In all my years driving, no one has ever accused me of being too easy on vehicles. I take that to simply mean that I am really good at testing products. And I've been doing a lot of testing on my red Dodge, Jinxy, lately. There were a good couple months that I drove it every single day-partly because I had to prove to old friends that this truck was running once again, and partly because I just absolutely love driving a single-cab, short-bed truck around. So far I've been very pleased with the result of more than a decade's worth of building, but I've definitely found a few flaws in the truck and in some of my loyalties towards unit bearings. Is it still on the road? No, unfortunately. A bent axle and destroyed unit bearing have sidelined this truck for the next couple weeks. And even more unfortunately, it was so dark and rainy that day that not a single photo came out clearly enough to run in the magazine. But we did get in some great off-roading trips before the damage, including a snow-wheeling trip, that made me extremely eager to get to Moab and try this truck out in some different terrain. There's a new axle being built right now that I'm not supposed to talk about yet, but I can tell you it'll be a much stronger and better Dana 44 than we could have ever built before. 1. Admittedly, we did do a few things after the final story on Jinxy was over. Mel at Off Road Evolution gave us a brand new billet hawse fairlead to keep our Master Pull Superline rope smooth. You have to be sure to have no burs on your fairlead or you can rip even the best synthetic line apart. I really like having the 9,000-pound Warn winch mounted in back of the truck. It's actually a better point to pull from, and I really only want to get back out of whatever dumb thing I did to get myself stuck; not go any further.1. Admittedly, we did do a few things after the final story on Jinxy was over. Mel at Off 2. I also never cut holes in my cab for the Ox lockers. I was really squeamish about cutting big cable holes, and I was happy to upgrade to Ox's electric actuators that made it so I only had to run wires into the cab.2. I also never cut holes in my cab for the Ox lockers. I was really squeamish about cutti 3. On the front axle, I was still running the original driveshaft and Chrysler-style pinion yoke. I changed over to a 1330 pinion yoke and had the front end of the driveshaft's front yoke converted by J.E Reel Drivelines. Sitting on the new pinion yoke, you can see the typical U-joint strap on the left, and a U-bolt on the right. We drilled the yoke out to accept U-bolts from now on since I like them better than the straps.3. On the front axle, I was still running the original driveshaft and Chrysler-style pinio 4. I also decided to change up the transmission cooling a bit. Off Road Evolution stuck on a new Earl's Performance fluid cooler for our transmission using Pro-Lite 350 hose and Earl's Size 6 fittings. Earl's also sent us some hose end wrenches and a hose cutter to make our lives a little easier. Off Road Evolution welded on a couple tabs to hang the Earl's cooler on the radiator support next to the A/C condenser.4. I also decided to change up the transmission cooling a bit. Off Road Evolution stuck on 5. Since I'm a big fiberglass fender fan, it seems strange to me that I like the stock fender and aftermarket fender flare option instead. But the way these era Dodge fenders were made, it's hard to get any more tire clearance with fiberglass without chopping out the inner fenderwells out, too. The Xenon fender flares really contoured well to the body lines and made a nice buffer zone between my paint and anything that could scratch it. The fender flares are paintable, but that would sort of defeat the buffer zone idea.5. Since I'm a big fiberglass fender fan, it seems strange to me that I like the stock fen 6. I stupidly had Warner's Muffler build a new exhaust just weeks before the suspension was redone, and it had to get cut off to make room for the new EVO links. Once the truck was back on its tires and wheels, it went back to Warner's Muffler to have them redo the exhaust and modify the headers. There was very little room and their job the second time around was even more impressive.6. I stupidly had Warner's Muffler build a new exhaust just weeks before the suspension wa 1 | 2 | » | View Full Article By Jerrod Jones Enjoyed this Post? Subscribe to our RSS Feed, or use your favorite social media to recommend us to friends and colleagues!
