Builds The Trail Snail Build | Above Average Overlandish

[SmokingRocks]

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[SmokingRocks]

Cruise moab was a blast, some damage happened though. First of all I think my power steering pump is fried and my steering drag link from the pitman arm to the knuckle is nearly done (ball joints). Steering damper mount on body is severely bent; and I hit my passenger slider so hard while climbing cliff hanger that it now rubs the doors when opening. Oh and I won about $3,000 worth of stuff at the raffle (thought I wasn't going to make it out alive), there will be a 4x4 labs front bumper being installed on this baby.

Anywho one of the winnings was these sweet LED pods from ATLR in Wheat Ridge CO, I mounted them on the underside of the mirrors as front wheel ditch lights. There was already a hole in the mirror housing so I just used that location then cut an old extension cord and used it as the wiring.

Oh and I got a new Lincoln welder, this thing is the tits.

 

[RDC76]

Cruise moab was a blast, some damage happened though. First of all I think my power steering pump is fried and my steering drag link from the pitman arm to the knuckle is nearly done (ball joints). Steering damper mount on body is severely bent; and I hit my passenger slider so hard while climbing cliff hanger that it now rubs the doors when opening. Oh and I won about $3,000 worth of stuff at the raffle (thought I wasn't going to make it out alive), there will be a 4x4 labs front bumper being installed on this baby.

Anywho one of the winnings was these sweet LED pods from ATLR in Wheat Ridge CO, I mounted them on the underside of the mirrors as front wheel ditch lights. There was already a hole in the mirror housing so I just used that location then cut an old extension cord and used it as the wiring.

Oh and I got a new Lincoln welder, this thing is the tits.

How do you like the Lincoln?

 

[SmokingRocks]

@RDC76 it's a hoss, I work for a steel fabricator and general contractor and this thing does everything if not more than our large wheel out miller and Lincoln welders we have in the shop. Its a fantastic welder, Arc's great and Migs great, haven't Tig'd with it yet.

 

[SmokingRocks]

Moab, Needles Overlook

 

[SmokingRocks]

Here are all of my Moab pictures:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/cruise-moab-pictures.858275/

 

[Andrew Ling]

I know these are everywhere, but I wanted to document my build in one place so here it is.

First of all THIS IS AND WILL NOT BE A DAILY DRIVER, but I will keep it street legal... for now

Background:

Bought this unlocked rig from a fellow enthusiast up in Frisco (he's on here somewhere) in the summer of 14' with 155k on the clock. Nearly every electronic thing works (and still for the most part does). The PO was working on cleaning up the PO's (to him) messy electric work. His plan was to short bus it. Anyway I picked it up and trailered it home.

Once home I had to establish what needed work so of course I used Fred Williams (Dirt every day) approach to figuring out what you got which basically means wheeling it. Here it is doing just that.

As you can see I started ahead of the game, truck came with;

• Slee front bumper
• Homemade (works well) rear bumper with swing out carrier
• OME Heavy Lift
• Dorkle
• Rear storage box that needs a bunch of work for me to consider it finished.
• new radiator and from MUD's perspective, AVG-WELL maintained
• Some stereo work

Naturally after my trail ride I had a list of things to do, from the ride up to now this is what I did to baseline the truck;

• Front axle complete rebuild
• All new fluids, front to rear, top to bottom.
• New spark plugs
• New Alternator
• New Battery
• Seafoam (Used this before but really saw a difference using it on the 1fze)
• Chased down various electrical gremlins the PO of the PO was blowing fuses, so he just put the next size up in the slot. Had to fix all of that BS.
• Since the truck had a heavy lift on it but never had a winch the front shocks have spent IDK how many miles maxing travel (the truck rode very stiff and had no down travel to speak of) as a result the shocks and rubber grommets are shot up front.

Build Plans:
These list are in descending order of importance however they will all get done... hopefully

• Things That Help Get You There

1. 1. ARB Lockers Done 11/1/14
   2. ARB On Board Air Done 11/2/14
   3. WARN ZEON 12 Winch Done 12/13/14
   4. 50" Curved CREE LED Bar over windshield Done 12/13/14
   5. 42" CREE LED Bar over rear hatch Done 12/22/14
   6. Hilift Jack and mount Done 3/10/15
   7. Self Fab'd Skid Plates - Gas, T Case, Engine Done 3/15/15 Slee Belly Pan
   8. Radiator electric fan Done 3/15/15
   9. Self Fab's Rock Sliders (cut down and repurpose my old Tundra sliders) (In progress) Done 3/27/15
   10. New 6007x L OME shocks Done 3/27/15
   11. Create some kind of hood vent near cyl 6 to vent heat Done 2/2/15
   12. 35" BFG Mud Terrains Done 2/28/15 Toyo Open Country MT's
   13. Dual battery or Hot Alternator Done (for now) 2/15/15 stock re-man
   14. Exterior Jerry Can Holder
   15. Roof Rack
   16. Pop dents, fix a couple rust spots and monsta line it.
   17. New gears (haven't decided, currently I have absolutely zero desire to re open my diffs) would rather do an engine swap
   18. If the 1FZ blows (shows no signs of going), then I might do an L33 5.3 or 6.2 Vortec swap

• Things That Make Getting There Enjoyable

1. 1. Finish the storage box
   2. Completely reworked stereo with a mild sub In the works, next in line Done 4/8/15
      • JVC KD-X80BT Head Unit
      • Pioneer TS-G1645R Speakers
      • Pioneer GM-A4604 480W amp
      • Bazooka 8" BTA8100 Self amplified Sub
   3. Some sort of off road bucket seats
   4. Maybe try and fix the damn AC (another electrical gremlin)
   5. Heat wrap the Exhaust to stop the passenger side footwell from feeling like it is the inside of a volcano
   6. Some sort of tool consolidation that keeps them from clunking around

• Things That Make it Safer
  1. 5 LB Fire Extinguisher Done 12/14/14
  2. Interior Roll Cage Brainstorming this one
  3. Exterior Kill Switch

• Extra mods that came up along the way
  1. Ditched Sway Bars
  2. Horn Rewired
  3. Parking Brake Rebuilt
  4. Rear Brakes Replaced (rotor and pads)
  5. Re-Rhinoline truck
  
  
• Things that Broke and got fixed along the way
  1. Window regulator came detached from window drivers side front JB welded back on and has been good since 3/20/15
  2. Power steering hose blew Replaced 4/8/15
  3. Valve cover gasket fixed 4/10/15

Current Progress:

The lights are very bright!

 

[LandCruisinMy93]

Looking good. Keep it up.

 

[TheBelgian]

Bad ass!!!!

 

[SmokingRocks]

I've been a busy bee chasing a snap in the front end when its under steering load or articulation. Replaced the steering damper and bracket (original one was bent badly), I also replaced both ball joints with OEM joints on the steering tie rod... the snap is still there, I think it might be in the tie rod between the tires or a spring but IDK at this point. I might put the gopro under the truck and try to zero in on the issue. Its obvious that I still have some leaks huh?

I also replaced the lower control arms (bent the stock ones on the chinaman's gulch run) in the rear with some wicked SPC 3/16" DOM control arms from Mr. Slee they have ball joints on the axle side for extra flex. And my drivers side rear wheel bearings grenaded themselves so I am waiting on seals and bearings from Mr. T.

 

[SmokingRocks]

The 4x4 labs front bumper that I won in Moab finally showed up! this is going to be quite the project.

 

[SmokingRocks]

OK Wow it has been a long time. Durring the time I've been away I purchased a 2003 Saab 9-3 from a friend for 500 dollars... This is what it looked like.

Then I put some blood sweat and tears into it and sold it for $4,000 This is what it ended up looking like.

The day before I sold it a neighbor saw me working on it and stopped to chat, she had a 93 FZJ80 that "didn't run because of an electrical problem and had been wrecked" so I went and looked at it and this was the state she was in:

1993 unlocked 80 with 225,000 miles.

I noticed the battery had a sticker on it showing that it was installed in 2006..... So I negotiated the price to $1,200 cash and bought the truck that night. Took her home got a new battery, straightened the front bumper and grill, went to the 'pull and pay' and got a replacement headlight for 25 bucks, ditched the running boards pulled the dent and installed my old 33'' BFG AT KO's (got two neew KO 2's for the rear) washed her and changed the oil. Thats all it took, she runs like a top now, shifts smoother than my trail snail. Here she is now:

 

[baldilocks]

Winning an awesome bumper, turning a car for a huge profit and stumbling into an awesome 80 deal too. What's next, the lottery??
Yours is an impressive build!! Looks great too! Cheers

 

[SmokingRocks]

It wasn't as huge of a profit as it looks, I did put a ton of cash into that saab. Sold it to a colleague at my office so I wanted to make sure it didn't s*** the bed. Probably made 300 off of it but it was fun.

 

[SmokingRocks]

Have started working on my front bumper. The old girl is also going up in the air for front axle work and ARB locker air line repair. Can't wait to get the old girl back on the trail.

As you can see the winch plate has an offset fairlead cut. This is standard for most 12k winches as the power head sits off to one side. However the Zeon is different, it's centered. A quick e-mail to @4x4labs and they are already burning a replacement winch plate for me. Those guys rock.

I also ordered 10 amber LED's for the front turn signals and 20 white LEDs for under chassis lights (34 bucks shipped, I thought it was a good deal)

I will be using jacardona1's build as a benchmark

 

[jfz80]

If you are still chasing the snap sound try and undo and retourque the frame side (all while your at it maybe) front radius arm bolt. Concretejungle chased that same noise and that was the solution. Remember I believe the nut is staked??? So spin the bolt side ... Or better yet verify which is staked and act accordingly.

 

[SmokingRocks]

Getting the old girl ready for moab 2016

 

[half k cruiser]

The more I see them the more I like the 4x4 labs front. At first I thought it was the most hideous thing but now I kind of get why people like it. That old school slee you have looks like its meant for driving through buildings though.

 

[SmokingRocks]

The old slee served well. It would break the rocks then I would drive over them.

Seriously though the slee would hang up on everything. I thought the same about the 4x4 labs bumper until I realized its utility, now I love it.

 

[SmokingRocks]

The more I see them the more I like the 4x4 labs front. At first I thought it was the most hideous thing but now I kind of get why people like it. That old school slee you have looks like its meant for driving through buildings though.

based on your signature it looks like we have similar builds ha!