Rock Crawler

Here's "Jeff's Toy"

Called the rock crawler because that's what it's built for, and that's what it is.

The Garbage Truck

I bought this for $300 in Gresham.
A 1977 GMC Sierra 2500, this thing was full of so much garbage when we got it that the canopy on the back was actually keeping it all in the truck. No, we wouldn't leave without allowing him to keep his garbage. Even tried leaving the canopy too.
We towed it home with a strap that we found in the pile of garbage in the back. The strap is 4" wide by maybe 20' long, with no loops on the ends. We just tied the ends to the bumpers, and took off like crazy people. What a crazy drive! Only about 15 mile drive through gresham in the dark with no lights, terrible steering, rear tires low on air, and an emergency brake to stop with. Other than that it was just a typical tow. At one point, the tow rig actually gained about a 1/4 mile on me (hint... strap came untied), yeah that was fun...NOT! Pitch black, no brakes, no lights, and i'm making a turn. Anyways we got it home.

It was a complete truck, motor in back. It is definately a parts truck. 3/4 ton axles, sm465 tranny, np205 t-case, good front & rear drivelines, a 350sb (supposed to run,....... we'll see), the bed and tailgate are in great shape, maybe for a trailer, or sale, and lots of misc. parts we may save. The rest goes to scrap, whatever we don't find a use for. It's plasma cutting time.

Plasma cutters sure take the work out of things, and they're just fun!

The Dana 44

Ryan and I both have a D44 front end. Both with 4.10 gears, ryan is open, and i am locked. Both have new ball joints and new drive joints. They are just great for a 4x4 enthusiast who doesn't plan on running it extremely hard. On the last trip to the Mt. both front ends were broken in a mild play day in the snow.

Ryan runs really hard, he also towed a full size rig up a steep incline in deep snow a few times, he sheared the spider gears, ring, and pinion, and also broke a drive joint.

















The front end left the ground, everything was fine for about 30' until i turned, I destroyed my drive joints and axles.











The solution to the broken spider gears is easy, a locker, but the locker is stronger than stock drive joints and axles. So you must upgrade to chromoly, or CTM or equivalent drive joints. This is very expensive, at which point the decision has been made to scrap the whole thing and upgrade to a Dana 60.

63" rear springs / Shock Inboard

The next addition was a set of 63" leaf springs from a '92 chevy. This was an easy swap, because i already had the shackle flip/ switch mounted. I removed the pair and swapped sides with them, then pushed them all the way to the rear of the frame until they were almost flush. Drilled new holes, bolted them back on, and then changed out the springs.
This is very easy and i would recommend it if you are going to run leaf springs. 63" springs $125 -Ram light truck parts.

I then added a piece of 1/4" angle as a cross brace in the frame, directly over the rear housing, and bolted the stock rear shock tabs to the piece of angle. 14" travel (way overkill) Pro Comp 3000's were the shock i chose, because they are a great shock and very inexpensive. The shock tabs mounted on the housing were purchase from DIY, they are radiused to fit a 14 bolt housing.

This is not flexed out, and it should be on the rear end, but you get the idea of how much more flex they have than a stock spring. I'll post more flex pics when I get a chance.

The next suspension upgrade will be the 52's in the front.

The build-up "Red Dragon" part II

The next set of modifications started with a parts truck, also a 1977 chevy. A set of 3/4 ton differentials, dana44 and corp. 14 bolt. Front 6" lift springs, 625 carter carb, power steering pump, tailgate, and gt steering wheel were used. Other parts that were used were, B&M shifter, Auto meter tach., tool box, and tie rod (on ryan's truck), front driveline, steering arm, and motor 350 (Blueberry), and spare parts included: tilt column, t350 tranny, np203, 1/2 ton rear driveline, gas tank, steering box, hubs, stereo, flowmaster mufflers, and tail lights.

As long as it was going to be on blocks for awhile, i had a whole list of stuff to do: Rear disc brakes, a big lift, shackle flip, new optima battery and box, new tires, new drivelines, high steer, new transmission, np205 t-case, locker in front, hummer beadlocks, and electric fans. The parts list was huge.

• 38.5 x 15 x 16.5 Super swamper boggers (4 wheel parts)


• Shackle Flip and switch kit (DIY4X)


• Front and rear 6" shackles (DIY4X)
• Rear disc. conversion kit (Black widow performance)


• np205 t-case (craigslist $200)
• t350 transmission (freebie)
• Transmission cooler (Baxter auto)


• Braided stainless brake lines (Oil filter service)
• U-Bolts front and rear (Portland auto spring)
• Dual electric fans and wiring (u-pull it 96 ford windstar $15)
• Battery box (made out of 14 guage stainless)


• Zero rates, front 1", rear 2" (black widow performance)


• Front rotors and spindles (atlas truck parts)
• Driveline rear 1/4" wall (Six states dist.)
• High steer arms (Sky Manufacturing)
• Flat top knuckle/machining (Black widow Performance)


• Drag link (Black widow performance)
• 2wd steering box (craigslist $30)
• Drop pitman arm from a 74 ford econoline (Ram light truck parts)
• dana 44 4:10 gears and locker off of wagoneer (Jeff B.)


• Hummer beadlock wheels set of 5 (craigslist $150)
  

That's when I ran out of funding. late summer 2006. No front driveline. It took a little while, but I bought some square tube and made a driveline for the front. (see... "square tube driveline" post).

watch for updates on the Red dragon..........