Trailboss Axle Upgrade

Today on trucks, the Trail boss gets an axle upgrade as well as brand new disc brakes in the rear before the guys go under the hood of their CJ seven to install the ultimate off-road tool.

Then it's another creation from Performance West. It looks like a PT cruiser, but it's really a bruiser.

After all that, they'll upgrade the fuel delivery system on the Wicked Willies. That's all today on trucks.

Welcome to this week's show everybody. If you've been hanging around the truck shop the past few weeks, then you've seen us transform this 82 CJ seven from a pretty rough stalker to something that not only looks but also be a whole lot more capable off road.

Now, since we've already put a much larger wheeling higher combination on project Trail boss,

that's gonna accentuate a problem that these old CJ S have and that's the two piece axles and these A MC 20 rear ends. Matter of fact, if you've got an old Jeep and you do any kind of trail riding at all,

upgrading to the stronger one piece axles is almost mandatory.

Now, since we plan on spending a ton of time off road with the trail boss went to Randy's Ring and Pinion and picked up this one piece axle kit for a CJ seven. As you can see, you have 21 piece, all steel axles that are considerably stronger than the Stalkers. And that's not all you get with this kit. You also have brand new bearings as well as seals and all

the hardware you're gonna need is slide them in. Of course, the stock rear brakes on the old Jeeps aren't exactly the best, especially if you're trying to stop big old tires.

So we went to stainless steel brakes and got one of their rear disc brake conversion kits to take care of that problem. Now, it comes with the rotors,

calipers and everything. You'll need to put it all together right down the new brake lines

with our Jeep up in the air. We can get started on disassembly first up. We need to lose these old drums. Now, keep in mind if you're having trouble getting the drums off, you may have to come back here and adjust the shoes to free them up.

Now, the mill has the drums out of the way. We'll pull off this castle and washer on the end of the axle and then finally the hub, now

you will have to go down and rent this special tool to pull this hub off of there.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Uh Heck, I'll just hit it with a hammer or two come in here with a couple of screwdrivers and pry it off. Well, forget it. You'll never get it off that way.

Now, you can see the weak spot of these axles right in here at this spine and this taper is where these things are gonna break when the going gets tough, especially if you have bigger tires or a lot of horsepower.

While Stacey is back in the hub off the other side, we can go ahead and disconnect the brake line. Now, once you have them disconnected,

make sure you cap them off. So you don't have brake fluid all over the place.

After that, you can undo the emergency brake cable

and pull off the backing play.

Now, you can tell by all this old silicone that somebody's been in here before and that's usually a really bad sign.

So let's pull this axle out and see what we got.

It looks like we're doing this just in time that old bearing is shot

and with the axle out of the way,

still need to replace the inner seal. Neat trick for doing that is with the slide hammer.

All you have to do is punch a hole in the side of the seal,

screw it in,

then just hammer it out

to put the new seal in place. Give it a good shot of oil to lubricate it up real well

and set it in the axle

and tap it into place using a large socket, just make sure it goes in square

and bottoms out all the way in.

Now, we come to one of the most neglected areas on a four wheel drive vehicle and that's the gear loop. Now, a lot of you guys have probably never even seen this stuff before, but you really ought to change it every 50,000 miles under moderate use and immediately if you're gonna do any kind of deep water crossings at all.

Now, we're ready for the new axles. Now, the way these things go together

is you have your outer seal, then your break backing plate or in our case, our caliper mounting bracket,

then your bearing and your ring. Now, the bearing and the ring need to be pressed on in a machine shop. So make sure you factor that into the project,

then just slide the axle in a word of caution. Make sure your inner seal is well lubricated. So you don't rip it.

Now, before we can slide the axles into place, we need to run a nice beat of silicone around the flange

to prevent any lube leakage.

After we have the axle bolted in, we can put on the dust shield, spacers and caliper bracket

and finally the emergency brake cable bracket.

Now we can put the rotors on, we'll follow that

by bolting on the calipers. Now, these things are marked left and right. So make sure you're putting them on the correct side.

Now, if you're ever in doubt or if you can't find the markings,

just remember these things need to sit. So the bleed screw is sitting on the top of this reservoir. If you don't put them on this way,

you'll never be able to bleed all the air out of the system.

While Stacey is finishing up the calipers, we can go ahead and button up the rear end. A trail boss already has 4, 10 gears and a limited slip. We're gonna cover those up with this brand new differential cover. We grab from off road unlimited. Now, not only is this a really slick looking piece of heavy duty aluminum,

but it's also gonna keep our gears from overheating when we're on the trail.

Now, the last thing we're gonna do under here is put on the brake hoses. Now you notice our mounting bolt also has a bleed screw on it. Now, that's so you can take off the caliper, invert it and put it on the other side. Now, the reason you may want to do this is

if your emergency brake cable is too short to connect underneath,

you can invert the calipers and hook it up over the top. That's a really nice option.

Now, once your hoses are in place, you're gonna wanna put on your hard lines and you can bend these real easy by hand, whatever shape you want them to be. Matter of fact,

you can use your old pieces as a pattern. If they're not all bent up like ours are and once your lines are all in place, just leave the system and you're done.

Well, now that we have our one piece axle and these rear disc brake upgrades bolted on, we shouldn't have any trouble facing just about anything off road. Now, don't go away. We got more trucks for you right after this.

Up next on trucks. We'll go under the hood of the trail boss to mount the ultimate off road tool.

Welcome back to the shop. Now, we've already upgraded project trail boss today by putting one piece axles and disc brakes in the rear.

But if there's one area that all four wheelers have in common, that's breaking stuff.

Now, whether you end up walking home or not, generally depends on how prepared you are. Now, granted, there are some basic tools you should always have with you in preparation for the worst. But every once in a while, simple hand tools just aren't enough to get the job done. That's where the premier power welder can really pick up the slack.

It's got a central control unit, 6 ft of harness, a throttle control cable as well as a high output alternator.

The first thing you need to decide is where you're gonna mount the power welder. Now, for safety purposes, they recommend at least 12 inches from the battery.

So we're gonna go clear over here to the other side

and clear a spot on this inner fender. And we're also gonna need to move this cow support

and make sure you leave plenty of room for your hood to close. This looks like this is gonna be perfect right here.

Now, all we have to do is pull off the base plate,

then we can mount the base,

then we can reassemble the welder

on the base

since we're messing with electrical. First thing we had to do was lose the jewelry and disconnect the battery before we could pull the stock alternator. Now we're ready for the new alternator. This thing has 100 and 60 amps and you can get them all the way up to 200 if you really think you're gonna need it

also, this is the perfect time to check all your belts and replace them if they're bad.

Now, you're probably thinking, man, it's gonna take a degree in electrical engineering just to hook this thing up. Well, that's not the case. Matter of fact, everything is extremely well marked. There's your ground to the alternator,

there's to your battery. Matter of fact, the only thing that's not just a direct plug in

is you will have to splice into the ignition switch.

Now we're gonna run our wires into the cow and over to the other side. So we have a real clean installation.

One of the neat things about this kid is if you ever have to bypass your welder for any reason at all. You have the spare regulator and harness so you can disconnect it without leaving yourself stranded on the trail. Now, the welder gets its power based on how fast the alternator spins. So the kit comes with this throttle cable so you can adjust the engine R PM

and get the power to the welder that you need. Now, putting this thing in is very simple. All you do is decide where you want it. We recommend somewhere close to the welder,

cut the cable to length, then hook it to your throttle linkage.

Also, keep in mind this upgrades more than just a welder. Sometimes you have to use power tools

and that can be anything from a saw to a drill. Also, since it only takes about 30 minutes to install this kit, we can easily transfer it from one vehicle to another.

Now, it's true, the power welder can run your power tools and charge your battery and all kinds of neat stuff like that.

But the real benefit of a tool like this is you can weld with it.

It only takes two thirds the average of a conventional welder to get the same penetration.

It also agitates the puddle 10 times more than a conventional welder, which brings the impurities to the surface giving you a stronger welder.

Now, we know some of you guys out there are thinking this little welder here is not gonna be able to handle the serious jobs off road. But you can think again.

Remember the Rosser roundup. We took you to last year. Well, as you can see, this guy had no trouble fixing a broken tire rod with his power welder and mel, he didn't just limp home after making repair either.

We need to take a break. Don't go away. We'll be right back.

The PT cruiser from Chrysler already has everybody's attention

but the PT Bruiser from Performance West will blow your mind.

Thanks for staying with us. Everybody.

You know, every once in a while a vehicle comes along, you just can't help but notice. Of course, the vehicle we're talking about is the latest addition to the Chrysler Stable. The PT Cruiser

and our friends at Performance West have taken what's already a great design

and basically fed it a bottle of steroids and renamed it the PT bruiser

now for you guys who aren't familiar with the stock cruiser.

Chrysler has designed a vehicle that borrows heavily on the cool classic styling

that made the old woody wagon so popular in the sixties.

The neat thing about PT Cruiser is that it's like a blank canvas. If you're a painter,

it offers so many alternatives and options to build so many different ways and they're all cool. It's like the car you can't do anything wrong with.

Yeah, there's no doubt it's a great platform for a custom vehicle.

Front end was tweaked by replacing the front bumper and going with an air dam that flows perfectly with the body line.

It also has high performance driving lights and a custom mesh grill on the bottom that blends together with the main grill as well as the original Chrysler badges.

The bruiser has been lowered all the way around and sits on 18 inch modular wheels that are wrapped in low profile sticky rubber

and the tail end has a smooth roll pan

with really cool chrome exhaust tips sticking out underneath

the lines of the vehicle flow up to a wing that's been mounted on top. Now,

as you can see, the whole thing has been covered with color shifting paint that ranges all the way from gold to purple depending on how you look at it,

but no matter how you look at it, the interior is just as impressive. It's got four lightweight, fully upholstered racing suits along with four point harnesses and a six point roll ball.

The dash has been covered with carbon fiber and everything's monitored with custom racing gauges.

Of course, those gauges hook up to the very heart and soul of the bruiser

and that started out as a 2.4 L stock engine.

Of course, everything changed when they bolted on a twin screw supercharger, especially calibrated computer

and just in case you need to teach someone a lesson, there's a custom tailored nitrous system.

So here's the deal. We already like the PT Cruiser Bone Stop. But

we have to admit the performance West version of the PT bruiser

has definitely grabbed our attention.

We really looked at it as to say, we don't want to be accused of being half baked or half hearted or these guys just don't get it.

We want the import tuna guys to go. Wow.

I'd love to get behind the wheel. I wanna get some seat time in this car. This is way cool.

Just can't get enough of trucks. Check us out online at trucks, tv.com.

Welcome back. Now as we continue to put the finishing touches on the Wicked Willies, we come to an area that's really important and it's really easy to forget. That's the fuel system. Now, the original tank on the old wagon was in really good shape, but heck it was tiny. So we knew we were gonna have to upgrade it. First thing we did was made a trip to Rock Valley Antique auto parts where they built us this brand new tank. As you can see, it's made of stainless steel and the mounting points are still in the stock

locations along with the filler neck. Basically, all they did to make the tank bigger was make it wider and deeper. What this is gonna do is increase our fuel capacity without changing the original location. Now, for the fuel delivery system, we went to Mallory and got one of their series 140 electric fuel pumps.

One of their high performance filters

and then a fuel pressure regulator. Now to hook all this stuff together,

we went down and got some three eights fuel line

before you slide the tank in place. It's a good idea to hook a wire to the sending unit. That way your hook ups will be a whole lot easier to deal with when the tanks bolted in.

Man. Those mounting holes are right where they need to be. They're perfect.

The next thing we need to do is put on the fuel filter

and keep in mind it's real important to put this thing on before your fuel pump. Now, that keeps the crud from getting in the pump and locking it up

and we're gonna mount it right here on the frame rail using this supplied bracket.

It's also really important to keep this thing level so you can get in here and replace that filter element

with the tank bolted in place. We have to have a way to get the gas down to it. Now, we are gonna use the stock metal filler neck at the top. We're gonna go with a brand new piece of hose to connect it to the tank. Now, whatever you do don't use an old hose. Spend a few bucks. Get yourself a new one.

Now, we're ready for the pump.

Now, once again, we had to drill and tap some holes so we can mount it here on the inner frame rail. Now, a few things to keep in mind about the pump,

just like the filter.

It needs to sit vertical.

It also needs to be mounted at or below the pickup tube level in the tank. That'll keep the fuel from flowing back into the tank. When you shut off the engine, finally,

you need to mount it fairly close to the tank. If you want to get maximum efficiency out of it.

The fuel line is next. Now, the reason we're using three eights lines because it's big enough to keep the car on our big old 360 crate motor happy.

Now, we're gonna run it down the frame rail here just above the brake line

and these little clips are gonna hold everything in place.

Now, the last piece that we're gonna put on is the fuel pressure regulator. Now, in a carburetor setup, you only need about 6 to 7 pounds of pressure, anything more than that, you'll end up blowing out your needles and seats.

Now, of course, a fuel injection you need more than that

and a fuel pressure regulator will allow you to set your fuel pressure to whatever your application is.

Now, it needs to mount fairly close to the carburetor.

So we're gonna put ours right here on the firewall,

then just run our fuel lines up to it and then down to the car.

Well, now that we have our fuel system in the wicked willies, it's almost time to fire it up. But right now we need to pay some bills. Stay with us. We'll be right back

and now truck gear, parts, tools and equipment for pickups and sport utilities.

You know, it's unfortunate but true. Everything ages including your engine and usually this means increased oil consumption, decreased fuel economy as well as loss of performance. Well, Valvoline's max

life is the first motor oil formulated for higher mileage motors. It's a blend of premium oils with additives that condition your seals, reduce friction

and prevent leaks. It also provides better cold starts along with increased fuel economy.

Sounds to us like newer vehicles could benefit from max life as well.

Now, tuning the rear suspension on a pick up can be a real challenge especially if you're hauling or towing something heavy one day

the next day, the truck's empty.

Well, Roadmaster, active suspension has come up with a way to enhance your rear leaf springs.

Now, the kit sandwiches between the spring and the spring plate

runs up through a coil spring

and then wraps up over the front spring eye. Now, what this does is increase the load capacity of your stock spring like an overload spring,

reduce a sway like a sway bar and reduces axle wrap like a traction bar. Now, Roadmaster gives you all these benefits in one upgrade. It's only about 200 bucks

if you've ever struggled with trying to load large items into the bed of your truck or you're tired of having to climb over your tailgate to retrieve smaller things that have found their way to the cab.

The tucking step might be the answer to your problems when it's folded down. Access is no longer an issue and it can also double as a bench and table top,

raise the step to the upright location

and you have a bed extension for longer loads.

The tuck and set goes for about 300 bucks and only takes up a couple inches of bed space

that's gonna do it for truck gear. Here's a preview of next week's show.

We'll help project Durango Charger exhale by bolting on a complete exhaust system before going inside the cockpit of our SUV to give the dash a little attitude as well. After that, we'll take a look back at some of the best action of the year in the truck's Y2K review.

And finally, it's a custom built front bumper and winch combination for the wicked willies.

That's all next week on trucks.

Well, that's gonna do it for this week's show. We appreciate you hanging out with. Yeah, we got more trucks for you next week and say we go squeeze that bottle. Now the bottles ain't

what

trucks is an RT M production.