The Lone Ranger – Kage’s ’94 X-Cab Leaf SAS and Bed Bob

[Bray D]

Yeah, I'd like to wheel with the TB crew one of these days, as well as that goofy fella from up north that just got back form some 'Ultimate Adventure' or something

I'd better take a while off. I did the UA, then turned around and did a mini UA last weekend (Wishbone on Sat, Interlake on Sun).

The truck is still ready to rock, but I'm out of vacay time and honestly I need to recoup a little bit from all of the wheelin and such. I'll probably be ready to get out around September/October. Hopefully it cools down a little by then too.

 

[Josh40601]

I'd better take a while off. I did the UA, then turned around and did a mini UA last weekend (Wishbone on Sat, Interlake on Sun).

The truck is still ready to rock, but I'm out of vacay time and honestly I need to recoup a little bit from all of the wheelin and such. I'll probably be ready to get out around September/October. Hopefully it cools down a little by then too.

Kyle and railman and myself are going to meet in Harlan October 26 and 27

 

[RangerSVT]

Sooo.

I am seriously considering getting a set of the military takeoffs, but ive been stuck on the fence for soo long.

what i would like to get is a tire that does good on and off road (yeah i know those dont exist) wear descent and arnt gonna cost me an arm and a leg. the real dealbreaker is that i'll be running a 16.5 wheel and recen-h1's are out of the question.

so my question to you is how do you think these tires would do without the option of airing down ?

my brother runs them but hard to judge due to his very eratic driving style. gets burried in the easiest spots yet makes it thru some gnarly stuff and doesnt even notice his hubs are unlocked (no joke)

im really not sure if i want to give up all offroad traction to gain a cheap, tuff, long wearing tire.

Irok radials are the tire you are looking for. I ran a set of 37's for about 8 months trail riding just about every other weekend and DDing. I bought the tires used with about 75% tread, put about 25k miles on them and sold them with at least 35-40% tread left on them. They were awesome offroad both in rocks and mud, even the slick stuff, and were pretty good on road too...

SVT

 

[Kage]

Sooo.

I am seriously considering getting a set of the military takeoffs, but ive been stuck on the fence for soo long.

what i would like to get is a tire that does good on and off road (yeah i know those dont exist) wear descent and arnt gonna cost me an arm and a leg. the real dealbreaker is that i'll be running a 16.5 wheel and recen-h1's are out of the question.

so my question to you is how do you think these tires would do without the option of airing down ?

my brother runs them but hard to judge due to his very eratic driving style. gets burried in the easiest spots yet makes it thru some gnarly stuff and doesnt even notice his hubs are unlocked (no joke)

im really not sure if i want to give up all offroad traction to gain a cheap, tuff, long wearing tire.

Lets put it this way, I sincerely wish I could go back and time and kick myself in the balls for going the .mil take off route. Of the two things that piss me off about the truck, and makes it a pain in the ass to drive, the .mil tires are #1.

I've had them on the truck now for about a year and a half (and approximately 10 k miles) and I'm amazed at how fast they are disappearing. I've easily burned 50% off the tires in that time frame, and for tires that were suppose to 'wear like iron' I'm not seeing that. The guy in the White XJ is having similar concerns as his are going away just as fast.

I will tell you that both of our rigs weigh in around 5.5-6k lbs so we're not exactly light so I'm sure that's not helping the wear issue.

I've already complained about the other issues I have had/currently have with balancing, and lack luster performance offroad. So no need to rehash that. I can safely say that the only thing they have going for them is that they're cheap.

When the time comes, I'm ditching the 16.5's and the .mil take offs if the money is available. If I don't have the coin, I'll slap another set on there and groove the hell out of them to see if it makes a difference offroad.


Someone mentioned retreads, and its my understanding that the retreads are actually using a softer compound than the original compound. So I would expect those to wear out quicker. And you'd still be stuck with the same crappy sidewall (which won't matter too much if its a street tire only).


As SVT mentioned, you might look into the IROkS, or it is going to be mostly a street rig, I'd look into the Rocky Mountain ATS's (I think its Falken that makes them). I had them on the jeep we took out west this year and I was extremely impressed with how well they worked for an all terrain.

I'd better take a while off. I did the UA, then turned around and did a mini UA last weekend (Wishbone on Sat, Interlake on Sun).

The truck is still ready to rock, but I'm out of vacay time and honestly I need to recoup a little bit from all of the wheelin and such. I'll probably be ready to get out around September/October. Hopefully it cools down a little by then too.

Vacation time? What's that? I thought you were just a wheeling rock star and people just threw money at you


We're heading down to Flat Nasty Saturday, so I should have something up this weekend about that.

 

[Andres629]

Hey, just a quick question for you, Kage. How much did you push the front axle forward? I tried to find it in your links on the front page, but didn't find it. Looks good!

 

[Kage]

Hey, just a quick question for you, Kage. How much did you push the front axle forward? I tried to find it in your links on the front page, but didn't find it. Looks good!

About 2.5". It looks like you can push it 3" forward without moving the steering box (if that matters for your situation).

 

[RangerSVT]

I pushed mine forward almost 6 inches and still using stock location gearbox, although my extreme drop pitman arm is real close to my tracbar. Thinking about using a superduty arm for both more clearance and more turning radius...

SVT

 

[Andres629]

Wow, six inches? Really? Mind linking me to a picture or something SVT? I think the 2.5 would fit just fine, but if I can move that axle forward more and keep the stockgearbox location... chawesome. That's choice, and awesome.

 

[RangerSVT]

I'll have to dig em up later, but they are in my build thread, should be the last two pages...

SVT

 

[Kage]

I guess I should clarify a bit more. For the 2.5-3", I am still using the stock ranger arm (though slightly straightened out some). And things are very tight with the ~4" of lift that I am running. With more lift you might be able to get away with pushing it out further.

 

[Kage]

11th Offroad Trip - Flat Nasty 8-5-12

We wandered out to Flat Nasty this past weekend, and dragged the rain around with us (Which was nice!). I only got to run on Hills and Gully's and part of 18 before the Ranger popped front shaft. Ron had recently 'fluffed' trail 18 which made it a wee bit more interesting

I've only got a few pics from today the link of the photos lives here:
Link (Click Me)

Headed out Friday night to stay at Rolla, when was the last time you saw a pinto on the road?

We woke Saturday morning to this:

And it continued to rain off and on through the rest of the morning which made it rather nice outside. It didn't really warm up until the afternoon.

More pics:

Playing one of them Dukes boys:

Recovery after I blew a shaft:

Tippy XJ:

Quick video from the weekend:



All and all, pretty good trip, and a fine trip for the Rangers Finial run. Yup that's right, Finial.

As I was sitting there hopelessly bound up, with two winch cables, a XJ with a strap, and a blown axle shaft I made the decision that the Rangers time has come. While the truck is fun, its at the crossroads of either keep building it ($$$$) or jump out of the ranger and into something smaller.

So I am choosing something smaller.

The truck will be going up for sale once I get that D60 shaft replaced. Hopefully I can sell it in one piece and not part it out. It would bring many tears to my eyes to have to cut it up just to get my money back out of it.

Edit: Here's a few more photos:

Clic the pic for vid.

 

[RangerSVT]

Gonna be sad to see her go. So what's the next rig gonna be?

SVT

 

[Josh40601]

Man, really hate to hear that. I'd sure love to have it.

 

[escort_gts]

Man, really hate to hear that. I'd sure love to have it.

You're not the only one.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Kage]

Gonna be sad to see her go. So what's the next rig gonna be?

SVT

The deal isn't sealed yet, but it's looking very likely that I'll be a proud owner of a Samurai by the weeks end. It'll be a little different going from 113" WB down to 80", and roughly 1/3 of the weight too

Man, really hate to hear that. I'd sure love to have it.

You're not the only one.

Feel free to PM me an offer. I'll knock the price down some if I don't have to replace the shaft before I sell it