Crawler Hauler

[texasjeep311]

I have been building this over the last few weeks, and i've kept a thread of the build on some other forums of local clubs but decided and bring it over to here to see what the rest of the wheeling community things.

So the basic spec sheet:
1994 Ford F-450, 11x7' flat bed
1981 CJ-7 103" wheel base, 84" track width, 41" tires

I'm putting all of the pictures up in order from start to finish (well not finished yet but close)

[texasjeep311]

[texasjeep311]

[texasjeep311]

[texasjeep311]

sorry for the overload of pictures, but since i havent kept the build up on here thats how it is, i think most everyone can get the general idea of what we've done with it, and its not finished, the last pictures with it loaded where the test fit, we still have to finish all the sheet metal and some other stuff.

[GubNi]

Really nice. I've seen that ideal done before. From experience with metal trailers and drive over fenders add some rebar for traction when it's wet. I put mine about every 2".

[texasjeep311]

Originally Posted by GubNi

Really nice. I've seen that ideal done before. From experience with metal trailers and drive over fenders add some rebar for traction when it's wet. I put mine about every 2".

we talked about that, initial thought was expanded metal for traction, but rebar is a good idea to.

[rstrucks]

Nice!

Just curious - what is the weight rating of the truck?

[texasjeep311]

Originally Posted by rstrucks

Nice!

Just curious - what is the weight rating of the truck?

hell i cant remember off the top of my head, but we are definatly pushing the weight limit haha! ill look at it tomorrow, we are gonna take it to the scales soon to see how much the whole package weighs

[Azzy2000]

Pretty cool setup. Nice work

Just dont take any corners too fast and you'll be alright

[IDASHO]

GVWR should be in the 12-15k area.

Ill assume that the truck weighs 9-10k

That gives you upwards of 6-7k of payload, assuming you are not overloading the rear axle (not likely) or the rear tires (probably )

[OkLaHoMaYJ]

This is awesome by the way. I wish I could find something like this in a CTD variety for cheap and get my TJ to fit.

[texasjeep311]

Originally Posted by OkLaHoMaYJ

This is awesome by the way. I wish I could find something like this in a CTD variety for cheap and get my TJ to fit.

thanks, its suprising how cheap you can find these trucks and newer ones. we are just gonna haul a pop up camper behind it to sleep in. and yes the oil and gas business is horrible right now, im hardly surviving.

[OkLaHoMaYJ]

Originally Posted by texasjeep311

thanks, its suprising how cheap you can find these trucks and newer ones. we are just gonna haul a pop up camper behind it to sleep in. and yes the oil and gas business is horrible right now, im hardly surviving.

Did you find this truck used as is or was it something you had sitting around?

I was a landman...got a job right out of college running title and leasing and was laid off 7 months later. The job market is crazy right now. Looking into law enforcement now. Something much more stable.

[texasjeep311]

Originally Posted by OkLaHoMaYJ

Did you find this truck used as is or was it something you had sitting around?

I was a landman...got a job right out of college running title and leasing and was laid off 7 months later. The job market is crazy right now. Looking into law enforcement now. Something much more stable.

found it used, has around 110-120,000 miles i cant remember. picked it up pretty cheap just for the purpose of a jeep hauler, my dad bought the hauler, and the jeep is mine, we go wheeling together so its a good deal for both of us, and the camper is his.

I work for a small drilling company in north texas, one of our rigs is stacked the other is drilling, but noone is being layed off we are all just cut to 40 hours a week, which sucks because that cuts paychecks nearly in half, and we havent had a bonus in 3 months. im looking for another job, i would like to be a lease operator for a large company but thats not gonna happen right now, i may just go back to school.

[OkLaHoMaYJ]

Originally Posted by texasjeep311

found it used, has around 110-120,000 miles i cant remember. picked it up pretty cheap just for the purpose of a jeep hauler, my dad bought the hauler, and the jeep is mine, we go wheeling together so its a good deal for both of us, and the camper is his.

I work for a small drilling company in north texas, one of our rigs is stacked the other is drilling, but noone is being layed off we are all just cut to 40 hours a week, which sucks because that cuts paychecks nearly in half, and we havent had a bonus in 3 months. im looking for another job, i would like to be a lease operator for a large company but thats not gonna happen right now, i may just go back to school.

I would like to do the same but I already have a trailer...just need a DD truck. I'm looking at 03-07 CTD's around $17-25K.

I applied for a few lease operator jobs and never heard anything back (SandRidge, Chesapeake, Cimarex, etc) just to name a few. My whole family is in the oil business just in different areas. Older bro is a drilling engineer for Chesapeake down in Louisiana and my dad owns a brokerage company that went belly up just last month. I enjoyed the business but I hate worrying about being laid off every time natural gas takes a dump.

[texasjeep311]

yeah i understand, so where is there to wheel around you? im only 2 hours from norman.

[chuggins143]

I'm really curious how this thing drives. I was considering doing something similar, but the thought of tagging and insuring another vehicle right now is out of the question.

[texasjeep311]

Originally Posted by chuggins143

I'm really curious how this thing drives. I was considering doing something similar, but the thought of tagging and insuring another vehicle right now is out of the question.

we dont know yet! we just drove it around the house a little bit because there are no lights on the truck right now, we might take it out for a spin tomorrow. from the short drive we did the load seemed really stable (we didnt even have a single strap pulled on it). the truck doesnt even know its back there.

[OkLaHoMaYJ]

There is no where around here to wheel besides the river. I drive 2.5 hours to Clayton, Freelings, Camp Gruber, or Talihina areas. 3-4 hours if I wanna go to Disney.

[texasjeep311]

Originally Posted by OkLaHoMaYJ

There is no where around here to wheel besides the river. I drive 2.5 hours to Clayton, Freelings, Camp Gruber, or Talihina areas. 3-4 hours if I wanna go to Disney.

i see, we are less then 2 hours away from bridgeport where they are buliding a nice wheeling park, it should open this summer, and another new one is about an hour away, its called the copper mines. then we have an event twice a year at a place called monkey creek, its free and its open wheeling 24 hours a day for 3 days, its just a big party full of jeeps, the terrain isnt really that challenging, monkey creek is actually next weekend, march 13-15th. the copper mines are having a big deal in may with bands play at night and trucks gone wild is coming out to film and bring some of there trucks from florida.

[OkLaHoMaYJ]

I may have to come down and check out some of these events you are speaking of. They sound fun as hell.

[HammerdownJustin]

On our car hauler at work we painted a strip where the tires roll.Used automotive paint then sprinkle sand over and re coated about 3 times and it works fine.No more cars falling off the trailer.Did I mention light weight and cheap.

[texasjeep311]

Originally Posted by OkLaHoMaYJ

I may have to come down and check out some of these events you are speaking of. They sound fun as hell.

for sure, copper mines are open one weekend a month for the year, i havent made it there yet so i cant tell you much about it, they do have a myspace but not a website yet, so go check out the pictures. monkey creek also has a myspace but no website. and as far as bridgeport, they have work weekends where anyone can come and run over the trails and maybe cut a new trail, you can find info on that at texas4x4.org, or my local club (im not a member) torc4x4.org. if you like to drink and have some fun then monkey or copper mines are your places to be.

[texasjeep311]

Originally Posted by HammerdownJustin

On our car hauler at work we painted a strip where the tires roll.Used automotive paint then sprinkle sand over and re coated about 3 times and it works fine.No more cars falling off the trailer.Did I mention light weight and cheap.

thats another good idea, we where just gonna buy that expanded metal that all the edges are laid over each other (i dont know what its called), i think what ill do is once we are done with all the sheet metal, ill load it and get the water hose out and see how bad it is without anything, i can always call someone over to winch me off! haha, are you going to monkey creek? im guess this has to be the same hammerdownjustin from texas rock crawlers...