DoubleMint: A Ranger Story

Got them all mounted and put on. We will see how many are flat when I get back home next week :lol:. I was surprised to discover that my old wheels were 4.75” bs, so these stick out a little further at 3.5” bs. I haven’t decided if I’m going to put in the effort to paint the nuts/studs yet. Figured I’d at least wait to see if I have any leakers.
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I was leaning toward not painting them as well.

I have no plans to remove Smokey. If I can find a cool stuffed Smokey, I might pick him up and let him ride shotgun.
 
I was leaning toward not painting them as well.

I have no plans to remove Smokey. If I can find a cool stuffed Smokey, I might pick him up and let him ride shotgun.

If you want some Smokey stickers ill look around and see if I can find some of mine, if not I’ll get one of my buddies to get some from their office.


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When I got back home a couple weeks ago, I had no leakers. However, I did knock a wheel stud out of the passenger front while I was putting the wheel on. This morning I tore that side down (thank goodness I found my hub nut tool!) and got it replaced just in time to drive to work.

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It was still a bouncy ride. The tires were pretty flat spotted, but warmed up after a few hwy miles. After warming up, there’s still a bounce or wheel wobble between 50 and 60 mph. I need to get someone to ride along side me and check around to pinpoint the issue. Regardless, I was happy to finally legally drive it somewhere! There’s no gas gauge so I topped it off at mile 89 with 5.3 gallons of non-ethanol 93 that the local QM just started carrying. 16.8 mpgs.
 
Mini trip report from the Fun Caravan: It was a blast to say the least! DoubleMint did pretty well. No real damage or issues. The driveshaft kissed a rock on Dickey Bell and now has a slight bow in it, but that’s it.

I was quite impressed at how well the ebrake held on the trail. I wasn’t expecting much, but it really held its own and was really smoking the one or two times I forgot to release it before taking off. :rolleyes: I need to make a legit cover for the rotor in the cab. One day I’m going to roast my fingers on that thing.

The MTs did better than I expected as well. I found that they flexed aired down to 12psi. I’m interested to see how they do on more serious rock obstacles. Some minor chunks where missing in the tread when I got home.

One thing I wished for more of was gearing. I don’t think there’s really a cheap way to fix that. I’ll keep my eyes open for a 1350/1354 doubler, but I won’t hold my breath.

I burned 4 gallons of gas over about 5-6 hours of trail riding.

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I'm mint green with envy. How did the rear leafs and shocks do? Do you still have the iroks?

The rear leaves did pretty well. They definitely flexed more than I expected. I bottomed out the shocks a few times, but it didn’t seem to hinder forward progress. The rear tires stuffed nicely and just touched the uncut fenders. I had planned to change that sooner rather than later, but now I think I will hold off and apply funds towards other areas.

I sold the iroks to buy the double beadlocks.
 
@Andy J. looking good! glad to see it get some trail time. I always had gearing issues as well. I smoked a clutch at the Farm one time years ago due to less-than-ideal crawl ratio. A 1350/54 doubler was on the bucket list but it just never happened. how did the assist steering work for you?
 
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