BoldAdventures 2015 Power Wagon Build

[TwinStick]

Go Orange !

[yooper68]

I had to watch the video; thought you had to do a "self-recovery" with your winch That Jeep Compass Sport looked to be running the stock tires that are junk for about anything other than bare pavement; I just bought that vehicle in Trailhawk trim for my wife - it comes with much better tires for snow and off-road; I have actually been pretty impressed.

good feedback on the tires; I think that Toyo uses too hard of a rubber compound for those snow conditions - just my personal opinion from having Toyo M55 tires on my old ford - they carry a load great but traction was horrible on hard-packed snow.

If you really want to run Toyo's in snow they should be sipped but then may not last as long for summer use. I have Cooper Discoverer STT with very similar tread pattern to the Toyo M/T's and they have been great on hard-packed snow & ice - must be a softer compound...

Great videos; thanks for posting.

[MikeKey]

Don Thuren told me I should try running 30psi front 15psi rear on those Toyo's because of just that, the rubber being stiff on the Toyo's. And that you kinda want to do just like sand with them. I haven't tried it yet, but I eventually will.

So after we pulled out the couple in the video, we came across another guy in a SUV the next day, and were at it again.


After the two snow recoveries, I picked up the Factor55 Hitchlink 2.5 & a few soft shackles over there Black Friday sale.



Then, we had our first local recovery. I joined a local offroad recovery FB page to see if I could help anyone. Sure enough, young guy got himself stuck so we volunteered to give him a yank.

[JFordBronco]

I love the stuck photos... ; )

[MikeKey]

IT'S HAPPENING!!!!!

Now the waiting begins.

[Colibri]

Congratulations man! You’re going to love stage 3 on all those dirt roads. Now it’s time to hurry up and wait lol

[MikeKey]

I'm pumped!! Now I wait.

[olyelr]

Exciting for sure

[yellowranger1]

Awesome man! They'll be a welcome addition for Moab.

[Reloaderguy]

If you ever plan on an aftermarket sway bar make sure you mention it and the tent/rack to Don.

[MikeKey]

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Clickable link for Tapatalk

So, I've started a video series on our build.

The first video is up, detailing why we chose the Power Wagon. Working on the next video going over our mods to our truck, some of my thoughts on the parts. And the third video will detail our overlanding/camp setup. And the fourth one, I plan on detailing upcoming mods, such as axle truss, gears, king shocks, etc.



Comments are appreciated.

[olyelr]

I dont know how to like and subscribe and twatter and all that stuff so keep us updated here please!

[MikeKey]

Did a little adventuring this weekend with some local guys. Great bunch of guys, some awesome rigs.









Also just published part 2 of my Rocklander Build videos, discussing all the mods on the truck.

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Clickable link for Tapatalk

[olyelr]

Your video skilz are incredible. Congrats

[MikeKey]

Thanks man.



A few pieces of the upcoming additions arrived today. Still will be a few weeks before I install this. Will be the weekend I do the axle truss.

[olyelr]

Looks like Thurens rear kit. Are you gonna use an even taller coil spacer with this setup, or whats the plan?

[olyelr]

And that wood paneling on the wall above the workbench looks killer. Is that old pallets?

[MikeKey]

Looks like Thurens rear kit. Are you gonna use an even taller coil spacer with this setup, or whats the plan?

Probably not. So as we know, Reloader reported sagging; I have another friend, not here but on our FB Group Offroad Power Wagon with a very similar build, he already has his Kings, Thurens Coils, a Rack modeled after DamageWagons and Decked in the back, and he told me it's sitting level. He's installing his tent soon, but for now says the truck is level. And I've seen mixed replies in the other discussion groups about how bad these will or will not sag.

My truck squatted just a hair with the tent when I was fully loaded for camping.

-----

So, I have a plan for some folks. I'm going to be taking some measurements shortly.

Measured from the ground, through the middle of my wheel to the top of my rear fender with the stock coils (without the spacer) I will measure:

• height with just the rack and the 37-inch spare in the bed. (Rack weighs around 90lbs)
• height with tent installed and 37-inch spare
• height with all my camping gear
• height with no tent, 37-inch spare and my Airstream hitched up (960lb hitch weight) with WD applied
• height with Airstream + Tent installed, with WD applied and 37-inch spare implied

Then I will do all the same measurements with the Thuren coils. And post it there. Probably be done in a month, since I'm not installing the coils till around the 24th of this month. I plan on taking the Airstream over to the Cat scales anyways and I want to weigh the truck again too. So I'm planning to collect a crap ton of data we can all visually see.

That should settle a lot of the debate.

And that wood paneling on the wall above the workbench looks killer. Is that old pallets?

Yup, there was this closet without doors or shelves at the front of my garage. So I built a workbench into it, and the backside is all pallet wall. I even used some plate boards for shelves. Installed some outlets using exposed metal electrical boxes for an industrial look. I've always been happy with how it turned out.

[Reloaderguy]

I reported sagging? My coils have not sagged at all.

[MikeKey]

I reported sagging? My coils have not sagged at all.

Could of sworn you were saying it was sitting lower somewhere around here with the weight on the backend... Someone has been saying it, otherwise everyone wouldn't be repeating it...

[Reloaderguy]

I have 500lb in the bed of the truck at all times. It sits .5" lower than empty. It's not sagging.

[MikeKey]

That is literally nothing. So I don't know where I heard it then.

But I keep getting asked everywhere about if I'm "concerned with it sagging" - someone asked me yesterday on the "other stupid" FB Group if I had considered Carli because of the weight.

I expect it with the hitch weight, but I'm not expecting anything more compared to factory. I think I was about .75 with the factory and my setup. I need to dig through my photos, because I took a picture of the measurements somewhere. But it was almost nothing, but it was perceivable to me and kept driving me nuts, which is why I added the 1-inch spacer.

[Reloaderguy]

They're soft rate coils, if you put a lot of weight in the bed or on the tongue the rear will squat. If that's a problem consider keeping your stock coils or installing airbags. My truck was almost completely level at static weight so I went with a 1" spacer. I thought I would like the level look but the truck didn't look proportional. The coils weren't sagging though.

[olyelr]

They're soft rate coils, if you put a lot of weight in the bed or on the tongue the rear will squat. If that's a problem consider keeping your stock coils or installing airbags. My truck was almost completely level at static weight so I went with a 1" spacer. I thought I would like the level look but the truck didn't look proportional. The coils weren't sagging though.

Did you drop the bumpstop anymore with the 1” spacer?


Mike, for installing the rear boogies do you need to remove the factory pw bumpstop spacer?

[Reloaderguy]

No, it isn't necessary.