Ironraven's random upgrade/mod/repair thread

I seriously can't imagine how much traction that would give a mini truck... you'd be unstoppable If I wasn't dead set on driving my truck on the road I'd have already mounted and installed those bad boys!

The best part is the fronts are narrow enough and the tires are short enough (only 23-24") that I think you could almost install them without a lift... and even though they're only 4 ply the sidewalls are small and VERY stiff. *sigh* But they aren't OK for pavement by any stretch of the imagination.

 

love those tires, wish we have them here. swap?

 

I'll meet you half way

 

A few things to think about (just info, take it for what it’s worth, I’m trying to help, some of this stuff may not be applicable, you decide):


1. 14" rims will provide a stiffer ride than the same overall diameter tire with 12" rims. With the seat right over the front axle, there is no such thing as a ride that is soft enough for off road IMHO.

2. I would not recommend buying tires before you finish lifting ( it can cause project cost control problems, multiple sets of tires and such). Finish the lift to the max you wanna go, then do the tires. Or don’t do the next lift till your current set wear out.

3. How to fit 10" wide tire on the front of the truck. (if you get this working please let me know how you did it)

4. Please recall my several posts on traction in previous posts throughout this forum. Traction isn’t always what some may think it is. Even this guy (acclaimed on a Toyota forum TTORA) didn’t get it completely right. but i still found his eh hem "white paper" i think he called it, very educational http://www.expeditionswest.com/research/white_papers/tire_selection_rev1.html

5. If you want DOT approved, the smallest off road tire I know of is made by BF Goodrich. LT195/75R14/D All Terrain T/A KO. That’s about 25.7” for that tire i think... not an unreasonable size for the *right lift. http://www.bfgoodrichtires.com/tire-selector/category/off-road/all-terrain-t-a-ko/tire-details

6. If you don’t care about DOT, or on road use, My personal pick right now would be the Kenda Bounty Hunter HT radial: http://www.kendausa.com/en/home/atv/utvside-by-side/bounty-hunter-ht-radial.aspx 770lbs max load per tire, comes in 25x12x10 and 25x12x8. Side note: I have never cared for the Carlisle tires that are so popular for these trucks (although they have a rating closer to 1050lbs each I believe).

7. If you want uber traction, and going slower than say 5mph doesn’t bother you, you could always water fill your tires for extra traction, but the versatility drops way down which voids my desire to do such a thing.

Hope this provides some food for thought. If not, no worries please disregard….

 

Enough of that though. Those tires look really nice! Wide too! despite my ramblings, i think you have a good set of tires on your hands.

 

Yeah, I've covered my bases, done my math and the reason I'm doing what I'm doing is that it's the only way I can think of to do it. :frustration:

I need a DOT tire because my truck is street legal but the ordinance specifies you must have a DOT tire. I also need an ATV tire because otherwise I can't ride on ATV trails. I need a lift because otherwise I can't get the ground clearance to attach my plow the way I need to.

My tire choice isn't just about grip, it's also about flotation. I got stuck last night in snow because the truck kept falling through a hard crust of snow on top and spinning in the soft stuff underneath. If I'd had wider tires I would have been good to go... and that guy's writeup starts with a disclaimer about sand and snow. The only times I've had trouble with traction were in mud or snow, and I'm not going to be doing a crapton of offroading, I'm just trying to compensate for things that have caused me trouble in the past. It was embarrassing to have my buddy on his wheeler just fly right over mud that I sank into up to my axles

As far as the 10" wide tire is concerned... it'll be a LOT easier for me since I'm only using a 23" tire, but who knows? Maybe it won't work... I guess I'll find out! I'm expecting to do some trimming and bullshit but whatever. It was either a 23x10 tire which will require a moderate lift or I'd have to get a 26x9 tire which would require a CRAZY lift and wouldn't give me much more clearance up front since those are the only 6ply radial DOT certified ATV tires I've been able to find... and screw it if it doesn't work, I got a decent deal on the tires and a great deal on the wheels so I won't be out too much if things don't work out. I'm a crazy bastard though, I'll get it to work We'll find out how much damage I do to my truck in the process

 

Oh, I'm not using these suckers :/ there's no way they would ever work for driving on road. They just came with the wheels... I'm getting these:



I do appreciate the input though, I'm always looking for ways to avoid re-inventing the wheel so to speak op:

If I get my 10" wide tires to fit you'll have a good guide of how to do it yourself. One thing I'm doing is squeezing the fronts on to a 6" wide wheel which should make them a little taller and narrower. I hope. lol

 

I mounted my receiver tonight. :sly: I'm a little ... curious, anyone whose put one on their truck please chime in if you have input.

Here's the holes I drilled; they are 5/16" and just barely big enough for me to get the self-tappers in there.


Nice clean mounting... although I don't think it's very strong. Here I'm showing the screws half tightened. To ensure I didn't strip anything out I tightened them at even rates. Seemed to work pretty well.


A zoomed back view also showing a blurry as shot of the rear mount.


Here's what the rear mount looks like... there were bolts included for this spot, but I'm not 100% certain I should use them? Should I drill this out? Should I use the stock bolts? I have asked the seller for install instructions which were NOT included with the hitch and have thus far not gotten an response.


Winch mounted and looking dangerous

 

So, here I am figuring out the final bits and pieces of my wheel situation. Although these aren't the tires I'm going to be using they are the same width, so this helps me figure out the logistics. Don't these bastards look mean?







In order to get them to work I believe I'll need a 1" spacer both in the front and the back after I did some testing with the wheels. I didn't take pictures of that because naked rims on the truck just isn't that interesting

 

wow those suckers are gonna chuck some mud...I can't see the mount in person but it seems that rear would be fine with the stock bolt put back in with a large washer..that is ,unless you can get to the back of it and get a nut on the larger bolt...better to use the larger stronger bolts wherever possible

 

Yeah, they're absolutely a mud tire but I'd bet they would do good in snow or sand too. Even though they look awesome and I'd bet will perform as good as they look, I'm glad I'm not using them. They'd be LOUD on the road lol. With any luck my other tires will be in by this Friday and I will be able to get them mounted... although I'm afraid my wheel spacers won't be here until next week sometime

In order to use the other bolt I'd have to drill out the stock threads... it's pretty easy to get behind that particular piece I'm just not so hot on drilling any more holes than I have to ya know?

 

Yeah... they're monsters all right. I think the ones I have coming in the mail won't look quite as big because they don't have as big of a lug. They're the same width but 1" shorter.

 

That looks great. Ya those are gonna chunk some mud for sure. Doesnt look like the rims are in yet. BTW what price did you pick up the spacers for? Fupa was selling some for a while there, i thought...

Best of luck with the front end. I have heard reports of the 10" wide tires fitting in the back, but never up front, you may be the first. I have some 23x8x12s and they rub in the back against the frame rail when fully articulated. the spacers seem like a must for the 10"s. But then again, rim back spaceing makes the comparison not so equal.

 

lol, yeah there aren't any wheels on there yet, just the tires. I got them together but the tires weren't mounted which is lucky since I don't want to use these particular ones. They're the same size though, so that helped me with figuring out the spacing requirements.

I thought I had it all calculated out, but without actually having them on the truck I was just a tad off... about 1" off is all though. Not bad all things considered. Unfortunately it sets me back a few days while I wait for my darn spacers... if I'd know Fupa had some for sale I'd have hit him up. I just got mine from egay for something like $60 a set... Damn just searched and it turns out his spacers are to swap from 4x110 to 4x100 and I just needed an extra inch of clearance. Sucks because his were only $80 CAD for all 4 instead of $60 USD for 2...

 

NICE!!! I love the tires! And rims are gonna be the icing on the cake I think! And I agree with the above statement, your truck is gonna be MUDDY, but in a GOOD way Cant wait for some action photo's op:

I think your bolts should hold up ok, I would be more worried about tearing them out of the metal, maybe an extra plate tack welded and drilled in the same spot will give a bigger foot print? I dont know... just talkin' out my cake hole, throwing out some ideas.

How big of a fuse are you using for your winch? (I have the same one) I ran a 40 amp circuit breaker and then a 25 amp fuse (wires and holder are rated for more, I was just trying to see if it would pop at 25 under stress,,, and it did) so I moved up to a 30. And have been ok so far. What kind of power connectors did you use, and where did you get them?

 

Lol, shut up you

I know, there's a shitton of snow expected starting tonight, all through tomorrow 6-12" depending on which way the winds blow... and my buddy's not going to be out here with his mig welder until Sunday :/ I may have to go over to my brother's place to use his arc welder even if though that means working in an unheated, non-enclosed quonset. Boooo.

Unfortunately my wheel spacers probably won't be here until mid next week either, BUT I can probably make things work with just the spacer/spring lift. That extra inch of clearance I'll be getting from my wheels will be welcome but hopefully not 100% necessary.

Of course I'm throwing another project into the works soon too... I need to replace the battery with something that has the nuts to turn the engine over in subzero temps. The lawn and garden battery just doesn't cut it. I'm thinking of doing a marine battery box and a fullsize car battery. But that's gonna have to wait until next week. Jeez I gotta quit spending money on this thing lol.

 

Ooo... good idea, I didn't even think of a fuse for the winch how did you attach your fuse? I suppose I could do one like I've done for subwoofers; a big inline fuse?

The power connectors are from NAPA auto parts, they are battery wire extensions I think? They are rated for MUCH bigger wire, I had to melt solder into the connector units and then dip my wire in to get them to work lol. At least I didn't have to crimp anything and I won't have to worry about them overloading. I am still kicking around ideas about how to cover them in some sort of rubber... maybe an old bike innertube or something.

Once spring hits I'm going to be making fiberglass fenders. It's not that hard; just a little bit of cardboard, some spray foam, some aluminum foil, some duct tape, some fiberglass, some bondo, a lot of patience... and it'll beat getting chunks of gravel embedded in my arm; I like to drive with my elbow out the window

I'm hoping most of the force will be taken up by the modifications I'm going to be doing... I'm re-enforcing the whole thing by doing a bit of creative welding. More on that once I actually get it done, but hopefully I'll end up with a super solid plow mount and a stronger receiver at the same time... and have an added bonus of undercarriage protection as well if I pull it off right.

 

Yep, big inline fuse. I dont like fires in my vehicles.... played that game once with a wire running from the battery, when I was 16. Not fun, good, hard lesson to learn, and luckily didnt burn up the vehicle, just the insulation off the wire.

I thought about the wire protection thing as well, I think even if you covered them with a innertube, water could still enter and corrode. I thought about about cleaning my connections really good with alcohol (Bacardi rum ought to do it, just kidding) and then getting that dipping rubber in a can for handles of tools and sealing it up. In the Navy we had some wax infused cheesecloth stuff that was nasty to cover the electrical connections on the Harpoon missile canisters, worked Ok, but had to be redone/inspected atleast every 6 months. Even after that stuff, they had a like a shrink tube stuff, but water/corrosion always found a way in:sly:.... Right now, I have just soldered my connections and put shrink wrap on them.

 

The terminals on those connectors are silver plated, so no worries about corrosion... I'm more thinking since I have one line run to the back bumper and one to the front bumper and eventually will have one running to the bed of the truck that I want to be able to seal up the ones I'm not using when the winch isn't connected.

From my experience the bit of sulphuric acid in Coke actually works quite well to remove corrosion from battery terminals...

 

Hells, we were barely below 0 F here and the truck wouldn't start. Turned over 3 times and the battery was too cold to move it any further. Same here on the engine oil weight; 5w30 is what I have almost always used in all my cars... all of which have been Japanese

I'm pretty sure the alternator will be able to handle charging any 12v battery. Since I'm going to be using my winch a lot I figure I should probably upgrade the battery anyway, I don't want to stress the charging system too much ya know? FWIW battery boxes go from around $10.00 up to hundreds. I'll be buying the cheapest POS I can find lol.

 

Just found a battery box in a local marine supply store for $10.00! I guess I'll be picking one up on the way home from work

 

Here's my update thus far; I have my lift installed and my new battery box mounted Still waiting on my new tires to arrive so I haven't put the wheels and tires on yet...

 

Not sure probably about 3" or so. I didn't measure...

 

Sweet!, It is coming along great!! How did you mount your car battery box?

 

It's just strapped on for now... I bent the OEM battery plate down and out so it gives some support from beneath and then wrapped the battery box strap all the way around the frame and the box.

I'm expecting my spacers and tires to come in today or tomorrow... then I'll be able to finish this portion of upgrades. I already have plans phase 2 or 3 or whatever I'm on now

 

You get the spacers and tires yet?

LWR2

 

Nope :/ still waiting. Should be any day now... Hell should have been yesterday!