More Defender upgrades….

3:46 pm on Monday, May 17, 2004

This weekend was quite busy around the garage. The Defender 90 got new Old Man Emu shocks and coils all around. Heavy duty up front and medium duty rears. This gave the Beast a 2″ lift. I also replaced the rear u-joints as one was going bad and making an awful racket. I figured while I had the driveshaft out I might as well replace both. When I pulled the front u-joint it spat bearings all over the driveway so I was pretty sure I had the right one. I was driving home from the ranch yesterday when I started to get an awful rattle from the right rear when going over bumps. At first I thought it was one of the new u-joints going on me again. I pulled over and took a look under the truck and found that some idiot had only finger tightened the lower shock nut causing a rattle over bumps. Oops. I pulled over, got out the tools, and went to work. In the 20 minutes I took making sure all was tight 4 pickups passed. 3 of those stopped and asked if I needed help. I love being out in the country where people actually show a concern for their fellow human beings.

The 2″ lift from the new coils and shocks now made the tires look undersized. The poor thing was all out of proportion. Today it got new tires to make up for it. I went with 285/75-R16s BFG Mud Terrains. This gives about a 33″ tire which boosted the car another inch to inch 1/2. I should be able to still fit in the garage at home but it’ll be very close. I also went with their road hazard warranty. They give a new replacement if I should blow a tire. That’ll be handy out at the ranch as those cedar stumps are a bitch on sidewalls. The grand total for the tires and all was $1200. Ouch!

One interesting thing I found out about the tires is that there’s a state tax of about $2.50 per tire because I’ll be running ‘offroad’ tires on the road. This is a stupid ass law. My tires are actually more gentle on the roads than most. They are a softer compound and are bigger, thus spreading out the load over a wider area. Whatever.

2 Comments

47

Comment by mrbill

2004/05/17 @ 15:54

pictures! pictures!

Did you have it painted yet?

48

Comment by Tony

2004/05/17 @ 16:00

Nope, no paint yet. Still waiting on a few parts before the new panels get put on. I’m thinking of stripping the whole thing down and going to an orange paint job. Time will tell.

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