I guess I kinda forgot about this thread! I had acquired/started/completed a few vehicle projects in the meantime, for some reason the RC sat in the shop right in the middle but I couldn't find the motivation. This past memorial weekend we had no plans for once. We decided to avoid the lake due to crowds, avoid the desert due to it being hot out, and avoid anything that required leaving the house. It was a 4 day weekend for me, so Thursday night I decided I would see what I could get done on the RC. Every year we go to Silverton, CO in July for ~10-12 days and run trails, cook a lot of bacon and camp. I had bought a suzuki samurai the year before and hated the little POS, so that was some motivation to get the RC useable. So after 4 days of thrashing on the RC, I had it driveable in front wheel drive. I lacked building the rear driveshaft, rear brakes, back seats, rear shocks, and a bunch of little odds and ends. That left me with about 4 weeks worth of evenings to get it "trail worthy", with no weekends because it was Lake Season. I bought a set of weld wheels in the parking lot at work from a guy for 200$ for all 5, with decent tires. I picked up a borgeson double u joint shaft for like 100$ off amazon.
In the few evenings I had, I knocked out little things like getting the dash from the 93 swapped into the 79 tub, finishing body mounts, re mounting the 64" rear leaves because I didn't like the way they came out the first time, realizing that my new mounts are now in the way of the middle body mount, etc. After I was ~90% of the way to it being reality that it was actually going to make it to Silverton this year, I sold the samurai to give me even more motivation.
Long story short, we planned to leave on a Thursday night. The previous monday (4 days earlier), I still had not built a driveshaft, mounted the rear seats/seat belts, finished the exhaust or mounted rear shocks. I worked on it every night that week, finishing the rear driveshaft about 6pm on Thursday night (got it true to within .005" on the first try, zero vibes). I drove it around the block and to sonic. With about 3 miles on it, I stared at it in the shop wondering what I could do productive with my remaining few hours. I saw a gallon of grey paint on the shelf that I had bought at tractor supply for 5$...decided productive was unnecessary and I love to paint. I gave all the kids some sand paper told them to have at it. while they sanded I masked a few things and mixed some paint in the gun. 45 minutes later, it was painted grey. Definitely not a great paint job, buts its all 1 color. It will get totally sanded and repainted. With the paint still wet, I loaded it on the trailer.
We left at 6 the next morning and headed to Colorado with a box of parts, tools and bacon. After I got the motorhome all setup, I finished installing the seat belts and other little odds and ends. I hadn't quite got the rear lights figured out, the fuel sending unit did not work, and I had totally spaced windshield wipers. Oh well...I'd have to make due. I grabbed some friends and took the top off and went for a little ~10 miles trail jaunt that night just to make sure I wouldn't ruin everyone's fun the next day. There were ~40 people with us, mostly in UTV's and jeeps. We had friends and family with us from Louisiana to Phoenix, bust mostly from the Albuquerque area.
The first day we did a ~half day trail close to camp. About an hour into the trail, antifreeze began pouring down the firewall inside. Figured I popped a heater core. Opened the hood, nope...had a heater hose blow off! It was missing a clamp. First problem, easy fix. Filled er back up with Rocky Mountain Stream Water. The brakes began to get a little squishy, but I had expected that as I had bled them once, with all new parts and figured there had to be some air left in there. At the top of the trail I looked and one of my new rear brake lines was leaking, but I had spares and a flaring tool back at camp. Ended up just being a little loose at the junction block below the master cylinder, easy fix #2. As the day went on, the rear developed a clunk. I figured it was a shackle/leaf spring bolt, or perhaps the muffler banging on the crossmember. Well, the 20 yr old POS rancho 9000 shocks had dry rotted bushings, that evicted themselves. I made some new ones out of heater hose and fuel hose back at camp, easy fix #3.
Day #2, we did a long trail to Lake City. I put a 3rd row seat in the RC with 4 seat belts (kid sized), and a few friends that came brought their rock crawlers on Stickies, and they hate driving them on pavement. So I had 10 people (5 adults and 5 kids) in the RC that day. It performed flawlessly. I hadn't even had to lock the hubs in yet. By the end of the day, my homemade shock bushings had gotten a little loose but that was the only issue all day. I ended up making new bushings every morning, and that was the only maintenance it required the remaining 8 days.
In the end, over 10 days I put 417 miles on the RC, ~400+ of it was dirt, and those were the only issues it had. I have about 1K miles on it now. The rear springs have settled a bit like I expected, but other than that, its a ton of fun to drive. I still haven't fixed the fuel sending unit, wipers, or put a back bumper on it. Next on the agenda is suspension. I am 10000% pleased with how the 64's ride in the rear. Ill throw some rezzie sway-a-ways I have back there, or perhaps some new 7100's. I am still torn between some ORD spec Alcans, 52" rears up front, or just radius arms and coils. Every day something changes my mind. Right now, I'm in the radius arm/thuren coil/smooth body shock mindset. Tomorrow it will be 4 link and coil overs. Who knows where it will end up...but I have a new set of 37's waiting to go on.
The way it sits right now, it has a dana 60 front/14 bolt rear with 4.56's. I shaved the rear 14b for clearance. Now that I have a full fledged purpose built rock crawler, the RC's purpose is more do it all. I don't want to go taller than 37's. I want to keep it low (~4-5"), trim fenders, make it ride nice, flex ok, and work as good as my 3rd gen in the whoops. Power wise, the Don Morrison/Joe Donnely injectors, pump mods, hx35/14cm wg, and banks intercooler is a great combo. With the little 32's and 4.56's it will roast the tires just before the shift into 3rd, but it doesn't like to go much faster than about 70 before it feels like I am abusing it. The 37's will fix that. The seating for 10 is super cool. 4 kids fit great in the 3rd row bench (stolen from a 2nd gen quad cab). Behind the 3rd bench I have 2 tuffy boxes full of tools and spare parts, with enough room between them for oil/antifreeze/etc.
Still on the list; Paint/bedliner, suspension, bumpers, lights.
A few pics I have:
Pretty much where I started memorial weekend. No dash, most of the suspension mounts just tacked in, no body mounts, no exhaust, wrong perches on the rear axle, no brakes, no steering, etc.
Dash in:
Cut a hole in the tank, and grafted the top of the CTD tank onto it.
30 minute paint job:
Loaded on the trailer
Random pics from the trip:
And a little tribute Picture. My grandpa (Chuck Peeples) was an avid Diesel/Cummins enthusiast his whole life. He was a TDR member for a long long time. He passed away in 2011. We spread his ashes on top of Kendall Mountain in Silverton. He was a trail guide up in the San Juans and took me up there every summer as a kid. Hes the reason we still go up there every summer. This picture is the Cummins RC parked where we spread his ashes, I'm sure he was smilin'.
That's it for now. Ill try to remember to update this as I make changes/upgrades.
P.S. For those of you wondering, the spare tire stayed on the tailgate with ratchet straps the entire 10 days without flaw. It outlasted numerous sets of shock bushings.
--Jeff
Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
What did you ever do on the front end suspension?
I'm afraid the 1/2 ton frame won't take the punishment I want to give it.....
