Opa’s HA build

[TheOpa]

The 12.50’s were 34” tall with the weight of the Jeep on them and the new tires are almost exactly the same. No real surprise there. The 35x10R17 wheels were almost exactly 35” high with no weight on them.

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[TheOpa]

I put the tires on Friday night, then rode up to Cranbury NJ to pick up some take off Rubicon rock rails from @P90Ed . Great guy, looking forward to bringing him out next time we do a meet up at RC or somewhere similar. I removed the rock damaged running boards (take home souvenirs from the Rausch Creek day!) when I got home Saturday and mounted the new steel sliders. I like this look.
Too bad though that when asked, my wife and grandkids all said they never use the steps and in fact they sometimes get in the way. It turns out that I’m the only one who actually didn’t use the steps and today I heard lots of complaints that they couldn’t get in. ?? ?? ??
I guess everyone else will need to adapt because I’m happy with the Rubi rock sliders. ?

 

[John in the Woods]

That is one good looking ride.

 

[TheOpa]

Oh yeah, and while I am talking about my new wheels, I do not recommend using 0mm offset wheels unless you really like tire poke. The wheels I just bought are 0mm offset and are wider than the stock wheels. I had 35x12.50 tires on stock wheels and had hoped to reduce poke and tuck the tires back under the fenders some, so I bought 35x10’s. However, when mounted on a 0mm offset wheel the 10” wide tires actually stick 1/2” further out. Epic fail on that plan but I really like them so I’ll just learn from it and move on.

 

[TheOpa]

That is one good looking ride.

Thanks!

 

[TheOpa]

Looking to learn again from the collective wisdom here. The stock wheels with 40+ mm offset covered the brake parts circled in the photo below.
Is it a concern that these are now out in the open?
Is there a skid to cover these?
Last time at RC I managed to add scrapes on both diffs, all LCA mount points, both rear shock mounts, and some frame spots. I’m concerned that something so vulnerable is now out there begging for damage.

Or is this concern mitigated by just not trying to keep up with @Elff in his crawling rig? ??. Just kidding Elff, I’ll find skids or something.

 

[TheOpa]

Before and after comparison of wheels and rock sliders.

 

[Elff]

I definitely like the new look, but functionally, there may be some issues.
There is a possibility that something will hit those calipers. I am not sure if anyone makes a skid for that, since the tire and rims are normally in the way.
also, with a narrower tire on a wider rim, you might not be able to air down as much.

You may cry the first time you scratch those cause they are so purty.

Was that a Ducati in the background of some of your pics?

 

[TheOpa]

I definitely like the new look, but functionally, there may be some issues.
There is a possibility that something will hit those calipers. I am not sure if anyone makes a skid for that, since the tire and rims are normally in the way.
also, with a narrower tire on a wider rim, you might not be able to air down as much.

You may cry the first time you scratch those cause they are so purty.

Was that a Ducati in the background of some of your pics?

That’s good advice, thanks!

And yes, it is! In the world of Ducati’s, it is THE Ducati for me. It’s a 2011 1198SP. The last year of the beautiful, iconic Massimo Tamburini design of the 916 body style, last year of the trellis frame, last year of the dual under seat exhaust, best engine of that series, and an SP. with the combination of engine, exhaust, and dry clutch chatter it sounds just glorious. LOL. Carlos Checa won world super bike that year on an 1198. Valentino Rossi had a problem with his race bike at the Silverstone track that year and he was given an 1198SP out of a local show room to use as his replacement for practice laps. I have been lucky enough to have some very nice bikes to ride over the years and this one checks all the boxes for me.

 

[Elff]

Very Cool. That's an incredible bike.
And Ducati won MotoGP today.

 

[P90Ed]

Those rockrails look sharp! I'm glad they found a great new owner. Nice meeting you, good luck with the rig - it is a nice one.

 

[TroutFishingInAmerica]

I didn't read this, I just looked at the pictures.

 

[TheOpa]

OK, I’m going to have to take back what I said about everyone having to deal with the rock rails. I had to break down and get steps again. In anticipation of having them contact rocks, I opted for a set of Quadratech Brute Strength side steps. I liked that the tubes play off the Barnes 4WD Pritchett Canyon front bumper and have a lightweight aluminum step to help the vertically challenged in my family. Here are some initial thoughts.

For starters, I wanted to pick these up at the West Chester location primarily because UPS in my area seem to be incapable of delivering anything without somehow f’ing it up especially if it is oversize or heavy and these side steps are both of those things. After a few emails and one phone call I was told I couldn’t pick them up because they were shipping from a different location. They were shipped via FedEx though and arrived literally the very next day so that was cool.

Major league packing violation. At least 16 trees worth of cardboard, everything wrapped in cushioned wrap, then each piece separately wrapped in bubble wrap, with additional cardboard in between. Did I mention several miles of packing tape around all of it again and again?

 

[TheOpa]

I don’t really appreciate when someone sticks their logo smack in the middle of things. Quadratech apparently anticipated that and glued them on so poorly that both sides had logo sticker failures before they even came out of the packaging. I’m glad to not have the big logo stickers but I’m also not crazy about the look of the odd space left behind when the logo is removed.

 

[TheOpa]

Also not super impressed with the finish. Somehow, despite all that protective packaging these have several damaged or poorly finished things. Some examples below.

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