project..... Family Wheeler (Hillbilly Deluxe)

[t0nKaTrAcKeR]

Nice!!!

[bell]

Thanks guys.... I'm almost done now... 

I am soooooo ready to be done. For the last month or 2, I have been going to work to rest. That doesn't work very well for me... lol

Here's what is left:

<> Install CB and antenna

<> Change transmission seal and mount

<> put t-case shifter boot on

<> FULL nut, bolt and fluid check

<> Load everything and head to zookimelt (Attica, Badlands) for the weekend... NEXT WEEKEND! 

I also have to make a mount for a flag, but if it comes down to it, I can just zip tie it to the CB antenna. Also, I need to put on all my stickers that I have been saving up for the last year... 

[Joe S.]

that is great to see!

[Victum]

very nice, you guys do good work

[Suyota]

                               YEE HAW!!!

[bell]

Hillbilly Deluxe is done!

Well, I still need to do the cage and repair a few things... But, it is wheelable!
I've been too busy to update the thread until now... so, Here it is.
I found a neat place to mount my CB... there is a structural support, just above the rearview mirror. I screwed the mount to it and hooked the power wires into the map light circuit. Works like a charm. 

[bell]

We loaded up and headed to Attic (Badlands) for the weekend. I must say that the tracker amazed me. It went just about everywhere I wanted to go and a few places I didn't want to go... 

It is really stable compared to my old rig(my old sammy had the RRO coil suspension). I think I made the right choice (for me), going back to leaves.  You can feel the "breakover" point and still have enough time to react. If that makes any sense. My samurai didn't give much warning that it was going to flop, it just went.

Here's a few pics from the weekend...

[bell]

This started out as "project family wheeler" and it is just that.. It was great to finally load up the family and hit the trails... Everybody was comfortable, and there was PLENTY of room for all of our gear. My two girls rode for most of the weekend and the only complaints were when they were fighting over the front seat. 

Here's Steph (stephbell) hitting the rev limiter in the sand... 
Also, Pappy and I "posing" 

[bell]

I got a chance to hang out with Jim Mazzola... His rig inspired me to build my tracker... As soon as I saw his tracker (3 or 4 years ago) at zookimelt, I knew that I wanted to build a newer 4-door.

While Jim and I were checking out eachoters rigs, he says... "why don't we get a few pictures of them together." What a great Idea!

Here they are.

[bell]

So, after several hours of cleaning.... here is Hillbilly Deluxe, with a few battle scars...

[weed]

Very cool Jon!! ya definitely got something to be proud of after all that work!   Weed

[bell]

I did find a few things that I need to re-do...

The bumpstops will not handle extreme sideloads when flexing and I lost both of the front ones on the first day... So, it was metal to metal bumpstops for the rest of the weekend... 

The front shock hoops need to be angled towards the inner fender a little more. At full stuff, the tire makes contact with the hoop and gives some funny steering input. I lowered the bumpstops all the way down and that corrected the problem, but took away most of my uptravel. I figure I will just cut them and angle them back as far as I can and see what happens...

Also, I need to do some more trimming on my front fenders... After the rubber came off of the front bumpstops, the tires got into the leading edge of the wheelwell and caused a little damage.

I need to make some breakaway mirrors... The driver's side mirror didn't live through the blue trail. The blue trail is a tight valley with trees growing up out of the sides of it. I caught one of the trees and POP! there went my mirror... lol

[bell]

Also, the sliders worked flawlessly... Without them, my rockers and the bottom of the doors would probably be mangled...

[weed]

 A little test and tune huh?
 Hey! a year ago and I can still read "Weed was here" on the stump pic     Weed

[bell]

A little test and tune huh?
 Hey! a year ago and I can still read "Weed was here" on the stump pic     Weed

Pretty awesome, huh..... And to think, we started that (signing the stump) last year, when I found a paint marker in my glovebox.... Was kinda neat to see the progress...