New Member- Brutus - NASCAR custom 4x4 track van

[TruFit Brutus]

Hello all,
Got turned on to EP today by a Discovery owner I met at the dog park. Great site! Looking forward to contributing to the community.

Introducing my newly purchased custom 4x4 van built by NASCAR either at Daytona or Miami (TBD). I've set it up for off road adventures and have logged about 400 miles off the grid with my dog so far. Future plans include a west coast US trip (6months) and attending numerous action sport events to promote adventure fitness to youth. The top is a E150 sitting on a 1 ton 350 chassis. The engine is lowered to improve cornering and sits in a custom tube chassis that protects it also. The bumpers were added after the track and the 37's roll easily with 4:56 gears.

More info to come but I keep getting bumped and losing my typing and photos so I'm going to post this up and get on with a different computer next time.

 

[TruFit Brutus]

 

[Toolman]

WELCOME !!!!!!!

I like it. I'm requiring some more technical information regarding the conversion to 4x4 what components axles , gears.

Sweet

VANASCAR

 

[tgreening]

Dang guy. Looks like you could use a bath and a shave. And maybe a biscuit.

Awesome looking ride though.

 

[NorthernWoodsman]

Sure hope you picked up all those pieces and didn't just leave it out there to be trash in the landscape...

 

[Shocker]

Yeah, specs and more pics please!

 

[TruFit Brutus]

Northern Woodsman- Absolutely we picked it up. All of it in addition to the other trash we packed out of our campsite that night. I might not have been an Eagle Scout but I always remember to leave a place better than I found it

 

[TruFit Brutus]

The 4x4 conversion was done at the track and several of the components you would only really see on race cars (it has Anti-Rock style sway bar systems front and rear that I believe were the precursor to the Anti-Rock bars we put on Jeeps). The axles are Dana 60's with 4:56 gears. As you can see from the pictures I'm running coils up front with leaf springs in the rear. There is quite a bit of reinforced tubing that ties into the suspension and tube chassis so I'll get some better pictures underneath because I know you guys will appreciate the craftsmanship. More pictures coming up tonight, this computer seems to be working better with the forum. Thanks for the comments and I'll keep everybody posted with the projects and progress. Aloha, -John

 

[ujoint]

What an intro!

You may want to check the BOM of the front axle, appears to be a D44. The front end looks like a modified Pathfinder 4x4 setup (radius arms) Ford never made a radius arm D60, they do exist though. (custom)

 

[tgreening]

What an intro!

You may want to check the BOM of the front axle, appears to be a D44. The front end looks like a modified Pathfinder 4x4 setup (radius arms) Ford never made a radius arm D60, they do exist though. (custom)

+1. That looks just like the D44 front axle in my '79 F-150. I did the lift in the parking lot behind the aircraft hanger wayyyyy back when I was in the Marine Corp. Getting all the retaining coil spring retaining plates lined up proved to be a royal pain in the @#% doing it alone. Pulled an all-nighter gettin that bugger done.

 

[TruFit Brutus]

Nice, this is why I'm gonna like this site. You guys are right and I feel dumb for not paying better attention. Went out and looked closer and the front has "44-PF" on it, and the rear has the "60" stamped on it. They look real similar but when I pay attention I can see the differences in the housing along the bottom and the rear appears much stronger all around. The whole thing is pretty custom but in the case it's not a custom 60 up front. I'll take some pics tomorrow of the whole suspension so you can see what they did to it.

 

[TruFit Brutus]

 

[flightcancled]

That's awesome. The square brush guard isn't my thing though. It would look so cleaner with just the loop.


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[Jb1rd]

That's awesome. The square brush guard isn't my thing though. It would look so cleaner with just the loop.


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+1 to that

 

[TruFit Brutus]

Yeah I see what you guys mean. I never looked at it that way. Might get the plasma cutter and grinder and make a change now. haha. The guy I bought it from lived in rural Montana so I figured this bumper was his Elk protection. Just the mini stinger....Hmmmmm interesting. This forum is rad! More pics of suspension and engine mods coming tonight. -Aloha