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.
9C086A9E-E503-4B53-846C-6F100E39DE05.jpeg

A7623786-0EC4-4093-B486-13592B8F43CB.jpeg
 
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.
 
FrontPorchFab said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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.

7C8B03B1-7369-48FB-8973-772D6F64DBE5.jpeg

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.

62237A37-242D-4F77-9ABF-B4039AA30897.jpeg 29C2CED5-DC0F-4FA8-9F5B-BD7A7A3CCB81.jpeg
 
ProbablyBroke said:
I'm mint green with envy. How did the rear leafs and shocks do? Do you still have the iroks?
Click to expand...

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?
 
Back
Top