....

And the pics....

Picked up the truck in July 2009 with a Camburg LT kit, SAW coilovers and bypasses up front, Deaver prerunner pack with 14" SAW threaded body shocks mounted via a Solo Motorsports built bedcage. Front and rear bumpers also Solo built, sitting on 35" Nittos.

Step 1....Removed stickers and added new 33" BFG KM2s...

 

Decided to start adding a bit of cab cage to protect the occupants in case I had even less talent than I thought! Work done by Jared at Vegas Steel in Las Vegas...

Wanted to change the look of the truck to start fresh and give it a new identity to make it feel like "ours" so we did a little cosmetic makeover starting with some Glassworks TT Bedsides...

Then decided to add a Fiberwerx Tundra Conversion clip. The story goes, I picked up the orginal clip from Kartek and quickly discovered that it was warped pretty badly. The clip didn't line up with the mini fenders and basically wasn't fixable without a significant level of work.

I contacted Fiberwerx and they could have told me to pound sand but didn't. They looked at pics, agreed that it was off, and expressed an interest in re doing the mold. I offered to take my truck to them to make the new mold. Jason and co. redid the mold, installed the new clip, and brought the truck back to me in Vegas.

The resulting product was excellent in my opinion and I have nothing but great things to say about Jason and everyone I've dealt with over the last two years at Fiberwerx...

 

sounds cool ! what class are you racing in the hdra series? sportsman?

 

We will race 2000 in HDRA, the leaf sprung mini truck class. Because of the logistical challenges of my job, commuting from Washington, D.C., etc, we probably won't be able to run a full HDRA season as getting the truck to Reno, Plaster City, etc at this point is pretty tough.

But will try to sneak in a hand full of races in 2013 depending on how things go and will race whatever series we can fit in (MORE, SNORE) and will run whatever class makes the most sense.

Some day (maybe after another deployment pay day!) we'll link the truck and mix it up with the big dogs but for the short term we'll stick to the leaf sprung classes where available or 1400 if necessary.

 

Had to cut off the Solo built front bumper in order to fit the clip so I managed to convince my friend Khris (sirhk100) to help me out. After serving as my sounding board, answering questions, keeping me from making ridiculous buys, etc, he became the primary fabricator of the truck...

 

To that point, roughly spring 2010, we hadn't done much to the truck performance wise, just the cosmetics.

A few months prior, I had the good fortune of winning a set of All Pro Baja Leafs thanks to a generous give away they did on this forum. Knowing that adding the leafs would involve more, they sat in the garage for a bit until Khris offered to do the work plus add a bedcage for next to nothing.

So with that said, I picked up all the appropriate hardware from Total Chaos and we started the first major fabrication upgrade of the the truck...

Then the All Pro Baja leafs...

Then got a little crazy and added a 32 Gal Jaz Fuel Cell and King 2.5x18" Triple Bypasses for good measure...

 

Once the leafs were installed and the cage was mostly done, we added the spares and rear bumper and re mounted the bedsides...

 

And THAT brings us to the present! Currently the truck is having a custom full race kit built at MCM Fab and Design in Las Vegas, NV. After it's completion scheduled for later this month, the truck will get gutted to make way for an engine cage and 2" cab cage.

The front suspension will get King 2.5x10" Race Series Coilovers and 3.0x10" Triple Bypasses. The King 2.5x18" triples in the back will be replaced with 3.0x18 4 tubes. We'll be adding a Schriener built 35 spline full floater and adding plenty of plating to strengthen everything up.

The cab will get a makeover with a Fiberwerx dash and console decked out with Momo wheel, NRG disconnect, Auto Meter gauges, intercom and radio from Rugged Radios, GPS, and a pair of sexy ReplayXD1080s to capture all the action.

The current plan is to have the bulk of the fabrication done by the end of spring to allow for fine tuning, shock valving, etc through the summer. Will add pics as we go and update our Facebook often.

Will begin a modest attempt to seek some product/financial support in the very near future, appreciate all the "Facebook" likes and good will we can get!

 

Nice writeup! I'm excited to see what we can make it do over the next half year or so! What I saw yesterday at MCM for the start of the spindles was really nice and put some piece of mind into that adventure.

The best part about this build is you list all the kick ass parts that will be on the truck in the future like everyone always does. The difference is most people do that as their dream/wish list wher in your case, 90% of the parts are already purchased and collecting dust around my house! LOL

Speaking of that, have Pat hit me up or let him know I'm around most evenings this week with exception of wed night for our monthly happy hour with the normal group and the Warlocks!

LOL, and you just had to use the pictures where the cell was temporarily ratchet strapped in place didn't you! I'm actually planning to redo those current hold downs too btw... They work but they've never been really appealing to me at the same time.

 

So, these showed up in the garage today. They should compliment the other kings already here for the front end quite nice! Yes, they are 3"...

 

Truck looks amazing!! I'm pretty jealous of those new big shocks..

I really love the look of the rear cage work..keep the pics comin!!

 

New front kit lowers in progess at MCM Fab...

 

^^^ oh my!!!

 

It's gonna be fun!!!

I really love the look of the rear cage work..keep the pics comin!!

The will keep coming for sure once I get my hands back on it. I'm excited to see what MCM is doing and expect it to start rolling pretty quick! I've got probably about another 2 week worth of personal vehicle projects to button up and then clean up the garage and get ready for a multi month spare time marathon session on it!

Rear cage is probably about 80% done. Still need to box in the rear part of the frame and there's still a couple more tubes I want to add to the rear eventually along the line. Jason knows about some of them, probably doesn't know about a couple of them. LOL :saw:







I know what this is the beginnings of also... Do you? LOL

 

So what you're saying is there is a pair of 2.5x18" kings sitting around not being used? Sounds like we can make a deal PM me!

Awesome build too, are those arms 3/16"?

 

Lookin good Jason, still working on some details for you but I think we will be able to work something out.

 

Appreciate it Cliff! Hope you're having a blast in Laughlin!

 

It was fun but saw a few things I would rather forget... Make sure you install a scatter shield on your ride.

 

Can only imagine. Got a few texts from some folks close to the team and got the impression that Cody's injury was pretty significant. Scary stuff.

 

The MCM Fab front kit is coming along!

 

lookin good

 

BTW, if anyone needs any interior pieces let me or Jason know. The dash is coming out along with all heater and A/C stuff so if anyone is in need of parts for whatever reason I'll bet that Jason will make you a decent price on them...

Jason, might want to spread the word that this stuff is going to be coming out and will be available probably within a month I'm guessing...

Khris

 

Will start compiling the garage sale list soon! Dash, gauge cluster, air bags, bedsides, the rear end....out with the old, in with the new!

 

Front kit update...

 

D
A
M
N

That kit looks killer!!

Must have more pics!!

 

LOL will add a few more in the next few days here. Still needs a little fine tuning, shortening the spindle height a tad, laying out the shock mounts, etc. But more to come for sure!

 

I like that bolt on piece that holds the unit bearings together. Very nice

 

The thing I like about it is at the rate we're going and in the long run if everything works the way I'm hoping it does... We can have another setup machined and buy another bearing, install it and have that whole setup in a pitbox ready to go if the bearing ever does let loose or whatever. I'm hoping to get my hands on the actual hub flange where the lug nuts are that the wheel bolts to this afternoon. I want to design up one that's virtually identical to stock only with a larger OD on the wheel mounting surface to give it some more meat to allow us to drill it out for 5/8" wheel studs that we already have for the truck. There's not enough material to comfortably just drill out the stock ones for the 5/8" so I'm going to see what it would take to just go fully custom... At that point, my gut feeling is that the weak link in the entire front end will most likely be the bearing itself which is massive in it's own right! If we had a ready to complete assembly though, it wouldn't take hardly anything to swap one out if needed.

Also, I'm already schemeing up how I'm going to do the uca mounts. All that stock stuff is going away once the truck is back in my hands!

 

Just a quick update, the mock up revealed too much droop and not enough up travel so a re engineered lower is in the works. Will incorporate a modest kick up at the end to squeeze the extra bump travel. Once the new arms are done it'll be back to hammering away and hopefully it'll be buttoned up in the next few weeks.

Planning on spending a fair amount of cash at the swap meet, then it's to the garage for a proper gutting to start the cab cage!