History - Page 3
With some Toyota axles swapped in and some grippy 35" Baja Claw's providing traction, I hit the trails again setting out to see how tough these axles would be. After several months of extreme four wheeling I came to the conclusion that the axles would serve me well, however, there were a few small changes I wanted to make: taller tires, more wheelbase and the rear sheet metal had to go.
I purchased a tubing bender and some other tools in early 2003 with the intention of starting a new rig in the summer. To practice bending tube I decided to tube out the back half of my existing rig. Next, the rear axle was moved back another 6 inches for a 90 inch wheelbase and I inboarded the rear springs for more articulation. Shortly after the modifications were done I upgraded the tires to a set of 37" tall Baja Claws. This configuration worked well, the extra wheelbase was nice but there were still some obstacles too steep to drive (like the first big waterfall on Axle Alley). The inboarded rear springs were a test for my new rig, I was still on the fence deciding between coils or leafs.
A short while later I brought the Samurai back down to the shop at work to give it a face lift. My original front end was 1" diameter tubing and I wanted to redesign the front end so it used the same size tubing as the rest of the cage and tie it together better. I also eliminated the rocker panels and "boat sided" the rig using steel plates. This provided loads more clearance and turned out to be one of the best modifications I have ever done.
When done I wasn't sure I really liked the grill, but I figured I'd leave it and see if it grew on me.
Everything was working fine until my rig met Twisted. First, (unknown to me at the time) my steering box broke which caused me to get wedged really good near the end of the trail. While trying to free my rig I bent both rear spring packs and tore up the drivers side pretty good. I guess it was a good thing I beefed up the front tubing, it held up really well.