Back with a New Ride!

[mthoodsub]

Picked these up last night from Inferno Fab

 

 

 

Friend and USMB member had them made in trade for my Borla replicas and dual port ej22.

 

Stainless version, equal length 

[mthoodsub]

Finally got some wheeling in.

 

Had some fun out in Sand Lake on Sunday

 

 

 

 

 

Didn't get a lot of pics, not a lot of trail damage just a broken tail light. That night I had to drive to Bend for business, a total of 350+ miles for the day, including the wheeling.

 

Then on Monday had some spare time and went over to Cline Buttes OHV area, its somewhat new, only been open a few years now. 4 Wheel & Offroad Magazine wheeled here during their Ultimate Adventure in 2012.

 

 

Awesome views of the Cascades, It was fairly clear that day and I could see from Mt. Adams in Washington south to Broken Top.

 

 

 

The green trails are pretty tame, mostly deep dusty stuff with some sharp rocks mixed in

 

 

 

 

I stuck with the green trails and one of the blue trails, there are a good bit of black diamond trails too,

 

 

 

 

Great views from just about anywhere in the area, Three Sisters in the background of this one.

 

 

 

 

 

[mthoodsub]

Finished my roof basket over the weekend.

 

Got the last of the sides on and painted it.

 

 

 

Holding it down using some 4" square U-bolts

 

 

My light bar ended up a little crooked, but oh well

 

 

This is what I have holding my Hi-Lift for now.

 

 

With everything loaded up, I don't plan to use it for very much, mainly wanted my spare and the hi-lift out of the cabin and a more safe place to carry fuel.

 

 

Got the light bar all wired up and working used a 1/4" grommet and just went through the roof. Its rained for a couple days and haven't had any leaks

 

[mthoodsub]

Some recent updates

 

Re-sealed my 2.2

Swapped over to 4.11 gears with VLSD rear

Made and installed 1/2" spacers for front subframe and control arms, to help with my axle angle

Reinforced bumper and core support to hold 2" receiver for winch cradle

 

Only got a few pictures of the receiver install

 

 

Here you can see the lower core support/skid plate mount I reused from my legacy. Its welded at either end to the tow loops with 1/4" plate caps.

 

 

 

 

What it looks like all finished

 

 

And with my cradle

 

 

I haven't got to try out the winch on the Subaru yet, but we are finally getting some good snow around here and I will be going out soon

Edited December 23, 2015 by mthoodsub

[El Presidente]

Nice build!

[mthoodsub]

Got out and did some wheeling the past couple weeks, after last winter it feels great to get some snow.

 

Only got some pictures of our pre-Christmas run. Winch and mods held up great. Aired down to 12 psi and the snow was still just too soft/sugary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally decided to just winch myself around in the ditch and head to another trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty happy with the way it wheels, but I think its time to move to some Grabbers or BFGs

 

[mthoodsub]

Finally got around to replacing my mis-shapen 1-1/4" trailer hitch frame with a 2" receiver in the bumper. Now I can use my winch cradle front and rear

 

Started by cutting out a hole, just big enough, through all the layers and structures of the bumper to slide the receiver into.

 

 

 

Then used 3/16" plate as a spreader across the back of the bumper, was going to use 1/4" but after examining the structure I think 3/16" will be ok

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the 3/16" bar I added to the mounting arms, I had to beat on the bumper to get it to slide into place. I like that, as I think those are the weak point of this setup.

 

I also wanted something to help keep the bumper mounting bolts from tearing through the body, so I recycled my old trailer hitch frame into some shackle mounts, torched off the ends, and burned a hole for the shackles.