The big 3...
Suspension, body damage, interior heat... in that order lol.
SUSPENSION;
Can't say enough good things about it so far. The tune is so close for trail riding, I didn't even fiddle with the DSC adjusters all weekend. It just worked. It really soaked up the rough and was comfortable- firm but comfortable through the trails. I like firm. Not jarring, but planted and stable. Only thing I think needs to change directly is free rebound in the rear, needs faster drop on downhill shelves. Almost sounded like piston plunge when dropping a big shelf but it was a shorter, more abrupt 'swish', almost like shaking a maracas.
Side stability is superb. The best I've ever had. Never felt like it was in danger of tipping, or that I couldn't apply the throttle when in that position.
Uphill absolutely no push off that I could feel. Never had the opportunity to open it up in the rough at high speed, but we did do some accelerated trail riding Saturday night; needs some valving there- more high speed dampening, less low speed dampening (but trail riding might suffer with those changes internally) ; never used all the rear bumps. But I'll play with the DSC there first before I go back in the shocks. Sway bar is good so far.
Can't describe how excited I am about the suspension so far!
BODY DAMAGE;
We did a little. The factory passenger cab B post, rear door post and drip rail got a massage while winching and slipped into it. Not terrible, I can easily repair. I had planned to do some plate work along the drip rail; (somewhat of a rub rail but out of time beforehand) which would have prevented all damage there this trip. I will be making this modification very soon.
You can see it in this pic
Passengers bed in front of wheel got a little tree limb divot, nothing worse than the original condition of the truck panels, it will be dollied back quickly enough.
No tire rub on any sheet metal or front inner fender/ footwell. Rear tires tuck nicely behind fenders.
Truck still looks great.
INTERIOR HEAT
As we all suspected, their is some significant heat in the cab. All my shielding didn't arrive in time (and still isn't here...) so very little was installed for this trip. Drivers footwell panels are the only ones that were shielded.
Friday we rode with the doors on. (60°ambient temp) it was warm inside. Moving through the trails was tolerable, but in a severe stand still beating we were dripping.
Saturday we took the doors off (same temp) and it was fine, (and we did use the heater Saturday night with no doors). Warm on the legs but fine otherwise. Summertime it would be an issue but ok this time of year.
Ill be doing more shielding and report back with results.
Otherwise cab comfort is what you might expect from watching the build thread; cozy. I was extremely comfortable, even with an hour or two of seat time. Your cozy enough that you don't rattle around... There isn't room, lol. But seriously the gas leg is supported from the knee to ankle and the brake leg rest against the A pillar and you don't get banged up. Can't say enough good things about the PRP harnesses either, love them.
Two interesting heating issues, one of which I had anticipated;
Unanticipated:
With the tube door bars installed (quick pins moved fine) but once the truck got warm, you couldn't get them out, had to get out buggy style over the door bar, lmao. After it sat for 10 minutes not running, they slid right out!
Remedy; I'll be slotting the pin hole north to south to alleviate this, that should keep them free without rattles.
Anticipated;
Winch. Heat on the winch from the radiator. Hot enough, you need gloves on to pull the rope on free spool. And I didn't have time to clock the free spool handle, so it was easy to skin a knuckle on the fan for that reason.
Remedy; clock winch motor, and build a heat shield over the drum.
(We did snap the rope dragging through some rocks; but in defense this smittybuilt 10k lived on my ton yj for a couple years and then sat on my shelf for 7 years collecting lots of metal dust.)
Ill be purchasing a new rope and thimble here soon.
Overall, I'm 100% happy with the trip. Ready to get it cleaned up, make the necessary modifications, and plan the next ride.
Big thanks to @jeconn and Mike for being my test ride trail guides and winch guys. We winched 3-4 times due to driver error and stupid pinion guards. But gladly, rest of the weekend was winch free after having some trail knowledge and seat time in the new truck.
Matt
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