Gonzo's Montreux

[GonzoTheGreat]

For the last 14 years, this forum has taught me an incredible amount things, and fueled a financially unhealthy, but otherwise satisfying addiction to these silly trucks. I've read and learned a lot, but I haven't shared much, so this thread will try to document "the one that started it all" back in like 2010. Spoiler alert: Yes I still have it; No it doesn't run; I'm working on it... 

 

 

Here it is back in, I think, the summer of 2011. 

Specs at the time:

'88 Pioneer edition

stock 4.0L

Peugeot 5 speed

NP231

Dana 30/35

 

 

It was pretty much all stock, besides some "cosmetic upgrades" from the PO, including a lot of "body work." As @jpnjim put it, it was a "15 footer." Any closer than that, and it looked rough. Think: spray foam, pop rivets, and paint roller.

 

It was enough to get me going.

 

Being a kid at the time, obviously the first thing I did was throw in some 2" coils and shackles, and cram some half bald 33's under the hacked up fenders. Luckily, there was so much rot, the front fenders were almost opened up enough on their own.

 

Then I screwed some TJ mirrors to the fenders so I could take the doors off.

 

[Drahcir495]

Glad you are sharing this build up with us. It looks nice from the pictures. 

[GonzoTheGreat]

I don't have a whole lot of pics from those old days of the flip phone, but I did a bunch of little mods, like moving the alternator to the AC bracket, running the intake up to the wiper cowl, dual electric fans, Brown dog motor mounts, and cutting in a sunroof.

 

Rot was a serious issue with this truck, and the front axle brackets were rough. One of the coil mounts was ready to crumble. I picked up a 95 XJ axle, with no rot, and no CAD as a bonus.

 

At some point, I decided to say goodbye to the stock bumper. It was mostly held together with bondo. My brother and I made a new one out of some spare C channel. It's not fancy, but it's solid, and it's beefy enough to knock down small trees, hypothetically of course 

 

I guess I never got a picture after it was painted with both lights in, but you get the idea.

 

Then there was the most significant mod of the whole build:

 

I think the woodgrain bezel added 30hp and at least 2 inches of ground clearance.

 

You can also see the aux cord I spliced into the stock radio inputs. Oscar held my ipod while we were offroading.

[GonzoTheGreat]

The 33s on a stock drivetrain were taking their toll. The Peugeot was the first to surrender. It started spitting fluid out of the input seal, so I decided to just jump right in with an external slave ax15 to avoid any further issues.

 

The wheel bearings didn't like the 33s either. I got super lucky when the rear gave out, I was pulling into the driveway as the roller bearings when flying. The dana 30 would have been ok I think, but that one had a dragging caliper 

 

To be fair, as a young 20something, I beat the bag out of those axles. To anyone who says you can't run 33s on a dana 35 with 3.07 gears: ...well you're right, but you can have a lot of fun before it goes.

 

It was, however, time to shop for new axles...

[GonzoTheGreat]

I got a good deal on a wagoneer dana 44 that already had brackets set up for a quadralink suspension. I regeared to 4.56 and added posi. It was my first time setting up gears, so I learned a lot as I went. I figured I'd try it myself on the front end, so if it exploded I could always limp away in RWD.

 

For the rear, I snagged a Toyota 8" out of a junkyard Tacoma. That solved any issues with matching lug patterns, and It was easy enough to send out the third member to have it re-geared. Plus, it has a factory e-locker. Pretty cool.

 

I checked under a Toyota Previa at a junkyard just for giggles, and it turns out the driveshaft uses 1310 u-joints, and the flange bolts up to the 8" axle. So I nabbed the driveshaft flange, and now I have a minivan part for my wheeling rig, of which I am proud. 

 

While mucking around with new axles, I was still daily driving and tinkering with the truck.

 

I added a C-rok steering box stiffener, because I plan to size up the tires.

 

Also, I found a pic of the rear bumper after it was painted. Notice the CJ-7 jump seat in the bed that I borrowed from my brother 

 

[GonzoTheGreat]

On 2/3/2024 at 3:11 PM, Drahcir495 said:

Glad you are sharing this build up with us. It looks nice from the pictures. 

Thanks! I owe a lot to the folks on this forum, past and present.

[pizzaman09]

You've had a lot of fun with yours.  

[GonzoTheGreat]

On 2/9/2024 at 10:32 AM, pizzaman09 said:

You've had a lot of fun with yours.  

Yeah, I had blast with that thing.

 

The rust problem was getting a little too severe. I had a leaf perch crush up into the frame, and got that fixed. The floors were never there, but the trans tunnel, rockers, and a lot of structural steel were rotted out too.

 

 

I was still driving it everywhere because I was 20something and dumb  I just cut back on the offroading. I went to a few go topless days and GAJRs

 

I never did find out who that yellow one is.

 

 

I decided the rust was beyond repair, so I picked up a donor chassis to start putting my new axles etc. into:

 

It was a sad sack when I got it. And no it's not blood. It's spray paint.