2006 Mazda B2300 Build Thread

[UltraHDGames]

Last week I replaced my upper left ball joint(was completely destroyed) and my lower right ball joint(boot was cracked) while under warranty, replaced the inner and outer wheel bearings, checked rear spacers(both still perfect and tight) and rotated wheels, got an alignment at Canadian tire which actually made it worse so I'll be going back and finally fixed the issue I had been having with my fuel pump for over a year. Last summer I got into an accident rear ending a litttle Mazda 3 and it tripped the fuel pump safety shut off switch(inertia) and since then it would go off every few months, no big deal right? Well last week it died about 3-10 times a day and I could reset it with the switch by the passenger switch and keep going until Thursday where it just wouldn't come back on, so I took the switch out and sure enough the inside was fried completely. So I took the 2 wires and taped em together and have been problem free since then! It's nice not having the truck randomly die at a light in traffic

Today I went on a trail ride, got stuck 3 times, twice in real loose sand the other in some nasty ruts in some way to deep water. Overall it was a great time and something new since I had never been there with the truck before and the 2wd kept up with the 4x4s pretty well

Just jeep things





Couldn't cross this creek as it would have went well over the hood but it made for good pictures



Found somewhere to flex, I was a little surprised I flexed almost as much as the colorado which has a mid travel set up...



Trailblazer couldn't quite flex like us


And my real good stuck ...Going to change the diff fluid tomorrow. First time I went through the hole I made it and the water went almost to the hood. Second time some of the jeeps had been through there and made deep ruts, this time it went well over my hood

 

[thethePete]

Glad to see you're out having fun! Good to hear your spacers haven't worked loose. Also, if you didn't know, the Moog aftermarket uppers have a replaceable balljoint, so you can do just the joint for around $70, rather than $150 for the whole arm.

If you don't have a spring on your whip, be careful in parking garages like that. I broke one that way already...

 

[UltraHDGames]

Glad to see you're out having fun! Good to hear your spacers haven't worked loose. Also, if you didn't know, the Moog aftermarket uppers have a replaceable balljoint, so you can do just the joint for around $70, rather than $150 for the whole arm.

If you don't have a spring on your whip, be careful in parking garages like that. I broke one that way already...

I didn't know that about Moog ball joints but I'll keep that in mind when these wear out and yes my antenna has a spring

 

[UltraHDGames]

Got a Curt basket/Extension this weekend for my self and picked one up for my friend with his freshly lifted jeep

Basket seems strong and so do the Explorer roof rails I mounted it to but I'm going to add a third rail in the center to help the middle from sagging when I do load it up. One thing to note is the powder coating isn't the greatest and it had a few marks right from the box so I'll give it a bit of paint before winter to prevent rust

Wind noise doesn't seem to be an issue either and I haven't driven enough with it yet to test for gas mileage but I'm sure it did drop a tad


31" Cooper Stt Pro, 3.5" Rubicon express superflex/Bilstein shocks





Sometime soon I'm going to mount my Hi lift jack on the side with an axe and/or shovel on the other side as with my led pods that have been sitting in my room for a few months, going to do one on each side of the basket and 2 facing back

 

[TheFutur]

Looking good bud!

Spending my day off waxing my ranger hoping to get a few scratches out haha

Are you planning on leaving the hi-lift/shovel/axe up top permanently or just when you go off exploring?

Also what kind of radio are you running? Looking into getting a HAM radio license and radio before the end of the year. Girlfriend said she would buy it as a birthday present for me along with the antenna so ive been doing some research on them now haha

Have any pictures of how your radio is mounted?

 

[UltraHDGames]

Looking good bud!

Spending my day off waxing my ranger hoping to get a few scratches out haha

Are you planning on leaving the hi-lift/shovel/axe up top permanently or just when you go off exploring?

Also what kind of radio are you running? Looking into getting a HAM radio license and radio before the end of the year. Girlfriend said she would buy it as a birthday present for me along with the antenna so ive been doing some research on them now haha

Have any pictures of how your radio is mounted?

I don't have any pics but its just a midland cheapy(very similar to a cobra 19). Right now its just held onto the side of my Explorer full length console with double sided tape

As for up top on the roof basket yes I do plan on leaving the hi lift/shovel/axe up there all the time, I always keep them with me and I'm tired of them taking up space inside the box. Of course they'll be locked up somehow up top though

 

[UltraHDGames]

So this weekend I went to the states for my very first time, Me and my gf left Friday morning and just got back today, overall the trip was amazing with basically no troubles at all besides driving straight against a nasty wind basically the whole time
Friday we left and went to the Seven Clans Hotel in Thief River Falls, it was a really sweet hotel with a great water park.


The next day we headed out for Minneapolis, the sights weren't to great at the start but eventually we got into some rolling hills with tons of little ponds on the sides of the freeway

Entering Minneapolis, Some how the Mazda kept up on the freeway but she was working pretty good


Eventually we made it to Mall of America which was really cool to finally see for the first time, I can understand how some people can spend days there but personally I couldn't. That night we stayed at a sketchy Super 8 Hotel(I would have felt safer sleeping in the box in a walmart)
Next day we headed to Grand Forks, finally going with the wind we cruised at 70mph with ease even on the hills, stopped at "The Pizza Ranch" after being told to by many friends and I'm glad we did, who doesn't like buffet pizza and chicken, thought I was going to die after it was so good

Even with the lack of interior space she never once complained, perfect co pilot

Getting close to Grand Forks

Once we got there we checked in at a much nicer Days inn then the previous nights Super 8 then went out to "Speedway" restaurant, What a great bbq it was


All packed up and on the way home this morning


Things I learnt on this trip
-I need to regear, 4:10s just aren't enough for this little 4 cylinder with 31's. Almost any hill or wind against me and I couldn't get the truck into 5th or to actually stay in 5th without slowing coming down in speed and dropping into 4th. I'm thinking 4:56 should help without being overkill and allow me to go up to 32's in the far future
-Cruise control would have made this trip much nicer, what are people using for aftermarket units?
-I have a subtle shake coming from the front left wheel, the wheel has play in it and i can just budge it by pushing really hard on it. I already re placed ball joints and inner/outer bearing so tie rods? Idk

 

[UltraHDGames]

Went camping this weekend, weather was great and the truck did great for what it is. Can't wait for December, custom bumpers(with a winch) and rock sliders with a few other goodies

Onto pics







Overall it was good trip besides the Dakota blowing its trans on the way home. Surprisingly Riley's pathfinder(Had the red ranger with lights on the roof) did pretty well for stock even with its low height

Hoping to go again next month

 

[UltraHDGames]

Snagged a few picture yesterday after a quick wash from wheeling last weekend and did some researching on bumpers and what kind of design I would like etc. I also got a free winch from my dad that he used to use on his 79 Bronco, he claims its only a 4500-6500 pound winch but says its underrated and was used lots of times on the Bronco and other full size trucks so I'm fairly confident it can handle my truck, not sure on the brand because its pretty old but it'll do until I save up for a 9500 Smittybilt synthetic one




Here's the front bumper we plan on coping, I'd like all 4 of my hellas directly overtop of the winch but if I have to I'll mount my 4 black magics(Hids will be going in them at the same time of the bumpers) in front of my roof basket and do a set of Hella 1000's over top to look less stuffed in there. I would also keep the skid plate black to match the rest of the bumper to blend in a bit better



Here's the rear I'm thinking, I'd like to keep it as high up as possible so my hitch will more then likely removed and integrated into the new bumper, I'd also keep my hi lift on the roof basket

 

[Buddha.]

Ha, I live about five minutes from the mall. Never been to the super 8 but I used to do security at the motel 6 over there. A few interesting stories from there.

 

[UltraHDGames]

Ha, I live about five minutes from the mall. Never been to the super 8 but I used to do security at the motel 6 over there. A few interesting stories from there.

Ah that sucks I would have loved a little meet up

 

[stoverjoe]

This thread brings back a ton of memories of my old ranger. I got it with 95K miles on it in 1999. I drove the wheels off of it and eventually it was used basically as a UTV around our property. Eventually I gave it to a young guy that was working for me, that needed some cheap wheels. It had 280K miles on it then and still ran great. It was a five speed tho. I noticed your crank windows in one of the pics...brought back good memories lol. I miss how cheap that truck was to work on and maintain, and how it simply dealt with everything I threw at it, with no complaints. I've had superdutys ever since this truck.

Example A

 

[UltraHDGames]

Nothing new as we speak. 55w 6000k Hids are on the way for my hellas as with some green rocker switches are on the way

 

[UltraHDGames]

Went camping this last weekend, cracked a hella lense and dented a rock(most of it twisted out but rock sliders are a must)








Then yesterday I got my hi lift mounted up on the basket, no more ratchet straps
Hi lift 4xrac

 

[UltraHDGames]

Little adventuring today