Sniv's Custom Long Travel Build

[snivilous]

Went snow wheeling yesterday to wrap up the semester before finals.

Initially we were going to Swan Flats up Logan Canyon, but we couldn't chug through the snow so ended up going to Franklin Basin where the snow wasn't as deep and was packed down a bit from snow mobilers.

It started out well, I wasn't originally planning to run lead but it ended up that way. I started out aired down to 12psi.

As per a typical snow mobile trail, it was pretty consistent whoops/bumps. The rear is obviously valved way wrong, but the front did well. It's nice to not worry about bottoming out.

The snow was kinda powdery, as you can see I was still sinking in a lot even aired down. Course the skinnies don't help that

We went 3 miles down the trail and then I had an issue as I was pulling the jeep out behind me. I blew a bead in the front from the tire being cranked too much steering. I swapped it for my spare which is a 31x10.50, and then a range rover with us had issues starting so I then was gonna attempt to reseat the bead but the valve stem had sheared off somehow... Not sure if the bead or the valve stem failed first, but I had to go the rest of the way with a wide 31 and skinny 33s.

A bit further down the trail we ran into the next issue. I had one of my buddies swap into lead since his Wrangler is dual locked on 35s so figured he could chug through it better. The snow was getting deep enough even in the compacted sections where I was having issues. We got to a narrow part of the trail where the Wrangler had issues, and then when I tried to follow I had even more issues. We ended up being stuck there for an hour and a half as I would floor it and try to go as far as I could before getting high centered/running out of traction and then would get pulled back and we would shovel more and then repeat.

The Wrangler backed up to try and pull me forward then, and he got stuck so I had to pull him back. We then chained up the Wrangler and he took multiple stabs at moving forward with me pulling him back repeatedly. Finally he was able to plow some ruts to a clearing for the group to turn around and I was able to crawl through everything with no issue. At this point it was a decently made road from all the shoveling and packed down snow.

There were 8 trucks in total. Three wranglers, two XJs, a grand cherokee, a range rover, and then me One of the XJs and the range rover were essentially stock and just followed everyones ruts. Needless to say I was the only IFS vehicle.

Fun trip, took about 7 hours total with 6 hours on the trail. We pulled into town around 7pm. I'm going to Discount today to get the 33 remounted and a new valve stem put in. The truck ran fine so I should be set to head home on Friday :roll: Hopefully this read wasn't super boring, I'm wicked tired from a final this morning.

 

[MtnT4R]

Looks like a damn fun snow wheelin tip. I don't think I've posted on here before to say...HOLY SH*IT CUSTOM LONG TRAVEL. me likey.

Sick work man. Wish I had your fabricating skills

 

[JBurt]

Sounds like a good trip during finals!

When you get new tires do you know what you're going to go with?

 

[snivilous]

When you get new tires do you know what you're going to go with?

I don't know...right now I'm leaning towards MTRs, mainly since they're cheap. Ideally I would go with Trepadors but they're 50% more than MTRs, and I know MTRs perform well. My only worry being their icy handling since they have no siping. Maybe just go with Duratracs, my only complaint being that everyone and their grandma runs them and want something more unique but our Tundra and 4th gen run them and they work great, especially in the snowy conditions that our home in CO is in for 9 months of the year. So short answer, is I don't know :lol:

 

[Fishwerks]

I don't know...right now I'm leaning towards MTRs, mainly since they're cheap. Ideally I would go with Trepadors but they're 50% more than MTRs, and I know MTRs perform well. My only worry being their icy handling since they have no siping. Maybe just go with Duratracs, my only complaint being that everyone and their grandma runs them and want something more unique but our Tundra and 4th gen run them and they work great, especially in the snowy conditions that our home in CO is in for 9 months of the year. So short answer, is I don't know :lol:

Have you seen the Toyo RTs? Way sick...but not offered in 16" wheel sizes yet.

 

[t-man]

I don't know...right now I'm leaning towards MTRs, mainly since they're cheap. Ideally I would go with Trepadors but they're 50% more than MTRs, and I know MTRs perform well. My only worry being their icy handling since they have no siping. Maybe just go with Duratracs, my only complaint being that everyone and their grandma runs them and want something more unique but our Tundra and 4th gen run them and they work great, especially in the snowy conditions that our home in CO is in for 9 months of the year. So short answer, is I don't know :lol:

Check out Hankook dynapro MT. Very good snow and mean looking. Last a long time and sticky as hell! Can't beat a Hankook my man! Cheap too , look them up on discount tire.

 

[t-man]

Don't know exactly what size you are looking for, but here's some 35" Hankook MT's for 16" rims. I have these exact ones in 17" rim.
Tire Details - Discount Tire

 

[TheArkMaster]

When are we going snow wheeling sniv?

 

[shootmymime]

When are we going snow wheeling sniv?

come on up to rexburg, weekend trip. come see me up here, just 2 hours north of logan. ive got a super comfy sectional and blow up mattress.

 

[snivilous]

Don't know exactly what size you are looking for, but here's some 35" Hankook MT's for 16" rims. I have these exact ones in 17" rim.
Tire Details - Discount Tire

Sweetness! I've been seeing those and think they look boss but couldn't figure out what they're called. I would probably run them on a 17" rim since I need to go up, right now I just have 15s and I want to run Tundra brakes let alone I have clearance issues with the LT and 15s. Thanks for pointing those out!

When are we going snow wheeling sniv?

Whenever I have money and preferably better tires Side note, I keep forgetting to post this, but a few weeks ago I went to Bear Lake to help recover a red 3rd gen pickup Toyota Truggy owned by a guy named Chase. When I was chatting to him he said he knew a guy with a 3rd gen and said his name was Noah, which I was thinking was you and then I asked if he knew if you were on t4r and he just said the guys forum names are TheArkMaster Thought that was a neat coincidence! For the record, that was the most brutal recovery in the world. I spent most of the time sitting in my buddies Jeep, but it was -25F where the Truggy was broken down--it was so cold the engine couldn't start because the oil was almost totally frozen. And the Jeeps heater core barely functioned which was totally awesome too...

come on up to rexburg, weekend trip. come see me up here, just 2 hours north of logan. ive got a super comfy sectional and blow up mattress.

Or you just come down here to wheel Though I do need to meet/wheel with everyone in both directions! Hopefully next semester since I'll be taking a break from working hardcore on the truck.

 

[TheArkMaster]

come on up to rexburg, weekend trip. come see me up here, just 2 hours north of logan. ive got a super comfy sectional and blow up mattress.

What sniv said. Come down here. :vader:

Whenever I have money and preferably better tires Side note, I keep forgetting to post this, but a few weeks ago I went to Bear Lake to help recover a red 3rd gen pickup Toyota Truggy owned by a guy named Chase. When I was chatting to him he said he knew a guy with a 3rd gen and said his name was Noah, which I was thinking was you and then I asked if he knew if you were on t4r and he just said the guys forum names are TheArkMaster Thought that was a neat coincidence! For the record, that was the most brutal recovery in the world. I spent most of the time sitting in my buddies Jeep, but it was -25F where the Truggy was broken down--it was so cold the engine couldn't start because the oil was almost totally frozen. And the Jeeps heater core barely functioned which was totally awesome too...

Hhahahahah. That is awesome. Hes one of the main guys I wheel with. The funny thing is, I was at work and he called me and says, "Hey Noah, Remember that time I told you not to go snow wheeling alone? Yeah, well I went alone. Do you know anyone near Logan?" haha. He had space heaters on it for 48 hours before the fluids fully defrosted. It was a brand new engine too. Thing is still on jack stands.

 

[shootmymime]

What sniv said. Come down here. :vader:
.

Sweetness! I'


.

Anyone got a spare set of tires I could borrow for a run? My highways don't work in snow off road. Great on the street and ice tho.

 

[t-man]

Sweetness! I've been seeing those and think they look boss but couldn't figure out what they're called. I would probably run them on a 17" rim since I need to go up, right now I just have 15s and I want to run Tundra brakes let alone I have clearance issues with the LT and 15s. Thanks for pointing those out!

I love them! They ride great down highway, little hum but very quiet for an MT, they grab EVERYTHING hard, and they feel almost tacky to the touch. I have a friend that is on his second set on his 3/4 ton chevy and he gets 40k+ miles out of them, and does almost all street driving.
When I say they grab hard, I mean it! I broke my rear ring and pinion pulling my buddy out. I was going uphill in sand! Which brings me to my next thought, if you haven't rebuilt your front and rear diffs yet, do it. You need to get rid of that crush sleeve and put the solid spacer in so you don't do what I did. Here's a pic of my ring and pinion Took the teeth out almost the whole way around! Of course I have a little more power than yours, but still. If you drive it hard, do yourself the favor! :girl:

 

[snivilous]

Story time: So I drove home to CO on Friday and had a sweet trip... I ran out of gas in Wyoming (again). Utah doesn't seem to like when I move away. The gas gauge was still reading a 1/3 of a tank when I ran out, now I have run out of gas before and it read a 1/4 of a tank which was because I had dented my gas tank right where the sender unit was so the float couldn't drop below the 1/4 tank mark. From that experience I always reference how far I've gone, well this time I hadn't even made it 170 miles on a full tank! Meaning I was averaging about 9mpg on the highway. There's multiple things that attributed to this, first I have a CEL so the engine isn't being super efficient, second I was fully loaded down with everything I own and towing my jet skis with an even less aerodynamic mattress strapped on top, third I was doing 70-80mph the whole way since I wanted to get home fast, and lastly obviously the truck is wider and has those bulgy fenders (since the LT my best average mileage was 12mpg, previously it was 14mpg).

So--I call 911 first and they direct me to the state troopers, I talk to them and they send a guy over. Most worthless experience ever, bear in mind it's like 5pm; first he pulls up behind me with his LEDs on, which I always find annoying since I can outshine the hell out of him. So I start walking over and he gets on the speaker and tells me to stop walking, then tells me to take my hands out of my pockets. He walks over and asks what's wrong, and then asks why I didn't get gas at the last gas station. I'm thinking like dude, I would of filled up if I had known I was empty... I put my hands back in my pockets since it's chilly, and then he's like take your hands out of your pockets! Are you carrying any weapons?! I understand there's a risk I could be faking it and just want to attack the guy, but like holy shit it's cold out and I have no gas and I'm being interrogated when all I need is ONE GALLON to make it the gas station I had just passed. He then refuses to get me any gas because he has to "patrol this stretch of highway". I'm like wtf?? You can't siphon me some gas, or bring me a jerry can? Like what is his use as a highway patrol, when he can't drive 8 miles to the last gas station and get me a gallon?? I'm stranded and for some reason his priority is making sure people don't speed right there? I was pissed at how worthless the cops were when I actually needed them for once.

So I call insurance for road side assistance, literally on the phone for an hour since they can't figure out where I am or where I-80 is it seems. Finally they say they're going to send someone over, but it'll be $100 out of pocket (so that plus the $75 coverage overall). I'm like, whatever do it, I just want to get home. So the service truck guys call me and ask where I am since the insurance company didn't make much sense, I tell them I'm near Laramie WY and they tell me they're in Rock Springs over 100 miles away and despite that they don't even cover that far away and I'm in a different service district. Wow... This was the only guy I talked to who was actually useful, obviously I and him are like yea **** that when Laramie is 40 miles away. So he calls the insurance back and tells them they have the wrong guys. He then calls me back and says the insurance wanted me to call them, so he wishes me luck. I call them, of course I can't figure out how to talk to the guys I was talking to originally and talk to some woman who actually figures out where I am. After awhile she concludes NO ONE in my vicinity does gas delivery. So I have now been on the phone for an hour and a half, and finally come to the conclusion that the police won't help me, and there are NO service vehicles within range. I talk to my parents and they tell me of some gas stations and tow services nearby and I call them, none of them will deliver gas. I even offered one place $100 to come give me 5 gallons and I was literally a 15 minute drive from them and they refused.

So finally, what I had considered from the onset but didn't want to do, was to siphon gas from my jet skis I had. I talked to my dad and he looked online to figure out if anything major could happen, after all I just had to limp down the road. So I decide to do it, I siphon gas from my jet ski which has 2-stroke premixed at 40:1 with 110 octane leaded gas and then get gas from the other jet ski which just has 50:1 and 91 octane. So I'm mixing whatever is left in the tank, with lots of 2-stroke plus some leaded race gas. Truck starts up, sweet... seems to run fine, luckily I'm a quarter mile from an exit and turn around (I was going to just drive across the center to the other side if I had to). The truck ran decently all the way to the gas station, like I said it was 8 miles, near the end the truck didn't sound great. It was running fine but sounded like it wasn't running smoothly, which is to be expected. So that whole ordeal put me behind by around 3 hours, and gave me the conclusion to always carry spare gas for the long trips and that highway patrol is worthless as is insurance. The irony being when you're in the city and there's tons of people to help and you're close to resources you can call people to help you, but when you are stranded and nowhere near anything everyone either refuses or can't help you...

Anyways, the truck ran fine the rest of the way and I had filled up my jet skis jerry cans with normal gas but didn't need it. The truck did fine pulling the trailer, it's not a big trailer at all and maybe weighed 1000lbs. So now I'm back in CO for 3 weeks until the next semester! Hopefully I can fix the CEL during this time and do some other maintenance and finally prime and paint and finish the LT!

 

[snivilous]

Luckily the roads were totally clear, last night it snowed a couple inches so I drove a little down our road and snapped some photos with snivilous

First, a picture of our other dog Fatty

And snivilous

 

[snivilous]

So it's time for the beasts maintenance and fix ups while over break. Yesterday I bought a transmission jack, I'm leaking so much oil so I decided to fix my rear main seal once and for all. While at it I'm gonna replace my transfer case rear output seal since it's leaking too, replace both CVs (lifetime warranty O'Reilly ones), sand blast and grind to make the LT look pretty and then paint it, change all the fluids including tranny and transfer case and differentials, and probably replace my rear axle seals and replace the drums since they are soaked.

This is the first time the girlfriend has seen me do anything intensive on the truck and she was actually really helpful :kiss:

This is the LT as it was before I tore it apart. I should be able to fit everything into our sand blast chamber which will make it easy. I'll blast both A arms, the spindle, steering knuckle, and steering linkage. This will also give me opportunity to make sure there are no stress cracks and everything is functioning properly. Like I said I will also grind any parts to pretty them up on the truck, as well as some final things to weld. I forgot to bring my tubing back from Utah so I probably won't be making an engine cage yet. I'll also wire wheel the shock hoops as best I can and paint them too.

This is the cosmetics phase for the LT, which it obviously needs :thumb:

I pulled out the whole suspension on the passenger side, and most of it on the drivers side. I unbolted everything inside the cab and removed both driveshafts and some other small parts.

I'm gonna probably pull the front bumper too and do some cosmetic touch ups, as well as figure out where to relocate the winch relay since I removed it during the suspension work and have yet to reinstall it.

Probably gonna continue running the 33 BFGs for the time being until summer. I saw there potentially are some Maxxis Trepadors coming out with competition style tread but aren't stickies, it would be cool if I could get those in the summer if they come to fruition.

 

[Cartzo]

And here I thought you were just being a bad ass for leaving me the tube

 

[Jedrattle]

Nice runner. Congrats on getting the LT built. I missed it but who made those fenders?

 

[farmerjon]

That's quite the story running out of gas down there! Usually WY HP is better than that, at least up north, but down south, I've not always heard good things about the HP. Very sorry to hear - I wish my home state would have treated you better. For what it's worth, if you would have been nearby and I was home (instead of school in IN), I would have enjoyed the opportunity to drive and help out! That sucks about your dented tank + bad MPGs. Hopefully you just ran the engine real rich for 8 miles and nothing else.

If that happens again, I know some people at UW that would probably help out (some Taco/TW guys as well), I bet they would help if I could contact them fast enough?

Also: good luck with rebuilding everything! A woman who will help you is worth quite a bit! have fun and enjoy break!

 

[snivilous]

Nice runner. Congrats on getting the LT built. I missed it but who made those fenders?

Thanks man! The fenders are from McNeil Racing.

That's quite the story running out of gas down there! Usually WY HP is better than that, at least up north, but down south, I've not always heard good things about the HP. Very sorry to hear - I wish my home state would have treated you better. For what it's worth, if you would have been nearby and I was home (instead of school in IN), I would have enjoyed the opportunity to drive and help out! That sucks about your dented tank + bad MPGs. Hopefully you just ran the engine real rich for 8 miles and nothing else.

If that happens again, I know some people at UW that would probably help out (some Taco/TW guys as well), I bet they would help if I could contact them fast enough?

Also: good luck with rebuilding everything! A woman who will help you is worth quite a bit! have fun and enjoy break!

I'll keep that in mind next time I'm in Wyoming! It didn't cross my mind to reference anyone on here that could possibly be nearby. I was certainly disappointed with highway patrol, though otherwise haven't had any issues with Wyoming though I haven't explored it much. Maybe someday we can go wheeling and you can show me some nice scenery besides the mostly flat and rolling land scape I see on I-80.