New to Forum, "New" Trail Rig/Mud Bog Truck
 

How's it going everyone?

I've run across this forum in bits and pieces looking up different things whether it be for my Bronco or for when I was dipping into different research on my Dad and I's new project, and I finally decided to sign up and give it a whirl.

My daily driver is a 92' Bronco;
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot..._8183907_n.jpg

And the big reason why I decided to join here is our "new" 79' F150 Ranger XLT we bought with the intention of turning into a mud bogger and non-hardcore trail/goof around truck.
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...88395976_n.jpg

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...96985112_n.jpg

Before you scratch your head too much, yes that is a step-side bed off a chevy (he replaced the rotted bed with the Chevy with intent to find a new ford bed, didn't happen). It's mostly stock; C6, NP203 (sadly not a 205), Ford 9'' Rear, D44 Front. It's got a 5'' lift with 35x12.50's it's sitting on for now and it's been previously upgraded to a 460. I'm fairly new to the whole identifying bits and pieces about the engine minus the Edelbrock 1411 750cfm carb and Performer 460 Intake. For now my Dad and I are having a blast just driving it around on the streets, contemplating about giving the local(ish) Good Friday Mud Bog a whirl just to see where it stands.

I'm actually looking forward to browsing though here and seeing how much information I can find to turn it into a nice little monster for us to have some fun in. Hell, it's eventually going to be a primarily mud bog truck so maybe the bed will stay (for now). I'm more than open to any suggestions you guys might have for a rookie like myself, and maybe after awhile be able to contribute something myself. Can always start with just tips and pointers or suggestions on what we might want to do with this project, or even just tips and pointers for running it the best we can.

I really like the bronco, that's the one OJ should have fled in :p I wouldn't have noticed that was a chevy box haha. Looks like a pretty good rig to turn in to a bog truck. Welcome:-jammin

Welcome to the site. That's a nice lookin truck I used to run mud bogs and had a blast. Ihad a 87 ram50 with a GM 377 stroker and 38x12.50 super swamper tsl. I ran against a bunch of ol dent sides and had my butt handed to me by a few

Welcome to the club, nice front half of a 79 what happened to the back half it got real ugly, chebby fugly. LMAO

It sort of in a way I am not going to admit (god I cant believe I am saying this), it looks good in the pic. Probably due to it being barely visible, I am sure. lol

JK, go with what ya got, we all do, and we all sling a little crap for it though. As far as a HK trail rig/mud truck. NP 205 swap, spool and locker the axles (spool and locker makes it not so streetable) and good u joints and fun run it.

If you want to drop the cash an air locker would help solve the street ability issues being able to drop that front axle any time ou want is a nice feature.

I shall watch an wait you have three months before I am home and I shall challenge you to the slowest build challenge since I am doin a mud truck too.

Haha, thanks, the Bronco was the first vehicle I ever bought. Stock 302, I put a 6'' lift on 35x12.50's on it. I needs some fresh paint, but other than that I can't and won't complain. It's done everything i've asked it to (don't ever pull diesels out of the sand off your bumper like I have) and she still starts up and goes. A friend of mine thought it looked a little off when we were originally looking at the truck, but couldn't put a finger on it. It's got a steel plate riveted across the "chevy" on the back of the bed with Ford across it so unless you're a real chevy fan (or look in the bed and see Chevy backwards), you can't really tell. That and I guess the tail lights.

Thanks, that's exactly what we're hoping to do. I have friends who have their feet in all sorts of places in the mud bog scene here, anywhere from street classes up with "x" class and super mod running 490+ big blocks taken out of dragsters with a toilet bowl sitting on top chugging more alcohol than a frat in college.

We don't want to go that extreme, we just want a solid rig that we can have a blast in. Winning some money and turning some heads would definitely be a perk, but if we ain't having fun it's not worth it.

Haha, here's the back half.
http://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-...35139811_n.jpg

Swapping the transfer case was definitely something I already had planned, I was hoping it was a 205 already but oh well. I think our plan, for the axles at least, is to run them until they break and then just swap for D60's with 4.56 or 4.88 gears and lockers. Also might lift it a little more and run at most 38's. Other than that I think it'd just be bits and pieces we find out and like.

Haha, you might win that challenge. Unless we find a trailer and take it to the bog we'll be going to on Good Friday, then I guess even if it's not "perfect" it would have made it into the mud. I'll have to bring the air locker part up, do lockers change per axle?

Here is a little "read' and some advice from F350 a guy sorry to say it not on here anymore for some reason. But his info is right on as far as how to build it.

I am running a stock block in all of the engines. 460, 521, 521, and 557. The block is generally not the limiting factor here. Some machine work and quality parts are where you will obtain reliability. Heads and cam will unleash the power, but use quality parts.

In any event, 700 HP is a nice goal, and I probably should have been a little more specific earlier. When I suggested that you set a goal and stick to it, I meant that you should create a reasonable goal, and do what you can to achieve it.

Not too many fellas are in the 700 hp club, and when I hear this I truly expect 500 real hp's, but let’s talk about that. 500 hp is huge compared to the whopping 120 something you are making now. I’m not ripping on the 351M, errrr, ok, maybe a little. But regardless, this thing made around 150 to 170 Hp's when it was new.

A tired old "M" might make the same 30 years later. Add a big honking cam that makes power far higher than the engine is actually capable of reaching, or heads that can’t flow enough air to maximize that aftermarket carb, and you might actually make less than the factory spec. Consider that the engine is tired so it might be making 100 hp, and my original estimate was not accurate.
Being an optimist, I as shooting for a high number.

You can make 1 HP per cubic inch, or at least make slightly less. Either way, you will have a mill that is still over three times the power house that the 351M ever was.
Start with the 460 and never look back. Each time you upgrade you can’t count on the fact that you are one step closer to your goal, the reasonable one.

Guess this all boils down to priority. Is it a priority to complete what you have? I mean, it runs right? You decided that the priority was to build enough of a lift to clear tires large enough that your stock engine just won’t be able to turn?
Sounds kind of strange when it is put like that right?

How about building a bullet proof drivetrain, that can handle anything that you throw at it, and use a reasonable tire? 37's can be a ton of fun in a stock truck with some gears and a locker. Ever drive a 1 ton equipped truck with 1 ton gear, 35 spline axles or even chromo, locker, steep gears and smaller tires like 37's? It’s a blast! Hit it with some power and one may not ever change from this.
Once the drivetrain is bullet proof, and you have installed all of the gear that will make it suitable for upgrades, now comes the bullet.
See since your drivetrain is bullet proof, you won’t ever worry about breaking it, and all of the money you save will go towards the next goal. No distractions, like broken axles or downtime. What’s next? The engine and trans.
Meanwhile you are still wheeling the thing, and you are tearing all sorts of stuff up, but not the drivetrain.
So you have some fun wheeling the truck, and you are building a nice engine for it. Upgrades do not have to come right away, just a nice running 460 that will smash that little 351M.
All of this is while you are still pimpin 37's.
So a little time goes by, and you have a nice bullet for the gun. A fresh 460 with early iron heads, flat tops, timing set, and a nice reasonable cam. Small carb, but that’s all you need right now. Its reliable, starts every time, runs like a champ and making over 350 Hp's easy.
That’s about a 300% increase over the old engine. Thought you were tearing it up before, now you are just getting crazy.
Time for tires. Since you already have nice 1 ton gear, and a bullet proof set of axles, you have the gears to turn a larger tire, you now set a goal for some lift and some tires that put you in a different category.
Lift it and make some mods, but the axles are still working great, engine is as nice as can be, and you are still having a blast.
This truck has seen minimal downtime, and you have been rolling it around all over the place.
What do we upgrade next? Who knows, because we’ve built a decent drivetrain, and it runs well, but we need some more puppy power, so we head to the speed shop, and up the cam, port some heads, step up the carb and maybe intake. You have already found a used intake on Craigslist, and got it for a song, and look at that, the National Dragster has a guy selling a Demon carb that looks like it has been unmolested, and it is cheap.

Kind of see where I am going here?

None of us have the pockets to build a fire breather on the first go around, and none of us have hit it out of the park on the first swing, but I am sure that every one of us would have done things a little bit differently, and some wish that we had.

Everyone can build a truck in any order they wish, but it seems to me that most build them backwards.
They lift it, put some big honking meats under it then struggle with broken parts, and have to limp a sorry engine around to try to turn the things.
Backwards I say.

Gimme a nice 460, and some 1 tons that won’t break, I’ll throw in a Detroit out back, and Ill wheel it with white wall tires. Probably do as well or better than so many of those other trucks that I see on the trail. Wimpy little engine, no traction devices, we can see this because it is stuck on wet grass. Busted axle or u-joints, Oh….but it has some big ol meats and it looks nice, Can’t get out of its own way, but it looks nice.

Cracks me up............

For the OP, not baggin on you, just throwing out some examples and some ideas. Its your rig, and in all honesty, I applaud your efforts. You do have the desire and ability. Keep that up. Don’t lose that. Only one way to gain experience my friend. Only one way.

I am a little tired so the question is flying miles over head right now what do you mean change per axle?


I am going with rockwells with the new ARB lockers for them

Do you mean front to rear or D44 to D60? As far a change... brand versus abilities changes cost for sure. "Lunch box" locker is cheap compared to a ARB air locker.

A "Spool" in the back is cheaper than a Detroit locker and is a for sure locker. A Detroit in the front is a good call, but there are cheaper routes/lockers you can go with.

And you can just Lincoln lock (weld) the rear for a cheap route, but then its a mud/trail trailer it to the place rig for sure.

Got called into work to review some things on my day off (yay), so I hadn't had time to simply research it myself. What I meant was lockers differ between say the 9'' rear and a D60 rear right? Can't use the same locker in both?

I meant D44 to D60 and 9'' to D60

It is a good read, but i'm confused. Where does your part begin and the F-350's guy part end? If the entire post is his words that makes sense, if the last partial-paragraph is yours it doesn't... we haven't touched anything on it yet.

Haha, can you help me out?

Ok looks like you have a F150-5 lug-1/2 ton, so it has a 9" rear end, the locker for it will not work in a rear D60, different housing all together. Same goes for the D44 front to D60 front.

As far as the attached statement, mine it only the first line all the rest is his. The best part is the stuff after "How about building a bullet proof drivetrain".

Sorry for the confusion....

It's all good, I was gonna say sheesh. I thought that's how the lockers would work, and although I know lockers would help even the gear that came on the truck i'm not too sure if we'll be buying them when we already are planning on replacing them after they go. If we find better tires (used) for mud around here we'll probably snatch those up, not sure how lucky we'd be on TSL's or Boggers though.

I don't really have any real high hopes on tearing up the pit if we take it in a week just like it is, but it would give us a good idea of where we are starting... even though things like lockers and such is pretty much common sense. We are still very much at step 1 (maybe 1 1/2 since we have a truck, haha).

To caveat on it you can but you can't the locker styles stay the same just differences in sizes. So if you are dead set on say a Detroit locker then you can have a Detroit locker it does not really really matter on the axles these companies are really getting behind us all in all.

That being said while the 9 inches are strong unless you upgrade to some really nice high quality axles then yoy will be snapping em left and right with a bogger build.

Not saying you need to go to rockwells like I am but you do need to make a upgrade to serious axles. Dana now offers crate axles so you should be able to get a whole new axle and avoid trying to find a good used one.

With out a locker installed, both axles are considered open (well front it open and the rear is probably a LS) so it will be a 1 front, 1 rear wheel drive truck and will not be all that fun hitting the pit.

But take it and run it and have fun in the stock class and whip some chebby but anyway. And post some pics!