thursday night i drove up to vermont with my friend peter to go wheeling for a weekend, but first, on friday, we had to finish my friend dan's rig. he has been building it for the past year and really wanted to take it out this weekend to give it a good shakedown. specs on it are TBI 4.3L V6, SM465, D300, scout 44s, spring under with parabolics, and all mounted on a custom 1/8" wall frame.

the truck before we worked on it. you can see the custom crossmember:
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050973854_leftfront.jpg
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050974011_rightrear.jpg
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050973957_rearcross.jpg

the suspension setup (notice High Angle shaft) and the rear axle:
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050973989_rearsusp.jpg
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050973837_frontsusp.jpg
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050973932_rearaxle.jpg

the drivetrain, plus the custom fabbed trans tunnel:
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050974029_trannytransfer.jpg
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050974054_trannytunnel.jpg

the motor, you can kind of see the firewall mods:
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050973883_motor1.jpg
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050973913_motor2.jpg

and heres all of us burning the midnight oil (until 2am) finishing it for wheeling at 9am the next morning:
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050974076_working1.jpg
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050974108_working2.jpg
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050974164_working5.jpg
http://pics.montypics.com/9Volt/2003-04-21/1050974125_working4.jpg

great work! i'm curious what the deal is with about those tabs on the rear bumper tying it to the body work . . . looks potentially dangerous.

nice to see a custom SUA rig for change -

Originally posted by SeaRover
great work! i'm curious what the deal is with about those tabs on the rear bumper tying it to the body work . . . looks potentially dangerous.

nice to see a custom SUA rig for change -

:confused: thats exactly how a series or defender mounts the rear tub at the crossmember, what can you see wrong with it? series/defenders have no insulation between the body and frame, its just hard mounted like you see there.

to my ignorance with rovers :flipoff2:

edit: or is that just ignorance? :rolleyes:

eyeing some other picts of series/defenders, is the body to frame height the same as stock? i suppose if that particular bumper tweaks you have more to worry about than the body . . . .

Actually, it's the bumper/rear crossmember/towbar on the series rigs and Defenders. Basically, if you hit it hard enough to bend it, you've tweaked the frame and the body. However, on the Defenders, if you hit the outrigger, it just bends and doesn't affect the center part too much. (Ask me how I know.)

In the UK, they routinely swap out these rear crossmembers as they rust out or become damaged. They even sell them with sleeves attached so you cut off the old crossmember, slide the sleeves over the frame horns, and weld it up!

-John

please excuse my thread hijack. i was surprised you mentioned wheeling in vermont. was it private property? i always thought it was hard to find trails in vermont except private property. the whole green mountain national forest is off limits, correct? i've been trying to get permission from sugar makers to use their trails. i figure if i clear them in the summer they won't have to when it comes sugar season. as you can see this is my first post, been mostly a lurker here. it's an awesome site and seems like a good group.

regards,

big o' green rover

not private property... there are tons of trails. get a topo map and start finding unmaintained roads.

is that a stock rover frame?
if not is it as stiff as a rover frame?
if not will the frame flex be a detriment to the solid body mounts?

Nice rig, but all that work and didn't go SOA?

Hey, ask your buddy about his 3rd gear in that SM 465. Mine is grinding like an SOB and I'm thinking I need to have it rebuilt already. I'm pretty sure the syncros are shot.

Apparently a company called Novak makes an upgrade kit that addresses the 3rd gear issue. Thinking awfully seriously about it...

Anyway, just thought I'd ask.

It looks like a pretty sweet rig actually. I'm diggin' that Dakar emblem on the side! Kind of poseur-esque but you can just about get away with it on that truck.

I don't think spring under is that bad, but those u-bolt plates and low shock mounts blow
couse being a DAKAR rig maybe it will only see sand
all in all I think it's a sweet rover

fred- its a custom fabbed frame out of 1/8" wall box tube, i forget what section size but it seems close to that of a stock rover frame. cant tell you whether its stiffer than a rover frame but it didnt seem to have any problems.

OS- in this part of the country there isnt really a need for SOA... its nice for lift but as far as flex goes, over here lockers are more important. dan didnt need the lift from SOA, as it sits those are 35-12.50s with just the parabolics and defender flares. he set the rig up to be able to drive it long distance to a trail/event and also be his daily driver. it does both great, from what i have seen so far.

mike- i will ask him about 3rd gear.

Where did he get that High Angle rear shaft? It looks good

And I still need one!

I know Jesse can help me out but I want to look around a bit further. It doesn't matter where in the world because in Holland I can't get them so anywhere is okay.

Regards bowy

1/8" wall chassis' are for pussies.

That front driveshaft is a toothpick.

Should have been sprung over.



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:flipoff2: :flipoff2: :flipoff2:


I dig it, make sure it makes it to Silver lake this year. You'd better be there too :D

J-L

Originally posted by Serious One

It looks like a pretty sweet rig actually. I'm diggin' that Dakar emblem on the side! Kind of poseur-esque but you can just about get away with it on that truck.

I got a small 2003 Dakar sticker on my truck. I'm not into stickers for the sake of stickers, but I met with the crew doing the recce for the 2003 event last October in the Sahara. We ended up staying at the same place, and had a sorta conversation about the event, Toyota's, and Landrovers. One of the guys liked my 90 and gave me the sticker for the 2003 event. Figures I had to put it on then. :-)

With the obvious attention to detail that went into the project (which is VERY nice) why didn't he clean up the engine and paint it?

IMHO the whole project is ruined by the dirty engine.

Peace,
Paul

Originally posted by PTSchram
With the obvious attention to detail that went into the project (which is VERY nice) why didn't he clean up the engine and paint it?

IMHO the whole project is ruined by the dirty engine.

Peace,
Paul

my thoughts too, i dont know why he didnt even clean it while it was out but it works well. and you should see the hack job aircleaner thats on there for the motor to clear under the hood:D

JL, what is this silver lake thing you speak of? let me know and i will try to be there.

OVLR Birthday party, at Silver Lake...

I'm going to be there with Valdez, should be some fun stuff to try, but it's not really hardcore off-road.

I'd love to have some more off-road oriented people show up, it would be nice to try some of the tougher stuff.

when is it?

JL, just looked it up. sorry to say but there is no way im going to be able to make it. i leave for wyoming the 23rd for a weeklong "summer camp" learning diesel tech, and i get to go to the pikes peak race as part of it:D

aside from that, its 1000 miles of driving over not-so-great roads, and would take 2 solid days of driving to get there.

next year, ill be there.

just looked again... where the fawk is silver lake? mapquest picked the geographical center of ON to give me directions to, which came out to 1000mi. if its close (enough) to the NY border i may have to reconsider:D but still no promises on that one