First, we needed to address the issues with the Dragonfly which, had a passenger side wheel bearing that failed. Im going to have to take the blame for that one because I did not check the wheel bearings and miss diagnosed the issue as a noise in the brakes. Guess I was WRONG. After making a temporary trail repair so we could get the Dragonfly back to the trailer, the permanent repairs would have to wait as there were no outer bearings for a Rockwell axle to be found anywhere around Disney, Ok.

Once we arrived home safely and got the buggy back in the shop, we completely took the front axle apart and spent some time inspecting it. Outside of changing some spacers on the pinion, the passenger side wheel bearings and spindle were all that needed to be replaced. I got online and found the needed parts and got them headed my way. As soon as parts arrived, the DragonFly was put on the top of the fix list before we took a look at the C4x4 Buggy. Because, everyone knows, you gotta get Momma's rig fixed... because if Momma ain't happy then nobody's happy.

Once we had the Dragonfly all fixed up, I was able to turn my attentions to the C4x4 Buggy. The buggy had suffered severe damage to the rear truss on the 14 bolt while taking on Viagra Hill, and yes, once again the hill won. We had come down hard on the rear axle, spun an axle tube, bent and ripped the actual truss itself and would need to be completely replaced since the old truss was not toast.

For this major surgery, we loaded up the C4x4 Buggy and transported it over to the buggy hospital at Brad Fab where we cut off the old truss with the plasma cutter and then ground off the old welds. By this time, our new hot off the design table, 14 bolt truss from Why Not Customs (http://whynotcustoms.com) had arrived and was ready to install and Brad went to work with his welder. This truss comes with a pinion protector and ties into the front of the truss for added strength.

Things began shaping up quickly and I was able to change out the old pinion guard and we were then able to start tying it all together with the truss. Soon everything came together and formed not only a great looking truss, but one that will withstand the hard hits when they come.

We now sit here with both the DragonFly and the C4x4 Buggy all fixed up and ready for the Why Not Customs Labor Day Crawl (http://www.4w2h.org/event/labor-day-crawl/) and we had a whole week and a half to just tinker and get loaded. A big thanks to Brad Austin at Brad Fab for the work and Chris Palsmeier at Why Not Customs for the parts to help get the rigs back up and going.

Come on down and run with us at our next event.

God Bless You and Yours

Okie – Out
David