we've got an 81 ford 3/4 ton we're puttin together for mud boggin (due date is july third) for tires we have 4 hummer goodyear wrangler RT ll's (36"paid $40 a tire) with about 2/3 tread left , and a 400 to power the truck currently till we get the 429 (at least 400hp that we swapped a 289 for but it was overheated and nedds to be overhaules)redy that we will be geting shortly. But for axles it has a HD dana 44 twin traction beam, and a semi floating 10.25 sterling axle. It has i believe the BW T-18 tranny and a NP-208 T-case. Everything is in good shape but we need to get the 400 pulled out of the car its in (tomorrow) get the right pan and stuff on it and than drop it in.

Now this truck has no lift but the tires clear the fenders, however we might have do a little bit of trimming and weld stops if the 16.5x10 rims don't let the tires clear the leafs when turned lock to lock. Basically my questions to you guys are, what other mods should we do (we are doing this using up old parts so either cheap cheap of free parts only do). Also anyone have any driving tips i should know about.

 

gut the bed and interior...hack those fenders!

 

Weld up your carrier or spool it if you don't want to sink the $$ into a locker. Need all those tires spinning when you hit the mud.

 

get ready to pay for racing fuel or even alcohol and throw down some cash for a supercharger

-cutts-

 

If a lot of trucks go in before you and have made the pit deep in the middle,consider running the edge of the pit. Or maybe the center will be better if they have a path wallowed out, just something to think about- I won the outlaw class once with a stock class 67 bronco by doing that, It amazed me that nobody seemed to catch on to why I was doing so well!!!

 

always keep moving and turn your tires to catch traction.. dont follow the path a truck with bigger tires went down or skitch there ruts and miss them by a little..

 

Seriously, like Ivan said, weld your rear end. You've got guys like me at the bogs raising hell creating monster ruts and with 36"s you'll need all the traction you can get. Hell, if this is just for mud bogging I'd weld your front too. Keep your rpms up, your momentum good, and keep sawing that steering wheel back and forth...

 

put a 400 shot on her for when you start losing momentum

 

Damn, what's minumum wage in GA? He asks about a BUDGET bogger and Cutts tells him race fuel and a supercharger . . . Ho tells him a 400 shot. You guys crack me up. I'm moving!

 

does budget and 4x4 really go hand in hand?

 

I was wonderin the same thing '95

 

no such thing as a budget bogger in my mind...at least not after your fisrt run or two

 

currently we have spent about 600 including the purchase price of the truck. The only other things we plan on buying is headers and intake (have a 750 holley double pumper and a decent size RV cam). So we will not end up with more than 1000 put into the rig including the orginal purchase price which includes 2 good sets of 36" military rubber.

Quick question, should we leave the front bumper off or go ahead and put on the bush gaurd (very hefty and strong) on? One thing i have just found out is that my dad (I'm building pretty well by myself with his occasional help when he's not busy) wants to use this truck on the farm for spraying and such so i guess the diffs are going to stay open.

I've got an idea for a cheapo lift. Can one rearch the leaf springs (there is a local place that does a nice job getting springs back to stock)to gain lets say 4in of lift (since this is only a farm truck and will nopt be used a heck of a lot) and use blocks to get the pinion angles right, then by using some very strong steel, build drop down brackets for the traction beams to get the camber right, and a dropped pitman arm, then once installed with some decent shocks, presto, a 6" lift, although not the best of lifts it would work wouldn't it?

 

Leave the bumper/brushguard off untill race is done. Thats a lot of work for a lift when your really important clearance for mud only comes from your tire diameter.

 

Too bad you are leaving the diffs open.........mud trucks work so much better when you can get all 4 turning together.