I've got a small farm on top of a mountain down a long dirt road filled with potholes that is absolutely brutal on vehicles. I drive into town every day and in the evenings drag hay bales and sacks of feed back home in my ugly beige 83 royal 2x diesel. (beige is Japanese for "color of dried up dog turd in the yard") Sprinkle the daily dirt road dust on the sagging leaf springs dragging it's behind like a dog with worms and you get the chick magnet I call "Dirty Turd". I'll take a before pic when I get around to it.
2 wheel drive is a misnomer, it's actually a one wheel drive as the inside tire just spins in the red clay mud, gets sideways, and drops me into the ditch if I don't get a running head start when it's raining. Snow? Fuggedaboudit. Gotta park down the hill and call the homestead for a 4x4 taxi ride. That chews up an hour both ways.
After the 2x front suspension broke twice in 2 years, I hotrodded it with custom coil springs and Rancho 5000's. That put me on the upper bumpstops up front and abused the lower arm bushings even worse. But now I can catch air over bumps other people don't notice.
And I love the way the rear drums lock up in the rain on a windy asphalt mountain freeway when everybody is panic stopping in front of you. Pucker power times 10, sideways...
So I've got a plethora of engineering goals to achieve to continue enjoying my 31 mpg without killing myself.
Let's start with limited slip so I can achieve actual 2 wheel drive. That's number one, right there.
4x would be nice, but not a requirement yet.
And rear discs so I can unclench and not fear mister wall or getting sideways in the rain. Ooh, an adjustable prop valve for empty...
Leafs and lift in the rear so 500 pounds of hay and feed or 1000 lbs of wet patch won't drag the rear bumper.
I'm thinking Spring Over Axle SOA for hero status.
And how bout a real front suspension with real front and rear bushings, top and bottom, that'll survive more than 12 months of pothole bashing. With replaceable ball joints since they're not going to live more than a year anyway.
And some real truck tires and rims while I'm at it. Because 14's are for wimmen and chiddren.
And a cab lift, cuz the tires still aren't big enough, even on paper.
And air conditioning, because sweat drenched shirts are so socially acceptable.
On a budget.
With all OEM or junkyard parts. In fact, all junkyard parts except consumables as needed.
I'll keep my cab and bed and whatever mechanicals apply.
Time to go junkyardin' and see what exists...
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Originally Posted by 87octane
I try to race people all the time its hilarious.
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