De(S)Quiglification Report
Will definitely report on the suspension differences!
Finally got time to share some thoughts on the recent DeQuiglification of our SMB.
When I picked the rig up in Aspen to drive back to CA, I knew things may get a little sketchy as the PO mentioned you need to keep your hands on the wheel at all times ("you can't be sipping a latte in this"). OK, no prob, just need to get it home so it can go to UJOR (was originally planning to drop ship directly to UJOR, but timing didn't allow)... Driving it out the airport, the steering wheel was going back and forth a crazy amount and I hadn't even hit 35 mph and the PO was directing me to the freeway to drop them off before we headed out...sheit! not the freeway! And we had >1K miles to go!...
The steering was so funky that I had to keep pinballing the wheel back and forth to maintain a straight line - I was getting as much practice on the back roads from the PO's house before hitting the freeway where we needed to maintain speed. It was a hairball, white knuckle, butt puckering experience at freeway speeds. I think we maintained 55-60 and barely went above. Semi's were passing constantly... For the big mountain curves out in the desert at freeway speeds, I had to get the play out of the steering before entering any curves and then feather it back to center. Did NOT want to have to counter steer in the middle of a turn. If overdrive or turbo kicked in, the wandering magnified which increased pucker factor, especially in turns.
It was tiring at best to keep this rig at freeway speeds. There were two of us in the rig, but I ended up driving the whole way as we were on a tight schedule to get the rig back in a couple days. My buddy was a fully competent driver, but due to the learning curve for maintaining freeway speeds, I kept on driving (plus I would have been sketched period not being in control of this thing regardless of how well he could have driven it...) Two lane roads at 55mph+ were very sketchy, e.g. 50 through Utah/Nevada..
We finally made it to CA okay and then reached out to Chris to arrange a full Dequig and build (6" on 35's).
Absolutely smooth process through all that and fast forward to the day of pick up. Chris had sent pics along the way, but nothing beats seeing it in person. Stunning to say the least... absolutely DOPE! What a transformation!
The ride quality was absolutely impressive - still felt the weight a bit as it is an SMB (vs V7 which Chris picked us up in), but damn, the steering wheel tracked proportionally to the rig turning. That stood out immediately. I couldn't WAIT to get some driving in...good thing we had ~3K miles in front of us to get back.
The stoke factor kept on climbing... all Quig fears melted away as confidence from the UJOR makeover took over. Smooth as butter, solid steering, no wandering, and the new gauges kept me in the loop on system performance, etc. I could keep one hand on things if needed and maintain full control. Going above 65 was easy. Still super solid. At one point I looked down at saw 85mph on the speedo while passing a semi (keep in mind while in Quig mode, it was nerve racking going over 35).
Overall, I didn't maintain speeds really above 75, but knew if needed, I could go there with confidence. And all those distracting things we like to do while road trippin were doable, even one handed now. Functionality met form and what a pair they made this rig now. Chris was right when he said we may have gotten some attention with the rig before, but NOW...it's a whole different thing. Practically every stop we made, people were staring, taking pictures, giving thumbs up, asking questions, etc. Even people we passed on the road head on you could see had deer in the headlight syndrome and were pointing.
Parting words...if you have concerns about your Quig and are wondering about a fix, have Chris and his team DeQuig your rig. You will NOT regret it. The PO had added new front shocks, some big *** sway bar in the back and deaver springs, so was going down a rat hole and wasn't making it better. I can't help but think the low miles on our rig was due to how sketched it was to drive. Now I just want to pile the miles/go get stuck, extract and do it all over again.
Other bad *** additions:
* roof rack:
* 360 lights on the roof rack
* Solar
* front winch
* aluminess ladder, cargo box and rear bumper
If folks have any questions about things I may have missed, give a shout.
-todd
