Steve Arndt baja build project

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Good to hear you dad is coming along well. Ever notice every holiday, for various reasons, never seems to be the same :roll.

The steering sounds interesting too.

Lee

[jt1967]

Gathering parts for my future front end upgrade. Electronic power steering components. The seller even threw in the tilting column assembly which is very light and nicely designed.

The bug is back on the road. Lights and fenders on, alignment re-set. The new seat is great. I'm waiting to do the passenger side seat swap since it is low priority.

My dad always gets a little emotional on veterans day. Well this one was ugly. Over imbibed, and ended up breaking his hip falling down. He is at the VA hospital now waiting until they can find a surgeon. He toughed it out for 15 hours before finally letting us call an ambulance. fuq...

That is the same EPS I Have. Im sorry to hear about your dads fall God speed on his recovery! and tell him we all say THANK YOU!!! for serving.

[Steve Arndt]

I got new Cooper 3 ply ST MAXX 31x10.5 tires. Still working on re-sealing my centerline wheels to go tubeless. I put the little tires on it just to move it out of the shop and for a laugh.

tires.jpg

[BAJA-IT]

I thought you were going for the prerunner truck look!

[CentralWAbaja]

You have enough rear arm to clear the torsion bar? I can't remember off the top of my head? You may need to do a little finessing of the inner fender well also. Might get a little rub there with that square tire. And when I say finessing I mean love taps with a BFH increasing the finesse until the desired clearance is achieved

[Steve Arndt]

I won't have room to run my gnarly v weld snow tire chains anymore, close to the torsion tube. I plan on longer arms some days so I will have more room then.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Longer, wider or both?

[Steve Arndt]

2x3 rear arms.

[Steve Arndt]

[attachment=0]cooper.jpg[/attachmCent]

I re-sealed my rear centerlines successfully so I'm tubeless and fully balanced finally. Made a big difference in the ride. The larger and fresh tread seems to push my around a bit on the road so I'm working on checking that my alignment hasn't changed or moved.

They are a little noisier than my old BFG ATs but way cooler looking and they just work awesome on dirt roads and the variety of terrain I run on in the hills here.

[CentralWAbaja]

Looks Good Steve!

[dustymojave]

Resealed your Centerlines?

Lots of fresh silicon? Or a fresh wrap of duct tape?

[Steve Arndt]

Resealed your Centerlines?

Lots of fresh silicon? Or a fresh wrap of duct tape?

I spent about two hours each wheel. Used screw drivers, flat scrapers, dental pics, awl, etc. to scrape out 100% of the 1970s clear aquarium silicone. Then I media blasted them to make the insides clean and pretty. Wire wheel for tooth. Acetone. Then a whole can of Zep Fast Gasket super black silicone down in the groove tight. Dry overnight. Then a second coat.

Also the machining for the valve stem was poor. I debured the holes and got them drilled out to 0.625 so a standard size valve stem would fit.

100% sealed now.

[Steve Arndt]

Plus I got my tire store to dig out their wide 5 cone adapter and I'm balanced now. That made a WORLD of difference getting them balanced and ditching the heavy tubes.

[Steve Arndt]

I replaced the 40 year old worn out steering box with a new TRW box last weekend. Much tighter went from major on center slop to new car feel.

I also had a 4 wheel laser alignment. I was close but not that close. I still have problems keeping the bug in my lane over 50 mph. It is like I'm chasing it being blasted by side gust winds, even if it isn't windy. Two fisted grip to drive the turd.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Steve, looking at the last pix the rim looks marginally too narrow or is that just a photo anomaly? If i remember correctly, too narrow of rims can allow the sidewalls to work differently than planned, that is to act like an under inflated tire. Possibility????

Lee