there may be several fasteners to contend with, but changing tires is not a very common trail necessity...and if I do I have the zip gun to get them out - easy peezy.

...so making brackets from 1/4" plate can be a challenge, especially when bends are involved, and I can really use a way to break 1/4" plate, and I had a decent press, so I made a jig for making up to about maybe 4" breaks, which worked great (so far) for making the rear upper shock towers. I used a sanding flapper disc on my grinder to shape the wedge, and used a death wheel to cut/shape the grooves - worked great

Harbor Freight 12-ton press as the core -


Carved a 90* punch & die set - primitive but effective -






Rear shock towers nearly ready to weld on -

so...progress is going good...and I think the truck will be ready for Chili Challenge in October...and I'm going through all of the '...gee I wish I'd have just done this or that...', and I'm just pondering what's coming up for the truck and posting my thoughts - nothing more.

Electrical. The key switch starts the truck and it'll run until I turn it off, so that's really great :thumbsup: . What I do not know is if the lights will turn on, if the wipers will work, if the door locks will work, if the HVAC will work...or if they will come on for 5 minutes and then turn themselves off after 5 minutes of 'no engine rpm signal' or other such nanny sensor not telling the OBD2 system what's going on. I have no idea, and we're going to plug in headlights and respective dash controls and 'see what happens'. It's just one of the things I'm dreading is all..., but if this Dakota rolls or gets otherwise destroyed and I were to do another truck...well it wouldn't be another 4-door Dakota...

got the shocks installed. Fabbed up the axle mounts, and a set of Bilsteins are now bolted in place.

Fronts (8 inches of total flex) -








Rears - (12 inches of flex)

ok - lots of forward progress, and taking the Dak to it's first 'o-fficial' trail ride tomorrow to Chinaman Gulch 👍 .

Shocks - done
Fuel filler neck dual-feed leak tested and functional - done
Rock sliders - done
Front winch - done
Bed inner wheel wells tacked in place - done

Drove it on the back roads a few miles to the nearest gas station - tested the shut-off valves and no leaks, then filled up the main tank until the handle shut itself off just like it's supposed to - that was huge 👍 .

Bolting together the space tire/wheel and installing the p-side seat today, and then I'll clean it off, then toss in all the gear for tomorrow's run to Chinaman 👍 .

Steering is a bit 'twitchy' when trying to go straight - seems I may need to check the toe-in to see if the tires need a garage alignment - might be causing the 'twitchy' part, or else there's some other fine-tuning needed - TBD.

- Sam

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 -

I'll add that overall the truck 'felt' really good, and of course not having the loud 'diesel' 6BT sound was not missed at all - the diesel rattle was awesome...but wanting/needing to put in ear plugs to make the trail run more enjoyable got old pretty quick.

One of my #1 goals was to have the engine 'behave' just as well as it did before taking it all apart, and I'm extremely happy to report that goal was achieved. The Sniper felt "OE" - just how I wanted it. I never noticed any 'hick-ups' with the Sniper or any of the associated components - not once - it acts and does what my brain 'expects' it to do, which was outstanding.

The tranny also felt 'perfect' - again doing what I expected it to do.

The Atlas...lemme just say that having LOTS of gears is fantastic. I have two gearing options available: 3.8 in the main case and a 2.72 doubler - it's a 'similar' setup to a 203/205 doubler. I was in 3.8 most of the day, and when the steep descents came along I'd throw in the doubler, and the total of 10.34-1 double-low gearing made the steep descents effortless - the engine would just 'hold' the truck back even coming down the other side of big rocks - all under control, and all I had to do was steer. It's awesome.

Meanwhile, I've got the surge tank relocated to under the bed and I'm redesigning the fuel lines - should have it all done in about a week. Then on to check a couple other items, and continue prepping for Chili Challenge...which I hope to be heading back from one month from to-day.

reinforced both sides of the front bumper with another tube and added a chunk of 1-1/4" plate (which also serves as the D-ring mounts), and the front lights are bolted on. Fuel lines are almost done and I'm hoping to re-test it this weekend.

short video of Budd's first trail run, going over a small rock - this is the 'Wall' on Chinaman Gulch -

[MEDIA=youtube]oh2EUACK8G8[/MEDIA]

Horray! Took the Dak back out to the Ram Off Road Park for its last-and-final heat-soak test, and the newly re-designed fuel system passed with flying colors - no fuel system/pressure/vapor-locking issues at all 👍 .

The surge tank is now located under the bed -



So, the main tank supplies low-pressure fuel to a surge tank, and the surge tank contains the fuel for the high-pressure EFI system. The main tank supplies fuel to the surge tank via a basic low-pressure 4.5 gph/30 psi fuel pump, and that return side now has a simple but very effective 'sight gauge' (a 5/16 fuel filter), which...if it's full then so is the surge tank, which is exactly what I want. If it's not full then neither is the surge tank, and that's bad, so the little fuel filter is my quick-visual-reference to ensure 'all is well'. The angle with the below pic is without the shield in place to protect the surge tank and plumbing from rocks and road debris, and I can 'peek' at the filter between the cab and bed - works awesome.



All the fuel lines are now 5/16". The two high-pressure fuel lines are now the only fuel lines going up into the engine bay, and both lines are double insulated - first with DEI 3/8 Vapor Lock insulation wrap, and then again with 1/2 heat sleeve, all secured in place with clamps and plastic blocks to keep the lines away from the frame and firewall (a black cutting board works great for making 'spacers', btw) -

And it wasn't just me out at RORP - at 0730 that morning I'm out at the barn loading up the Dak and I hear "Hi Dad" coming from my 5yr-old - she wandered out and found me, and asked 'what are you doing'?, and I said I'm taking the truck out to the off-road park for a test, and she asked 'can I go with you'?, and I thought about it and said 'sure'!...but as I thought about it some more I thought...maybe we can all go - asked the wife and sure enough we packed up everyone in both the Dak and the wife's new trail machine; we just picked up a really nice 08 Wrangler JKU, and between it an the Dak we were able to very comfortably bring the whole family, including the 5, 3, and 2 yr-old's, and we all had a genuine blast. The 2 and 3 yr-old's rode with mom in her new Jeep, and the oldest rode with me in the Dak, and it was the very first time the whole family wheeled a trail together...and I gotta say it was absolutely delightful . The whole point of being in this silly sport has always been to have the whole family infected...I mean influenced by extraordinary fun that comes from this silly sport, and so far the evil plan is working!

Sadly, one of our club members owned/built up this JKU, and he had very tragically passed away, and long story short his Jeep became available, and as it turns out we were simply at the right place at the right time, and we were able to pick up the Jeep at a good price. I am really happy that I don't have to spend years building it up - it's already 'there', and it is nearly exactly what we would have built for the wife, and she loves it. It's an '08 JKU, not a Rubicon (no loss there), with a Dynatrac ProRock 44 front and a ProRock 60 rear (with 5.13s...and ARBs - yuck...), on 37s, and a full host of armor. We're intending to swap out the ARB's for Grizzlys asap, but other than a base unit GMRS radio that'll probably about the only thing we'll change...potentially for a long time. Meanwhile, pics -

doors are on...and the electric windows go up and down n everything, even after 15 minutes of ignition-on - I can be dry and warm - woot! 👍



Door locks and mirrors aren't working but that may be 'fuses' - hey one miracle at a time!

...been getting lots of small stuff done, including the uber-reinforced belly cradle extension (specifically designed to protect the Atlas) 12v power port works, and the HVAC works! - hot/cold, defroster/vent/footwells, fan speed - all work normally even after 15 minutes of running 👍 .

Just a quick trip gas station to fill it back up and it's ready to load for next weeks big gig 👍

The lowest part of the whole truck is a single piece of 1/2" plate steel...which 'should' be strong enough to support the truck in the event of it slamming down or teeter-totting on it...I hope :oops:

that looks like it will do the job !
however, the transmission pan looks vulnerable. any protective ideas for it ?

...haven't got that far yet (lucky to be this far), but yes I'll likely put something under it too

the trip to New Mexico for Chili Challenge was great! The truck did well, nothing broke, and I learned a lot. The biggest thing I learned is that for the technical rock crawling I like to do there are vehicles much better suited (and much less custom) for such things than a big Dakota, and while it is running well I may eventually take all the goodies from it and drop it all in a gutted JKU. I have a lot of work yet to do just to get the Dak to 'fully-functional' condition, and I am contemplating putting that time to better use by building up a primitive and effective JKU with the Dakota's guts. I like the truck, but after looking at several Jeeps and comparing everything to the Dak well it's no surprise my mind wandered all over the place thinking about it all.

I'd typically say that "Nothing will happen any time soon" but I know myself better than that, so I won't, and in the meantime here's an update on the truck. The redesigned fuel system and Sniper EFI performed flawlessly - never missed a single beat. The tip-in with the 2bbl Sniper is perfect for technical rock crawling. The suspension and axles all worked great. The steering has an intermittent issue I can't figure out, and if I change anything I'll for sure go back to high-steer...or full hydro, but otherwise it worked great. Brakes are great. Essentially all of the critical systems are working great...and I still have no idea how to make 'all' of the rest of the systems work like they're supposed to (and I get heart palpitations just thinking about it), especially the lights and wipers...which I have to have...and transplanting everything into a big Jeep would probably be less work than trying to get the Dakota to work normally without bypassing everything and making a stand-alone wiring harness anyway...not to mention the body work to make it at least look decent...and then it would still be a 6500-lb monster with big heavy everything that should still have another 1000 lbs of roll cage that is nearly impossible to fix if it flops over and cracks the cab. Sorry but no thanks.

I was thinking I'd build up our 94 GC, but that ship has sailed. If I were to build up a new machine for rock crawling it would be a gutted JKU with the Dakota's guts, and I'd fab up a very simple dash just like I did for Bud and drop in a super simple heater - no power windows or doors, no a/c, a much MUCH simpler machine that is very simple to 'understand' and maintain - essentially a bigger badder version of my dad's M-38, which also has a lot to do with my current thinking. I'd enjoy all of the bolt-on greatness available for the JKUs, and essentially have a very primitive and effective Jeep on 40's...or bigger.

That said if'n anyone knows of a semi-stripped JKU with a blown engine and axles, no dash, and has a title, well let me know. In the meanwhile I'm just gonna wheel the Dakota until I get good n ready to change things up, and here are some pics from the event, including scoring a 940 on the RTI ramp .

here's a couple more short vids from Chili Challenge - nothing too exciting but still fun -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXbuwy99FzU

https://youtu.be/BRIixr_mqjQ

https://youtu.be/FtEDwsjjnLQ

https://youtu.be/Ktcaycm_P2I

...well my brothas n sistas...I'm sure this won't come as much of a surprise...but I'm making the command decision to cut bait and pull the plug on the Dakota build, and build up a big bad 4-door Jeep. It's gonna be about 10-times stronger and more capable than Dad's M-38...and I'm calling the M-380.

The Dakota is pretty cool...and I don't hate it...but...and believe me I have pondered all of this for...years... - I don't look forward to the time and effort it is going to take to get it 'done', and I don't want to spend the energy to figure it all out. In the same time it'll take (probably less) to figure out how to get the lights and wipers to work, not to mention fabricating some kind of legit roll cage...and the body work...I'm pretty sure I can build the whole Jeep in less time, and...well that ship has sailed, and I've pulled the trigger on my next...and very likely last...off-road build.

Picked up this 2014 JKU Thanksgiving eve - it's a right-hand drive machine (former mail carrier had it), 3.6/auto 4x4, 100% virgin intact and never rode hard. The engine 'doesn't run' (for reasons unknown), and I'm very happy to say this is the core of what is going to be my final, and arguably best, off-road machine. Got it for a very, very good price, and it is 100% complete - full interior etc - a perfect starting point.

I'm gonna gut this -


...drop in all of the awesome driveline from this -


...keeping in mind all of the charm and simplicity of this -


...and it'll feel and perform pretty much like this -


...while looking more or less like this -


...and in the end we'll have 'his n hers' JKUs in the family as mine will nicely compliment the wife's new 08 JKU on 37s -


I'm going to completely remove the OE Jeep electrical harness, install a stand-alone, computer-less, dirt simple, primitive, and effective switch-to-component harness, mod the firewall for left-hand drive, drop a nice aftermarket 4.5" suspension kit under it, weld on the Artec hardware to utilize the D60/14b, go full-hydro, and rock on.

In the meantime, if'n anyone is looking for a heavily upgraded 4-door Dakota with a legit SAS with leaf springs cocked and ready for your driveline of choice, including a fully reinforced frame, front/rear rock bumpers and sliders, full interior, and PSC ram-assist steering all in place...lemme know

- Sam