Major changes are in the works for the Beast. I have a new set of axles waiting to go in. The front will be a full width, high pinion D-44 with 5.13's, ARB, alloy axles, superjoints, King coilovers and high steer. The back will be a full width 9" with a Strange center section, Detroit, 35 spline alloys and disc brakes. Keeping the leaf springs for now. The rear winch is going to have to go to make room for the 23gal BII tank that is going in. It will give me a total of 39 gallons of fuel onboard. I'll miss the winch but I never use it and it is painfully slow anyway. I'll also have a brand new set of 37" Pitbull Rockers mounted on 15X10 beadlocks. Fun, fun, fun!!
1994 Ford Ranger short bed with a 3.0L. THE 4.0 IS IN! Major improvement. The 4.0 makes much better power down low where you need it off road and, believe it or not, gets better gas milage than the 3.0! Wasn't crazy about installing the A4LD but so far it works well. The snorkel is an ARB for a 1980 Toyota Land cruiser and fits fairly well. It attaches to the stock airbox via dryer vent tubing. I installed an e-fan when my stock fan clutch died. Nice to be able to turn it off when doing deep water. I installed a 130 amp Explorer alternator and made up some of the charge deficit while running all the lights. I also installed a second battery tray for a dual battery setup.
It has a bastardized James Duff 3" lift with the dual shock front coil buckets (modified for longer shocks)and heim jointed radius arms. Using Skyjacker 6" coils with one coil cut. Much softer ride and taller lift than Duff springs. 2" body lift to make it a bit easier to work on underneath. She now sits on 36" Swamper TSL's but some of the pictures have QR78x15 Buckshot MT's(35's)and ProComp 33x12.5". All are mounted on 15x8" Micky Thompson's. D35 TTB front axle with Warn hubs, 4.56 gears and ARB air locker. Rear axle is an 8.8 with 4.56 gears, PowerTrax locker and TRS diff cover. Onboard air (electric). I have a York compressor waiting to go in but I recently picked up a powertank cheap so I'm not sure I'll use the York.
Duff winch bumper with Warn XD9000i winch and 125' of 7/16" synthetic plasma rope (BARELY fits). Two sets of Hella FF 75's and a set of Hela 500's in front and one set of FF 75's in back (NEED MORE LIGHT!!). Duff rear bumper with receiver hitch and shackle. Just mounted a Harbor Freight 9000# winch (slow but strong) in the back so I can pull from both ends. Now has fender cutouts! Future goodies include a taller lift with with coilovers up front (I have some King 14" travel shocks waiting to go on), possible GM leafs on the back to eliminate the stock lift block/add-a-leafs. I'll be installing a Wagoneer D-44 up front and a Ford 9" out back. Front will have an ARB and the rear will be Detroit. 5.13's at both ends. I have a manual t-case I'm going to install and will probably install a doubbler in the future. I have a set of 15x10 5 on 5.5 bead lock wheels when the axle swap is done and will probably be going up to 38's.
Rock sliders are fabed and mounted to better protect the rockers from impacts. They still have a little paint on them. Not sure how I got along without these for so long! I have a Pioneer single disc head unit with Polk Audio speakers, a Rat Shack CB mounted with a 4' Firestik antenna on the back bumper and an ICOM IC-8000 VHF radio. The VHF has a much longer range than CB or FRS. MUCH longer! Like any wheeler, it is a work in progress! The focus is on function rather than style but hopefully I can manage to keep it looking good as well!
Mission statement: This is a trail truck. It is being built specifically to get me places I would otherwise not be able to go. There is a lot of mud and water here in Alaska. We practice "Tread Lightly" religiously. We still get stuck but we are as low impact as possible. We do not make "mud runs" for the sake of getting dirty but encounter mud often in our travels. We do not uselessly attack mud pits. We stop and pull cable when it becomes obvious we are stuck. No uselessly spinning wheels doing damage!!!
Playing in Friday Creek. One of the many water crossings in the Jim Creek/Kinik Glacier area and the only fresh water crossing. Most of the streams and rivers here contain glacial silt. Really hard on bearings.
Lots of water and peat bogs here. Ever wonder why I installed a snorkel?
Sealing a TTB hub has been somewhat of a challenge!
This was pushing my truck a bit. BE CAREFUL IN MOVING WATER!!!!
Playing in the peat bog.
This is what happens when you do a crossing improperly. This Jeep was washed downstream in Metal Creek near Kinik Glacier.
Jeep Salvage.
Side view. I now have the fenders cut with FlexyFlairs installed. Hope to have some new pics soon.
Toyota rescue service. Glacial silt can turn into quick sand as this hapless Toy found out. The Warn 9000 yanked it right out but my modified bumper mounting (2" lift) allowed the bumper to tilt a bit. Mounting now beefed up and no longer a problem!
The Beast... Oh and the truck too! Kidding! Anyone that can put up with me is pretty special!
Me and the Beast. This pic is post broken leg! LOL!
