Here is what you are about to "see":
- 4-Color Camoflauge Paint
- YUKON 4.56 and Genuine Gear's Lock-Right Locker (for rear axle: 8.8 Ford 31-Spline)
The YUKON 4.56 gears being the highlight. Let me tell you - if you do no other modifications to your old truck DO THE GEARS.. I have to think the bang for the buck in what it does for the low end power has to be on a par with solid gold. Of course unless you are a little more conservative in ratio selection than I was - 4.56 with 33 inch tall tires - you can forget those long 70 MPH highway trips. Well, unless you like the idea of rebuilding a worn out engine every several months. I don't.
For me its not a problem. For starters I am seldom in a hurry on the highway. There are just too many clueless humans on it. Besides I would much rather have the bottom end power and the slower highway speeds. 60 is fine, especially when it sounds like you are running 75.
The Lock-Right.
it is difficult to say much more than "WOW !!" at this point. More to come.
I guess the most noticible difference to you in this round of modifications will be the camoflauge. For some reason I did a whole LOT of research on patterns, materials, application methods. Then when it was time to execute my plan, it evaporated. I pretty much grabbed a roll of masking tape and went to work on it willy-nilly. No grand plan, no patterns, no "figuring" - just did what felt right. I guess thinking it through was just too much organization for something meant to randomize. That just didn't feel right, so I went with what felt right standing there looking at the truck lines.
Obviously, it is not finished. None the less here it is at this point in time. I hope you enjoy it and by all means feel free to drop me an e-mail if you want some more info about some aspect of this.
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 |  Toldja I wasn't finished. |
| I think it is coming along pretty well, if slow as molasses. At this point I think the next logical step is to do the ring & pinion in the front and add some lockers - to both ends. I know, I know - I should have done the rear when I did the gear, but it just wasn't practical finacially at the time. Besides I needed to do some research on what's hot and what's not these days.
Besides, at the moment I'm having a bit of a directional crisis. My "working plan" to date has been to build a high performance trail truck. That ain't going to well. For starters, the only trails legal to drive around here are forest roads. You know, the kind maintained by road graders . . and Forest Rangers. The second problem is a lack of local 4x4 parts and accessories. Oh yea, there is a bunch of places that will order what you want and have it in a few days, but virtually none stock anything you would actually want to use on a genuine trail truck. The other part of my directional crisis is being caused by the over all performance of this truck. I'm beginning to think it is just too darned fast to be a big 4x4 truck. Seriously. I think it just wants to be a hot rod sometime. I'll type more as my motivation and attention span allow. . . . . | ||
| HERE is the truck home page. HERE is the first page of modifications. Done December of 2004. HERE is the third page of modifications. Done December of 2005. HERE is the fourth page of modifications. Done February of 2006. HERE is the fifth page of modifications. Done June of 2006. |
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