Project Truck Long-Term Update - 15 Months of 47-Inch Tires on Matilda

9 The Gen Right Crawler tank fit up under the body and behind the rear axle with room to spare. There was a crossmember on top that we had to slightly modify, but the tank fit the same as the CJ tank did. Unfortunately for us, the fuel inlets on a CJ tank are on the passenger side, and we needed them on the driver’s side so we run the tank backwards and do not benefit from the angled lower rear corner of the tank. Fortunately for us, the Cherokee is so danged big that the tank will almost never touch any obstacle. Just in case, Jeeps R Us made sure to make their custom tank crossmembers strong enough to hold the weight of the Jeep, should the stout Crawler Tank ever need to act as a skid.

10 Our big Cherokee never really had a proper front bumper. It was something adapted from a small XJ Cherokee and made to fit. It actually looked okay and did hold a winch, but it wasn’t really strong enough to put a really hard pull on it. When we stuck a 20,000-pound Pierce winch on the front, we knew it was time to have something stronger built. Patriot Fabworks was only 20 miles from us in Corona, California, and we had heard about the custom bolt-on bumpers that they build. After explaining exactly what we were looking for, it only took them a few days to take measurements, laser-cut some frame horns, and TIG-weld something more permanent (but still removable) for us.

11 With the laser-cut framehorns bolted on, Patriot Fab cut and TIG-welded together each plate and tube, piece by piece. Each time Patriot builds a bumper the crew jigs it up so that the next customer with the same vehicle can purchase a bumper without having to hand over their vehicle for R&D. Since Patriot Fab had never built a fullsize Jeep bumper, the crew went to work building from scratch. It still only took them a few days between the time we dropped the Cherokee off and picked it back up.

12 Not only was our Patriot Fab bumper super clean when finished, it also had a dual-plane mount to hold our 20,000-pound Pierce winch. It was exactly what we were looking for.

13 On top of the Patriot bumper’s main hoop, we added two Baja Designs 8-inch Soltek race lights. The quality of the light is top notch, and stuck with halogen bulbs instead of HIDs since we knew we’d never (again) be getting over 50 mph in this thing in the dirt. We also added four halogen Fuego lights to the roof in front of the roof rack..

14 After adding some better lights and the 20,000-pound winch, it was obvious that we needed to upgrade from the tiny factory alternator that would barely charge the battery. The polished Powermaster alternator made more amps at idle and also produced more current at higher rpms.It almost doubled the amperage of our old, worn-out alternator and was just the correct ingredient to add to our electrical system.

15 Everywhere Matilda is driven, people gawk and stare. It’s one of those vehicles that you cannot not have an opinion about—you either love it or hate it. Either way, you have to admit that it looks absolutely killer with its new light grey paint job and tinted windows. We might just have to change the name to “Mean Matilda.”