Welcome to Page 10 of our Izzy build-up!

Izzy TEST: First of all, I must apologize for not updating this site any sooner. It's been a busy summer already and I've been having more fun being outdoors than sitting in front of the computer.

On May 11th, a friend of ours, Chris Shontz -took us for a ride of a lifetime!! Izzy's first TEST at Paragon Adventure park. Izzy conquered things we never would've expected!!! The most technical trails we did were Whompum and a part of Rattler. AWESOME!! I managed to scare the living **#@*!!** out of myself .....as seen here.

Uh ohh...inverted shackles woes........ We've since reinstalled the extended shackles in the front and the shackle inversion problems have disappeared.
4XDoctor Diff Guards: After that first run to Paragon, Izzy took some abuse to his underbelly. We scraped the bottom of our rear diff pretty good - enough to pull the cover slightly from the housing and cause a slight oil leak. It was time for some protection. After removing the oil, we got the dremel out and filed down the scrapes to a smooth finish, installed these 4XDoctor guards on both the front & rear diffs.

4XDoctor Rocker Guards: For further protection, we installed some 4xDoctor rocker guards. These guards are really nice. They work VERY well!

The install was fairly easy - however, the rocker guards are wide and interfere with the larger flares. We had to use our Dremel tool to cut the flares in such a way that they would fit around the rocker guards.

Other Issues: After spending some time offroad, we've discovered some issues that need to be taken care of.

At full compression on the drivers side, our drag link and tie rod hit eachother which render the pitman arm and our steering pump shaft as our bumpstop. Not Good! See the fix below!

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Performance Unlimited Steering: To fix our clearance issues as mentioned above, we purchased a new steering system "BulletProof Steering" that totally replaces the tie-rod & drag link. We also had to remove the Grand Wagoneer drop pitman arm and put a stock YJ pitman arm back on and drilled it to accept the new system. More pictures below.

This system is AWESOME and we're very happy with it. The only thing left to do now is redesign the steering stabilizer to mount on the drag link instead of the tie-rod. At its current location - it's getting hit pretty hard by rocks.

We've tested this steering system out many times including the RTI ramp and everything clears. We've also tested it on many tough Paragon "Black" trails including Rattler, and Rattler II. We are very pleased with the results!


Updates: It is currently March of 2003 and we've spent the winter months shoveling out from the snow. We took one trip to Paragon over the winter many weeks after the heavy snows hit. Snow wheeling is completely different and I'm not sure I like it. It's cold and you need all the Go- Pedal to get you moving - sometimes very bouncy and violent ride. Not my cup of tea....But anyway... as the spring is now approaching, newer things are added and/or changed.

Optima Battery : Having a winch on the front really tests your battery and we weren't sure how old our battery was or how long it would last. To ensure the reliability of having the power for the winch when we need it (cough), we ordered an Optima Deep-Cycle battery. We purchased the Optima from OPTIMA Battery Store.com

Steering Box Brace: This modification - UpWarrior Steering box brace was purchased from JeepsUnlimited. This isn't something we'd normally think of doing until after we saw pictures on the net of what a steering pump can do when it gets ripped off the frame taking the frame with it. Cheap insurance...
Kilby Gas Tank Skid Plate: This was an 'over the winter' project installed to help protect us over the coming summer months. This picture was taken after one offroad trip and it already has some character. GREAT PRODUCT purchased from OK4WD.

York On-Board Air System: Goodbye CO2 tank - say hello to On-board air!! This was another winter project just finished this month (March 03). A very complicated little sytem including York compressor (purchased on ebay) and an 1.75gallon Kilby air tank mounted above the rear axle. We should have a 'write-up' sometime soon with pictures and information on what's involved.

Future Mods?? Sometime this spring, we will have a custom roll cage put in - we have a deposit at Way Cool Rod Shop and are waiting a confirmation and date of installation. We would also like to put in some Ford shock towers in the front and relocate the rear spring hangers under the frame. We're not exactly sure when these will get done, there are still come research and investigating that needs to be done yet. Until next time.....Happy Wheelin!!