alright - we had a successful trail run to Chinaman's Gulch this past Saturday. Had a couple issues but the truck wheeled itself onto and off of the trail under it's own power, and overall is 'felt' really good. It crawls every bit as smooth and sure-footed as its predecessor...and I'm very tempted to carry over the name Big Ugly Dodge...or Blue Uber Dodge...or Big Uber Dakota - a.k.a. "Bud" - I think that's just the name for my truck

So - how'd it go. First thing I noticed was after a half hour or so the steering was getting 'sticky'...'jerky'...and it turns out one of the things I apparently overlooked was...and don't laugh...but I apparently forgot to grease the kingpins/bearings on my front D60 knuckles. Yah yah I know. But, fortunately for me, one of our gang just happened to have a mini-grease gun and two extra cartridges...and we pumped it all in and that alleviated most of the sticky knuckles, but they still may need more. Gonna pull the caps and have a look and I won't be surprised if I roached the bushings, but I might have got lucky and caught it before causing irreparable damage. I know I lubed the bushings on assembly, but (apparently) didn't pump it all full of grease - might be some other problem altogether, but in the meantime use my silliness and remember to grease yer joints!

Next - fuel pressure. It appears my decision to place the EFI mini fuel tank under the hood was a mistake - seems it's absorbing too much heat, and the crap ethanol fuel nowadays is simply boiling in the tank and lines...which caused all sorts of havoc on the requisite 60 psi for the Sniper. Probably had to stop a couple dozen times to let the low-pressure pump try to fill the EFI tank with cooler fuel, push out some bubbles, and give the EFI pump enough fuel to run the engine. It took many many many many stop/refuel/go moments but the truck did drive itself off the trail under its own power.

My solution is going to be to relocate the EFI tank under the bed, which should eliminate all of the heat problems, leaving only the actual high-pressure fuel lines along the cab/up the firewall to the Sniper, which I will additionally shield from engine heat...and hopefully that'll solve that problem.

In the meantime, I've tidy'd up a few items, including tack-welding the bed fender wells together, eliminating two giant holes in the bed so my gear won't disappear. I think I'm still good for the mega-trail run called Chili Challenge next month, but that'll all hinge on curing the front axle and fuel pressure issues.

Here's a couple pics, and some from the trail - it's amazing how much room is in the bed now without a giant spare tire taking up all the space...













Anthony's lifted F150 on 35s did the whole trail without issue - his first time out -


Thomas' buggy does whatever he/it wants -