nacho.diesel - an ultra performance build

[WILDHOBO]

Man… I’m just smiling every day looking at this.

Pretty much.

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[Jefe1018]

Pretty much.

Too bad I already sold a kidney to get the JT in the first place.

 

[Rusty PW]

When I hit the lotto. I'm going to be copying this build.

 

[Rusty PW]

Man… I’m just smiling every day looking at this.

I can't wait for the up dates.

 

[TheSolarWizard]

spacers located. Of course they cant be in till monday. No big deal its not like the jeep is scheduled to go on a hauler Tuesday or anything

on second thought im gonna request Wednesday. Need a least some driving and tuning time before it goes 2500 miles

 

[aFatBird]

hoping to locate the beadlock spacers the bead on these 42s is SUPER thick

Man, that snap on hard handle must be nice.
Also dang that's alot of tire

 

[TheSolarWizard]

Man, that snap on hard handle must be nice.
Also dang that's alot of tire

Good eye yes its a joy to use and you are not kidding. These tires are over 4” taller than my last set of 39” KM3s
Surprisingly not much heavier im gonna guess 10-12 lbs. also wider but more square

 

[aFatBird]

Good eye yes its a joy to use and you are not kidding. These tires are over 4” taller than my last set of 39” KM3s
Surprisingly not much heavier im gonna guess 10-12 lbs. also wider but more square

I could be blind but are you running rcv's in the fusion axles or just going with the u joint style axles fusion supplies?

 

[TheSolarWizard]

I could be blind but are you running rcv's in the fusion axles or just going with the u joint style axles fusion supplies?

No RCVs but it does have solid 1480s and triple heat treated chromoly axles. I have 2 spare u joints, two stub shafts and one of each of the inners ill keep close by hard wheeling places if they aren’t on board. Being a non standard width means it could be months and months waiting on either these or rcvs should breakage occur.

The deciding factor was I like having a spare but doing RCVs with a spare set was gonna be almost $5k ive also watched someone rebuild an rcv with a poor outcome before so that contributed

edit: I also have 1 spare yukon hardcore hub but the chances of that needing replacement are really, really low

 

[RudeJeepin]

I have 2 spare u joints, two stub shafts and one of each of the inners ill keep close by hand

The question is...do you plan to wheel this thing, or just show it off?
Answer...see quote above...should be pretty obvious that you plan on it, and plan to wheel it hard!!!

Wow, just wow, this is turning out awesome.
Out of curiosity, did you consider bobbing the bed?

I agree with @Rusty PW, when my wife wins the lotto, I'm gonna come knocking.

 

[TheSolarWizard]

Before this I legitimately spent many thousands of miles with this jeep offroad, counting all the desert driving in ocotillo/truckhaven and the barely a wagon trail road in and out of my property.

Less classic rockkrawling because I was focused on learning the best practices for the wheelbase but I still spent a lot of time around johnson valley, big bear, vegas and one week long trip to moab where I was 3 times on trails where I was the only one without lockers. This jeep has really taught me how to two foot it with success which im sure will pay dividends now.

I certainly understand the suspicion that this is a show jeep because its turning out to be pretty much a show stopper but its first stop is sand hollow where its gonna get pushed up but hopefully not beyond its limits. That being said the limits are more likely to be the fact that its still a big body gladiator.

that brings me to your last question about bobbing. Yes I definitely considered bobbing the bed. I looked at cutting the regular bed, doing the motobilt bed and also switching to a trey. I wasn’t gonna diy a flat bed but I even sat with my structural engineer and made some drawings just to see if there were any a-has out there.

Trey bed (no canopy) - I initially intended to do this. Partly because I, like probably a lot of people here, Have watched a lot of wheeling videos from our friends down unda and thats pretty much all I ever see. Partly because my business uses quite a few specialized flatbeds so im generally familiar with them.
I know a guy with a pretty popular utube channel that has one but we spoke and ultimately he has decided to pull it off much for the shortfalls I gathered on my own. They are too wide and theres only so many things you can carry on one before it becomes unwieldy or an easy pickens free for all.

motobilt bobbed bed - I quickly eliminated the steel one because of the additional heft. The aluminum version seemed ok on the surface but it still had two of what I considered be 3 huge downsides. 1) storage space. This one seems obvious just from pics but the reality is that 2 good size but not huge yetis are all that fits in there. 2) paint. To do that right requires a lot of paint $
Also ran as a negative; getting locked into the motobilt ecosystem. Personally, I do not care all all for the fender designs, the rear bumper that comes with the bed nor could I think of a pair of real rock sliders outside their weld on double tubes that made sense, and i dont like that style.

chopped bed - aesthetically, this is the best looking option from my perspective. Im probably not the only one in here that drooled over those AEV conversions back in the day. They have more space than motobilt and still look factory. It wasn’t until late April that I reversed my intention to do this.

1) still got weak corners and bedsides (but I am working on a resolution for this)
2) it wouldn’t allow for an under bed fuel cell of reasonable size, which is far more preferable for weight distribution front to rear and center of gravity and putting it in bed meant sacrificing even more bed space and inability to lock cargo inside along with amateurish refueling practices, which also further ruined any thoughts for motobilt as well.

at the end of the day I wanted the absolute best dual purpose suspension that could ever be installed onto a gladiator, which requires a fuel cell, which almost led me back to a tray bed, but now that ive seen the dramatic gain in clearance with the savvy bumper, I have very few concerns about it. Once I can reinforce the bedsides ill be able to go just about any place a 4 door full body wrangler can

If all this sounds a little too ChatGPT-ish, it’s not I won’t use that stuff. I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night and I got a little long-winded over my coffee using voice to text.

 

[TheSolarWizard]

also fwiw its because of the way I am and my obsessive persistence that this suspension design is being unveiled on my Jeep at Trail Hero instead of Easter Jeep or later next year on one of their company owned JTs. I heard a little rumor about it and immediately turned into the most lovable, completely irritating and nearly insufferable guy the owner of Rockkrawler has ever had the joy/regret of knowing on a personal level
A similar but not the same design has been available for wranglers from rockkrawler for a little while now and its on a few dozen Jeeps outside the racecar in the background, doing incredible things some of which ive enjoyed from the drivers seat. What is brand new ofher than the coilover arangement and the brilliant fuel cell design, are the extra long “PB&J” arms. They are a true, race car derived, unadulterated masterpiece. And by the numbers at least 30% stronger than anything else out there.

There is also some tech being deployed that I am almost ready to talk about but that part will likely come after I drive it for a day or two in utah, I do expect to be raving but im not pulling punches if something needs improvement, you’ll hear it first from me

 

[RudeJeepin]

@TheSolarWizard thanks for the explanation. Sounds like you really put a lot of thought into the bed.
With that bumper and fuel cell you've definitely limited the rear drag that can be a problem with pickups.
Keep us informed, we're all drooling over your build.

 

[TheSolarWizard]

slider 1 is on. At the risk of sounding like a total sellout for savvy, this design is almost as awesome as the rear bumper. Not only do the mounts weld on in such a way to allow the frame side mount arms to travel, they come with a super thorough weld schedule to help someone that may not be a top tier welder avoid overdoing it on the frame. Additionally the shell can be installed in about 20 minutes and removed in about the same. As far as I know this is the only one true, weld on slider on the market that can get replaced without grinding the mounts off and starting over.

its super super super tight to the body but still allows for an appropriate stand off from obstacles and if ya put just a touch of grip tape, makes a really great step assist

 

[TheSolarWizard]

picking the new hood and grill up from paint this afternoon. I was told this was done 3 weeks ago but they had me confused with another customer. Im not thrilled about heading to a place with a high likelihood of getting sand blasted with brand new paint but ya gotta play with the cards you are dealt with sometimes

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