Road test today. Didn't really flex on it much like I'd hoped. I got into degreasing/pressure washing trying to find my oil leak and then it started raining so I called it a day. Rechecked every nut and bolt, bled the brakes again and then took it out on the road. A nasty grinding noise revealed the need to hack off part of the dust cover for the rear drive shaft carrier. A few minutes with a cut off wheel and I was back in business. Drove it for about fifteen minutes with no real issue. A tiny bit of vibration that feels like it's coming from the rear end at low rpm. I'll put a little additive in the rear end and run it a little more and see what happens.

I'll take it later this week to have the new tires put on it. Turns out my connection with the tire changer didn't have a big enough tire changer for the 35's. Hopefully I'll have the new flange by the end of the week and have the front drive shaft in by next weekend. A couple of pics in the sunlight:





The "lean" of the rear end that I mentioned in my last post pretty much worked itself out after a little driving today.



I'm 6'3", and I almost have to jump in it at this point... You can see the transmission cooler that's hanging by a bungee cord... I'm still trying to decide what the best way to remount it is.



As it sits this evening. New tires and new spare in the back, ready to get mounted and balanced. So excited, I hated to drive away from it.

 

looks awesome man .... will look even better with those km2's mounted up ...

 

So when you get your new tires on it you will be ready to head to Harlan next weekend with us? Looks good now bring it home so I can see it in person.

 

God I wish. I don't know that it's had enough testing to do all that yet... especially since I just came up with free tickets and a parking pass to the UK football game this weekend. Yes, they're not good this year, but you'll never call me a fair weather fan. Tailgating doesn't require good wide receivers or a running game.

I'd really like to find this damn oil leak before I take it offroad as well... You know, that whole "tread lightly" craziness.

 

Tread lightly? Whats that hahahaha. The trip is next weekend the weekend of the 17th. You could make it alright

 

Cant wait to see it with the new tires on

 

Well it's been a long time coming, and I realize that I will never truly be "done" with this truck. But, at this point, she's one little triple drilled front driveshaft flange from hitting the trails. I spent 4 years driving this truck as a daily driver. Two years of collecting parts, and damn near six months to build. Without further BS:











...and that's how she sits for the weekend... awaiting a driveshaft flange and HOPEFULLY evening out the leaf springs a little bit. I let it sit on the same hillside facing the opposite direction for a few days and it settled considerably more on the passenger side than the drivers side... Hopefully this and a little driving will even it out... I really can't see how to otherwise adjust it.

Your comments are welcome! Thanks to everyone for the help!!!

 

Looks way much better with the BF's
Great looking truck bro !

 

Sickkkkkkkkkkkk! Freaking beautiful rig, man... Great work and hope you enjoy it, immensely!

 

Those two in the background got plenty of BS going it looks like.

Nice truck sticker

:wabbit2:

 

Looks great with the new meats!

 

Well no real serious progress to speak of. Had high hopes of getting the front drive shaft in this evening and testing out the 4wd. Got
everything mocked up with the new flange and realized that the new drive shaft was too long. Going to take it to work tomorrow and cut 3-4" out of the tube. Then hopefully I can get it put in tomorrow evening... Two steps forward, one step back.

 

Got the front drive shaft in last night late. So didn't get to test it out. Had high hopes of testing it out in the day light after work tonight... but we had a drive motor get fried on a crane at work so I had to stay until it got removed and sent off for repairs.

Anyway, I said to hell with the darkness and decided to flex it out a bit. Took a bunch of pics but only a couple ended up at all visible. But laid a lot of worries to rest. Plenty of clearance on the steering arms and fenders. Bumpstops lined up perfectly. Front driveshaft came no where near bottoming out or slipping out. The real test will be Saturday afternoon when I take it to a little local offroad park.

A couple of pics:



Don't mind the oil leak... I'll track that down later. It really leaned to the passenger side first but as I flex it out it's leveling out.



Almost all the way against the bumpstops, no issues. Terrible pic though. I got back in the truck and climbed up and down that hill three or four times. So impressed with the flex, locker and new gears.

 

Wow! I've been lurking on this build since the beginning and I'm finally gonna chime in, your truck looks amazing man! You've done a great job on it!

 

Looks pretty rugged! Cant wait to see some daylight flex pics. Did your grill and bumper come like that or did you paint them?

 

Thanks man. Like I said, hopefully I'll be able to get some really good flex out of it Saturday. The park I'm going to isn't anything to write home about, I actually made it through basically everything there besides a couple of steep drops with my truck in stock condition, but it'll be a good test since it's so close.

Yes, I painted the bumper and grill. Background: I wrecked it about two years ago on the ice when I slid through a corner and nailed an explorer head on. No one was hurt, thankfully. Pic of the damage:



So when I fixed her back up, I just order an el cheapo grill and bumper. Looked great at first, but they very quickly started to put and fade and generally deteriorate. I took it all back off, scratched it up and covered it in dupont rattle can bed liner. It's held up really well on the plastic parts, but it's starting to flake off the formerly chrome bumper. That's fine, I'll end up needing a new bumper soon anyway.

 

Lol that old pic makes your truck look pretty little compared to the new one

 

[QUOTE=drmix;51788073]Lol that old pic makes your truck look pretty little compared to the new one

[QUOTE]

Yeah it certainly does. The guy that has been helping me weld and whatnot has almost exactly the same truck, same year and all, stock on stock tires. Set them next to each other last night and you'd swear his was two wheel drive.

 

Nice job on the swap! Your rig looks BADA$$ bro! And those 35" meats you chose set it off.

T_BONE

 

Wow! Great job! That truck sits perfect.
Looks killer. Keep up with any new pics!