Builds Elma the red 60

[joebattle1]

I m running 33s. With the 4:10 gears it is really close to stock ratios. It works well off road and not bad on road , just higher rpm at 65 then I would like. With that being said, it will run at 2700 to 2900 rpm all day without a problem. It’s just a little noisier then I like. I imagine a lower 1st and 2nd would be awesome off road. You can never have low enough gears for crawling. Keep us posted on how you do or don’t like the ratios, thanks.

We don't live to far from one another... You live in the land of the trails... When you gonna let me follow you up one?

 

[2mountainfish]

I’m always down for a good run. If you are coming up this way just drop me a line and maybe we can meet up.

 

[2mountainfish]

Eventually I will end up in Grass Valley and you can show me your side of the mountains

 

[joebattle1]

I finally got a brand new H55 and a new rear ARB Air Locker. I put a used H55 in first and it was problematic. It kept popping out of first gear and had a terrible whine. Georg called me and told me to ship the rig in for a replacement. Valley Hybrids did all the work cause I just don’t have the time these days. He also got it to pass smog. Had a giant rip in one of the air hoses. He also did a valve adjustment since I hadn't done one since I rebuilt the top end.

I also got new meat. Mickey T Mud Terrains. I think I’m ready to go wheelin…

New Baja MTZ’z’s!

New Yellow Top and ARB Air Pump

New Air Compressor

One lowered… One lifted…

 

[HemiAlex]

From complete silence to greatness!

 

[Garrissey]

I see you big dog!

 

[DFXR]

This dude likes wagons

 

[joebattle1]

Holy moly! I can’t believe I waited this long to air lock the rear. What a freaking blast this thing is now. Just say no to open diffs. I wheeled it in 2Lo almost all day. I finally put it in 4wheel when I got stuck in the mud at the 4x4 obstacle course and it walked right out.

The 2F is so awesome on the trail. It just chugs right along all day. The 5 speed makes it tolerable on the hwy at 70mph. These tires hate the freeway anyway so any faster is mostly annoying.

I went and wheeled Hollister Hills (NorCal) on Saturday with my buddy in his Storm Trooper. He’s got every TRD button known to man in that thing. Needless to say… He got it stuck as a duck 3 different times. His crawl control was also making some awful noise when engaged. Made met thankful to be totally analog.

I didn’t get a lot of good pics of the day. I’ll try and get together a little video if I have some time sitting around with the fam this week. Might try to go to Pismo day after turkey day.

Glamour Shots… Like at the mall.

The lunch spot. This Costco Titan cooler is the sh!t. It’s got removable ice packs on front and back to keep your beers and lunch icey cold.

This woman in the pink Bronco was putting her $70k investment thru it’s paces in the obstacle course. She was crawling out of the doors at one point. That thing was worth about $20k less when she pulled out of there that day. Was really awesome to see her wheel this thing that way. No f$&ks were given by her!

End of the day beer and cigar smoke.

Worked the Zac Brown show last week in Oakland, Ca, his camp gave us a batch of his branded smokes. They were pretty darn good.

 

[joebattle1]

3 Rivians rolled up into the trails too! That was really pretty cool to see.

Our lunch spot was invaded by Broncos. They had us surrounded!

These young bucks from Santa Cruz had one of their 3rd gen 4 runners stuck in a river bed. They were winching it out when we rolled up on them. They snapped a CV Axle. Thank the good lord for solid axles! They were having a blast so we stopped to cheer them on while they dug out.

The lunch spot views were killer. Pre Ford Invasion

These NorCal fall views…

 

[joebattle1]

Ordered one of those 3D printed console bezels from Cruiser Head. Needed some sanding and a tiny bit of Dremel persuasion but all in all a good buy. I could have gotten most of, if not all of the printer lines out if I had sanded more but I’m not after a show truck here. I’m after function more than looks. Rattle Can is just fine by me. And the color is meh… close enough.

Old one coming out. Basically a little more falls apart every time I take it off.
Nail polish is a great way to mark connectors. Y’all know I love snagging my wife’s bag of colors.

Masked the gray then hit the inside with black

The 3 cans I used.

Final finish. Like I said… You can still see the print lines. Looks good enough to me… What cool technology.

 

[joebattle1]

Installed a new set of Dobinsons shocks. My Pro Comps were at least 10 years old. They had absolutely no bounce back. Much better ride but now I think I need new leafs. Might get OME Heavy’s again since that’s what these were.

221k miles

 

[joebattle1]

I haven’t posted in a while… mostly cause the iPhone 15 pics were to big. Took my ten year old daughter to show me how to make them smaller… I also haven’t been able to do much of the big work on the ol girl much these days. With work and parenting being so busy it leaves only time for small jobs in the garage. Georg at Valley Hybrids has been handling most of the heavy lifting. I’ve got the rig pretty sweet though. Here’s some of what’s been done…

I’m now dual Air Locked and holy smokes what a difference. The rig feels unstoppable now. I wish I’d have regeared to 4:10’s when I did the front locker but I ran out of money. I currently have 6 cars so I need to sell something before I re-gear. I also recently sold my Tacoma and stepped up to a sweet 2011 Tundra. Man I love this thing. I was getting quotes on an CA legal LS swap and just thought… I’ll just get a Tundra instead. Lol.

Georg invited me out to his shop in Stockton, CA and let me use a lift to put in new leafs. He gave me tools and one of his best mechanics to work with, his son Medium G. This kid at 15 is a better wrench than most of us.

We also installed a new hand brake cable cause mine was acting up. I can now hold the vehicle on a hill. What a difference. Georg also took it upon himself to re build my rear brakes when it went in for the rear locker so the thing stops good again.

 

[joebattle1]

I recently took the rig back to Georg to have the front locker installed… We also swapped the single ARB pump for an Extreme Aire pump. I also swapped my stock alt for a 115 amp alt. I now read at least 12.5 amps all the time. Even with everything turned on. This airpump is beast! We also added a 5 gallon air tank between the frame rails so now I’ve got onboard air. No more crappy gas station air ups after wheeling.

I also found a new use for the stupid “sandwich holder”

New air pump

5 gal air tank

 

[joebattle1]

I fab’d this mount up to attach to my Tuffy cup holder for my NAV, 67 Designs Phone mount and my Handheld ham radio. I used some metal I had laying around the garage and mig welded it together. Turned out great actually. Used this last week wheeling and was perfect.

 

[joebattle1]

Went wheeling with a few of the Totally Awesome Cruiser guys. Just a day trip. We checked out some old gold mine towns and an old mine.

 

[joebattle1]

Some pics of the town…

 

[joebattle1]

I added an 8 gallon water tank and a mount for my high lift.

 

[joebattle1]

I just finished up this patch on my roof. It was a pretty big hole and it was growing. I started with my mig welder but realized I was going to catch the truck on fire so I packed up and ran it to my buddies house and he tig welded it for me. Put some bondo on it and rattle can primer. Came out good enough…

I peeled back as much of the headliner as I could without removing the side windows. I wrapped the cables and connectors best I could with aluminum foil and stuffed some leather gloves on the inside so I wouldn’t catch the headliner on fire.

 

[joebattle1]

More…

 

[joebattle1]

Couple more pics…