3TV's 2-Door Toad Build

[3TV]

And finally, today, I changed from my hand me down temporary set of 37s to a set of 39s. I'm happy with the stance at this point. These were used 39" BFG Moab Edition KO2s that I bought from a forum member that lives just 50 miles away. He had bought them to use on his 392 under the assumption that a 39" BFG was the same size as any other companies 37" tire. At least for the 39" BFGs that is not the case, and they wouldn't fit his Jeep without significant modifications that he did not want to do. Although they were used, they only had 10 miles on them. The sticky rubber compound Moab Edition tires were no longer available to purchase new, so after looking at them and verifying that they had no visible signs of wear, I bought them from him. They even came mounted on a set of Teraflex Nomad wheels that I had always wanted. And the Teraflex Nomad wheels were no longer available either. So, a great find for me.

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[Upnover]

What’s the backspacing on those wheels, 3.5”?

 

[3TV]

What’s the backspacing on those wheels, 3.5”?

They are 17x8.5, -12 offset, 4.25" backspacing

 

[Upnover]

They are 17x8.5, -12 offset, 4.25" backspacing

nice no issue with rubbing when turning?

 

[3TV]

nice no issue with rubbing when turning?

No issues with turning. I can turn steering lock to steering lock with no tire rub.

 

[3TV]

I've done a few additions this week. First, I installed an overhead molle panel from AAL. It fits great and provides a lot of space to mount radios and other gear. I mounted a Midland MXT500 GMRS radio.

I also installed a Wolfbox G900 TriPro mirror with a dash cam, rear view cam, and front bumper cam. This a game changer for rear visability with a 39" spare tire that blocks rear view from the stock rear view mirror. And it is nice to have the dash cam and front bumper cam as well. The images in the mirror appear bleary on my cell phone camera, but they are crystal clear to my eye when I look at the mirror. All of the different modes and the adjustability are impressive.

Front view camera is mounted in the same location as an OEM front camera, which my Jeep didn't have.

Rear view camera is mounted on top of the third brake light, which has been relocated to the center of the spare tire with a Teraflex third brake light mount.

 

[3TV]

Project Toad is now ready to start its life as a towed vehicle. We just completed a 6-day camping and Jeeping trip to see how things would work.

Day 1, a travel day.

We camped at the Wikiup, in the San Rafael Swell in central Utah. Here is Camp 1. After setting up camp we drove the Wikiup loop in the Jeep.

 

[3TV]

On night 1 of our trip, I got to cross something off of my bucket list. I have always wanted to see the northern lights, and growing up in the southwest desert had made that difficult. At age 65 I had never seen the northern lights. An X5 solar flare had sent a CME directly at earth two days prior though, and in the remote location that we camped in, viewing the northern lights caused by that CME hitting the atmosphere was spectacular. I can cross this one off my bucket list.

 

[3TV]

On day 2 of our trip, we drove the Eagle Canyon trail. This trail is rated "moderate" by our handy dandy trail guidebook. Guide To Moab, UT Backroads & 4-Wheel-Drive Trails published by FunTreks.
Eagle Canyon Arch

I-70 expansion bridge crossing Eagle Canyon

 

[3TV]

Day 3 was a travel day to Moab in the morning, after which we drove the Top of The World trail, which is rated "Hard" by our handy dandy guidebook. It is rated 6 on the Moab Easter Safari scale. It leads to what is likely the most spectacular view in the Moab area.

The east side of the Top of The World trail loop is not included in the Safari route. Our guidebook rated the east side of the loop "Extremely Difficult", and it is more fun because of that.

Our second campsite was right next to the Colorado River 30 miles east of Moab.

 

[3TV]

Day 4 was an easy day, but with spectacular scenery. We drove the Onion Creek Trail and counted 35 creek crossings each way, 70 altogether.

 

[3TV]

For day 5 we joined the Red Rock 4-Wheelers and 34 other Jeeps on their Trail of The Month trail ride. They did Tip Toe Flat Iron Mesa but let those of us that wanted to play on some of the obstacles from the regular Flat Iron Mesa trail, such as "Tilt-a-Whirl."

Day 6 was a travel day home in 284 miles worth of pouring rain.

 

[NINTH]

A few more improvements lately. For better departure angle and a stronger rear bumper, I installed a Rugged Ridge XOR rear bumper.

How you liking the RR rear bumper? Any thing to note? Looking to get this for my sport

 

[3TV]

How you liking the RR rear bumper? Any thing to note? Looking to get this for my sport

I like the Rugged Ridge rear bumper. It has good clearance and is strong enough to survive when that clearance isn't enough. I came down some big ledges in Moab last week (see post 70 above). The rear bumper took a couple of very hard hits and only got a few white rock kisses on the bumper, but no damage to the bumper otherwise. The tailpipe is another story.

 

[3TV]

It's been a while since I updated this thread. I just added a whip flag mount, so I am legal when I go to the dunes at Sand Hollow. I made it out of a repurposed gate hinge that I had left over from a gate project. I just cut the ends off of the hinge, drilled the necessary holes and painted it. The bolt that holds it to the tire carrier is a repurposed OEM bolt that held the stock skid plates on. I already had the anodized quick release flag holder from a UTV. Total cost $0.

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