Ok! There's 7 days and a preface...I'll start from the beginning, a lot of you know the story but for those that don't...
PREFACE:
I got the H3 in 2008....It was my dad's brand new off the lot in 05 when the whole family moved here from NY. I didn't even know how to wash a car when we moved to CA but I saw a lot of cool cars out west and started getting interested, I remember the first time I washed the H3. Hosed it down, walked away my dad was like what the ****?? lol I then learned and practiced. I started detailing everyone's car in the neighborhood to make some cash...and when it was my time to get my license I wanted a 90s Ford F-350 crew cab long bed. It would tow dirt bikes, buggies, quads or whatever my buddies had. It didn't happen, my dad knew the H3 was in good shape, the lease was up when I got my license and I got the H3 after putting a down payment on it from years of washing cars. I went off-roading for the first time fell in love. During that time I saw Ultimate adventure and wanted to be apart of it ever since. It's been about an 8 year process and goal. I knew a stock H3 wouldn't make it, that's not a knock at the H3. It's that way for everything. Almost every vehicle was scrapped of its factory axles. I knew I had a shot at getting in because an H3 is oddball and unique for wheeling. With that said, 8 years of wheeling, breaking, learning, fixing, upgrading, I would finally get to the point of feeling ready to enter. During those years I got a lot of hate from people. One guy wouldn't even acknowledge me when I showed up for a run in the H3. I knew what it was capable of, it wasn't a buggy but it was capable of a lot more then people thought it would do. During those years I met my co driver for UA, he left a note on the H3 when I was at school saying it was cool and let's go wheeling. He was one of the few that didn't think it was a complete piece of **** and we went out as underdogs, he was rocking a D35 on his TJ and I had the ifs on an H3 and would follow people way more built as far as we could. As the build progressed I was at a point where things were at a crossroads. I have 40's, it's proven as I just did a 9 trip season to hammers to play on the big rocks, just completed a 750 mile road trip one way to Moab and back with no real issues. It was ready for UA, the only things holding me back was lack of a cage and a potential fear from the UA guys running 40s on a Dana 44 and V8. That Ford hp44 and RCVs lasted a year of tough wheeling. I figured it would last. I wasn't in a rush to put a cage in, or swap the axle. It was working just fine. So I applied and figured if I got in it will force me to make the changes. So I did, and I got the call that I made the dirty dozen! During that call I was asked about the 44 and knew there was some fear about it being a problem so I said I had a 1 ton front in the garage ready to be finished. I didn't go into detail on purpose, it would scare people even more since it was a rear Dana 70 I got for free and a bucket full of Dana 60 outers and Chevy shafts. Anyways, I saw the other 11 and figured my shot was done. Well I got the call that I'm in! ****, now I got work to do....4 weeks till UA. I travel a lot for work and of those 4 weeks 2 of them I was away Monday-Thursday. I really only had weekends and a few weeknights. So my buddy kyle was responsible for the cage, I helped as much as possible, grinding, notching, etc but he was the man behind the cage. I was in charge of everything else which was building an axle from scratch, half doors, cooling mods since I was told it's gonna be hot! Aka AZ...and general maintenance. As we got ready we ran into issues. The D70 was running factory Chevy 60 outers and shafts which were perfect. I was concerned about my ruffstuff seals working but it did.
The D70 was 3.5in tubes and ID was roughly 2.64 I took 2.75in OD 2.5 ID slugs, machined it down to 2.64ish and hammered them in the housing, that allowed the 2.5in ruffstuff seals to fit and work. Did the same with a slug to extend the long side of the housing. Drilled holes for rosette welds and a big bevel to join the tubes together. I used ruffstuff brackets modified them to work with slip on rotors from a 02 2500 and H3 calipers since they kickass! Mounted sensors for abs. All was well, when I had to mock up brakes I got air in the abs module...I thought I was ****ed. I needed a tech 2 or some high dollar tool to get the air out. Redneck fix!!! A few days before UA I don't have time...jack all 4 tires off the ground. Run the truck up to 35 mph. MASH THE BRAKES. ABS goes crazy and bleeds air out. Then I did half doors all the other crap blah blah blah. It's time to leave, before I do it's time for a gear break in...with no oil!!! [emoji85] the bearings burn up obviously. Pinion bearing fused to the pinion. Pull an all nighter to get it apart which required a oxy torch. With no sleep we are tracking down parts. we get bearings, seals etc. of course the wrong ones show up it's now 2 o clock...check in is in 3 hours and the truck is apart 6 hours from check in. Call up Christian and tell him we're gonna be late. We could of reused the R&P but the splines on the pinion were kinda ****ed up. No one has a D70 R&P until we call up hoopers rear end in sun valley. They said for some reason they had one but usually don't. Fighting issue after issue and no sleep I literally wanted to punch a wall, cry and go to sleep. I wondered if my 8 year goal was going to end before it started. We fought and go it back together hit the road at 8-830 got into Az around 3am. Got 2 hours of sleep and was ready for the first drivers meeting...at that point Day 1 is beginning! The preface is over and I question, why do I do this to myself? How is this a hobby?
