Builds Sweet Brown 80 & Sweet Brown Buggy - Dual Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[NCTrey133]

Also - got the links in from Wide Open Design and slapped the FK heims in there.

Then grabbed a buddies lift and dropped the new links in! If anyone needs any 4 link links & enduro joints or Barnes heims you let me know.

Fit and finish of the FK heims is amaaaaazing. They're so much tighter tolerance than any other heim I've had on the truck. The vibrations above 65 have gone away and also the "clunk" on takeoff has gone away (which already let me know that there was another joint about to fail in my previous setup).

 

[NCTrey133]

Went ahead and deleted ABS, my brakes have always been spongy, but they've been going downhill recently and I think it may be the ABS as a culprit. There are many great writeups on here and I chose to use this one:

Yet another LSPV/ABS delete how to...

I finally had some time to get to this today. Figured I would take some pictures and do a write up. There is plenty of info here, but it is a bit scattered. This will go from the start to the end. Is it worth it? Absolutely! For all those that complain about the brakes, we have plenty of...

forum.ih8mud.com

All in all - couldn't have gone any smoother.

Finished product:

Bleeding the system was notably easier and the pedal feel is great.

 

[PaprikOly]

The suspension was fantastic! No one does this in our country...Perhaps because the soil is different. We don't have stones like yours. What is the total budget for the suspension work? Axles, rods, shock absorbers... Not counting work.

 

[NCTrey133]

The suspension was fantastic! No one does this in our country...Perhaps because the soil is different. We don't have stones like yours. What is the total budget for the suspension work? Axles, rods, shock absorbers... Not counting work.

oh man... lord only knows what I’ve put into this. I’ve stopped counting years ago.

 

[NCTrey133]

MAN - I really suck at updating this thing. But here is a quick update on where we are with the Sweet Brown build:

So wheeling season this year was epic, even though it started late due to Covid I made it out to Windrock way more than I typically do in a normal year and we had a freakin blast. Tried new trail, put my truck into a wall, leaned it on a handful of rocks and really appreciated my tube doors (in the pouring rain, in the dust, in the heat... and in the mud).

Got to finish the year competing in the southern overland challenge at Uwharrie this year on Team Apex Overland. Had a blast, beat the truck up... could only drive about 45mph for 1.5hrs home because death wobble. But she's all back together now!

.... And then something happened.

 

[NCTrey133]

Yep you read it right... ole brown is gonna shave some weight. We're in the process of UTE chopping the truck.

I got a chance to bend my first ever roll bar with our JD2 Model 32

Goal is to utilize the hatch, retain rear window wiper (cause cool factor) and then build an external cage / bed for the rear where I can hard mount storage boxes, hi lift, spare ...etc.

As of this very moment the floor is in, and the internal bracing for the body is together. Inner roll bar has been hard mounted, gusseted beside the seats and built out to hold my harness through the seats.

 

[NCTrey133]

If you want to check out some video footage of the chop, check out my buddy's Youtube video:

 

[ExpoMax]

Look who is the crazy one now

 

[bwakeling]

awesome!

 

[NCTrey133]

Look who is the crazy one now

It all started going downhill after I wheeled with you

 

[eimkeith]

If you want to check out some video footage of the chop, check out my buddy's Youtube video:

man, I feel for whoever has to do the cleanup of the aftermarket sound deadening for welding. Yuck.

 

[baldilocks]

When the fever hits us it’s all or nothing. This thread makes me envious but ultimately it reminds me of why I sold my last trailer queen and transitioned back into a road trip/general trail rig sort of machine. I can imagine how much money and time has been spent on sweet brown 80 but the visual satisfaction makes it worth every penny from my point of view. Weld on brother....

 

[ExpoMax]

It all started going downhill after I wheeled with you

Haha I will take credit for that

 

[NCTrey133]

man, I feel for whoever has to do the cleanup of the aftermarket sound deadening for welding. Yuck.

IT TOOK FOREVER!!!! My best strategy was cutting it into smaller strips and using a set of pliers to pull them off one tiny piece at a time. Hours....

 

[SwampFox118]

Love the build! Any updated pics of the completed chop?

 

[NCTrey133]

Love the build! Any updated pics of the completed chop?

Thanks for the reminder! Man I let this thing slip

 

[NCTrey133]

Wow where to begin, last I left you guys ole brown was in half and the body work was beginning to start.

I can take no credit for the body work - all my friend Josh at Apex Overland

While the body work was going down I worked with Randy Rodd over at Jimmy's 4x4 to start sourcing 2020 KoH parts to put together a spidertrax front axle utilizing gearworks 10" stuff.

^^^ This will be a project for another day as once I install these 10's w/ 6.20 gearing, I'm about done w/ road trips. She'll go trailer queen.

Josh did truly epic body work, I love how it all came out

 

[NCTrey133]

Here is a quick look at the interior once the body got filled in. We did a sunroof delete but fit the factory trim all back in because pinkies out. This internal roll cage is not designed to be my life saver if in case I were to roll. You'll see what we built in the rear soon that is all tied into the frame. This was used to support my harness straps and also stitch into the body to make it very structurally sound again.

Here she is back on her own weight again and all bare metal has been primed. I brought my tube bender over to Apex to start working on the only part of this build I'm decent at. The bending & cage work.

Prior to painting going down I got a sweet surprise from the dudes over at gearworks. A matching HP10 w/ 6.20 gearing and their billet automatic locker.

 

[NCTrey133]

We started laying down a fresh coat of Monstaliner during KoH weekend. Had a tv in the shop blasting the big race while we prepped metal, painted metal, at pizza and drank some cold snacks.

Freshhhhhhhhhhhhhh paint

Then the fun began. Goal for this chop was to have a take on an aussie style UTE and also more modern truggy. Wanted to utilize the area above the gas tank as a flat storage area for spare tire and then an area inside the coil towers to the body where I could do some wet/dry storage (NOTE - this is still in process)

 

[NCTrey133]

Cage completed and finish welded, now time to tie it into the frame

Here is a flex test to make sure I measured correctly for the fender flares. Perfect clearance... for 40s... I may have some rub if/when I entertain 42s

The amount of thrashing we put on in the last two weeks so I could drive the truck back home to my shop was massive. sun up to sun down over and over and over but on a random sunday afternoon she was all finished up and ready for me to drive home and start painting the cage!