Jono.ful's Backcountry Assault Vehicle

[Jono.ful]

I thought the Red Letter was long gone and X3 was the General MTR now.

The old red letter was really a desert tire and not generally considered that great of an overall option. X3 is supposed to be way better...

Few places around here (Canada) still advertising they have the red letters available, if not, it'll just be another set of MTR's.

Good buddy of mine runs red letters on his raptor and loves them. I have yet to read a bad review on them.

 

[AZ Craig]

Few places around here (Canada) still advertising they have the red letters available, if not, it'll just be another set of MTR's.

Good buddy of mine runs red letters on his raptor and loves them. I have yet to read a bad review on them.

Got it. You may want to check the X3 out, it has the red letter sidewall available and is a very highly regarded tire reading up on things. Extremely competitively priced and supposed to even be decent in snow for a mud.

I almost considered giving a set a shot when I swapped over to my X-ATs, but decided the occasional snow performance for ski trips was worth keeping away from a MT (albeit, the X-AT is not snow flake rated either).

 

[Jono.ful]

Got it. You may want to check the X3 out, it has the red letter sidewall available and is a very highly regarded tire reading up on things. Extremely competitively priced and supposed to even be decent in snow for a mud.

I almost considered giving a set a shot when I swapped over to my X-ATs, but decided the occasional snow performance for ski trips was worth keeping away from a MT (albeit, the X-AT is not snow flake rated either).

I'm not a fan of the x3, the sidewalls remind me too much of the BFG ko2, which I personally can't stand. They look like they belong on an 80's half ton driven by a 70 year old farmer. I'm also not especially worried about cost - as my inlaws own the shop.

I also run a set of studded Duratracs for the winter, so I'm not too worried about the snow performance for the new ones, whatever direction I decide to go

 

[Jono.ful]

LT35/12.5r17 Maxxis Razr MT on order!


....guess I better get serious about going to 4.56 gears too

 

[rageandlove]

few photos of some late season camping last week at Tucker Lake, AB. couldn't wait to finish the new drawers before heading out. still need to put the fronts on, but the increase in space over the old ones is amazing, and the pull out tray is a game changer for sure...

Looks great - both the drawers and the lake. Anyone else up there? Love that area of the world.

BTW, some vinyl arrived, so I'm going to steal your stripes-on-the-front-of-the-rack idea next weekend ...

 

[Jono.ful]

Looks great - both the drawers and the lake. Anyone else up there? Love that area of the world.

BTW, some vinyl arrived, so I'm going to steal your stripes-on-the-front-of-the-rack idea next weekend ...

I was out there with a good buddy and his fiancée too, but he drives an f-150, so I tried pretty hard to avoid getting his truck in any of the photos

I finally put the fronts and paddle latches on the drawers too, I'll grab some photos next week - just down at the in-laws for our thanksgiving weekend.

Glad you liked the deflector, it turned out better than I expected. I have some of that vinyl left too, might have to do something on my drawers.....

 

[Jono.ful]

Back in Black...

Since I had all the armour off for the rust prevention work, I decided it'd be a good time to re-coat the Hefty Fabworks steel skids. I had previously used Tremclad rust paint on them in a close approximation of TRD red, but I wanted something more durable, so they got the same semi-gloss black por15 treatment I used on the new lower rear links, and my OPOR sliders.

The below freezing temps and first snow of the year have already set in around here, so I'm not sure I'll get around to doing por15 on the rear bumper before spring, but I've got spindle gussets and rear link mount skids on the way from Total Chaos and a BMC plate kit around here that will probably end up going on soon.

I also swapped the studded Duratracs back on the 4r, this will be the last season for these 285/70/17's however, since I've got 315's on order for the spring.

4.56 gears here we go...

 

[comtn4x4]

Back in Black...

Since I had all the armour off for the rust prevention work, I decided it'd be a good time to re-coat the Hefty Fabworks steel skids. I had previously used Tremclad rust paint on them in a close approximation of TRD red, but I wanted something more durable, so they got the same semi-gloss black por15 treatment I used on the new lower rear links, and my OPOR sliders.

The below freezing temps and first snow of the year have already set in around here, so I'm not sure I'll get around to doing por15 on the rear bumper before spring, but I've got spindle gussets and rear link mount skids on the way from Total Chaos and a BMC plate kit around here that will probably end up going on soon.

I also swapped the studded Duratracs back on the 4r, this will be the last season for these 285/70/17's however, since I've got 315's on order for the spring.

4.56 gears here we go...

Love the direction you're going. I wish I had the time to do all the maintenance work you're doing especially with the quality you do the work. I really need to make the time to get all my armor off and re coat or paint it. Kudos to you

 

[Jono.ful]

Love the direction you're going. I wish I had the time to do all the maintenance work you're doing especially with the quality you do the work. I really need to make the time to get all my armor off and re coat or paint it. Kudos to you

Haha I kinda wish I had less time, I'm an industrial electrician and do mostly oil field work. I've been off since March.

Por15 is a great product and super durable, but you do need to follow the process. It took a me two days or so to pull the skids, buff off the loose rust and paint flake, power wash, degrease, power wash, apply the phosphorus etch, power wash, then finally apply 3 coats of the rust proofing. I'm hoping it will chip rather than tear as the skids get used, in which case I'll just touch it up with rattle can until its time to pull everything off again in a few year's time.

 

[comtn4x4]

Haha I kinda wish I had less time, I'm an industrial electrician and do mostly oil field work. I've been off since March.

Por15 is a great product and super durable, but you do need to follow the process. It took a me two days or so to pull the skids, buff off the loose rust and paint flake, power wash, degrease, power wash, apply the phosphorus etch, power wash, then finally apply 3 coats of the rust proofing. I'm hoping it will chip rather than tear as the skids get used, in which case I'll just touch it up with rattle can until its time to pull everything off again in a few year's time.

Sorry to hear you're not working. I hope you get back to it soon.
Fortunately my Hefty skids are aluminum so I could just clean and buff them. However, my front and rear bumpers and sliders would be a pain considering what you're detailing. And unfortunately I still daily my rig. Maybe someday...
I'm looking forward to seeing the 315's are hearing your experiences fitting them and the re gear

 

[zoomzoom]

Quite the transformation on the 4R Jono.ful! Looks great!

Yeah, the economic situation is an especially difficult one in AB. Another O&G merger today in the industry too. Hopefully things will get better soon!

 

[Jono.ful]

Latest project(s) have all involved reinforcements... Total Chaos spindle gussets and rear lower link skids, EIM Keith panhard bar relocation bracket, and Bamf body mount chop plates.

Time to recoat my rear bumper too ��

Spindles turned out real nice with the por15 treatment on them

Rear link skids are going on this week here, but I think I may get some different BMC plates that will allow for a more aggressive chop. Definitely need to schedule some more facetime with my buddy who does my welding!

 

[Jono.ful]

So after getting everything put back together upon completing the spindle gusset project I had a code for a wheel speed sensor issue. The sensor itself and the wiring harness all checked out fine, which suggested a bad ABS tone ring. Since the tone ring is a permanent part of the wheel bearing, it necessitated pressing a new bearing.

I had an old hub/bearing assembly sitting in my shop that was NFG, so I decided to steal that hub to press a new oem Koyo bearing onto. I had to buy a new press, but everything went smoothly, and 90 minutes or so later all the ABS system codes were gone.

 

[Jono.ful]

.....and then this happened today too. Exciting things coming in 8 - 10 weeks! :banana:

 

[Jhalko]

.....and then this happened today too. Exciting things coming in 8 - 10 weeks! :banana:

What’s this? I’ve been running Elka 2.5 remote resi shocks for a year now. It’s been a love/hate relationship.

 

[Jono.ful]

What’s this? I’ve been running Elka 2.5 remote resi shocks for a year now. It’s been a love/hate relationship.

"this" is not that.

 

[sn_85]

What’s this? I’ve been running Elka 2.5 remote resi shocks for a year now. It’s been a love/hate relationship.

What do you hate about your Elka's?

 

[BobWheelerJr]

Sweet Jesus of Nazareth. If you don't mind my asking, what did all the mods cost you in total?

 

[Jono.ful]

Sweet Jesus of Nazareth. If you don't mind my asking, what did all the mods cost you in total?

I don't keep track because otherwise I wouldn't be able to tell my wife honestly that "I don't know"

But I'm probably into it for an additional 25-30k.

 

[Jono.ful]

Total Chaos lower link skids going on yesterday

Did the por15 treatment on those this evening. Also, turns out the shop I was dealing with never ordered the maxxis razrs I was after before Christmas, so I'm going in a different direction with a different shop...

Method 105's and a set of Goodyear MTR's in 275/80r17 being ordered from 4 wheel parts tomorrow, and should be less than 4 weeks now before the new Elka's arrive.

I may need to buy a new truck, starting to run out of things to do...

Can't have that