I bought this truck back in September last year to replace my aging hardcore crawler that was based on a Nissan Frontier. I needed something with a little more oomph and a little more room.


I wanted factory solid axles, AC, and a manual trans on a rust free platform, and I was fortunate enough to find a good candidate for a build, of course at great expense...lol


The platform was there though. Healthy 351, NP435, D44/9" combo, nice interior, R134A air conditioning (it gets hot in Arizona), dual tanks, and an overall clean truck.


Then it got all the following in roughly this order:

• Installed my boosted Uniden CB and Wilson 1000 antenna from my old truck
• New sliding rear window to replace the solid one
• Remanufactured 2150 carb after messing with the other to find it was just too far gone to fix
• Full ignition tuneup to include plugs, wires, cap, rotor, and a spare brand new Duraspark to carry in the tool box
• 3 Diamond plate tool boxes that I found ridiculously cheap. Just had to clean them up and put in new lock cylinders
• Bronco Graveyard Deaver 5" Lift (with shocks, leaves, coils, adjustable track bar, track bar drop bracket, extended brake lines, and new shocks)
• 78-79 steering upgrade
• 35" Dick Cepek Extreme Country rubber
• 4.10 gearing in the axles
• 4340 front shafts, Warn premium hubs, upgraded HD 9" axle shafts
• Rear Detroit locker and front Detroit True-Trac
• Completely rebuilt and lengthened drive shafts
• 5th rim and 5th tire to match the other 4
• Protofab front and rear prerunner style bumpers with rear tire carrier to free up bed space
• ARB wiring harness for running my fridge in the back
• Tuff Stuff 100A GM 1 wire alternator
• Dual Battery Isolator kit
• 2 new AGM batteries
• A host of grab handles and cup holders in the cab
• Sunroof delete and a new headliner (patched with a piece of 1/8" aluminum)
• Bedliner paint job on the sides and hood
• Replacement ammeter that's been rewired to measure voltage output

I'm sure I missed something on the list but that's the bulk of it.


I'm guessing I'm sitting at somewhere close to $10k invested in the truck now above what I paid for it. She's trail ready now but could still use a few things, and there's a few bugs to sort out yet.


The main bug is that it eats speedometers. Tried two used ones. killed them both, but the Odometers kept working fine. Then I replaced the cable with a new one and found a rare NOS speedo, and it killed that one too, but the odo still works fine. I'm about to give up on having a speedometer in this truck. It makes no sense.


My voltage output to the second battery is too low using the Rugged Ridge Isolator and 6.5' cable I had to use, so I need to perhaps run something else here, like a low voltage relay instead of the isolator. Going to do some more homework on this.


I still need to replace the shift fork pads to quiet the shifter down.


None of those things though will keep the truck off the trails, and I've got a lot of trail riding planned this summer in preparation for my 17th annual expedition style "AZ Run". Last year's run was on Fourwheeler.com and is in the current May issue of Dirt Sports and Off Road. I've been doing these for many years now from my www.nissan4wheelers.com site. Over the years we have fewer Nissans and more of a hodgepodge of rigs that show up, so don't let the Nissan reference fool you. Run is planned for October and I should be the only vintage rig on the trip, leading it no less.


Anyways, here's a couple pics of the truck as it sits now.

 

 

That turned out good. Love those bumpers and the rear tire carrier.

 

More pics are in my build thread here:


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...the-build.html

 

Are those the big bubba bumpers from jbg?? Those are the exact two bumpers I want. What was the total price on those?

 

JBG offers them, but Protofab in Mayer, AZ actually builds them. Contact them directly, especially since you're local and you can save on freight. I got the Christmas time discount and paid just under $1500 for both. Fitment leaves a little to be desired...had to get creative with some shims to make the front look right, and the bumper brackets in the back didn't line up well with the holes so I ended up doing some cutting and drilling. They're on there though, and they're stout as can be.

 

Right on man. Thanks for the tip. I'm in west Phoenix. Over by desert sky pavilion.

 

Nice truck
Nice to see another shorty.

 

Where did you mount the license plate on that bumper?

 

Nice, very nice.

 

Good looking rig. Those are definitely some healthy bumpers.

 

It's not mounted to the bumper. I put it up high on the end of one of the toolbox lids, and then recessed the old step bumper lights into the toolbox to illuminate it. Worked out real nice.


See below post. First pic is just how it looks. In the second you can see the lights (blocked by the tailgate when going down the road so cars behind you can't see them directly. You can also see my ARB plug in mounted underneath.


Last pic shows a block off plate inside the toolbox to protect wires, etc. when stuff is sliding around in the box.

 

 

Nice ride! Thanks for posting the pic's etc...I've been looking for a front winch type bumper and this gives me an option.

Can't wait to get my truck back home from the body shop from getting it painted. Mike told me about 2 weeks and I can take it home!

Later, Shortbox4x4

 

Sweet ride man!! How do you like those Dick Cepek Extreme's? I've been thinking of getting a set of those for one of my bronco's!