Mikldom

I have the desert camo, 6 inch lifted brat with 30x9.50 tires on toyota rims... anyways... I had extended some old crappy shocks, and they have been failing over time.. The back end would bounce and rub all the time, and tires hit fender on turns etc. Well the other night, on my way home from Bills house, I was in the middle of the downtown tunnel between portsmouth and norfolk, the back end just bouncing right along, when all of a sudden, there was a big 'BANG' and crunch, I could see sparks shooting out of the back.. At first, I thought "My god, one of my wheels must be flying back down the tunnell" but after getting out, I could see the rump roast end was laying on the tires. The suspension had given out. The torsion spring had sprung! The tunnel people are cool. The sent a tow truck within 5 minutes. I told the lady there was no way she could tow me. She would need to tow me from the rear, or have a flat bed. She called another tow truck (the tunnell people have a couple), and he camed down the tube... He had to turn that sucker around in the middle of the tunnell. I was amazed he could do it.. He clamped the back tires, lifted it, and we rolled back up the tube BACKWARDS!!!! they had traffic stopped, but good thing it was 12:30 in the middle of the night. They sit you in their lot safe.. Well,, Bill and I built our coil over brackets to fit.. installed them, and realized one of the 6inch lifting blocks was broke.. so the torsion bar was laying on the driveshaft.. well knowing the driveshaft was messed up anyways.. we limped it to his house.. shaking, making noise, etc. I am going to Marks (lostwater), in the mountains this weekend to pick up another driveshaft, and bill is gonna reweld a block back in and firm it up for me, since he has a day or two off.. I should be back in business by the end of the weekend.. Just wanted to give a little narrative of my expierence. Mike mikldom@yahoo.com

Well good thing I had been to the junkyard and grabbed some coil overs from a 90 loyale wagon. on the way home from my buds sat. night, the back end just broke!!, I mean it slammed down into the body... the torsion bar apparently broke.. it also broke the driveshaft.. in the middle of the downtown tunnel in portsmouth!!!!.. sparks coming out the back and everything!!! well, the tunnel people are cool.. the came in and got a tow truck, first they had to turn it around cause they could not tow from front.. then the had to tow me out backward up the tube.. they parked me in a safe place.. bill and I made some strong rump roast brackets.. the strongest I have ever seen for a coil over conversion.. we installed them, but two of the lifting blocks broke.. and the driveshaft broke.. we limped it to his house.. anyways... it was a little fun and excitement!!! Mike Oh, Hassey... I can now attest, I broke a support,, we are gonna redo a couple of the back ones, and firm up a little.. we will take pics.

Bill (Bushbrat), worked off of hassey's design for my brat, and My dad and I did the shifter/4wd lever off of hassey's design, as well as thte adjustable strut towers with the 22 degree angles.. I need to take pictures and have my twin make up a web page. It is not overly complicated to build the lift, takes a lot of dry fitting and tacking, cutting, measuring etc. My lift has open 6 inch channel.. that way it has two bolts, one going into the top (body), and the other going into bottom (susp.). that way you will not have super long bolts breaking and flexing.. oh, all the bolts and nuts in my brat are courtesy of Henry Ford and the Norfolk F150 plant Anyways.. Hassey is the originator, and if you have ideas that you think will improve it, then all the better, but as he said, you can go to far unneedlessly, as he has no flex, I have none, and I am going to do the coil over conversion this weekend. anyways.. my input on this debate. Mike

I have a lead on a 1988 Justy manual tranny with 4wd, 2 door in great shape.. I am going to be buying it in a couple of weeks to add to my sube brood (ok, so far, only desert camo 6inch lifted brat). My questions.. has anybody ever lifted a justy? and before you tell me it can't be done, remember, everybody used to say that about our EA81 and EA82 vehicles, and I have a 6inch on my brat.... I want to put 14inch rims on there with some hel mart off road tires... so I think I need a 2 inch lift minimum and probably a 3 inch lift... I have heard the justy bolt pattern is the same as a honda civic, so finding 14inch rims will be no problem. What are the thoughts here? Mike mikldom@yahoo.com

There is so much to the lift,, without you asking specific questions, you won't get any answers... Myself, Scott, and Hassey have 6inch lifts on brats that I know of.. and a couple more out there. post some questions here, and we will answer them. talk to you soon. mike

I was at U-Wrench-it over the weekend looking for various parts for my P.O.S. Jeep Cherokee with the P.O.S. chevy 2.8 in it.. worst friggin purchase of my life.. new engine AND tranny in it, and still not right.. jeep finally got their crap together after 87, when chrysler took over and put that straight 6 in it.. anyways... I was looking at subys for parts for my brat, but they had NO EA81 vehicles in there at all, and only a couple EA82's with that poor baby being one of them. they rotate their stock every 30 days which sucks bad.. they have trannys and engines for only 99.00, but you have to pull them. A couple of months ago, they had a EA81 4wd hatch in there in good shape,, but before I could get tranny, they crushed it.. sux.. anyways.. I get there often, just had to comment. talk to you later. Mike

Take my 6inch lifted desert camo brat to the oregon inlet beach ramp quite often!!! My son and I have a blast.. we tear through the sand, and pass people on the soft stuff.. seen many exploders stuck to the axles... my brat, just floats right over.. only problem is that you need to run your rpm's high to have the power to drive on the really soft stuff.. but it is fun... and people stop, and point and follow you with their eyes... it is a crowded beach driving area.. look me up next time you go down.. I am only 2 hours from there.. real fun.. Mike mikldom@yahoo.com

In Virginia, they passed a law.. you can't have passengers in the bed of a truck, ONLY if they are under 16.. stupid freakin law... anyways.. like what was posted here... as long as it came factory, no worries If you wanted to add something like that, and it wasn't factory, you would have to get dot approval and what have you. like old cars.. if no shoulder belts from factory (pre 1967 I think), then you did not have to wear them. grandfathered in. anyways.. my seats behind my shed (if anybody steals them, I know where they are) I plan on reinstalling mine after I coat the bed. talk to you soon. Mike mikldom@yahoo.com

directions? I need to know what city it is near... I can goto yahoo maps and do directions that way... Thanks.. just to see how far, and maybe I can make it in my 6inch lifted brat Mike

I was able to walk into my local hardware store, with my old oil press. guage, and match up the threads, then got a 90 degree angle, to 1/8 copper tube to run up the engine bay. In the dash, I converted the 1/8 copper to 1/16 vinyl, hooked up to the guage.. Having a Sunpro Mechanical guage is so nice.. you know it is accurate (is is bourbon type) and using copper, it won't split it if hits something hot, like the poly tubing does (had that happen and lost all my oil once).. I have the guage mounted in the console.. right beside radio.. custom made flexstone painted face. Looks cool. talk to you later. Mike mikldom@yahoo.com

Went to spend the weekend with my 10 year old daughter in Jacksonville, NC, from my perch in Chesapeake (VA Beach). about 200 miles each way. Drove the 84 6" desert camo, with 30x9.50 on it. Ride shakes a little, but other than that, she runs!!! got about 23 miles to the gallon. the speedo is about 23% off (going 71 when speedo shows 55, verified with gps) Anyways.. She and I went to a "Mud Bog" while I was down there. Big trucks try to get through a real big nasty impassible mud pit. they measure the distance they travel. I thought it was kinda cool.. There was a old plymouth(dodge) pickup thingy that resembles a brat there... of course it has like 35 inch tires on it, and some loud as engine.. it did pretty well, but the jeeps beet it of course. anyways... I need to redo some back shocks, every time I hit a bump at speed, the back end likes to bottom out,, It must be, cause my shocks been leaking crap for a spell... I am thinking converting some real coilovers from EA82 to go back there to help with load capacity as well. anyways... I had a fun time, and had a bunch of looks from all the marines and hillbillys down there!!! talk to you later. Mike mikldom@yahoo.com

Being that I am a single man again, I am considering going to the N.J. gathering.. I believe it is only about 5 or 6 hours from me. I can't find the thread that lists the definate date. I know it got moved.. Let me know... I can do a map/driving directions on yahoo from where I live (Chesapeake, VA), to there.. up the Eastern shore (Delmarva Penisula). let me know. Mike mikldom@yahoo.com

Nope.. I had to have the best. I have some nice rump roast prelude seats in my brat.. they are charcoal, and sooo comfortable, and with an armrest on the driver side.. the front mounted in the stock holes.. the back, I just drilled new holes and mounted them to the 'flo. worked like a charm, and my rump roast don't hurt as my 6 inch camo brat bounces down the road like a rubber ball. anyways.. My $0.02 Mike mikldom@yahoo.com