GoPathyGo

Nice! Good luck!

Can you clarify "beating sound" ? Any more info would be appreciated.

New Years hangover on the assembly line.

I'm sorry but I think you're being needlessly defensive. With the exception of ONE comment, which folks have called out, the tone has actually been remarkably constructive and helpful. People have gone to great lengths to explain WHY this would not work. Frankly, I think members are showing a great deal of concern and care. Far more than I have seen on other forums on the internet. Your long, highly defensive replies and unwillingness to accept you may be wrong reflect poorly on you, NOT on this forum. This is not a flame on you, it is merely a defense of this forum. People are trying to HELP you and being nice about it. Getting angry because your toy doesn't work and asking it should all be erased is like a kid throwing a tantrum because his legos didn't work out. Get over it and don't risk lives and damage for the sake of ego. And don't grumble about a forum where people are trying their hardest to be helpful.

Very ingenuous. That said, I can see a few weak points. There are 3 possible points of failure - the winch attachment to the plate, the plate to the ball, the ball to the receiver. Given the angle it's mounted at, I suspect the plate/ball attachment would shear off under strain. Winching uses a great deal of energy, as Simon and the others point out. A strong male can bench press 250 lbs. A mid-size winch can pull 9,000 lbs. Not the best metaphor but you get the idea. In addition to that, the hitch receiver itself can fail and come flying off. Incidentally, I actually own a Warn Multi-Mount (pictured above). It is a solid, thick metal cradle that actually surrounds the winch to brace it and prevent it from flying off. The cradle weighs 30 lbs and Warn will not sell it for winches rated above 9k. This is a company for whom winches and truck parts are bread-and-butter. I know there's a lot of hearsay out there about winches. But I assure you the danger is very very real. I think you should view these, particularly the first one. name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>" wmode="transparent" style="width:400px; height:326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars=""> name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>" wmode="transparent" style="width:400px; height:326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars=""> name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>" wmode="transparent" style="width:400px; height:326px;" id="VideoPlayback" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" flashvars=""> I think you're right to be proud of your invention. But I would suggest NOT using it. Ever. It is not safe, for you or anyone else around. That's just my opinion.

I hate to say this, but properly modding ANY truck is going to cost more than $400-$500. Yes, you can get cheap Wrangler "lockers" or LSDs but you're driving an unreliable vehicle with thin metal, poor build quality, no cargo space and the daily practicality of an ostrich. The R50 is a completely different vehicle - it is meant to be an everyday or "real world" vehicle that CAN, if the owner so desires, be modified to go offroad. I also own a Toyota Tacoma. I can assure you that it has cost me more than $400 to make it capable offroad.

Link's all weirded out, Steve...

Not really. I have a dual battery in my R50. They both charge fine with the stock alternator. Guess you could charge 'em a bit faster with a larger alternator but

Whichever's cheaper. Crank up the volume. Sorry, useless post but couldn't resist.

Fastest may be to either have some braided steel lines made (you can get 'em done for as little as $25/pair if you find a shop willing to do it) or use steel/hose from another vehicle with the same fittings.

Wow! Outstanding answer - very helpful, no cheap shots, detailed and relevant.

Oh man, I love those things. I could never figure out where to put them but your roof pic just gave me an idea. Can't tell from the pic but is there any way to fender mount it ? Wouldn't have to worry about ripping it off on the trail or in an underground garage or something.

2.5" is really low. When I was ordering mine, I think the only way they could get down that low was to do a "Reverse wheel" which they said can often cause problems with the brake hardware. Apart from that, with 2.5" of bs most of the weight of the wheel and associated tire is going to be essentially "hanging off" the hub quite a bit. In general, the lower the backspacing (or the wider the spacer) the more you're effectively altering the geometry from stock. That's fine up to a point. I just don't know where that point is. Finally, as OSR pointed out (dude, really, we need a new name ), you could run into some rubbing problems when turning. The rub would (my guess) be on the plastic bumper cover/plastic splash guards up front and the plastic/sheetmetal at back. Why ? Because the wheel is now far out enough that you're turning "into" the wheel well as much as turning "inside" the wheel well. These are more educated guesses than anything else. Would have to see it. I currently have 32s on 16x7s with 3" bs and they stick out 1-1.5 inches. (The actual tire may be wider than the advertised tread width since a lot of them "bulge".) US Wheel and Cragar make black steelies that you can order with custom backspacing via summitracing.com (Go to "Custom Order and Dropship wheels".) The 16x8 size runs $90 for US Wheel (unpainted so you'd have to rattle-can or powder coat it) and $100 for Cragar (black). If you're going to spend that much, I would highly recommend the Mickey Thompson Classic II wheel. They make a variant with 3.625" backspacing. I have them and they're made really really well. 3100 lb load capacity to boot. They run $120-$130 apiece. Summit has a nominal shipping charge on those. 4wheelonline.com also stocks them. But they're aluminum so may not be the look you want.

x2. Unless they fed the old belt into the exhaust for fun.

Check the "What do you always carry with you" thread.

Wow. How solid/high quality are those shackles ? They can allow wandering, vibration, bump steer etc. Track bar ? That's in addition to the suggestions above. Also, check this out as a starting point. http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/death-w...ed-help-788227/

Death wobble in the steering or whole thing shaking ? I assume he checked the spacers and shackles ?

Baloney. I ran without one for 2 months. No major difference in any sense. The big diff came when I swapped in a Flowmaster 44. You should be fine from a purely functional viewpoint. Can't comment on the legal/emissions/blah stuff.

Very nice! Interesting to see he did a D44 up front and a D60 out back (per the 4x4parts.com website). I thought the D60 was usually used up front. Regardless, that is a bada** rig.

I'm just paranoid after the last time I changed fluids and everything came out black and in about half the quantities that should have existed. Plus current truck and WD will be just plain wheeled till the tires come off - and given the way they're built, I expect the t-case to melt and the gears to grenade before that happens. We shall see. Just gathering opinions. Now I can say,"I asked" before I find my tranny and t-case are essentially caked in fluid.

Browsed all the forums and didn't find a topic on this - kinda surprised about that actually. Anyway, what grade and brand of fluid do folks use/recommend for trannies, diffs and t-cases that see hard wheeling use ? Most OEMs recommend 75W90 or something similar for the MT and t-case with some recommending 75W140 for rear diffs. But with the whole move towards thinner fluids to meet MPG requirements I don't know how much I trust those recommendations anymore. Plus, the OEMs don't really care once you're past the warranty period. I've seen some fluids that are basically water with some coloring thrown in. Finally, I can't imagine hardcore wheeling was in the specs when they built the vehicle. Since MTs and T-case take gear oil, has anyone tried 75W140 ? I know Amsoil, Mobil1 and Redline sell "severe duty" oils at this grade. The labels indicate they "can be used for differentials, transfer cases and manual transmissions that do not require automatic transmission-grade fluid." Redlines "Shockproof Diff Oil" claims to be equivalent to a 75W250. Is there any harm from using a 75W140 in a manual tranny or a t-case ? Same for the Redline 75W250 in a diff. I don't want to set off another "which oil is better" brand war. Just wondering if any are specifically known to be helpful when putting the trannies under strain. I did try the Redline MT90 but it actually made the stick notchier if anything!

Looks a lot like my factory brush guard. I don't have the bolts handy since the truck's like 50 miles away. BUT I do distinctly remember the installation instructions said it should be torqued to at least 40 lb/ft.

Yeah, I know one guy. Sold a house with a 3-car garage. Now lives in a townhouse with a garage so small the front end of a Mini couldn't fit.

I wouldn't worry about gas going bad unless you're filling at a station with very light traffic that has had the stuff sitting around forever. If it has, chances are it's going out of business pretty soon. Older engines do fine on 87. Considering the $0.30 spread to 93 octane and a 16-20 average mpg, you could save $200-$300/year on a truck driven 15,000 miles/year. That oughta buy at least 1 bottle of fuel injector cleaner a month.

Yeah, there was a lot of excitement when the concept came out. Michelin had it on an Audi A4. Promised great things. That was in '05. Today all I could find on the Michelin website relating to Tweel is the following: "Michelin is currently studying the use of TWEEL on smaller earthmoving machines." (Hmmm... Does a modded Pathy qualify ? ) Sad, really. Was a cool concept. Guess there was more money to be made in peddling tree-chopping, air-polluting, tread-separating, puncture-loving rubber tires. The cost of changing over would be huge anyway.