect. So I set to work assembling the system by TIG welding it together.








I've also started laying out the new fuel system so that I can make hoses and get it mounted.

I think you'll be pretty happy with the Diversion 180. . .I've had one for about a year now and although I haven't used it as much as I would like too, but when I have used it has worked very well.

I'm pretty jealous of the Spectrum!

dem shit is shiny!!

Just read through your thread. Nice setup you have. I have a Dixon kit on my 03 4X4 XLT and was planning on doing a dual shock setup up front in the near future. When Richer was building my cage, I talked to him briefly about it and he said there is enough room and it could work, so good enough for me! Im deployed right now but when I get back in June, the truck should be going to BTF for his complete backhalf/4 link. Can't wait.

I REALLY wish I could do the fab myself, but I have no one around to help me out. I'm not super experienced with tubing yet, so it would take me forever to complete something like a backhalf by myself.

It's good to see the other 4X's like this. Not many of us around!

I need to get something like you did for the interior. I left the stock mat on the interior body as you can see in the pics hoping it would deaden sound a bit more, but it does nothing. It gets super loud in there with all the bare metal.

Update time.... truck is running again! Just finished nearly 800 miles and the Mojave Road Trail. More updates to follow.

how was the trail? gonna be doing it in like 3 weeks.

Originally Posted by doyouquaxu

how was the trail? gonna be doing it in like 3 weeks.

As good as it always is! No water in the river and the lakebed was dry (though it's rained since).

More pictures... after the Mojave Road trip we went up to Big Bear to play in the snow.

Nice! Corey invited my out with you guys but I already had plans =/ Trip looks like it was a good time. Did you guys take dirt up to Big Bear? I went up through Rattlesnake Canyon with Kevin and that was a fun run.

Makes an ok commuter, at least the AC and radio still work!

How have you liked the Detroit Locker over the years? I picked one up a while ago and I'm planning on swapping out the spool and trying the locker out... I've been going to downtown L.A. and Irvine a lot lately for work, the spool makes multi - floor structures a challenge to say the least, lol. I've just always been skeptical of the lockers because of people saying they get sent into another lane mid turn, etc., from what I've read thats usually on shorter wheelbases like 2 door Jeeps/EBs.

Eddie 31 spline? if so I am interested when you make the swap. Maybe we can make a RC Crawler day out of it

Mike

Sorry Mikey, 35 spline. Still down for R/C crawling though!

Originally Posted by yellowranger1

How have you liked the Detroit Locker over the years? I picked one up a while ago and I'm planning on swapping out the spool and trying the locker out... I've been going to downtown L.A. and Irvine a lot lately for work, the spool makes multi - floor structures a challenge to say the least, lol. I've just always been skeptical of the lockers because of people saying they get sent into another lane mid turn, etc., from what I've read thats usually on shorter wheelbases like 2 door Jeeps/EBs.

I've loved my Detroit locker. In the four years that I've had it I have never had an issue. The deal with them is if you are on the throttle at all they lock, so for parking structures and other tight turns learning to 'coast' or use light throttle around corners will allow for it to actually unlock and not drag the inside tire. Again, not a huge deal, it just becomes natural after driving with it for a while. You will hear a 'clicking' or 'ratcheting' sound when it's unlocked, that's normal. And yes, on shortwheelbase Jeeps like TJ's and YJ's they can 'unload' and have quirky handling characteristics but in trucks you won't ever notice that it's there on the street.

Awesome, that's what I was hoping to hear. I already try to coast as much as possible around corners, so that shouldn't be too hard to get used to. I'm glad I remembered you had one so I could get some solid feedback. It's getting put in today so I'll see how it works. Thanks dude!

Ive ran a detroit in my yota for a few years now. They are a little interesting, make some pretty loud pops and bangs occasionally and depending on road conditions etc they can cause your truck to pull a little when getting on and off the gas, but its not enough to be sketchy. like said, you will get used to it after a week or something.

Ok, back to the updates. I did a lot of work last month that never got documented, so here we go.

First update is that I finished the on-board-air system. The kit is from Air Zenith and includes an OB2 compressor that has a 100% duty cycle and pumps at 4.5cfm, a digital gauge, 5-gallon air tank, and wire harness. Sounds complete right? Nope. You still need a small fortune in fittings and hose. So after some conversations with my brother-in-law who has built many mini trucks I figured out what was needed and set to work. The air line is from The Custom Connection and is 1/2", the compression fittings are from McMaster Carr, and the brass 90* fittings and plugs are from the plumbing isle at Home Depot.

The system will fill the tank from 0psi to 200psi in about 5-7minutes and once full will fill a 33" tire from 15psi to 35psi in under a minute. It's fast.

I still need to wire up the gauge and work out a regulator set-up to run air tools that want less PSI. Overall I am happy though now that it is all plumbed and working.

Single-OB2 Black Off-Road Kit
Custom Connection - Air Bag Suspension Kit, Air Bag, Air Compressor, Valves,Tank, 4 link

I never did check out the setup, looks good. Are you going to put caps on the quick release valves so they don't get clogged up?

What did this lightweight end up weighing?

Originally Posted by Motiracer38

I never did check out the setup, looks good. Are you going to put caps on the quick release valves so they don't get clogged up?

What did this lightweight end up weighing?

Yea, I need to get some caps for the air chucks. I've been told McMaster has them.

Did I never tell you that? I thought I had since you guessed it perfectly.

So we hit the scale again, full fuel, two people, all tools, spares, camping gear, coolers, ect. Full 'race' weight. 5,700lbs.

5700 lb's I am building close to this same set-up but with 37's and I WAS hoping to be around 5200 lbs! Nice rig dude!

Originally Posted by bmxking454

5700 lb's I am building close to this same set-up but with 37's and I WAS hoping to be around 5200 lbs! Nice rig dude!

Thanks!

Keep in mind that weight is FULL. You can knock off 350lbs for people and 150lbs for tools/parts and food/drink and the truck weight is probably around your 5,200lb mark. I want to know what the truck weighs driving down the road, not what it weighs completely empty like most people do.

Yeeesh, I was just kidding. At least it works good. So when does the V8 go in? You've got another set of hands to help now.

Haha, good, I'm not going crazy.

V8, maybe... Turbo, well... lol

your truck is bad ass man. I would love to build a 4x4 like yours. but i got my xlt and on 33 with 2 spares and 2 people weighs in at 3800

Originally Posted by OCPrerunners

Haha, good, I'm not going crazy.

V8, maybe... Turbo, well... lol

Supercharged! Blowers are waay cooler sounding and will provide the tq you need to get that pig movin. 5700?!? Geez lol

SC's aren't cheap but does looks sweet when you pop the hood! I think it's around 4300 for a kit, at least. A couple years ago, on another forum, one was selling for 2500. It was used but that's a good deal. And another one but just the sc itself without the belt, hoses, and whatever else the kit needs. I would sc my truck then drop a v8.

Great job on making your truck a one-man-band! I'm always looking forward to updates and re-reading some of your info!

New update... I've adapted a Master Lock system that is intended for work truck ladder racks to my tube work so that I have a place to lock stuff to in my 'bed'.





Master Lock® Ladderlock

Here some more information about the new fuel system that I built for the truck.

It uses a Holley Dominator 12-1400 fuel pump that flows 105gph at 60psi. (about 400LPH) The pump is essentially two pumps in one housing. The pump has one inlet and one outlet with two individually wired pumps housed within. Each pump is capable of pumping approx 50gph (200LPH) at 60psi. Running this pump on my 136HP wonder I run one pump at a time and use it as built-in redundancy with each pump being wired to its own switch.

Before the pump I have two pre-filters. A Kartek 'blue' filter and a Holley 162-572 100-micron filter. After the pump I have a Holley 162-554 10-micron post-filter.

The system is completely plumbed with Earl's stainless steel braided hose and Earls fittings. Feed line from the tank, return to the tank, and feed to the truck are -8, hose between the pre-filters and pump is -10.

The truck uses a Holley 12-848 EFI bypass regulator to control pressure.

The pump and pre-filters are mounted under the fuel cell (blue pre-filter is on the side), and the regulator and post-filter are mounted in the driver frame rail.

I'm hoping this proves to be a much more reliable system than the Pierburg (Kartek) pumps that I had used before.

Side note, I have a Jaz fuel cell with Jaz foam and in the four years I've been using it I have not had a single issue with foam break down or clogged filters (knock on wood).

just wondering, but why did you mount the pump and filter underneath where it could potentially get hit or covered with mud and not on the rear of the cell where it would have atleast some protection?

again just wondering

I initially mounted the pump under the cell years ago to maximize the scavenging/siphon effect. These pumps are pushers, not pullers, so the lower and closer to the pickup that they can be mounted the better. And if anything besides a rogue pebble is hitting the underside of the fuel cell I've got bigger issues. So that's why.

gotcha..... didnt know that about the workings of the pumps.... sounds like a good reason to me... hopefully that pump/system works out for ya...

its crazy how much i love this truck! its extremely built, yet simple, and more capable than most.

great work man, i really enjoy seeing updates on it!