H8MUD
- Thread starter CasterTroy
- Start date
OP
Currie steering arrived just hours before departing for Adventure Offroad in Tenn, so we installed it on the ground at the campground. My buddy Jason checking things out
OP
Dang good thing we installed it! Bashed the crap out of it all weekend
Gotta love that Currie steering, huh? It's just so beefy when you compare it side-by-side with the stock setup!
Love that last picture BTW!
Love that last picture BTW!
OP
Thanks
That pic is the very last part of "Part 1" in the video of the GWT trail at Adventure. It's a pretty nice place to wheel
That pic is the very last part of "Part 1" in the video of the GWT trail at Adventure. It's a pretty nice place to wheel
OP
Smacked a sapling at Adventure and pushed the tailight in. The Exogate stopped it from going in further, and I pulled it out once I got home, but irritated me none-the-less. Just so happened a buddy I was with had a set of steel corners that he ordered then later decided to go aluminum. Sold me the corners for near nothing when we returned....had them powdercoted, and now I'm armored!
Damn! You don't F around do you? Looks great!
On another note, how are your wheels holding up? Mine are starting to get pretty scratched up around the bead lip, but I still like them a lot. If it gets too bad, maybe I'll try some black shoe polish or something when we are mall crawling.
On another note, how are your wheels holding up? Mine are starting to get pretty scratched up around the bead lip, but I still like them a lot. If it gets too bad, maybe I'll try some black shoe polish or something when we are mall crawling.
OP
Thanks
They've now got some gnarly gouges in them. (kinda see them in the spare here)
Doesn't bother me really. If I have a failure, then I may do something, but cosmetic doesn't worry me. I'm just really anal about the body though.....I don't care HOW bashed up the armor gets, I carry wet wipes for the body
They've now got some gnarly gouges in them. (kinda see them in the spare here)
Doesn't bother me really. If I have a failure, then I may do something, but cosmetic doesn't worry me. I'm just really anal about the body though.....I don't care HOW bashed up the armor gets, I carry wet wipes for the body
OP
OP
Finally decided to NOT go longarm (since I store my shackles on my bumper :eusa_whistle: ) so I called up Ironman4x4fab and replaced my control arms.
My old ones had taken some "mild" abuse :goofy:
My old ones had taken some "mild" abuse :goofy:
Good decision. It's also time to move your shackles' permanent storage location off the bumpers, you're beyond needing to keep them there as a "billy bad-ass Jeeper". Not to mention they won't bang as you drive around if you do.
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Love the red control arms.
Haha... So storing your shackles on your bumper offsets the 'coolness' factor you'll be forgoing by not having a long arm lift?
Seriously though, why didn't you go long arm? I've never wanted / needed to, but I hear the long arms bind up on a lot of objects (i.e. rocks) more often than short arms.
Haha... So storing your shackles on your bumper offsets the 'coolness' factor you'll be forgoing by not having a long arm lift?
Seriously though, why didn't you go long arm? I've never wanted / needed to, but I hear the long arms bind up on a lot of objects (i.e. rocks) more often than short arms.
OP
I wheeled for years in my teens with no real guidance in an old CJ on 32's, then some more with better guidance from some guys with YJ's on tons and buggys in my late 20's and 30's while I was driving a moderately modified bronco myself. Got out of wheeling when I started racing motorcycles, then once racing started not being any fun any more turned BACK to wheeling.
I web-wheeled for several months trying to gather all the intel I'd need for what I wanted to do before buying the TJ. Also joined an established respected offroad club to gain some valuable knowledge before even stepping back out on the trails.
I did NOT want to make the mistake of going too big out of the gate. I wanted more experience and knowledge on how to drive, rather than rely on more rig than talent.
I DID know I wanted a flat belly, and I wanted to stay low COG. So I went with the 1.25" BL and just 3" springs until I got better experience. The jury was out on long arm until a trip to Adventure Offroad Park in Chattanooga back in the spring when I saw how a long arm TJ on 35's behaved on some big rocks, off camber and technical crawling. To ME (Just my opinion....YMMV) it made the wheels drop off a little TOO much and caused more tippy issues than the limited reach of a well sorted short arm. That might not be a problem if I were out west or in Moab with sandpaper-like surfaces that I could CRAWL all day. Then, yeah...long arm all day, but here in the east we don't have that kind of grip. We have to sometimes use more skinny pedal, and bump our way thru the obstacles and wheelbase traps, so keeping the components tighter (again IMHO) works better.
Once I saw how that long arm articulated, I knew I'd be breaking stuff left and right once I had to start "bumping it"
BTW Jerry....I've never once heard a "clang"
I totally understand what you're saying. And of course, this comes back to that whole discussion of building your rig for the areas you wheel in. Out here in the Pacific Northwest, a long arm kit wouldn't be that necessary.
I like your style too... Choosing to go mild at first and rely more on driver skill as oppose to the rig. That's how you get good at something if you ask me!
I like your style too... Choosing to go mild at first and rely more on driver skill as oppose to the rig. That's how you get good at something if you ask me!
OP
I'm not a smart person. I've just lived long enough (NOW) to have figured out how NOT to do something
I went all in with my bronco. Detroits, 35's, revolver shackles...etc LONG before I learned how to wheel that big pig! [Trump voice] HUUUGE mistake [/Trump voice]
Scared the shit out of myself WAY too many times.
PLUS, all my buddies went full width and 39's plus or tube buggy's and then nothing would satisfy them. It was all too easy. So what would they do? They'd buy a small stocker and beat the piss out of it (while having MUCH more fun)
I didn't want to be that guy this time around. Some of the happiest members of the club were the old timers that never got above 35's but never did a bypass. So...I watched and listened, and decided to stay close to them with hopes their knowledge would rub off. And, so far, it has worked. I'm having an absolute BLAST.....nothing has even remotely scared me, and I couldn't be happier.
I went all in with my bronco. Detroits, 35's, revolver shackles...etc LONG before I learned how to wheel that big pig! [Trump voice] HUUUGE mistake [/Trump voice]
Scared the shit out of myself WAY too many times.
PLUS, all my buddies went full width and 39's plus or tube buggy's and then nothing would satisfy them. It was all too easy. So what would they do? They'd buy a small stocker and beat the piss out of it (while having MUCH more fun)
I didn't want to be that guy this time around. Some of the happiest members of the club were the old timers that never got above 35's but never did a bypass. So...I watched and listened, and decided to stay close to them with hopes their knowledge would rub off. And, so far, it has worked. I'm having an absolute BLAST.....nothing has even remotely scared me, and I couldn't be happier.
It's like motorcycle racing. I'm so used to doing it on 1000cc bikes, that when I get on one of those new 600cc bikes or something like the KTM RC390, I end up having a friggin' blast. It's not nearly as fast as a 1000cc, but the power is so much more usable that you can just flog the hell out of it without worrying about killing yourself (well, to some degree).
So yeah, I get what you're saying. With a pig of a Bronco all built like that, I understand how that could be scary as hell if you weren't really used to it. It's the same thing with bikes!
You hop on one of those brand new 1000cc bikes (e.g. BMW S1000RR) with 200hp, and it's just friggin' nuts. You can't even use half the power on most tracks unless you're Valentino Rossi.
So yeah, I get what you're saying. With a pig of a Bronco all built like that, I understand how that could be scary as hell if you weren't really used to it. It's the same thing with bikes!
You hop on one of those brand new 1000cc bikes (e.g. BMW S1000RR) with 200hp, and it's just friggin' nuts. You can't even use half the power on most tracks unless you're Valentino Rossi.
OP
Yep. Raced 1000's and then started doing mini-supermoto and had 10x the fun!
YOU know the deal :afro:
YOU know the deal :afro:
Totally. Those new KTM RC390s are a blast. It's like a sport bike but super light weight, single cylinder, and 390cc. You can just ride the snot out of them and never really worry about it being to much bike.
OP
Got to flex out the control arms last week. VAST improvement!
As a result the wheelbase is approx 1-1/2" longer now. No idea if that helped, as I can't discern the difference from the flex the new control arms offer.
Fox 2.0's and Savvy progressive springs arrive this week for installation
As a result the wheelbase is approx 1-1/2" longer now. No idea if that helped, as I can't discern the difference from the flex the new control arms offer.
Fox 2.0's and Savvy progressive springs arrive this week for installation