got a damn workout this weekend. Put about 600 miles on it pullin the Jeep for most of 'em. Had a damn good time. Here are some pix:















[Edited on April 2, 2007 at 1:51 AM. Reason : image]

4/2/2007 1:49:43 AM

nice. how'd the new mods work out for you?

i'm takin the yarrrcharger to the land rover safari thing at ure with optmusprimer first weekend in may, you should come too. show those rover queers how it's done.

oh, and DAMN that's an ugly truck dan... i love it though, and it sounds mean as hell.

[Edited on April 2, 2007 at 2:24 AM. Reason : .]

4/2/2007 2:21:43 AM

for a minute there i thought you armouralled your tires

4/2/2007 2:37:23 AM

Ivan, you haven't heard "mean" until you've heard that Cummins at full throttle pulling that Jeep at 15mph up a mountain.

We had to stop twice going up to the top of Beech...started smelling tranny!

I gotta say, that 727 is one tough tranny, but my rear gears SUCK for hills.

4/2/2007 8:13:11 AM

Igor the tires were just wet haha, no armor-all.

and as far as the mods go I was really, really happy with how it all worked out. I never hit the flat skid once, it felt super stable, and it still flexed pretty well. Oh, and i LOVE the tera 2 lo kit. I would like 4:1 in the tcase, but they're going for like 1000 bux, so I can do without em.

4/2/2007 10:30:37 AM

did you get your shifter in before you left?

I love the mopar advertisement picture (with both hoods up)

4/2/2007 10:40:30 AM

hahaha, i was runnin oba, and dan was checking his oil/putting some water in

yea i got the shifter in, it worked really well and made me happy threw in a hand throttle before i left also.

4/2/2007 10:53:17 AM

love the wheel-chock-parking-brake for the dodge

4/2/2007 1:09:48 PM

Oh, the real one works too, and very well.

But I doesn't takes de chances. Especially with our descent from the top of Beech Mtn. Can you say stinky trailer truck brakes and asshole-clenching, foot-stomping just-barely-stopping fun?

We found out that the (borrowed) trailer had totally shot brakes. As in, I crawled under that bastard and adjusted the star wheels until something started to grab a little, but it was accompanied with a nice scraping sound.

So my new brake controller was installed in vain. And I missed a couple hours of sleep Thursday night because of it, dammit!

[Edited on April 2, 2007 at 1:49 PM. Reason : Because the trailer never had any brakes...]

4/2/2007 1:48:52 PM

trailers are for suckas. you start using a trailer, pretty soon that jeep will morph itself into a buggy and then you'll have to use one. I like the tj tho. looks good. how'd it do? you locked F/R ?

you can get an NVG241OR for around $1200. buy that and sell your SYE'd 231.

4/2/2007 3:20:50 PM

if you're spending that kind of cash, you might as well go ahead and buy a used atlas.

dan, top of beech? whatchoo talkin bout? ya'll must have gone some round about way...?

4/2/2007 4:37:35 PM

Yep, we did. Matt's folks have a place to stay up there, and it was free.

So it was indeed out of the way.

No, I ain't crazy. Well, not any crazier than normal.

4/2/2007 5:07:48 PM

ben, i'll keep the 231 and save up for a tow rig haha. it's not worth it to me right now to do a tcase swap. up next is probably trying to find a good deal on some alloys for the 30 and that's probably about it. after the past 3 weeks or so i just want to bolt the a/t's up and not work on it for awhile and yes, i'm locked front and rear

4/2/2007 5:12:58 PM

^^ah. i was about to say. that is quite an ascent/descent going up beech.

how long did it take you guys to get there from where you stayed? my parents have a place on poplar grove mountain, just off of 105. takes about 20 minutes or so from there cutting back through valley crucis to 321.

in fact, the BigBlueRam came from hall dodge up there on 105.

dan, how'd the truck do coming up the big hill on 421 around deep gap?

4/2/2007 6:52:53 PM

i see synthetic winch line dragging across that front reciever, no tension but still. otherwise looks fun. whos weld on beadlocks are those

4/2/2007 7:31:23 PM

Quote :

"i see synthetic winch line dragging across that front reciever, no tension but still."

that's what happens when you haven't started winching yet

and those are chip price's (upnover on nc4x4) beadlock kit

4/2/2007 7:36:54 PM

^KORE4x4

4/2/2007 7:42:20 PM

see that is somewhat deceiving bc i'm pretty sure that there's a kore4x4 on pirate that i'm pretty sure isn't chip price.

4/2/2007 7:49:20 PM

Ivan: On 421, I rarely dropped below 25 or 30 mph...I'm trying to think exactly where you are talking about. I did shift down into first (mainly to keep my tranny temps down and also for a little braking but diesels, and automatic diesels in particular, suck like that) a couple of times, but I rarely dropped below 30. Most of the time that wasn't at full throttle either...all things in moderation.

I pulled the majority of Beech in first gear and averaged around 15 to 20. Too much power and I would get some shudder somewhere, and that kind of spooked me, so the only time I floored her was starting off. I seriously think that better gearing with a stick and clutch would have been the solution for all that.

On Saturday nite, going up to Andy's house (XJAndy on webwheeling.com) was an adventure, as we slowed down to below 10 mph going up, and that was being heavy on the go pedal. I had to stop a couple of times to cool the tranny off, and it got to where I wanted to take the Jeep off the trailer because I was scared of cooking the tranny (couldn't move more than 5 mph at full throttle/full torque converter stall) .So we did...and I proceeded to ride Matt's ass up the mountain, even through a wicked switchback, WHILE DRAGGING THAT TRAILER.

4/2/2007 10:29:45 PM

I figure my shit could do all that stuff. where is that, callantee? wouldn't mind getting the winch on 1st tho.

4/2/2007 11:08:44 PM

well damn. i thought that dodge had some power.

4/2/2007 11:16:44 PM

For an '89 with a VE pump, 3.07 axle gears, and a three speed automatic, I think she does right well.

3.07 GEARS MOTHERFUCKER. 2.45:1 FIRST GEAR.

4/2/2007 11:29:13 PM

^pffft, i leave my cruise set at 70 towing up 421. i know, totally different setups. you know i've got cummins love first and foremost.

^^^it's in mountain city, tn. about 30 minutes outside of boone. you're def. built enough for everything up there. winch is nice in a couple of spots like that waterfall, but there's nothing a tug from a strap or come along won't fix. besides, you should have the wheelbase to get up the waterfall unassisted.

i wanna get up there and hit "pull cable", aorc was just starting to cut it in when i was up there last.

[Edited on April 2, 2007 at 11:36 PM. Reason : .]

4/2/2007 11:34:42 PM

yea i wanted to run pull cable, but i didn't want to break shit and not be able to wheel on sunday, next time i go i'm going to try to hit it. i'd like to run it with 4 or 5 rigs instead of the like 14 we went with this time. possibly try to hit callalantee, beech, then richlands. take a few days and wheel a lot

4/2/2007 11:49:18 PM

we gotta get the rustbucket running first

i'm gonna make a front crossmember/drop shackles at work sometime soon, we gotta weld the steering box brackets on, mount the box, install the new shackles, hook up the steering, run brake lines build a front driveshaft, finish up everything up front, then final engine stuff, then tear into the rear axle, fix the brakes, mount the new springs and make hangers, new bumpers, finish the bed and tank mounts, finish up the interior, slap some paint on it, and it'll be ready to wheel


slravene has hit that mid build crisis point, i'm trying to keep prodding him along through the 400 problems that pop up on everything

4/3/2007 12:01:02 AM

^^i thought beech had been closed? or at least is by permission only.

4/3/2007 1:25:57 AM

i dunno, the guy i went wheeling with sunday lives in boone and was talking about hitting beech instead of callalantee, we ended up doing callalantee because it was a MUCH easier tow. not sure on beech

4/3/2007 9:35:21 AM

dan, you know i'm just fuckin with ya. i :heart: all diesels.

4/3/2007 11:00:26 AM

beech sucks anyway, there's enough there to keep you entertained for about half a day, if that. unless something has really changed. last i heard even the little bit that used to be open to the public had been closed. callalantee pwns all over it, especially with the recent cutting of new trails.

4/3/2007 6:50:25 PM

we really didn't get to run a huge amount of trails. you need to get the superdodge2 back up and running so we can go wheel

4/3/2007 7:16:33 PM

the rc is ready to roll as soon as i can push a clutch in. it's going to uwharrie the first weekend in may.

in fact, i may bring it over to your place sometime around the end of the month and weld the rear end if that's cool? i still have yet to get power in my garage for mine.

thought about welding the front too, but remembered it's full time 4wd.

i need to score some cheap axles from an 81+ truck. bolt in and go.

[Edited on April 3, 2007 at 7:55 PM. Reason : .]

4/3/2007 7:55:24 PM

come on over and weld it up man. i'm down. i can probably tag along in may so i can yank ya around uwharrie haha

4/3/2007 8:28:42 PM

weld the front vag, you know your not using the ramcharger for daily duty anyways

4/3/2007 10:52:38 PM

no, but i'd still like to be able to steer it on the street. not to mention keep it from darting into on coming traffic. it doesn't have hubs or a part time case. it'd be a deathtrap (more than it already is, lol).

4/3/2007 10:58:58 PM

Quote :

"weld the front vag, you know your not using the ramcharger for daily duty anyways"

now, before you typed this you should have read this:

Quote :

"thought about welding the front too, but remembered it's full time 4wd. "

then you should have though..........hmmm........he doesn't have hubs, this would mean his front axle will bind during every turn he ever makes, possibly breaking shafts and putting unneeded stress on his whole axle and steering. welding the front on any rig that doesn't have some sort of hydro assist/full hydro or isn't a purely trail rig that is trailered really isn't the best idea.

[Edited on April 3, 2007 at 11:06 PM. Reason : .]

4/3/2007 11:05:59 PM

exactly i said if it wasnt a DD. now i know i dont know how much street time it sees but assuming its not much, why not weld it. you said your locked in the front and i doubt u unlock the hubs to turn on the trail and the welded front wouldnt be that much more solid than say a detroit. im not disagreeing that it would be hell on the dana 44 or the stock steering but i was more saying weld it up and start down into the bottomless pit that is a project vehicle.

[Edited on April 3, 2007 at 11:22 PM. Reason : ~]

4/3/2007 11:22:23 PM

I bought a 91 wrangler last week. new toy ftw. I'll need to wheel it before it gets sold. got to "break" it in properly ya know

4/3/2007 11:28:52 PM

^^totally different. while Jeepman doesn't have hubs either, he has a part time transfer case. he's also got an automatic locker, which means it's not locked unless power is applied to it.

my ramcharger has no hubs AND a full time transfercase, which means the front axle always gets power. plus, a welded differential is just like a spool... locked 100% of the time.

even if i only drove it 5 miles a year on the road, i still wouldn't weld the front because not only would it be a royal pita to drive, it'd be dangerous as hell. i guess it's hard to explain if you've never experienced driving something like that on the street. now, if it had hubs i'd weld it in a heartbeat.

also, this thing isn't a project vehicle or a dd. just a cool around town top off summer cruiser.

4/3/2007 11:49:18 PM

Ivan is sooooo smart 2 lo for the win on the trail!

4/4/2007 12:11:56 AM

I SO SMART YAAAAAAYYYY

2 lo is nice, but something twin sticked for front digs is really ftw.

i just bought a driver drop fixed yoke 241 last week for the ram (not ramcharger, this is confusing lol). something temporary until i can afford a stak or 203/205 doubler.

guess what will be donating its 203 if i go that route...

[Edited on April 4, 2007 at 12:29 AM. Reason : .]

4/4/2007 12:28:14 AM

meh i understand how it works but i guess i cant get my point across on teh internetz. according the offroading thread theres a 205 to be had along with a 60/14b in that craigs list chevy. someone go halfs with me and ill buy you out once its parted out.

4/4/2007 1:01:25 AM

i see the point you're trying to make, but the bottom line is on that particular vehicle, a 1976 dodge ramcharger, it wouldn't be smart to weld the front unless it was a 100% off road vehicle. it not having conventional hubs AND having a full time case kinda make it a special case scenario. if it was an 81+ ramcharger, or almost any other 4wd vehicle, then it'd be a whole other story.

i'm really tempted to buy that truck on CL also. take the front 60, toss an 8 lug d44 or 10 bolt back under it, and re sell it.

4/4/2007 1:09:41 AM

go halfs with me ill sell the 350/465/250 and the 14b for profit

4/4/2007 1:12:45 AM

somebody sell me a 203 CHEAP.

4/4/2007 1:40:50 PM

i'll sell you an '83 yota cheap

4/4/2007 2:38:21 PM

^lol, that shit is an 82, nigga.

God damn projects.

4/4/2007 6:53:26 PM