once again, this year Paul Haug and I made our annual trek to moab. we had spend weeks preparing his rig for this adventure, switching to full width axles, 44 front, dana 60 rear, hydraulic assist steering, and a Klune-V 4:1 planetary gear box. we were quite excited with its performance.

http://chrispy.rockcrawler.com/pics/pauls/paul-1.jpg

in fact, maybe we were a bit TOO excited...
http://chrispy.rockcrawler.com/pics/pauls/paul-2.jpg
http://chrispy.rockcrawler.com/pics/pauls/paul-3.jpg

hmm.. and this happenened MONDAY evening, after a full and fun day of wheeling.

http://chrispy.rockcrawler.com/pics/pauls/paul-4.jpg

that sucked.

http://chrispy.rockcrawler.com/pics/pauls/paul-5.jpg

still hasnt sunk in i guess. cuz we just wernt ready to give up...



well, after a few drinks, we decided we had 2 choices. we could pack up and go home, or we could do what it took to get it trail ready for the rest of the week.

my god, were in MOAB!! were not gonna let a little thing like a totally freaking destroyed Jeep ruin our trip!!

so, tuesday morning, out comes the grinder, and off comes the top..

we then gathered some tube, hunted down a friend with a bender, and bent a 4 point roll cage.

wednesday, we hotwired our condo for 220v, and continued working on the rig, and by wednesday night, we were .. um.. done. yea.. done.

thursday and friday we hit the trails, and amazingly enough, the rig worked well. saturday, we hung out for the parade, and then headed home. all in all, not a horrible trip.

well, the story doesnt end here.

we decided we wanted to be competitive in Erocc (eastern rock crawling championships) so we began to dream up how do it on a shoestring budget.... again, out came the chopsaw, and a few trips to the metal vendor, and viola!!!.. a truggy is born!

http://chrispy.rockcrawler.com/pics/pauls/paul-6.jpg

we converted the rear leafs to coils, and long arm, moved the gastank up a bit, and turned our 4 point cage into an 8 point chassis.

http://chrispy.rockcrawler.com/pics/pauls/paul-7.jpg

we used a triangulated rear 3 link...

http://chrispy.rockcrawler.com/pics/pauls/paul-8.jpg

made all brackets out of chicken bones and 1/4" plate steel...

http://chrispy.rockcrawler.com/pics/pauls/paul-9.jpg

44" long long arms, with integral rock sliders... and used front XJ springs for the rear. these are a little stiff and might get changed out, but for now, they are on there and.. work.. sorta..

http://chrispy.rockcrawler.com/pics/pauls/paul-10.jpg


anyway, it drove tonite. it has mad crazy flex, and insane traction (mini spool in front, welded in back). it has all the refinement of a feul injected 4.0, roughly 120:1 crawl ratio WITH AN AUTOMATIC transmission, and all the class of a garbage truck.

we still have some bugs to work out, but we will, and hopefully, be competitive next year. for now tho, we hope to enjoy some fall wheeling, with perhaps a Tellico trip planned for later in the year, and definately an appearance at Mid Rivers Jeep Things octoberfest in turkey bay.. (yes, its in OCTOBER.)

You ever get that feeling of Deja Vu? :flipoff2:

TEX

fix your pics.........you have too many http://'s

It looks done and you said it can drive :idea:

ERoCC in 2.5 weeks, sounds like a pretty good test :idea: Get it!

fixed :flipoff2:

Originally posted by bigdude


ERoCC in 2.5 weeks, sounds like a pretty good test :idea: Get it!

yea, that was the plan.. and we are still working on it. shoestring budget and all.. :)

i put the video of that roll up on my site www.4xvideo.com a while back. look at the potato salad hill video on the reports/video page.

Why don't ya haul that bad boy down to southern MO for some trailbuilding for Camp Jeep?? Test it out down here one weekend... I know you know about it since I'm part of Ozarks Jeepthing, and we have members of your club that come down all the time...

JparuBob

Hey JParuBob, since we're on the subject of the Branson area, are there any decent-sized fairgrounds down that way with dirt floors? Places that could hold say a tractor pull, or MUD RACE?

TEX

um... there is Ozarks Empire Fairgrounds (or something like that) in springfield... i believe they do that sort of thing there... That is 30 miles north of branson... Other than that, no... Branson doesn't have any type of fairground...

JParuBob

man Xpi first you ruin your CJ-8 now look at what you did to Pauls rig :flipoff2: Tell me when your commin to Tellico agian I'll try to get off work and go wheelin with ya..... then you guys can use my winch instead of a come along :flipoff2:

Looks like an interesting rig. I'm just amazed that the guy didn't have any type of cage in it prior to the roll on Potato Salad, expecially with all the other mods done to it. It's not like he didn't have the fab skills.:confused:

:eek: :eek: I take it your buddy was ok after he rolled it? Doesnt look like there was much room left for the driver....

Cool rig. I have an 89 MJ that we have just started to work on. Let us know how it does when he starts competitions.:D

we were BOTH in the truck at the time.. (check the video at 4x4video, linked above).... and neither of us are 'small' guys. we squeezed out our respective windows, shaken, not stirred, and attemped to figure out what to do next.

one of the problems with crowds, especially 4x4 crowds, is that everyone knows EXACTLY how to solve the problem, and everyone is eager to help. instantly we had multiple winch lines and straps on the vehicle and we spend the next 30 minutes spinning hte rig around in circles on its roof, succeeding in nothing but more destruction. (while we very much appreciated the help, the utter lack of coordination succeeded in smushing the top in quite a bit more than it was after the roll had ceased).

finally, some old dude named 'bubba' flipped the truck back on its wheels, and we got it up on the trailer.

anyway, we were both sore the next day, with multiple muscle sprains and hangovers, but overall, neither of us were hurt...

it could have been MUCH worse, as i was not wearing my seatbelt (stupid stupid stupid)..

anyway.. ... keep us posted as you work up your MJ...

Originally posted by JParuBob
um... there is Ozarks Empire Fairgrounds (or something like that) in springfield... i believe they do that sort of thing there... That is 30 miles north of branson... Other than that, no... Branson doesn't have any type of fairground...

JParuBob

Okay thanks. Would have loved to do an event in Springfield, but after they paved the infield, that means a schitload of dirt has to be hauled in for any event we'd want to do. And unfortunately, that cuts WAY deep into potential profit :(

TEX

That thing looks TIGHT....!:eek:

Fucking rock that thing!:eek:


Glad everybody was O.K. from the roll too.

sucks about the roll, but a nice truggy was born out of it.

looks nice.

you guys showed true wheeler spirit by not giving up and going home. instead you turned your mishap into an adventure that is a great story. gave me goose bumbs.

that thing looks pretty sweet

Why can't i see the pics i even went to your link. Well great story way to be resourcefull.
Did you get introuble for re-wiring the condo? HEHE :D

dunno why you cant see the pix. they appear to be working.

as to rewiring the condo,... trade secret!