Build Fugly's Yota

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Final prep for next weekend at AOAA. Made up a skid for the hydro assist ram. Mocked it up in CAD, the cardboard kind, not on the computer. 1/4” flat plate, I can’t bend it but cut it 3/4 of the way thru, bent it with a hammer on the concrete, weld up the seam and polish it smooth with a flap disc. Welded it up on both sides where it meets the bottom of the axle tube. It’s strong enough to take a solid hit and keep the ram from being the first thing to find rocks.

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Forgot to put this up. Dad got a new to him F250, and wanted to weigh it. We also wanted to weigh the 40, so to the scales we went. This was before the 10 ply E rated 37’s and beadlocks, which have to be at least 50 more lbs a corner than the aluminum 15’s and 6 ply 35’s.

We’re pretty sure the trailer is between 2200 & 2300 lbs. The ford is a 2000 F250 7.3 PSD 6 speed 2wd. It’s only got 156k miles, came from Oregon so no cats or emissions. It was religiously dealer serviced its whole life, it’s cleaner underneath than my 2016 Expy. It’s not fast (we’ll fix that later :) ) but it just doesn’t care that’s the trailer is back there.

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Hit AOAA last weekend for 3 days with Keystone/COVA/Cap LC clubs, annual summer trip. 40 did great with new tires/wheels and hydro assist. Few little things to mess with before next trip, but overall I’m vey happy with how it’s behaving.

Issues:
1) Power steering fluid is getting too hot and cavitating 3/4 of way thru the day. I have a big cooler and reservoir, it may just be the cheap Walmart fluid, it may be underhood temps when it’s 85+ and 100% humidity. Engine stays cool, there’s just a lot of heat in the engine bay from the fenderwell headers. Fix is first to get some good AC Delco or Amsoil and see if that helps. Next would be to get a fan for the cooler.

2) Above referenced engine bay heat issues. 85 degrees and IAT’s on the sniper were 125+ at times. Gotta do what the XJ kids do and put some louvers in to let the heat out.

3) Front fenders self clearanced with the 37’s. Expected that. Turn signal lights came off and I massaged them back in the parking lot on day 3, but I need to raise them and redo the turn signals.

That’s the little stuff. Eventually I want to do 4.0 gears in the split case for some more slow crawl control, but this motor has so much low end that what I got now is fine for 95% of even the technical stuff. It also needs more shock experimentation and messing with the springs for running fast down bumpy access roads, but overall it’s pretty capable for being a “budget” 40.

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I think the tires will clear now :) Still need to massage fitment, high build primer and paint but so far I’m liking it. I also think I’m going to rebuild the inner fender and paint it body color, you see too much engine bay from the side. Last pic of drivers side which I haven’t done yet for comparison.

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I think the tires will clear now :) Still need to massage fitment, high build primer and paint but so far I’m liking it. I also think I’m going to rebuild the inner fender and paint it body color, you see too much engine bay from the side. Last pic of drivers side which I haven’t done yet for comparison.

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These look fantastic! Nice work.
 
Minor updates. Been playing with the front fender raise, passenger side went well overall but drivers is jacked up - I cut the wrong line, and too much was removed. Spent the last weeks playing with it to make it right, it’s better but still a mess. Needs to be cut apart and redone but it’ll have to do for fall crawl. The intent worked though and there’s 3” more uptravel, and I think it looks kinda cool. This winter I’ll pull everything, fix the mistakes, line it all up, bodywork it, and repaint it. I’ll also do some inner fenders to better protect the under hood area from mud/ water / road grime.

I also started redoing the exhaust. Pass side mocked up and tacked in. Should finish drivers next weekend. Yes, those are cats. Yes they’re cheap ones from Amazon, and no I’m not plugging in any O2’s in the ports. These are simply to try and reduce the gas fumes from the exhaust as the sniper runs rich. We’ll see how they do and how long they last. After Fall Crawl I’ll redo the rocker protection and try to protect the exhaust a little better with the new sliders and stand offs that will be going in.

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Done enough for fall crawl. Exhaust welded up and functioning, the cats made it a little quieter as expected which is actually good. Still unmistakably a V8, and rips properly when you lay into it but not as obnoxiously loud as it was and should be better to live with on the trail. And the gas / combustion smell is much much less, which is a big plus. One day I need to find someone who can teach me how to run the sniper software properly. I’ve watched the basic videos and it’s helped a little, guess I need to put more time into it.

Drive it around a bit and snapped a few pics at Dad’s house, they live blocks away. I think it looks more proportional with the raised fenders and how much forward the axle is. Hopefully it’s enough room to stretch the suspension out, going to take the go-pro to fall crawl and try to get some good video of it working and suspension cycling.

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It was great to meet and wheel with you this weekend!

Really neat 40 with some cool grassroots style fab work.

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It was great to meet and wheel with you this weekend!

Really neat 40 with some cool grassroots style fab work.

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Great to meet you as well! Unreal that your 62 is both your first car and you still drive it to and from events many hundred of miles away while wheeling it as hard as you do. Thanks for the pics, and we’ll be in touch as I get in a position to make some upgrades!
 
So I totaled my early turn signals at AOAA and didn’t put anything on after raising the fenders. But I still street drive this pooch and needed something. I remembered that Mike Shull’s stretched 40 had some killer front marker/LED’s. So after like forever running back thru his build thread I found them, and Bam! they were on sale for the holidays. Wife says I still gotta wrap them and put them under the tree, but had to make sure they were delivered in good shape 🤣

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Since the 2nd set of 200k mile used rear strings I got are sagged out and starting to develop a static lazy w shape, time for something different. Plus the bushings are blown and handling was starting to develop a random rear steer feeling going down the road. Moderately unsettling when trying to sip your hot beverage while heading to cars and coffee.

Dobinsons rear leafs plus new poly bushings. Spec sheet says 50 mm lift (2” to us Imperial folks) these are medium loads. Of course that’s spring under. I’m set up for more or less stock height packs, spring over. Going to take them apart, flip the center pin, and remove the two bottom leafs for starters, then see how that settles in.

Oh, and random photo of the Rockefeller Xmas tree, because holidays :)

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Been dormant all winter. Started up a few weeks short trying to clean up wiring under-dash and under hood. Turning in to a whole re-check and re-wire a majority of the rig, which isn’t complicated but is a little tedious. About 75% done at this point.

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