Blayne Watts' 91 XLT

Thanx to Rick and my other "Serious Explorations" friends for all the great times, and lessons learned. Here are a few pics, taken by Peter Weber, of my favorite toy:

To see a write-up on my mods and explorations, just click on my link in the signature.

[Edited by BlueDogBandit on 02-04-2001 at 08:16 AM]

 

[Diff Whack Daddy]

What took you so long?

What took so long to become elite? j/k. How's the windshield situation. I just had mine replaced for $213. I checked the internet like you said, but they wanted $292 so I called one of the numbers from autglass.net and got a better price.

 

[BlueDogBandit]

I've been Elite all along!

I was one of the first too, but I finally learned how to post images, so thought it would be worth starting my own thread....like yours. I haven't got the new windshield yet. Beings that I just had it replace three months ago, I'm having a hard time forking out the cash again. I got the first one from autoglass.net. I think it was about the same price originally, but I got a military discount, and got it down to $194. I'm going to see if they have a repeat buyer plan.

 

[FMExplorer]

BlueDog,
Great looking rig! Question for you - You are running a 2" suspension lift with 3" body lift, right? What was the cost of the suspension lift? Are you able to run without swaybars? Currently I have a 3" body lift, but would like to go up just a bit more and get rid of the sway bars. Thanks for you input.


Jon M *waiting for my Elite status to be activated...)

 

[BlueDogBandit]

not quite--

No, I'm running a 2 1/2" Rancho kit, with coil spacers--self manufactured--and WP shackles, and 2" body lift. I don't believe in having more body lift than suspension. I have never ran the truck with the sway bars disconnected, BUT I just walked in from the garage, from which I was replacing the sway bar bolts with pins. It's just a quick fix form losing a bolt a T-haven, because I'm going to use Brian Kennedy's idea and cut the sway bars in half, but a sleeve pipe over them, and keep it all together with a couple of pins. I've already talked to SkyJacker and Superlift about modding my 2 1/2" kit to a 4" kit by utilizing Superlift pivot points, and SkyJacker springs, front and rear. Yes, I already have 3 1/2" of lift, but I want more compressing in the springs, so I'm going bigger. I'll most likely pull the coil spacers at that time.

 

[Peter Weber]

Hey Blayne

I'm glad you like the pictures I took of your truck.

 

[FMExplorer]

Blayne,
Thanks for the explaination. I am getting closer and closer to adding a suspension lift but I am not sure how much to go. I would prefer a SOA, but with 31's I think I would have too much lift. May just wait until these tires wear down a bit more!

Jon

 

[BlueDogBandit]

Thanx again Peter

Yes, Peter, I really like the pictures. Please, let me know if I'm not suppose to use the pictures. I will be letting you know what copies I want. I just got a role back my self, and there are some of "the squeeze" that are really cool. They are a little further back, and show all the obstacles after the tight squeeze. I'll get them scanned and posted.

 

[Peter Weber]

Blayne,

looking forward to see your scans.

No problem with posting the pics on the site. That's what I take them for. But I think it would be great if everybody would give credit if they use pics taking by somebody else. I'm kinda proud of some of them just like everybody is proud of their trucks. No big deal though.

 

[BlueDogBandit]

No, you are right!

Peter, your are absolutely right, and if you click on my link, you will see a couple of the pics on my page as well, and there, a did not forget to mention who took the pictures. That is my fault, and I regret forgetting to do that here. I really appreciate you going out on the runs and taking all the pictures. Now, I think it's time for you to mod that truck of yours so we can take some pics of you!

 

[Blaine Cooper]

Cool name...except you spell it wrong. Just curious, do you get called Brian a lot? I know I do.

 

[BlueDogBandit]

no.....not me

Hey Blaine, it must be the "i" in your name. See, if your had the "y", maybe you wouldn't have that problem.

 

[SteveVB]

Hey Blayne,

You should do a search of the site- I think I remember Paul Sabin modified his Rancho suspension for more lift. It was a year or more ago but it may give you some ideas. Hes on the site so he may see it if you bring it up. I may be wandering down that road also next year so would like to see any results.

Good Luck

 

[RFR2212]

Blayne-(blue dog) How did your alightment fair after that jump? The pics look great! Also, have a smooth landing? I like jumping pics
Thanks,
Pete

 

[BlueDogBandit]

As far as I can tell, the alignment is fine. I had it done only a couple of months ago when I put in my coil spacers. As for the the landing....HARD! With my suspension being modded out to 3 1/2", the springs are pretty smushed in there, so there is not a lot of room for compression. This is the big reason I am doing a lot of research in modding the kit to 4", with new springs and pivot drop downs. That jump is not the kind of 4x4'n I'm usually doing...but I just couldn't resist after doing it in Gopher's 2x4. By the way, I did the jump in Rick's truck, and in Gopher's...both of them cleared it without knowing they were off the ground---smooth rides. You you haven't seen the pics....check out the link on the trip report from 2001 Truckhaven. Oh yea, I had the sway bars connected, and broke a bolt off on one of the links. I didn't even notice until getting back to San Diego. The worst part about that was getting another bushing. I ended up using 5/8" shock bushings, and they work a lot better...and if I break another bolt, they won't fall out because they are one piece. Not that I should have a problem with that, since I have sway bar disconnects now.