KrawlTex

Hot Rods by the Slice carshow July 16, South Austin

2011-07-11T11:54:00.000-05:00

Info here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=219791611394677

Mack's 5.3L CJ7

2011-07-07T17:13:00.003-05:00

We started with basically a tub and frame. Over the course of the year, plans evolved from a modern day V8 conversion to a full width swap and linked suspension. The Jeep has a 5.3L, 4L60E transmission, NP241 with and SYE. The linked suspension is a 4 link in the rear and 3 link with a panhard bar in the front. King 2.5x14" shocks were chosen. Krawltex built the cage, as well as all the drivetrain crossmembers, exhaust, and under the hood accessory mounts. Automoeter, Optima, Warn, Hedman, Lokar are all in the mix. Stretched corners and front fenders came from Poison Spyder. The rockers and gas tank are from Gen-right. The Jeep rolls on 37" Toyo Mt's and 17" Procomp alloys.

2011-07-03T12:13:00.003-05:00

Here's the aluminum interior work. Came out pretty nice, and we really like the way the factory panels look trimmed around it all. There is 100% functionality of the back seats.

Ed's FJCruiser 4 link Transformation

2011-06-29T06:47:00.003-05:00

After months of work, we drove the FJ for the first time yesterday. We are very impressed with the handling and drivability of the whole package. Ed's Toyota is truly the nicest, cleanest, best performing piece of 4 wheel machinery that Krawltex has ever built.

The new stainless rear brakelines do wonders for the stopping power. Now the rear disc brakes will actually lock up before the TRD/Brembo upgraded front brakes. Ride quality wise, the rear 2.5x12" King coilovers and triple bypasses are matched perfectly to the 12" of front travel the Total Chaos/King combination provides. Whether it is a hard launch off the line or throttling acceleration in a turn, the 4 link geometry and Anti-rock sway bar plant the suspension firmly to the ground without any signs of body roll or dive.

To re-cap what this incarnation was about, let me explain what all had to be done to match the quality of the front end and the problems that had risen from building the drive train up. First off, a TRD Supercharger with a bigger boost pulley and fuel management system, coupled with 35's and 4.88 gearing equates to a blown up rear Toyota axle. What was chosen to replace it was a hybrid axle, a first of it's kind. Before we began this project, we installed a Rockjock 60 in to another FJ Cruiser. What we didn't care for was how tall the rear axle was with a link truss, and what we had to notch out of the frame to make that package fit.

Instead of what many shops (including ourselves) had already installed, we enlisted Currie to take the same axle flanges and weld them up to a custom 4130 chromoly Fab9 housing that was 2.5" wider than the axle it was replacing. This was the essential component to a street legal axle swap because the outer axle flanges Currie developed allow the use of the factory brake backing plate with all of it's ABS/traction control glory. Hi9 was chosen for a 4.88 geared nodular center section and ARB locker. Currie cut the custom length 35 spline shafts. These were the biggest we could package and still utilize the factory brakes. The traction control and ABS are exclusive to the FJ Cruiser and will light the dash up like a Christmas tree if anything is out of the computer's specifications.

Suspension wise, we went with the traditional 4 link with triangulated uppers. Chromoly heims with 1 1/4" lowers and 7/8" uppers were chosen. It's riding on mock-up links while the Heretic Fab heat treated chromo links are still in the hardening process. Downsouth Motorsports (our go to guys for shock building), suggested the 12" body coilovers and bypass shocks with what seems to be the perfect spring rate right out of the box. As mentioned before, it matches the front suspension travel to a tea. We contemplated ways to radius or notch the factory frame for clearance. What transpired was chopping the rear frame completely off the truck, behind the middle body mount under the rear door. 2x6" square tubing was hand cut in to frame rails that not only radius upwards in to the wheel well and down to the factory rear cross member location, but also curve inwards to provide ample clearance for shock packaging. Coil over hoops go through the floor with frame bracing inside and outside the cab. A Currie Anti-rock sway bar plants the rear tires. All of the adjustable link bracketry, arm mounts, axle truss, and shock mounts are 1/8" chromoly stacked plate, TIG welded of course.

All of the sexy suspension could not have been performed without addressing the fuel containing situation. Many people perform 3 link suspensions with a pan hard bar under these Toyotas, because the factory gas tank sits on the driver's side inner frame rail. We wanted this truck to have the best ride and most travel, without sacrificing flex. So Fuelsafe was enlisted to build a custom cell. What makes this cell so special besides the Fuelsafe monicker, poly bladder, internal baffling, and aluminum shell? Another first of its kind, our fuel cell has a modified top plate to adapt the OEM Toyota sending unit/fuel pump assembly. We chose this route so the TRD Supercharger/APR X1 fuel management system could keep it's very specific fuel pump AND we could use the factory in dash fuel gauge without the need of adding an auxilary unit. The whole package is enveloped in a 1x1" steel cage, then shod with a 3/8" 60/61 aluminum shell.

This truck is a complete Beast! It has custom touches from head to toe. The ride quality is second to none and the FJ is a complete blast to drive. To reflect upon all of the mods which have taken place at Krawltex... Here's a short build list of this project: 2.5" wider per side Total Chaos long travel suspension w/4130 axle shafts, A-arm gussets, King 2.5" coilovers and triple bypass shocks, limit straps, chromoly upper/lower A arms with uniballs and aluminum skids, knuckle gussets, steering extensions, TRD Supercharger with APR X1 fuel management/7th injector, cam gears, and smaller pulley for more boost, Doug Thorley long tube headers, 02 Simulators, 2.5" madrel exhaust TIG welded, Lefty 4.1 t-case w/twin stick, 4.88's and ARB in the front, Currie chromoly 9" w/Toyota end cups to utilize factory brakes (for ABS), Krawltex built triangulated 4 link, 1 1/4" and 7/8" chromly heims, chromly heat treated links, 2.5x12" King coilovers and triple bypasses, Krawltex built rear frame, Fuelsafe custom cell to utilize OEM Toyota fuel pump, Fab fours bumpers and rock sliders. We also chopped all the factory crossmembers out of the truck and flush mounted them with the factory frame rails. Then we built 3/8" 60/61 aluminum skid plates from the front bumper back.

Last step is an interior cage, custom dash/gauge work, and possibly an aluminum rack system. But we are going to take a breather and let Ed enjoy his truck for a while! I will finish off the exhaust today while Chris works on interior paneling. Here is a link to the current 4 link build and here's a link to the entire NEWARE FJ BUILD

50 Cal Exocage YJ

2011-06-09T11:18:00.005-05:00

We built the exo cage/baja rack for zombie hunting. The 50 cal mount is collapsible and height adjusting. There are provisions on the top for jerry and ammo cans. The rear swingout holds a hi-lift with a 4x4 labs spindle. The Warn 9500TI winch is in a cradle that can be mounted front or rear. The 6 100W Procomp lights blind oncoming traffic. And the new Toyo MT's on 17" Procomp alloys are WAY better looking than the old bias ply Buckshots they replaced.

Happy 5th Anniversary Krawltex!

2011-06-07T08:18:00.002-05:00

Thank you to every one in the four wheel drive community that has made our company a success! Believe it or not, this week marks the fifth year we have been in business. It's crazy to think it was 2006 that Glenn and I were nailing an office up out of free MDF and 2x4's in the back of a 1000 square foot shoe box in South Austin.

Who would have thought that two shops later, we would have 3500 square feet and 5 employees? If you haven't seen us in a while and visited the Cedar Park location, stop on by. Our office is still humble, but we have some new toys like the sheet metal brake, bead roller, TIG and Torchmate plasma table.

It's rather ironic that there is finally a free evening for me to work on my own project, and I completely forget it is the day that commemorates our fifth year! Hopefully the parts will all show up and the new trail toy will make it out to Katemcy this weekend. Just have to whip up a roll cage, brakes, bumpers, and a knuckle rebuild kit...

It's always been our goal to build some of the coolest trail rigs, rock buggies and anything off road related. We could never have imagined to be desert racing in Texas with our own truck! Thank you to all the friends, supporters, and family that we have made along the way! Our continued success is all because of you.

Cam

2011-05-23T15:34:00.003-05:00

Another buys week, especially with Memorial Weekend approaching. Scott fixed the ignition switch in Steve's TJ and some worn steering parts giving Jason's ZJ some death wobble. Camren has finished the collapsable 50 cal mount going on the top of Muike's exo caged YJ, and is currently working on a rocky road Outfitters lift kit for Jon's Commanche. Rico is putting together some front a pillar hoops in Andrew's interior Tahoe cage. Chris finished up the rear frame rails on Ed's FJcruiser and is working on shock mounts, anti-rock swaybar location, and bump stop clearances.

along with these projects, we still have the wheelie bar to mount on the drag trike, stauns for Maundo's 39" Iroks, Grizzly lockers for Al's new LS powered TJ, a CJ7 roll cage for Chris, and a BDS 4' for Trent's CJ7.

2011-05-20T11:31:00.003-05:00

Scott knocked out the bumper out of 1.75' DOM with a 1/4" aluminum skid. Then he ripped the old torsion bar/A arm suspension and replaced it with a Total Chaos Gen 2 Caddy system. This includes upper and lower chromoly A arms w/uniballs and bushings, steering extensions, brake lines, shock hoop, and King coilovers w/remote reservoirs.

2011-05-11T23:46:00.000-05:00

Been a busy week. Chris got the 4 link done on the FJ Cruiser and is in the process of making shock mounts as well as a new rear frame. Camren is knocking out the YJ exocage. I have been working on Mack's Antirock swaybar and should have it done tomorrow. We welcome Scott Samuel, a new fabricator to the mix. He will be working with us this summer before returning to his Premed path at Southwestern College. Today he built a Prerunner bumper on Blake's Tacoma. Tomorrow we will mount the lights and skid plate. The rest of the week we will continue on these projects, as well as some maintenance work on a pair of TJ's.

2011-05-04T15:14:00.008-05:00

A lot has been going on in the past couple of weeks. We are all making some changes. Camren Moureau from the dissolved Atomic 4x4 joins the Krawltex Team, and Ted is moving to JeepMasters. We wish Mr Morris the best and plan to keep him as part of our desert racing endeavors. Hopefully we will be in the next issue of Dirtsports in our red Tacoma, as part of the BRT's Inaugural race at Texana last month. Look for a three page spread on the race. Krawltex will also be in Crawl magazine soon. Look for Tony Arledge's rock buggy that we built from the ground up.

Work wise... well let's just say we have been more than swamped lately. Ted is almost wrapped up in Chris' AW4 TJ wiring and a CJ7 cage for Andrew. Chris has been knocking out some very trick TIG welded chromoly plate bracketry for Ed's FJCruiser 4 link. Camren M. and I have been working on Mike's Baja rack/exo-cage on his YJ. Rico is doing some finishing touches on Mack's CJ7. We have also had our hands in some leveling kits here and there, suspension maintenance for a few people, exhaust work for a Lightning, and other random projects... such as a telescoping projector A frame with a touch screen 4x6' Smart Board.

In the next few weeks we will be continuing the FJCruiser build with a Fuelsafe cell, interior roll cage, slider and rear bumper work. A Gen 2 4Runner will be in next week for a Total Chaos "Caddy" long travel suspension. The Osterhus SAS 1 ton Tahoe is in here for an interior roll cage. And another Wrangler is in for suspension upgrades.

In the mean time, here are some finished pics of the adjustable upper frame link brackets for Ed's FJ.

2011-04-21T16:40:00.005-05:00

Here's some pics of Alex's 6" BDS lift and 35's on his F150

2011-04-18T17:26:00.006-05:00

Ted and Camren are finishing up Mack's CJ7. Camren built a beefy rear bumper and tire carrier for it. Ted has it running and shifting with a custom cue-ball tcase shifter. Chris finished up the chromoly truss for Ed's 9inch and has it mocked up under the FJ.
Last weekend was BRT's debut at the Blackwell 250. We were running very strong, number 1 in class and only minutes behind the overall, when a catastrophic fuel pump failure put us out of the race only 5 miles from the finish. Since the race, the truck's fuel cell is out and on its way to Fuel Safe for a new bladder and foam. We hope to have it all ironed for the Chupacabra 250 Sept. 29th- Oct. 2nd .

2011-03-25T18:34:00.006-05:00

This week Ted has been ironing out Mack's CJ7 5.3L wiring and should have it running early next week. Ed's FJ cruiser is back in the shop for another transformation. chris pulled the FJ gas tank and shipped it to Fuel Safe for the new cell that will be mounted in the rear. He also reworked the air shock mounts and rasied the ride height on Al's Copperhead fab 4 seat buggy. Rico pulled the factory Toyota axle and Icon Stage 5 rear suspension off the Toyota. He also assembled the Currie Fab 9 chromoly housing, Hi9 35 spline center section with 4.88 gears and an ARB, pressed the factory brake backing plates on to the Currie 35 spline shafts. Mack's cage got the final welding, harness mounts and paint. Our new employee Camren, stripped the interior panels, rear bumper, and lobbed off the rear frame. He installed the Lokar shifter and fuel sending unit in Mack's CJ7.

Here are some initial pics of the FJ cruiser project.

Next week we will be reworking the lower links on Al's buggy, Tuning Mack's CJ7, assembling the 4 link truss and link mounts in stacked 1/8' chromoly plate, building a swingout tire carrier on the CJ7, finishing the wiring on Chris' TJ AW4 swap, and lifting Alex's F150 with a 6" BDS kit.

2011-03-21T19:54:00.007-05:00

Here's some finished pics of Travis' 09 Xterra Prerunner bumper that chris built, with the end caps and 1/4" aluminum skid

2011-03-21T19:50:00.008-05:00

Here's a YJ cage that Rico built for Travis. It's very similar to the cage we built in Mack's CJ7.

2011-03-17T08:39:00.007-05:00

Ted finished this truck last week. It came in a couple days ago for a chip and intake so we took some pics. It's an 02 Superduty, 8" BDS lift will nitro dual shocks and stabalizers, Toyo 38" MT's, and 20" Diamo wheels. Thos are Bestop electric hide away steps. These new versions are not like hte crappy AMP design. They use power window motors and have LED lights on the steps.

2011-03-15T18:00:00.011-05:00

Here's some build pics of Travis' 09 Xterra bumper that Chris built. Not shown is the 1/4" aluminum skid that will come on Thursday. Ballistic supplied the 1/4" thick frame uprights. We came up with the 1/8' stacked plate as well as all the 1.75" DOM tube work. Those are Hella 4000 HID's on the main tube. the bars under the head lights have a double bend to flow with the body lines better than a traditional straight tube. the ends will be cut off at the edge of the headlights and capped. also not shown are the tow hook/lower frame horn brackets that incorporate an extra 2 mounting holes per side.

2011-03-14T19:16:00.013-05:00

Here's some pics of the new paint and interior cage on my Ranger prerunner project. Still need to buy a couple more gauges before the dash panel is made, so excuse the interior mess. You may be able to spot my duct tape patch on the driver's seat from where it caught on fire while welding... of corse it was my side. Harnesses and some different suspension seats will make their way in shortly. Just got the sending unit for my fuel cell. Still need to buy an electric pump and make a mount before it gets installed in the rear.

Project ANGER... (Ranger without an "R")

2011-02-25T10:08:00.007-06:00

So I have had this truck for about a year. Didn't want to post pics because it's been a piece together, slow rolling project as time and money have allowed. But here are the specs on my daily driver that will one day soon end up being the pre-runner for the race truck. It's a 93 x-cab, with a 4.0 V6, 5speed with a Hurst short throw, 8.8 Explorer axle with 4.10 and disc brakes, Autofab 4" bent I-beams, I built the radius arms and front pre-runner bumper (not sure yet if it's getting the angry brow treatment like the truck), 35" BFG's, race trim suspension seats, Glassworks 4" front fenders, and McNeil's 6" rear trophy truck besides. I have more or less finished hanging the glass. A few more tubes are going in for the dual tire mount then I'll stop and paint it, until there's more time/money to do the interior cage and fuel cell mount. After all the cage work is done, I'm saving for front coil overs, communications, and a GPS. If all that gets hashed out, then it's on to linking the rear. Of course at that point, we'd have a class 1450 on our hands... Like I need another desert race truck.

Baja Racing of Texas Series

2011-02-01T20:15:00.000-06:00

Baja Racing of Texas announces New Off-Road Racing Series

Ft. Worth, TX. (February 1, 2011) Exciting news from the Lone Star state as a new off-road race series is announced today. Baja Racing of Texas, LLC (BRT) will be launching a new off road racing series for the upcoming 2011 season. The BRT was formed by Chris Leitner (BRT President) and is the next step in the continuing growth of off-road racing in Texas. The goal of the BRT is to provide safe, fun and challenging racing venues for the entire off-road community. In light of the current issues plaguing the southern borders of the US and the on-going changes plaguing the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over land use on the west coast, Texas is primed to be the future of off road racing in the United States. Leitner stated “When you look at the states that have the land to hold these type of events the list is very short and the fact that Texas land is privately owned with no BLM interaction, then Texas really is the next step for the off-road community. We plan to offer the ‘Texas Premiere Off-Road Racing Experience’ to the racers, fans and sponsors attending our events”.

Leitner has assembled a large staff to assist him in this project. This group has an impressive 100 plus years of combined experience in organizing, promoting and participating in off-road racing events.

Since all of the land in Texas is privately owned, successful partnerships with Landowners have been established and additional land owners will be on board for the 2012 season. Leitner stated “We are focused on working with new property owners, Texas based businesses, The Texas Motorized Trails Coalition and other race organizations to establish new locations for future events.” The BRT will be running their 2011 off road racing events at Texana Ranch located in Blackwell, TX starting with the Blackwell 250 April 7-10. This 4,682 acre property has been owned by the Beal family since 1979 and offers a variety of terrains not often seen at west coast off-road racing events. Instead of the vast expanses of sand and cactus, the 40+ mile course at Texana Ranch winds through tree-filled areas, dry creek beds and up and down hills.

BRT will be offering familiar race classes, safety guidelines and has established a relationship with the rock crawling community to incorporate 4-wheel drive (Ultra 4) vehicles into the series as well as an endurance Motorcycle race at the October 27-30 event. Chris Leitner stated “We are looking forward to our relationship with Cameron Chin with Krawltex Motorsports and Jeremy Dickinson who will be spearheading our new 4400 race class. We know these guys will bring some great competition and great viewing for the spectators.”

To ensure everyone is aware of the latest BRT updates, they developed a new website (www.bajaracingtexas.com) with the assistance of Christy at Myhreco.com. Christy’s fresh new approach to Website design will help to create an exciting way to keep everybody in touch with what is happening at BRT. In addition, be sure to check the BRT Facebook page (www.facebook.com/bajaracingtexas).

About Baja Racing of Texas
The BRT was formed by Chris Leitner to continue the growth of off-road racing in Texas and to provide additional safe and fun racing venues for the entire off-road community. The BRT is paced to grow over 40 – 50 cars by the end of the 2011 season. The BRT will organize 2 races for our inaugural 2011 season both 250 miles long over a 40+ mile course at the Texana Ranch. Drivers come from TX, LA, OK, CA, AZ, KS, NM, AR, MO and GA to race the BRT series.

2010-12-10T14:08:00.001-06:00

Krawltex Christmas Party Saturday, December 18th

Tony's house off Nutty Brown Road. plenty of refreshments, BBQ, live music. Check the forum for more info!

2010-11-16T07:58:00.002-06:00

A solid month since a post... I'm getting worse and worse. Guess that means we are busy, and boy have we been. Rico Garcia has been a great addition to the team. We would be even deeper in our two week wait to get new customer work in if it wasn't for this Wyo-tech graduate joining the team when he did!

We reorganized the shop after Tony's buggy was completed in October. Mack's CJ7 finally got the 5.3L, 4L60E, and NP241 dropped in his Jeep, with a 3 link coilover suspension and King shocks underneath it. We will be finishing it up in the next few weeks. Ed's FJcruiser got some flush mount skids out of 3/16" 6061 aluminum. We cut the factory transmission crossmember out and built one flush with the bottom of the frame. After cutting skid plates that flow from the bottom of his fab fours bumper to the gas tank, Chris TIG welded the pieces together as well as counter sunk all of the mounting bolts with allen head flat hardware.

John's 1966 FJ45 is getting a custom safari rack inspired by the rigs in Africa, used for hunting. After a 4 year frame off restoration at Wimberly Fourwheel Drive, this vintage Yota came straight to our shop for tube work. Look for pics very soon. Another vintage truck at the shop is Mark LaRue's (of LaRue Tactical), M715 Kaiser truck. We are leveling the rear suspension and sourcing some longer brake lines for him.

Steve's CJ7 has gotten linked front and rear with full hydro. It's getting some finishing touches before it leaves the shop this week. Speaking of ongoing sagas, Jake's 12V suburban is getting the final tweaks before it goes to Colorado indefinitely... new injectors, upgraded injector pump and turbo, national front leaves, reworked shock mounts, and a few little odds and ends.

Mike's Excursion is evolving in to an urban assault vehicle. After a complete exterior rhino lining, we have installed a larger Garret turbo, 5" exhaust, and intake. It is receiving a 6" Skyjacker lift, 35" Toyo MT's on black aluminum wheels, and zombie killer bumpers front and rear... swingout and ladder included.

We finally finished Chris' AW4 swap in his TJ. Now we know every possible combo for doing this swap and the advantages/pitfalls of certain donor transmissions and harnesses. Boy, was that confusing! Speaking of TJ's with AW4 swaps, we are regearing Patrick's with 5.13 gears and ARB's. It is also getting a slight wheelbase stretch and a aluminum "stretch" fuel cell. Mark's TJ will be in here later in the week for 4.56 gears and Eli's monster wrangler awaits a warrantied OX locker.

Krawltex is also doing some cage work for Don Rucker automotive from Lakeway. The first is an interior sport cage in an 89 Bronco. The second will be adding to a CJ7 cage. Speaking of cage work, we are scheduled to do some more on a Scout and another CJ5 at the end of the month.

Hopefully we will find enough time to tear down the race truck this winter for next year's adventures... and finish Chris and Ted's buggies to add some ultra four competition in the EDR series.

2010-10-13T09:37:00.002-05:00

This is a project we have been working on for two months. Tony didn't want us to post pics until it was all done. He picked it up this weekend. It was originally a YJ with a carbed 4.2L and a 5 speed. It evolved first in to a wheel base stretch and full widths... then 1 tons and 38's. Last year we tubed it out from the A pillar back, linked the rear and went to 42's. This time we went full tilt.

5.3L Chevy V8, Turbo 350, rebuilt the twin stick flipped D300, tubed the front out, King 2.5 16" travel coil overs with remote resi's on all four corners, FOA 4" bump stops, a 3" hand built exhaust out of mandrel bends and block hugger headers, full hydro steering with Solid knuckles and high steer arms, PSC pump, double ended ram, heimed tie rods, chromo shafts, drive flanges, Detroit locker and Longfield u-joints, double triangulated front four link with Branik aluminum links, hand built low pro 4 link cradle (TIG and MIG), WARN 8000 with synthetic line and incab control, double pass cross flow aluminum radiator with custom hand built bead rolled fan shroud, electric fan, and a slick upper clamp system that pre-loads the radiator, flipped LS1 low pro intake, custom adjustable alternator and belt tensioner, Kevco baffled oil pan, all AN fittings and push lock hose, electric oil/trans cooler with rear oil filter mount, flat skid with 19.75" of belly pan clearance, rear disc conversion, stacked rear plate steel TIG welded upper coil over mounts

There may be more, but you will probably catch it in the 75+ pics http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/g1/album389

Here some highlights...

2010-09-09T10:38:00.003-05:00

Krawltex takes first in class and fourth overall with the 5 unlimited car in the Texoma 200 Night Race. Congrats to the Cardosa's. Dwayne and Ted "iron manned" the entire race, crossing the finish line right around 6 hours with a flawless run. Great job to the whole team and congrats to the second first place podium of the VW's last three races.

As far as the truck goes... sadly we got our first DNF in the Tacoma. We had gone over the truck for weeks. Bolts were tightened. Shocks rebuilt. Fluid changes and plugs were swapped. The power steering pump was replaced and the entire system flushed. I should have known we were in for something bad when we found two suspension cracks days before the race. While TIG welding the cracks, the welder arced through the chassis and somehow smoked the brake lines. We replaced the stainless line and two hard lines that were pinched from previous use. While it was in the air, we also noticed the pinion nut had backed off and there was a tremendous ammount of back lash in the gears. Without enough time to get rebuild parts for the 6.30 geared 40 spline 9", we tightened the nut and kept going.

After a few hours of driving, we get to the ranch on Friday. Matt and Chris take it out prerunning just before sun down, only to find out the GPS is not working again. Jeremy and I hop in the truck and take it out for a run in pitch black. Figured we needed to test everything else out and get a lay of the land. Think I only scared him once. With both runs, the Tacoma performed well. However, I did blow a turn at mile 27 because of unclear trail markings.

The next day we had 5 hours to prerun before the race. After a bunch of trial and error, we were able to get the GPS to record a lap, despite the SD card reader being completely useless. Chris and I replaced a leaking outer wheel hub on the rear axle. Soon after, Matt Little and I take off and map the course. Matt S and Chris do another lap before the race to get familiar with the course in the day light. We load up and head to the start line.

I drew 6th out of 7 starting position for class 8. By mile 10, we were in third place chasing dust. As soon as I'm on the heels of the truck ahead of us, the truck starts running like complete crap. I figured it was ignition related because it would smooth out at 3000 rpm in a higher gear. We called in to the pits to have that stuff ready. In the midst of the power loss, I noticed the brakes were going. The truck would only slow after 3-4 pumps of the brake pedal. We call that in too. Somebody was smart enough to suggest switching to the second fuel pump and immediately we had power. We rolled in to the pits thinking, "check the brakes, bleed out some air, and keep going." In less than 10 seconds, Chris signaled to kill it.

What put us out of the race was a $100 front hub bearing. It had exploded, with only one roller left on a crispy spindle hub. The only component keeping the wheel on the truck was a brake caliper, which explains the intermittent brakes. One 3/8's bolt was all that kept us from going out of control. We were extremely lucky. I guess that's just racing. In the last 10 races, we have podiumed 8 times with 7 first place finishes. A DNF is just part of it.

So what I have learned about our truck from this race... our GPS kind of works but won't read an SD card. This means we have to prerun because we can't buy the course from someone else. Buy twice as much beer as you think the weekend will require, because you may be pitting for the other car REAL quickly. And stock Toyota parts are complete shit. The hub bearing that failed was replaced with a Timken unit before the last race. It had less than 400 miles on it. front hubs with some real bearings are in the works for the 7S.

2010-08-25T10:16:00.002-05:00

three weeks since a blog post... and what a tiring three weeks it has been! Temperatures have been between 110 and 140 degrees inside the shop this month making 8 hours of work take about 12. Krawltex has six race cars in the stable and all of them are racing in the next few weeks. Jeremy's WEROC buggy is competing in Tennessee this weekend. Our 7S Tacoma and 5 Unlimited VW are heading to Texoma for a night race on Labor Day weekend. Our Lemons racer will beheading to Angeleton, TX for a September 11th race. we are shooting to have Tony's Rock buggy ready for a debut at trees on Labor day and a race at canyons on the 18th of September. We also hope to have Ted's YJ linked in the front so he can defend his crown at the same race at canyons. It's going to be a rough few weeks of late nights... the 7S truck needs front fenders and a rear bypass shock rebuild. Ted's YJ needs an entire front end suspension overhaul. The 5 car needs better lighting. The Lemons car lacks an interior cage and seat mounts. tony's buggy is still in pieces... although we have the whole front suspension mocked up. chris and I finished the motor mounts and tranny mount last night.

Over the past few weeks we have finished a lift kit and power brake conversion on Jarrett's early Bronco. A highlander had a 100K maintenance and timing belt/water pump. Several strand vans have come through and one is getting a new tranny this week. Jeremy's buggy received some tube repair. We have lifted a few JK's for Cecil Atkins Jeep. The Tahoe is now regeared with a new 241 t-case and driveshafts are expected any day now. dan's CJ has been revamped with a corrected drive line mounts, skid plate, motor mounts, electric fan, dash, gauges, and a host of other odds and ends. and Tony's buggy evolves every day.

2010-07-29T15:15:00.002-05:00

Get your 2010 EDR Firecracker 250 Race DVD at the shop for $12.99 plus tax! It's a very well produced motor sports action film covering all the trucks and race cars at the event... including our own 7S truck. Also included is a bonus footage of the Extreme Outlaws 200 race.

Shop Banter

2010-07-07T11:15:00.004-05:00

We have been extremely busy with the day to day operations here at the shop, especially with all the planning it takes to run the 7S truck. Krawltex has also teamed up witha WEROC competitor new to the area. The shop will be sponsoring Jeremy Dickinson with his unlimited class rear steer buggy for the rest of this year as well as 2011 in the WEROC East series. All of us are looking forward to his success. Jeremy currently works for Michelin tires and formerly was an XRRA course builder.

As far as shop work goes... We have done a slew of Strand vans, finishing odds and ends on two TJ's that received AW4 transmission swaps, Andrew's SAS 1 ton Tahoe now moves under its own power, an Jason's early Bronco is getting a cage, Austin's 4runner has an LC Engineering 22RE about to be swapped in, while Rob's 4runner just received a 56" spring conversion with a rear bumper and sliders awaiting installation. We are also doing maintenance to Andrew's Chevy 2500 HD, and a small lift on a JK for a Jeep dealership in Burnet.

Next week will be a disc brake conversion on another ealry Bronco, wrapping up the Tahoe and an AW4 TJ, starting on the 4-link, full hydro and 5.3L Chevy conversion in tony's YJ buggy, hopefully making some head way on the FJ Cruiser supercharger upgrade, and the 5.3L swap and cage work on Mack's CJ7

Here's a few pics of the 4runner and Bronco cage

4th of July Parade in Round Rock!!!

2010-07-03T21:14:00.001-05:00

the Round Rock 4th of July Parade is tomorrow at noon. We will be driving the Krawltex race truck and throwing candy out to the kids if you want to co

Firecracker 250 Race Report

2010-06-27T17:13:00.001-05:00

We had a blast at the Firecracker 250! EDR and Rock and Roll put on a great event in Odessa. Jeremy, Becca, Ben and I rolled out with the 5 Unlimited around 4PM. Matt Schwoerer and Matt "Goosette" Little were in the long travel Tacoma. We got to Odessa just after the sun set, made camp and called it a night. Tony, Ted and Chris brought the 7S truck and showed up at 5AM.

Friday morning we teched and registered at the Holiday Inn, picked up Phil, then headed to the track. Ted and Matt took the first lap in the race truck. That's when we found our GPS was no longer with us. We even tried to upload the course from another racer. We made the call to have every driver take a lap to get familiar with the course. Chris and Goosette took it out. That's about when Jeremy came back with Will and Eliot from the airport. Ben and I drove the truck to finish the day out. Somewhere in that time, Oren and Natalia showed up. Andy and Dave took the 5 car and did one lap with some minor electrical hiccups.

The course was pretty fast and had a ton of silt. 50 mile laps of loose sand, wash outs, tight trails lined with cedar and a sprinkling of football sized rocks made up the course. We somehow missed the pre-race dinner, but made the driver meeting an hour before the race. Unfortunately, there were no other class 7S (V6 mini trucks) besides us. So we went up a class and raced against the full size V8 trucks in class 8.

I took the first lap with Matt S. We started towards the end of the 8 truck lineup. I drove a bit aggressively to get through the traffic and out of all the dust. After landing hard on a jump, part of the lower hood mount broke and held on for dear life until we pitted. By mile 20, we were in third. After mile 35, we had first place by a good lead. In to the pits we went, after I blew a big turn where there were a ton of spectators. The hood was removed and our pit was pretty clean... Just a minute and a half for a full driver change and look over the truck. A Bronco and an Ultra 4 passed us in the pits.

Ted jumped in and Matt S stayed in the co-driver seat for lap 2. Around mile 3, the truck dug deep in to the silt and buried itself to the frame. The crew team jumped in to Tony's F350, raced across the mid field and extracted the Tacoma. Onward they went. On lap 3, they blew a tire. It was completely shredded. There was a problem with the jack that put the car down for 15 minutes before the spare was swapped. Around mile 34, the brakes went to the floor. Ted and Matt pulled off the course, and pinched off the broken stainless brake line. We scrounged up the parts to make the repair and they limped it back.

The truck came back in to the pits and the crew went to it. Gas, driver change, front end shake down and lug nut torquing. I dove under the truck and swapped out the stainless line. Tony bled the brakes. Off they went... another 15 minute delay in the pits. Despite our hardships, Chris and Goosette powered through and had a flawless 2 laps. They closed the gap between us and first place down to 15 minutes when the Krawltex Tacoma crossed the finished line. Second place finish. Not too shabby for a V6 truck running in class 8!

Unfortunately, our 5 car had a slew of problems that couldn't be fixed out on the course. At mile 5 of lap 1, the ignition system shit the bed. After changing plugs, wires, cap , rotor, and an ignition computer chip, the 5 car finally got back on course. After the first pite, we splashed it with gas and sent them on their way. 20 miles later, the nut holding the alternator pulley decided to fly off in to the woods, shredding the belt and taking the pulley with it. Dave managed to find the pulley but we had to source another nut. The correct fastener is a conical 14mm. All we could find was a non-tapered nut. After an hour of figuring out how to get to the 5 car, the crew patched the car and limped it back to the pits. Back to repair and prep work for both vehicles.

Krawltex is planning to run the Best in the Desert Series Vegas to Reno race in August. In the coming months, we will be doing a full prep, swapping glass, rewiring, and freshening up the interior. The 5 car will be going under prep for the Texoma day/night race in September.

Krawltex 4th Anniversary Party June 12th

2010-06-05T09:15:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again. Thanks to every one that has helped us along the way! Krawltex is very excited to be in our 4th year of business. Come by the shop on saturday, June 12th for some free BBQ, refreshments and live music. Festivities start at 11:30am. Check out the new digs if you haven't made it over to the new shop yet. We will have a great rockabilly band named the Tyburn Jig playing around 1PM. Think Johnny Cash meets Dick Dale and Punk Rock all in one. They even have a lap steel in their company. We will have the race car on display as well as other project vehicles. You may want to bring a folding chair. Other than that, please join us in celebrating 4 great years in the off road community!

Ed's Long Travel 4runner pics

2010-06-03T14:49:00.006-05:00

On Ed's 05 Toyota 4runnner: 3" Stage 5 Icon long travel suspension... adjustable coilovers with remote reservoirs, billet aluminum upper control arms with heimed ends, All-pro heimed swaybar links and tie rod ends, Light Racing Jounce air bumps, Total Chaos lower control arm skid plates, 3" rear Icon coil springs, remote reservoir shocks, lower shock mount skids

Race Truck Pics!!!

2010-05-27T11:43:00.008-05:00

Lakeline Hooters Truck Show May 18TH

2010-05-17T20:08:00.000-05:00

Very last minute, but they are having a little truck show get together at the Lakeline Hooters tomorrow, May 18th at 6PM. drink specials all night long. We'll bring out Matt's Prerunner Tacoma, Ed's Ultimate FJ Project and my Superduty. Come one come all, especially if you are repping the shop. I think 4WP sponsored this thing.

2010-05-12T13:26:00.002-05:00

The shop has been pretty busy. Last week, we finished the 12V Suburban for Jake. Matt rebuilt the brakelines on Billy's F250. While Ted and I were gone racing, Matt and Chris also swapped a 3.4L long block in Steven's T100.

This week has been even more productive. Matt Little with the silver 06 Tacoma is interning with us this summer and giving an all around hand.

So far, Chris has installed an Icon mid travel kit on Ed's 05 4runner (adjustable resi coilovers, billet upper control arms, TC lower control arm skids, Light Racing bump stops, Allpro heimed steering and swaybar ends, and Spidertrax wheel spacers. The rear coils and shocks will go on later in the week. Currently, he is doing an adjustable Bilstein strut on Matt's Tundra.

Ted is working hard on linking Eric and Andrew's Tahoe. It should be sitting on a Dodge front end and 4 link suspension by the end of this week.

Matt is in the middle of an AW4 swap in Patrick's new TJ, as well as some other maintenance with a Dodge 2500 master cylinder conversion.

For the rest of the week, we have an XJ for some frame stiffeneing and cage work. Jason's 2500 Dodge is coming in for some front end steering and hub maintenance. Next week we will begin the power mods on Ed's FJcruiser... APR X1 fule manangement, Doug Thorley long tube headers, 7th injector, high flow fuwl pump, and smaller supercharger pulley. Then it is off to hand building an exhaust around a custom crossmember to give it a belly up skid, as well as the start to the interior cage. Kyle's Xterra will be in for sliders and a 2" lift before he heads to Moab for vacation. We will be in the middle of swapping an AW4 for Chris (SirGcal) in his TJ and hope to have it done by the end of next week. During all of this, we will be prepping 5099 for the race in June, as well as hammering out Ted's YJ for the Katemcy Memorial Day run.

SNORE Dusty Times 250 Race Report

2010-05-09T10:25:00.002-05:00

This weekend has been awesome! We met Ted, Nick and Bill Moncure at the pits with Chris Livingston. After registration at the Knotty Pines Bar/Casino... I use the term casino very loosely, we got the truck through tech in less than an hour. I was hoping for a bigger Contingency Parade/Vendor Row, but what can you do. Shortly after, we had lasagna around a camp fire and shot the bull. Ted Moncure is the Product Development Manager for TRD. He actually designed the 4.0 Supercharger that we just installed on Ed Berrera's FJCruiser. Nick is the national sales manager for MBRP exhaust. Looks like Krawltex will be able to offer some great deals on both those product lines.

So in the morning, I hopped behind the wheel with Chris Livingston as my co-driver. He was a pro and eventually took over shifting as well as navigating for me. Unfortunately, we did not pre-run so we had to run about 70% to capture the course for everyone else. Luckily, SNORE did an incredible job marking the course with orange arrows. I slow paced it in the beginning to get a feel of the car. The steering has a 2:1 quick steer box and the brake bias had been set up for Baja, with more brake to the rear allowing the ass to slide. Unfortunately, I blew a turn and got the truck buried to the axle in a silt bed... avoiding the tree on my left and the ranch gate on the right. We dug for a while, then a back hoe came to our rescue. On we went, wasting about 15 minutes. When we hit the third water crossing, everything got soaked. Chris managed to turn the squelch down on the PA system and we motored through. The fourth water crossing was deeper, probably up to the rocker. This in turn soaked the ignition, but it cleared up after 10 miles of limping. Once I got a little more familiar with the steering in the twisty, technical section we opened it up and let her run.

The car sounds great with the Bassani exhaust. The rpms were solid all the way to the 6000 red line. The BFG Projects were unstoppable, besides my little driver error stuckage. 75 was fast as I felt comfortable taking the car. Later I would learn about the brake bias, which would have let me control it better on the high speed sweepers and rollers. But no big deal. Chris and I were still getting to trust each other, and I was just trying to cleanly finish my lap without wadding the car up. SNORE put on a great race with at least 40 miles of continuous high speed sections. A class 1 was on our ass and tried to take us for a ride, despite me pulling over. But such is racing. Like most hot head 1 car drivers, I don't think he finished.

After the first fire road section, it was a twisty section around a mountain top, through the trees, and on top of a mesa where one could stare all around the mountain valley... at 70 mph. Parts of it were very similar to rally racing terrain. But it also reminds me of the area around Mike's Sky Ranch in Baja. The view was incredible. We got through that section and then the last high speed. Some where amidst all of this, Chris and I were able to fall in to second place. The last 5 miles were absolute hell on a rookie driver. It started with a 1/4 mile of knee high whoops, followed by the next section of uphill whoops in a silt bed. I was able to feather the throttle and get us through it. By the way, the Toyota is 2wd. If you have ever heard of the infamous goat trail in Mexico, that's what the next section was similar to. Loose, rocky and off camper like a Jeep trail. I took the Toyota up and down the back bone of a mountain. The trail was a truck width. If you fell off the side, it would be a very bad day. At the bottom of the hill was the entrance to the pits.

I hopped out and Nick took the wheel with Ted (our Ted) as co-driver. Lap 2, they ripped it. Nick set up the brake bias, they were able to bypass a section of the water crossing, and they could fly now having GPS data. Of course, driver experience certainly helped. They were able to close the 15 minute gap between us and first place by the time they were charging down the main hill in to the pits.

Lap 3 was a driver change, no fuel. Ted Moncure hopped in the driver's seat and I took the other. We got through the first silt bed that had by now, been knocked way down from all the trophy trucks and 1 cars. At the fourth water crossing, we completely shorted the communications. We could talk to each other, but couldn't relay back to the pits. In the midle of all this, we let a truck pass. As soon as we did, we realized that was first in our class. Out of the pits, we had the hole shot but weren't aware of it. We were going to spend lap 3 realing him in. I looked over at Ted and said, "Well, I guess now we have a race." It was catch up time. We road his ass for the next 60 miles, eating a dust cloud you couldn't see the end of your hood through. Luckily, I had driven the course before. We were definitely using the force and the GPS blindly, through some of the turns. When we got to the high speed section, we made our move on the Ranger with the Icelinger race motor. It was wide open head to head. We road his bumper blaring on the horn. He blocked for several miles. We tried to pass on the high left several times until the road narrowed just to two car lengths wide. So we took him for a ride. Never bumped somebody at 75 mph, but it was text book. Ted knocked the Ranger's driver rear bed side with the front passenger corner of the Tacoma. Fiberglass and our head light went every where. It must have rattled his cage, because when we finished the race 20 miles later, the Ranger was 10 minutes behind us.

Krawltex Motorsports and Long Beach Racers won the Dusty Times 250 in Class 7S

Cam

2010-04-29T12:01:00.004-05:00

We are impressed how well a little article in the local newspaper can do for business. Thanks again to Joseph and Community Impact! Chris Cook joined us again on Monday. It is amazing how one person can help the morale, output, and quality of a shop. We are very glad to have him back on the Krawltex team!

Krawltex got a few new toys. Jeremy came up with a "walkie" style Forklift. 4 steel I-beam rack systems are coming in on Saturday so we can keep DOM tubing and various plate steel in stock for the customers' projects. The shop got a second 10K Challenger truck lift on Tuesday. In addition to those upgrades, we purchased two Miller 252 digital 220V MIG welders and a Miller Dynasty 200 TIG welder. Let the fabrication continue!

It has been a zoo around here. Ed's Cruiser received a TRD supercharger a couple weeks ago. This week we installed a Roger Brown 1.25 body lift and have reworked the bumper mounts on the Fab Fours pieces to relocate them up. We are in the works of getting URD's smaller pulley, fuel management system, 7th injector, 02 simulaters, Doug Thorley long tube headers, hand building an exhaust, and reworking the factory cross members to run a completely flat belly pan from the motor back to the rear suspension.

Matt and Ted have been plumbing on board air, fuel/brake lines, and wiring on the 12V. Chris' tube work looks great on the freshly powder coated front bumper. She should be buttoned up today or mid tomorrow, just in time for Jake's arrival.

I boxed the front truss on Al's D60 for the CJ buggy, as well as tied the rear cage in to the frame and cleaned up some rear tube work. Ted wired in a dual pole switch to operate the front winch inside the cab. Matt swapped in an 8.8 on Matt Jonson's TJ. Tomorrow he will replace the leaking pinion and rear main seals. Chris is also in the process of stripping the rear D60, rebuilding the brakes and wheel bearings in preparation of the link suspension on Matt's 5.3L CJ7 project.

The shop ranger that has been in the works received some Glassworks front fenders, bent I-beams, and some Krawltex built long travel radius arms with 1 1/4" heims. As soon as the diesel sells... 35's, rear glass and possibly front coil overs in place of those Eibach coil springs.

A slew of Strand vans have been in here. We have done everything from minor brake and fluid changes to a transmission swap and complete AC system over haul. It's great to have some line work in the monthly schedule! Now if I can only convince them to do a long travel suspension upgrade on their cargo vans...

It has also been a week of leveling kits. Landon's suburban and Kevin's 2010 Dodge now sit 2" taller. Eric's TJ has a rear drive shaft and working AC. Stephen's WJ knuckles are reamed and ready for a 1 ton steering. JR's CJ7 has a new fuel pump and runs like a top after its tune up. Dave's sidekick has a working throttle cable and an exhaust system that doesn't leak. Grady's brakes actually stop his 2500 diesel.

On the books for the next few weeks... linking the front and rear of Mack's CJ7, as well as a full interior cage and 5.3L/4L60/241 swap, AW4 auto swaps in Chris' TJ and possibly Patrick's new Jeep, finishing the SAS in Eric and Andrew's Tahoe, a bunch of prep and repair work on Bomshell 5099 for the June Odessa 250 race, and along with the future engine upgrades to Ed's FJcruiser will be a full interior cage with satellite internet/phone/lights/communication equipment and a dash mounted Ipad.

I almost forgot to re-mention that Ted and I are driving Long Beach Racers Class7SX next weekend in the SNORE Dusty Times 250 race. If it performs well and we like the truck, it's coming back to Texas and living at Krawltex under Bombshell Racing!

2010-04-16T10:56:00.001-05:00

Here is the link to our Community Impact Newspaper article. Many thanks to Joseph Deleon for featuring us!

http://impactnews.com/leander-cedar-park/107-business-profiles/7884-krawltex-motorsports-cedar-park

2010-04-14T15:49:00.001-05:00

Guess it has been quite a while since there has been a shop update. It’s amazing how busy we can get around here, but our momentum has increased a good bit. Joseph DeLeon from the Community Impact Newspaper has featured Krawltex in this month’s Cedar Park/Leander edition. If you have a residence in either of these cities, check your mail box this Friday! There is a full story on how we started, where we are now, and what we have cooked up for the future. As well as the print copy, you can view an online profile with video interview and a pictorial slide show of some current projects. This will also be live this Friday. As far as the daily grind goes, well… we are swamped as usual. Chris Cook returns on Monday to help strengthen our team in the fabrication side. Krawltex looks forward to welcoming him back!

Since our last update, a ton of projects have passed through these doors. Ted and Matt got the rebuilt Inchworm t-case back in to Ed’s FJcruiser. Somewhere along the way, a TRD supercharger ended up on top of that motor and she runs very well. Gerardo’s 05 Tacoma received a 6” Procomp lift as well as some 35” BFG’s. Alec’s Discovery has a new rear side window. Jason’s LJ has a brand new CV driveshaft and SYE kit, with a 4wd shifter that doesn’t bind. Eli’s monster YJ is back on the road courtesy of a PSC ultimate hydro assist kit with a new box, pump, Moog ball joints and new wheel bearings. The 12V sliders came back from powdercoat and now the exhaust has been reinstalled. The 5.3L and 4l60E are mocked in place of Mack’s CJ7. Eric and Andrew’s Dodge AAM front axle is trussed and ready to be linked in their Tahoe as soon as the passenger side frame rail is notched and plated to match its twin. Jared’s YJ now has a body lift to complement the suspension, and tuck his 35’s under the wheel wells.

On the repair side of things, there have been several Strand vans receiving tune ups, brakes, and hub bearings. Jack’s Grand Cherokee now has a cold AC system and new CV shafts. There are zero exhaust leaks on Dave’s Sidekick. JB’s Yaris and Sequoia have fresh oil. The brakes on Grady’s Cummins are no longer metal on metal.

In the evenings, Ted and I have been revamping his YJ for the Bryan MOROC event. We removed the rear tub, boat sided the frame rails, and built a trophy truck inspired Baja cage. Seats and fuel cell are mounted. The dash, wiring, steering column, front coil overs, links, and full hydro steering are still on the chopping block. We may not make the dead line.

Currently, Matt is finishing details on the 12v’s rear bumper for powder coat. Ted is also on the diesel suburban, finishing all of the interior gauge wiring. Jake should be arriving very soon, as well as the King reservoir shocks! JR’s CJ7 is getting a new fuel pump and fresh oil. Hal’s Suburban will have some new brakes. Al’s CJ5 comp buggy will get some front axle plating, rear tube work, and winch wiring. The Tahoe will be on its front suspension by the end of next week. Hopefully we’ll be able to have the Chevy drive train and cooling system mounted in the Jeep. Krawltex will link/coil over the full width axles and build the interior cage for Mack. And in three weeks, we will cage Patrick’s Rubicon.

And then there is also the class 7 race truck that might have a new home in Texas… but I don’t want to spill any more info until Ted and I test race it in the SNORE Dusty Times 250 this May.

Sweetwater 180 Race Report

2010-03-27T23:39:00.001-05:00

So Krawltex got the car on Wednesday at 5PM. I had to tow that car from south Austin during rush hour traffic in the rain. As soon as it was in the shop, it was a team effort to wipe all of the water off the bare chromoly chassis. The front end has received new lower arms, beam bushings, a new Kingpin style knuckle with King Kong bearings and rebuilt Wilwood calipers. All of this had been swapped over during the 6 months it has been down since the last race at Sweetwater, a few days before my last birthday. I say 6 months but in reality, the guys at Trick Racing that built the front end did not get us all the correct parts until 2 weeks ago. I'm still bitter in case you were wondering.

So the raw fiberglass panels come off. We did a preliminary once over on the car, noting hoses that need to be moved, bolts that need retorquing, steering arms that needed adjustment, and a whole bunch of other loose ends. Matt and Ted took care of wiring issues and gauges. I began the red and black base coats using only the best... Rustoleum 500 degree red engine paint and gloss black in cans. The next day, we topped off fluids. Matt taped the flames and I pin striped the lid. Ted built the Soltek HID mounts on the mirror brackets and added a new switch.

7AM came too early. We were suppose to leave by 6:30 but I slept through my alarm. After breakfast at the Country Kitchen in Lampassas, we headed to Bronte. We checked in, set up base camp and got the car teched... it was time for pre-running. As mentioned before, the entire front end is new on the car with zero break in miles. Dave and I did a few short 2 mile rips around the pit area. He had previously messed a rotator cup in his shoulder and got out after confirming the front suspension wasn't going to fail.

His brother Dwayne and I took it for a full loop of pre-running. I have driven that car and co-driven probably more than anyone on our team. After doing the entire 36 mile loop, I was really concerned the new bushings were too tight to let the front arms react quickly as they should and the suspension to dampen the way it should. There had never been a stretch of a course where I was physically sore in that car, but this was it. Previously, one person could pull up on the front nerf bar and nearly decompress the suspension by hand. At this point, it wouldn't budge. This made the geometry transfer every compression load to the rear and make the back end hit way harder than it should. At that rate driving at a race pace, I wouldn't be able to endure more than two laps, driving or co-driving.

We brought the car in and did some suspension tweaks. The panels came back on and the in cab fire extinguisher finally got moved in the right spot. We weren't sure what would happen, but decided to call it a night. We didn't want to break the car pre-running it in the dark only to fix it at the pit without an enclosed trailer this time. So we put all of our eggs in a basket and waited to see it through the race.

This morning, Charles co drove for Dwayne the first lap. There was a lot of traffic, including a herd of buffalo that were all over the race course. But Duane did his best to keep a level head and get a good feel for the course. At this point, the suspension was still very stiff and you couldn't break the rear end loose around turns. Lap 1 was 1 hour, 7 minutes. We topped it off with 111 leaded race fuel after the first lap. Ted would belt out navigation for the next two laps, passing many cars and closing the gap on our time. We got the radio to work again and his calling out race mile markers gave us a ton of info about pacing and tempo. Lap 3 was down to an hour and 2 minutes.

I hopped in to co-drive the last two laps after a 10 gallon fuel dump. After the first 2 miles I could tell the suspension had started to break in. The car isn't as plush as it formerly was, but when the two laps were done I could tell it was very close. I could certainly have sat in that car another 100 miles and been fine. In the middle of my first lap, a moose ran across our path. Another 4 yards and it would have messed the buggy up pretty badly. Duane was quite fatigued on lap 4. After talking about concentration and what our options were, such as a driver change... he rallied and got a second wind. We tidied up the few wild turns we had previously done and finished the final leg of the race at a whopping 58 minutes. To give you an idea, the $300K class 1 unlimited buggy's fastest lap was 53 minutes.

We couldn't be more happy with our successful finish. Another good weekend of driving and that front end will be completely broken in. The car should be way more responsive and "flickable" in the turns. So how did we do? We won first place out of the four class 5 vehicles. By almost 20 minutes. We finished 4th out of all the 4 cylinders, and 7th overall. Cheers to all of Krawltex and Bombshell Racing! Congrats to my friends with Hooters Desert Racing. They were a bit quicker than us in their 16-2 car finishing third out of the 4 cylinder division and first in their class.

2010-03-25T20:08:00.002-05:00

Krawltex will be closed Friday, March 26th to race the Sweetwater 200 desert race. We will return to normal shop hours on Monday. We apologize for any inconvenience.

race car's fresh paint

2010-03-25T20:04:00.006-05:00

2010-03-22T08:26:00.002-05:00

Last week was such a whirlwind, I didn't have time to update the blog. Ted made some head way on the Tahoe SAS. After realizing we needed some different heims, we went ahead and ordered frame and link brackets from Ruff Stuff. They should be here mid week and work can resume. For the links to clear the frame and have a decent ride height, a front axle crossmember with triangulated upper links will be in order. It also looks like it will sit about 8" taller than stock. This means the add a leaf and block in the rear will not be quite enough to level the truck out. More than likely, the Tahoe will be getting a rear shackle flip.

Ted also built some sliders and is in the process of tying the cage in to the frame on Jason Hall's stretched early Bronco. After some foot plates are fabricated, the body will be clearanced and some extra supports will be tied in. Patrick's Runicon was in here for a leaking front diff seal and an auto skid plate modification.Looks like there is also another Strand van to knock out maintenance work. Ted should be here soon to help with the EB, the Strand van, and have the race car in tow.

Matt tackled the hydro assist on Eli's YJ, a budget boost and body lift on Paul's TJ, and a clutch on Nicholas' Rubicon last week. I focussed on book keeping, office duties, shipping out the t-case back to Inchworm, ordering materials, and reworking the front bumper on Jake's 12V.

This week we will be very busy at the shop. The Community Impact Newspaper for Cedar Park and Leander will be here tomorrow. If you get a chance, check out their website and newspaper for a full write up on the shop. There should be pics, video, and a story about Krawltex on the web shortly. On Wednesday I will be meeting with Ed about the possibility of a new class 7 desert race team through the shop. Preliminary discussions point towards a Ranger or Tacoma campaign in the Best in the Desert Series.

Later on Wednesday, I will be meeting with the autotech instructor at Vista Ridge highschool. We will be exploring the opportunity to bring in their advanced class on a weekend and teaching their best students about roll cage design. Krawltex looks forward to showing the future fabricators our class 5 buggy, as well as giving some hands on experience tube bending and notching a family cage on Marc's TJ.

Beyond that, we need to prep the class 5 for the Sweetwater race this weekend. Krawltex will be closed on Friday so we can tech and prerun the car. It has been a long time coming, with the front suspension down since October. In the mean time, we will be finishing Jason's cage work, doing a throwout bearing and possibly clutch in my Superduty, road testing Eli's YJ, fixing a Strand van, pulling every thing together for the AW4 swap in Chris' TJ, working on the Tahoe SAS, finishing out the 12V bumpers for powder coat, waiting for the rear King shocks and t-case on Ed's FJ cruiser, and possibly starting on the 5.3L, cage and full width conversion on Mack's CJ7.

2010-03-11T13:02:00.007-06:00

Another busy week at the shop!

Matt has been doing great. He swapped the rear 14B and removed all of the IFS with frame bracketry from Andrew's Tahoe. We should be swapping the Dodge front axle and building the link mounts next week. Currently, he's working on regearing the front axle on Eli's YJ after building a new crossover drag link.

Ted has worked on a couple Strand vans, a fluid swap and tune up on Jeremy's YJ, the inchworm t-case install on Ed's FJ Cruiser, and is currently swapping an 8.8 in the rear of Ralph's TJ.

Yesterday I finished up the Total Chaos 2.5" long travel on Ed's FJ Cruiser. It now has a 5" wider track width and 12" of travel from the King coilovers and triple bypass shocks. While we were in there, we added the upper and lower a-arm gussets, modified the front body mounts, installed a front ARB and regeared the truck with 4.88's. Next week, the King reservoir emulsions should be in. After mounting those up, it will be on to a front engine cage.

As far as what's on the table beyond that... the 5.3L and auto should be here shortly for Mack's CJ7, we will do some more finish work on the 12V burban, build the Tahoe SAS 4 link, install a hydro assist set up on Eli's YJ, do a body and spacer lift on Paul's TJ, do some maintenance on a couple Strand vans, track down the proper AW4 for Chris' auto swap in his TJ, and pull the class 5 back to the shop to prep it for the March 27th race in Sweetwater.

2010-03-06T10:24:00.006-06:00

2010-03-03T10:10:00.002-06:00

Krawltex would like to welcome the newest member to our team! Matt is an ASE Master Tech leaving the BMW dealership after 8 years to fab and wrench on 4 wheel drive trucks. Before his professional start, he was a student at Wyotech with a focus on metal fabrication and chassis design.

It's 10AM Wednesday morning. Ted and I left the shop about 3:30 this morning and are dog tired. I have spent the last several days on Jeff's K5. It received boxed leaf spring mounts, a winch mount, engine cage, aluminum radiator with a dimple died adjustable mounting system, and we bobbed the front end. I shortened the grill by 22", hung the fenders on the engine cage, and Ted and I have been working on the hood. It took 6 separate pieces to follow the lines and we are doing the final fit before it is hard mounted with hood pins.

Yesterday was Matt's first day. He did a rear main on Jason's YJ and began a list of solutions for Eli's YJ... steering correction, oil leaks, and a few odds and ends. Today he and Ted will be swapping the rear 14B in to Andrew and Eric's Tahoe. After it is at ride height with 6" of rear lift, the front will come off and the SAS will begin.

Ted has been helping me with the K5, finishing the inchworm install, modifying the shifters and making a custom console piece for Ed's FJ cruiser. Today He will button up the FJ's interior, help me finish the K5 hood, and help with the Tahoe SAS.

The next couple of days after that, we will be doing an 8.8 swap on Ralph's TJ, hunting down a tranny problem on Alec's F150, working on the steering of Eli's YJ as well as a front regear, and I will be doing a long travel 2" over stock width Total Chaos suspension on Ed's FJcruier.

Next week after we finish up what ever we didn't this week... button up the interior and wiring on the Suburban, figure out a brake master cylinder alternative for it and take the bumpers to powder coat. We will assess Mack's CJ7 and start a game plan for a frame up build. It will get a 5.3L and automatic swap, a BDS suspension with the YJ spring conversion, 35's, POR15 frame, and a slew of other items. We will continue the SAS Tahoe project and work on Ronnie's Bronco II project.

2010-02-23T10:08:00.000-06:00

2010-02-22T09:51:00.003-06:00

Ted and I pretty much knocked out every thing we had planned on for last week... The 12V is now mobile. We spent most of last week working on that project. There are still a few details such as the dual battery set up, the gauge cluster, and neither of us are happy with the brakes. After we bleed them some more, we'll decide if a different master cylinder is in order.

We reorganized and cleaned the shop, did shocks on a Strand truck, service on one of their vans, John's CJ7 received a 14B disc brake swap with a radiator hoop and rear bumper in store this week, and I finished the winch mount and spring hanger bracketry for Jeff's K5.

This week Ted will finish up John's CJ7 and install the Inchworm t-case on Ed's FJ cruiser. I will be working on the engine cage and front end sheet metal pinch on the K5. When the Total Chaos long travel and King shocks show up, Ted and I will switch projects. He will commence the solid axle swap on the Osterhus brothers' Tahoe. And I do believe our new technician/fabricator will be starting on with us this week. More to come on his background.

2010-02-15T11:26:00.011-06:00

Last week was a whirlwind. AK installed some bushwacker fender flares on Dave's JK and continued on Colby's LJ, getting the links installed front and rear. Ted got the 12V running. Besides a few finishing details, clutch o-rings, exhaust reinstall and some gauges... she's ready to rock. He also managed to do a transmission swap in a Strand Van. The three of us tag teamed JK bushwacker flares on another Dave's JK. I spent most of the week finishing Joe's Prerunner bumper for his 3500 Dodge, with two aluminum skid plates. I also installed Light Racing upper control arms on Ron's Prerunner Tacoma with the adjustable Bilstein struts.

This week will be another busy one. AK has a family emergency and will be out of the shop all week. Ted will be finishing up the 12V to get it rolling, start on the rear of the SAS Tahoe, tracing wiring on a YJ, and doing 14B disc brake tuning and a radiator hoop for John's CJ7. I will be manning the office, pinching the front of Jeff's K5 with an engine cage, aluminum radiator, and winch mount, and starting the Total Chaos long travel and inchworm t-case install on Ed's FJ Cruiser.

Here are some pics of our finished Dodge Prerunner Bumper

2010-02-10T10:21:00.001-06:00

Our phone lines are down until tomorrow evening. thanks AT&T :( If you need direct assistance, please email me at cam@krawltex.com with a phone number or message. It will go straight to my blackberry. Sorry for all the missed calls

2010-02-08T16:13:00.003-06:00

After months... the 12V Suburban has come to life! After the special oil for the NV4500 shows up, we should be able to pull her in and out of the shop. Once the gauges are all in and the switch panel finished up, we'll shake her legs.

This last weekend, Ted spent his efforts on the Burban. Matt and I removed the rear bumps from his Tacoma, in prep for their new location when the rebuilt King unit comes in.

As far as this week... AK will finish Colby's Jeep. The rear link system is done. The front links and hydro steer need to be fabricated.

Ted is going to finish the odds and ends such as the clutch master and gauges on the Burban, a leveling kit on an 08 GMC, modifying the oil bath on Brent's Harley, and start on Jeff's K5 front end pinch/engine cage/aluminum radiator mount, and a tranny in a Strand Van.

I will finsih up Joe's Prerunner bumper and 5" exhaust, install some Bushwacker JK fenders, brakes and struts on a Rav4, uniball a-arms on Ron's Tacoma, and a-arm gussets for Ed's FJcruiser

Total Chaos Desert Suspension

2010-02-02T10:06:00.002-06:00

Krawltex is now featuring Total Chaos desert race suspensions. After working with this company on Matt's 05 Tacoma, I can personally attest to the fit and function of their products. Combined with DMZ's rear suspension, we took it out for test and tune a few weeks ago on the South Padre Island sea shore. Both the front and rear kits worked flawlessly, soaking up whoops and washouts at 50+ mph all day long. Andwhen we pulled back on to the interstate... the suspension was smooth as glass and the alignment was perfect. Sunny at Down South Motorsports nailed the valving for the King triple bypass shocks. If you are interested in getting the most out of your IFS Toyota, this is the company to look at.

Thursday, February 4th Wheeling Meeting 6:30

2010-02-02T09:33:00.001-06:00

We are moving our meeting to Thursday to hopefully make it easier for people to attend. We will discuss upcoming events, such as the opening of Katemcy Rocks and do the usual BS over a couple beers

2010-02-01T23:00:00.006-06:00

last week was pretty brutal. AK's truck left Ted stranded over the weekend. We spent monday tracking down a loose injector wiring harness. I finished out JB's Cherokee cage, adding some gussets and exterior tie in bars, as well as the dash bracing. Sam's TJ got a harness bar and some minor cage additions by AK. Ted and I worked on the 12V Burban wiring and redid some under hood brackets. Another TJ got some spacers to level the front and an adjustable track bar. Robert Cannon came in and got a saddle bag mount for his KTM welded up. And Ron got his Tacoma front end leveled out.

Instead of going to Canyons, I took the weekend off and built a prerunner bumper for the shop truck. Ted commenced with cutting the rear of his Jeep tub off and pulling the cage. WE'll see how far we get before Katemcy reopens.

This week, we are bulding a bumper, swapping an intake and exhaust for Joe's Dodge. We will be building bump stops and clearance fenders for a 2wd chevy. Colby's LJ should receive the final 14B truss and have the rear links in place. I hope to have the 12V movable around the shop. If the Total Chaos parts show up this weekend, I will start on the a arm gussets and triple bypass mounts for Ed's FJ Cruiser. Jeff's K5 will start to get the front end pinched and the winch mounted.

On the weekend, I'll cut the rear bump pads off Matt's Tacoma in preparation for rehanging them perpendicular to the frame. I screwed up the first time, thinking they would hit if angled towards the arc of the spring, not taking in to account immediate side loads on one rear tire with the other at full droop. Completely grazed the side of the bump pad.

Next week, we will be building a prerunner for Matt's Tacoma, continue with the 12V, building an engine cage for Jeff's K5, starting on Andrew and Eric's Tahoe 1 ton solid axle swap, and continuing the work on Colby's Jeep. By then, the inch worm doubler may show up for Ed's FJ cruiser and we'll get to play with modifying the gas tank for clearance. And if we some how get ahead of ourselves and get done a little early, maybe we can pull Mack's CJ in to the shop to start the 5.3L, auto swap and put that Jeep on 37's.

My hair is getting more gray as I type.

Krawltex and BDS Suspension

2010-01-26T12:22:00.001-06:00

After talking with Wes, Mike, and Travis from BDS Suspension, I know this is THE company to stand behind for all of our bolt on needs. For Jeeps, there are a hundred different companies out there. We will continue to look at each customer's needs on a case by case situation for those vehicles. As far as your daily driver, tow rig, weekend excursion vehicle and trail warrior... this is the company to look at.

In the past, Krawltex has dealt mostly with Fabtech for their quality and fit. However, this company is in chapter 11 along with several other big names in the industry. What my biggest fear as a distributor/installer is selling you guys a product that may not be warrantied in the near future. If you are considering a Fabtech, Skyjacker, or Superlift kit, please take a step back and look at what BDS has to offer.

Up until now, there has not been an Austin/central Texas distributor for BDS. Because of all the loyal customer support, their company has sought us out and offered Krawltex this relationship with their company. We are very appreciative and look forward to a long lasting and growing partnership with BDS suspension.

So why should you consider BDS for your truck? Here you go:

1. BDS pricing is competitive with EVERY suspension manufacturer on the market
2. BDS offers a "no fine print" warranty on every suspension component they sell with the exception of shocks and bushings
3. BDS keeps everything in stock and ships that day. If they run out, your lift kit is 100% free
4. BDS offers free shipping on any of their kits over $1000 retail
5. For the do-it-your-selfer, BDS has a 24HR tech support often directly involving the engineers that developed the suspension
6. BDS also offers any of their suspension components a la carte, if you have found a weak link in another companies kit and do not wish to completely replace your current suspension

A few other notes:

For IFS guys, BDS kits have an arched lower a-arm bracket system for added strength, a differential skid plate, replacement knuckles for proper steering alignment, and a high clearance torsion bar system that does not require dropping the mid frame cross member that many companies choose to do when applicable.

Jeep guys:
Longarms for JK, TJ, XJ, ZJ
JK front track bar gussets
TJ sway bar relocation brackets
skids for diffs, lower control arms, steering boxes, rocker guards, TJ bumpers, TJ high clearance skids plate
1.25", 2" and 3" body lifts

2WD lift kits for 99-06 Chevy 1500
80-96 Fords

Kits for trailblazer, ZR2, and H2

2010-01-22T19:42:00.003-06:00

SO TIRED MY HAIR HURTS. Didn't really start JB's Cherokee cage till 9AM Thursday. I forgot how hard it is to visualize angles when working in a full bodied vehicle. Finished this morning at 8 AM working solid through the morning. After its shakedown at the Stillwater Event this weekend, we'll add the dash bar and a few gussets. AK and Ted were with me without sleep, finishing other shop work and maintenance on their own rigs to make the trip. Good luck guys! I will see you on Monday.

And to anybody that we missed on the phones or swung by Friday, we are very sorry and we'll get back in touch with you next week.

2010-01-18T23:40:00.002-06:00

I would like to thank every one who has patroned our shop over the past four years. We couldn't have been this successful with out such great support. I spent yesterday afternoon working on our photo gallery. Now it is a ton easier to navigate through all the albums and some are organized by vehicle make. If you would like to see the fab work or customer pages by brand, it is much more user friendly. Sorting through hundreds of customer work made me realize how fortunate we are to have developed this massive body of work. Thank you all!

Last weekend, Matt and I went to the coast and made his Tacoma soar! The DMZ and Total Chaos suspension combo worked flawlessly. It took one foot and two foot whoops all day long. We went sideways off the lip of a 3 foot ledge at 60 and the truck took it like a champ. Need to redo the rear bump pads and just go with the tried and true up and down orientation instead of the angled position... a miscalculation on my part. Other than that, it was a very successful shake down. Also met a few friendly Tacoma World BBS guys.

Last week we worked on a few Strand vans, seat mounts in my old F150 Prerunner, p/s steering conversion on Craig's FJ40, brakes on a Tahoe, built a prerunner on Shawn's Daihatsu Rocky, and pretty much finished the front of the 12V Burban Prerunner. This week we will finish the coilover reservoir mounts, spindle gussets, heimed steering, suspension skids and a regear on Ed's 08 FJ Cruiser... start on JB's cage, continue to wire the 12V, throw a motor in a Honda Accord, bob and the front of Jeff's K5, and make some progress on Colby's 1 ton LJ.

If you notice the posting time, it's almost midnight on Monday and all of us are still at the shop

2010-01-07T00:51:00.002-06:00

Tomorrow we will be short handed. AK is coming down with something, so bear with us if it takes a while for us to get back to you.

this has been a rough week. monday morning I was traveling down I10 back to the shop from Houston. A high pressure metal fuel line burst on my F350, spraying diesel all over the motor. I pulled over and AK came to the rescue. Truck in tow, we didn't get back to the shop till well after 3PM.

Today, I tore the whole front end of my truck apart to find the seized inner bearing that howled as if the truck was about to spontaneously combust. After your truck leaves you on the side of the road, you got to make sure every thing else is in order before it can be trusted again. A $15 bearing, and good as new.

As far as actual customer work goes... AK has built a sweet Prerunner for the 12V. After a couple of finishing touches such as the mounting plate for the 4 Lightforce HID's, it will be done. After we get the hi-lift and make the rear mount, both bumpers and sliders will go out to powdercoat. We'll get back on the wiring as soon as we get a couple other odds and ends tied up.

I'm working on a prerunner bumper for a 92 Daihatsu Rocky. It's been very tricky building the mounting brackets on an IFS truck, but tube bending should go pretty smoothly tomorrow if the phones don't keep ringing.

Ted is working on a Strand Van, rebuilding an exploded D35 on a TJ, a CJ5 shifter, and soon will be doing a clock spring and shock mounts in Davin's Taco.

Projects for next week are hearing that 12V suburban roar, hanging the axles and stack box under Colby's LJ, steering on an Early Bronco, an interior cage in JB's Cherokee, a prerunner for Joe's 04 3500 Dodge, a winch mount and a few tweaks on Jeff's 1 ton K5, and there's probably a couple other vehicles I'm forgetting. After we get some of this work sorted out, we'll convert Chris' TJ to an auto with an AW4 and I'll pull that Northstar out of my Eldorado to start the Krawltex mid engine buggy build.

We need a bigger freakin shop again!

2009-12-29T00:30:00.002-06:00

Here's the photo album with over 60 pics of the build: http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/g1/album282

Last week, I tackled the front Total Chaos A-arm gussets and the DMZ spring hangers with 10 leaf Deavers. Tonight I finished the frame plating, gussets on the tubular crossmember, and the engine cage. AK knocked out all of the plate work with the plasma table, some with the aid of my card board work.

Tomorrow I will cut in to the bed, knock the bed cage loose, reinstall the bed and do the final burn in on the bed cage. Then its final paint and reassembly. More pics to come with a couple other finishing surprises...

2009-12-27T19:41:00.002-06:00

I'll try to post up some pics tomorrow of Matt's Tacoma. The DMZ spring hangers and 10 leaf 62" Deaver packs are installed. The bump pads are built and the cans are mounted. The majority of the bed cage is built. I still lack double shearing the upper shock mounts and plating the top of the cage. The lower shock mounts are mounted and dimple died. The rear driveshaft has been shortened and mocked up. The factory crossmember/spare tire carrier have been eliminated and replaced with 1.75 DOM.

Tomorrow I will finish and plate the bed cage, gusset the frame cossmember, mount the limiting straps and cut the bed up

Ted's assignment is to work on nothing but getting the 12V running this week, no excuses! We are also on to what is making the hum in Patrick's rear 44.

AK will be finishing up a very trick swing out/tire carrier and catologing parts for our e-commerce launch.

2009-12-18T09:40:00.004-06:00

Wow. It's been forever and a day since I have updated the blog. Where to begin?

In the last few weeks, there was the Christmas party at Tony's. It was a blast with a band called Slab Trash... then a large group of Krawltex guys screwing around on the instruments. Thanks to everybody that came out! The BBQ was delicious and the washer pit was always entertaining.

As far as work goes, Ted converted a hack job of a quarter elliptical to coil springs in the rear of a 72 Early Bronco, is building a gauge cluster and wiring the 12V suburban, did a rear main on an 03 suburban with the 8.1L, started work on additional cage work to another Early Bronco, as well as some general fleet maintenance on a couple of Strand AC vans.

AK has been working on the Juggernaut, helping with sales, learning the CAD Torchmate software, and building a custom swing out bumper for the 12V suburban. It will hold a 37" tire, swivel in two pieces similar to the rear barn doors, with a shovel/hi-lift/3 jerry can mounts on the other side.

I have been in and out of the office setting up some promotions with a future Red Bull Event this summer in Houston, finishing up turbo/intake/intercooler/radiator work as well as the front bumper on the 12V, a leveling kit on a 3500 Chevy and a desert suspension for an 06 Tacoma. The Tacoma has received front 14" travel triple bypass King shocks as well as knuckle and a arm gussets on a long travel 3" over King coiled Total Chaos front suspension. On the rear, I am in the process of building a DMZ 17" long travel 62" spring conversion, plating the rear frame, and building a bed cage with 17" travel King triple bypass shocks and 4" King air bump stops. This Tacoma will soon be able to fly over the whoops and be a chase support/pre-runner for a class 7 Best in the Desert race team!

A collaborative Krawltex effort was made during the evenings to build a long arm suspension, 8.8 swap, sliders, seat mounts, and front bumper to shoe horn 37" MTR's on JB's Cherokee.

Check the photo gallery often for updated pics on all these builds.

2009-11-19T11:55:00.002-06:00

Boy has this been a crazy week! First off, we would like to officially welcome Akamu Whatley as a new addition to the Krawltex team. He will be our main marketing and sales person, as well as plasma cutter technician and suspension designer.

Speaking of plasma cutting, Krawltex now has a Torchmate Plasma Table in our shop. We have the capabilities of doing custom metal bracketry, bead locks/wheel stiffeners, frame plates, gussets... whatever you can imagine on a 2D metal scale!

This week Ted has built the crossover heimed steering and wired the Black Magic fan in Ty's YJ, repaired a faulty ignition system in a Strand work truck, drawn a wiring plan out on Jake's 12V swap, and begun the reworking of Jeremy's rear 4 link on his 72 early Bronco.

Dave has continued the fab work on the 12V Suburban sliders as well as mapping the on board air system out, replaced worn ball joints in a Strand fleet van, regeared Marcus' YJ rear axle to 4.88's, and getting an old CJ5 running after sitting for two years!

AK and I are all over the place, talking with customers and working on expanding our resources. Stop by the shop and check out the new digs. As always, we are a phone call away to help you with your builds!

2009-11-11T14:05:00.002-06:00

Happy Veteran's Day!!!

In honor of all the men and ladies that serve and have served in the armed forces, thank you! Krawltex offers a standing 10% discount to military, police, fire fighters, and EMT's.

Our next project is helping one of our own, Colby Mathes who was called back to the military. His LJ has been sitting on jack stands for nearly a year. Krawltex will be donating our free time to getting the 1 tons, stack case, and possibly a new cage in there for his return to Texas.

In case you haven't visited the forum, Krawltex has accomplished something rather unheard of in our industry.

Akamu Whatley rolled his Jeep at the Canyons/Crawling Chaos Event. Two days later, we got a new frame, tub, and hood from Ray Karrick of Jeep Masters. Together with a whole bunch of help from our friends, we built a Pro Mod buggy in 10 days with his existing drivetrain... 5.7L Hemi, Auto, Klune, NP205, 14" SAW Coilovers, Superduty axles with RCV front shafts, full hydro.

A very sleepy crew finished the buggy at 2AM Novemeber 7th, loaded it on the trailer after a few hot laps around the parking lot, drove to Spring, Texas, passed tech inspection at 8AM, and used the first high speed lap as our "shake down". Out of ten competitors at the Spring Creek Rock Race, we finished first in our class by almost three minutes! Bringing home a trophy after a 10 day build made it all worth it.

2009-11-04T09:45:00.002-06:00

got the shocks, intake, and gaskets for Jake's 12V suburban swap. Pushing forward.

Marcus YJ has it's new tranny and resealed t-case back in it. Unfortunately, the ring and pinion are toast.

Parts should be in for Ty's YJ at the end of the week to build the steering. Tires are on order.

AK's buggy is coming along. Building a truck in 9 days at night really hurts! Here's the link to the photo gallery.

http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/g1/album230

2009-10-29T00:45:00.002-05:00

got all of the steel for sliders and bumpers on the 12V suburban. intake and special gaskets are on the way. starter got here. a/c compressor is ordered. Dave finished the winch mount. Ted finished the fuel plumbing. we'll get the front bumper and rear pinion angle set tomorrow.

We are building a rock racer in 9 days for AK to compete in the Spring Creek event on November 7th. Today, we stripped the Juggernaut and prepped the new frame for all of the transplant. Tomorrow will begin with the front suspension, crossmembers, and drivetrain. Then it goes towards tubing.

2009-10-26T22:30:00.002-05:00

Congrats to Ted, winer of the 2009 Fall Crawl Rock Race!

Progress on the 12V Suburban is ongoing. Dave finished assembling the interior and has almost finished hand building the 3" exhaust. Ted has finished the 14B install, worked on mounting the new gas tank and plumbing, as well as gutted the rear a/c system. I boxed the frame at the steering box, removed the stock cross member, and am in the middle of final gusseting.

We hope to have it running before Jake leaves for Katmandu in a week.

2009-10-21T14:03:00.003-05:00

we have our welding permit and are 100% up and running. let us know what your needs are and we will do every ting we can to exceed your expectations!

work on the 12V diesel swap in Jake's Suburban have recommenced. The 200 amp Kenworth alternator is mounted, the t-case is in, Ted is working on the 14 bolt installation... detroit, bearings, and brakes. Dave is working on linkages, pedals, and steering column.

2009-10-19T09:09:00.001-05:00

Our new phone number is 512-996-9669 and will be live tomorrow afternoon. If you try as at the old number, it should give you the correct one.

2009-10-17T14:59:00.002-05:00

We are in the new shop at 500 Brushy Creek, Suite 400 in Cedar Park!!!

I am working on the phone line change, so bear with us. If you can't get us at our normal number PLEASE email me at cam@krawltex.com

2009-10-13T08:05:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we took the 5099 out to Bronte, Texas for the Sweetwater 200 race. The course was a beautiful, 28 mile stretch of twisties, high berms, gravel, mesa table tops, sweepers, and flat outs. The car was running incredible out there. On the first lap at a moderate pace, Dave and I passed one trophy truck, 3 class 8's and a class 12. Unfortunately, the lower suspension took a dump and we destroyed both lower trailering arms at the same time. We can't wait to get back out there!

The shop is coming along. We have quite a bit moved over to the new location. As soon as we get the go ahead from the fire marshal, it will probably take only a few pick up loads to get every thing in its new home.

Yesterday, Ted and Dave knocked out the gears on Kenneth's EB. We'll finish Patrick's Rubison and fix a leaking housing on a CJ5 today.

2009-10-06T11:41:00.002-05:00

We are moving ahead. Looks like we will not be taking the red car out this weekend because of the rain. with a bare metal chasis (for weld inspection), there is no point to destroy the car before Parker. Instead, we will drive the white class 5 prerunner out at the course in the Sportsman class.

Yesterday was pretty productive. Ted got the rear D44 axle swap done and Dave just finished inboarding the front leaf springs to hang the newer Scout II axle under the Scout 800. Ted also figured out the bearing situation in the rear 44 of Patrick's Rubicon and has started shimming a fresh set of bearings.

Ted is also mounting a 4.3L in a CJ5, building custom motor mounts. Dave is rebuilding a rear trackbar mount that ripped off a lifted H2.

Other projects for the week are a clutch in a 240Z, front and rear gears in an 77 EB, and finishing some details on Patrick's Rubicon.

Krawltex Goodbye South Austin/Cam's 30th B-day Party

2009-10-03T09:35:00.003-05:00

As I sit here on my computer, I really am amazed at the success of our company in just a little over three years... There was Glenn and my humble beginnings in a 1000 square foot hole in the wall. I don't know how we got our first fab job (a trussed M20 housing)! The first Krawltex club meeting drinking beer around a crowded lift, my first Baja 500 as a chase driver for Hooters Desert Racing Team, Krawltex wheeling club sponsoring the O'reilly's 4wd Jamboree in Fredricksburg and then Houston the next year, Cardosa's class 5 and the creation of Bombshell Racing, the Fall Classic 2008 at Long Ranch, Christmas Parties at Tony's, my first Baja 1000, spectating King of the Hammers, Katemcy Rocks and all the other runs, the vast number of projects we have been honored to put our name on, but most importantly... this whole crazy ride, making the friends that have given us the great support, leading to our new larger facility.

We just passed the building inspection Friday morning and are moving half the equipment this weekend. We race the class 5 next weekend in Sweetwater. This will be the first race where I transition from navigator to driver. After a little bit of work inside the shop, Krawltex expects to be live at the new location around October 18th. At least, this is our goal.

While we will soon say goodbye to South Austin, the adventure will only continue to grow in North Austin. I have a few surprises for Krawltex coming very shortly. But we can't leave our original stomping grounds without having one last hoo-rah! My 30th birthday is October 15th. On Friday, October 16th we will have a "goodbye South Austin/Cam's Birthday" at Don's Depot off 5th Street. Come one, come all. Party starts at 8PM and goes till we call you a cab. There's a $3 cover because Don and his band are performing. Unfortunately, it is a 21 and up only bar. We would like to have a tentative head count so we know how much of an area to reserve. We will try to provide some form of snack food.

Again, I want to thank everyone that has made our company such a huge success and become a great friend on a business and personal level.

2009-09-30T09:17:00.002-05:00

Lots of things going on at the rock shop. We recently hired Zuki Dave (formerly of jeep Masters). He started working at Krawltex yesterday. With many years of hot rod building as well as Jeep repair, Zuki also knows a thing or two about building Samurais!

The new shop is coming along and we hope to move in around my birthday, October 15th. We passed the water inspection and await the building inspector and fire marshal approval for our certificate of occupancy. We are all very excited to move in to the new, larger facility off 500 Brushy Creek in Cedar Park.

This past weekend we got a couple chores accomplished at the new shop. Davin and Tony came up to help Ted and I construct some work benches. We also ran over 200 feet of 1" ID 450 PSI pvc air lines through the shop. we will have 9 points for compressed air with 3 seperate welding plug circuits!

More parts are trickling in for Jake's 12V swap. We did get the NV4500 installed. The 241 t-case, shifters, pedals, and cross member still need to be routed. Ted has been working on a Honda cylinder head and camshaft replacement as well as diagnosing the factory defect ARB in Patrick's Rubicon. Zuki did a steering box frame repair and bolt on brace on Tony's 82 Chevy K10. He also readjusted an e-brake set up on Chris' 8.8 disc converted Mazda Navajo.

Today, Ted will finish up this Honda and take a look at Jane's eclipse AC system. If there's time left, will do some work on the 12V suburban. Zuki is building a swing out tire carrier for Patrick's Rubicon. I will be doing a front bumper addition to the other Patrick's 84 4Runner.

2009-09-23T11:00:00.003-05:00

Shirts are in. There are small to double XL sizes.

We are still gathering parts for Jake's 12V swap. Just got the fan bracket in. Ordered the late model exhaust manifold yesterday to move the turbo and down pipe in a better location. Got a lead on the correct intake manifold to clear the brake booster and should know later today. But the motor is sitting in the freshly painted engine bay right now.

Ted is continuing to shake down the whirring noises in Patrick's Rubicon. Today we will start on Kenneth's Early Bronco cage and hopefully be done tomorrow.

We will work on Patrick's swing out tomorrow, focussing on a Scout cut and turn and the 12V on Friday.

New T-shirts arrive WED, September 23rd!!!

2009-09-17T09:24:00.003-05:00

small through XXXL is $15 each for pick up at the shop

I'm not sure why it takes till Thursday before there's a small enough break to update the blog... We have been focussing on Jake's 12V swap for most of the week. Chris cleaned the motor, painted it red, and did the Killer Dowl Pin mod. I POR15'd a bunch of motor brackets and SKY u-bolt plates, painted the oil pan, motor plate and engine bay, and swapped the grade 8 u-bolts on to the front axle. Ted cleaned up the 14 bolt FF and POR 15'ed the housing. We'll wait to swap that when we get it running (still have the detroit and brakes to do). He also worked on a peach of a 93 Ford Probe, as well as knocked out the body lift on Kenneth's 1977 EB.

Today we'll put the flywheel and clutch together on the 12V and mock it in to place. I want to start planning the engine truss because the TN diesel crossmember will not work with the ORD highsteer. On friday, I'd like to start working on the early Bronco family cage.

Jake's 12V suburban progress

2009-09-10T19:02:00.001-05:00

here's some pics of the stock drivetrain removed. the crossmember from TN diesel will interfere with the ORD highsteer so we will fab one up. Chris POR'd the frame and did the KDP mod on the 12V. Tomorrow the gaskets come in for the timing cover and oil pan so we can replace the rear main. Clean, paint and mock up...

Ted is working on refurbing the 14 bolt FF. we'e ordering brakes, POR'ing the housing, and dropping a Detroit in it.

OLD TBI 350
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album261/9_10_09_001.jpg[/img]

Before power washing
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album261/9_10_09_003.jpg[/img]

Post power wash
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album261/9_10_09_004.jpg[/img]

clean timing cover
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album261/9_10_09_007.jpg[/img]

KDP Mod... pretty clean internals
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album261/9_10_09_006.jpg[/img]

before KPD mod
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album261/9_10_09_008.jpg[/img]

after kpd mod
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album261/9_10_09_012.jpg[/img]

POR 15 engine bay
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album261/9_10_09_010.jpg[/img]

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album261/9_10_09_011.jpg[/img]

2009-09-08T14:52:00.002-05:00

We had a pretty good time at the Trees Ranch Labor Day Run. Chris got 4th in the rock race. Ted broke in his new 36" Iroks. I figured out the electric ghost in the XJ before spitting out the rear driveshaft. It was a very relaxing wheeling trip and the weather was pretty nice. It got a little challenging with the drizzle.

Today, Ted and Chris are concentrating on removing the stock suburban drivetrain so the 12V can be transplanted. I ordered all of the gauges today and am on my way to the paint supply shop to pick up some more POR15. The rest of the week, we will focus on this project and a cut and turn D44 in a Scout 800.

Next week we begin on an EB cage, 2" body lift and regear... but it may get finished at the new shop. So much is up in limbo about moving, getting out of the lease a month early, and whether or not the electricians will have our wiring done on October 1st. We are very hesitant to take on any more long term projects until that transition is made. We already have a 4.8L YJ, a 6.0L buggy, an Avalanche enginering buggy, a 2500 HD solid axle swap and a few other projects on the books when space and time permits.

2009-09-02T16:55:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, the Jeepspeed finally returned to it's owner and is going under the knife, prepping for the October race in Sweetwater, Texas.

Fluids are drained and disassembly has started on the stock burban drivetrain.

Ted has been working on a Chevy 1500's ignition system and looking over a Cavalier for maintenance. I got all the prep work done for my XJ's maiden voyage at Trees Ranch this weekend.

Kevin Shelly just pulled up with his YJ, so it's back to the grind.

2009-08-31T23:11:00.002-05:00

Friday we worked on John's Jeepspeed. Chris finished the rear bump stops and I bent some tubing for the front bumper. Today, Chris did the prep work for mounting the 32 gallon fuel cell and I tied part of the bump stops to the cage. He also replaced a steering column in a YJ.

Ted did a lift on an FJ cruiser. We stayed late and got the 3" rough country installed on my budget XJ. Tomorrow he will do a clutch on a TJ and look at an AC system on a Sidekick.

We're trying to clear as much work as possible before we go to Trees Ranch this weekend for Labor Day.

2009-08-27T18:48:00.000-05:00

Some more goodies... the NV4500 parts!

Chevy NV4500 with Dodge input shaft
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_006.jpg[/img]

Diesel swap care package
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_019.jpg[/img]

slave cylinder, master, and stainless clutch line
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_021.jpg[/img]

pedal assembly
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_022.jpg[/img]

bell housing, adapter plate, clutch fork
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_023.jpg[/img]

14mm turbo housing, shifter, 12V crossmember
[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album258/jake_024.jpg[/img]

Jake's 12V suburban progress...

2009-08-27T18:13:00.003-05:00

We've made some headway, but I have been slacking on the pics. Got a ton of parts today and the motor will be pulled on monday. hope to have the drivetrain sitting in the burban by the end of next week. The suspension is mostly done, with the front D60, ORD highsteer, PSC box, 4" tuff country springs, stainless brakelines, ORD shackle hangers and greasable bushings, and a rear shackle flip...

Boyce D60 w/4.10's and an ARB

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/august_20_012.jpg[/img]

POR 15 the frame

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/august_21_008.jpg[/img]

PSC 2wd ported box

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/august_21_012.jpg[/img]

ORD cross over high steer kit

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/august_21_013.jpg[/img]

4" Tuff Country springs

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_011.jpg[/img]

ORD greasable shackles and poly bushings

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_012.jpg[/img]

mounted steering box

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_013.jpg[/img]

warn premiums

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_015.jpg[/img]

Boyce D60, 4.10's, ARB

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_016.jpg[/img]

crossover steering

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_017.jpg[/img]

SKY u-bolts and spring plate kit

[img]http://www.krawltex.com/newtex/albums/album256/jake_020.jpg[/img]

2009-08-21T09:31:00.001-05:00

Austin is such a small community that everybody runs in to each other eventually. I met Dave Carpetyon some time about a year ago. He is probably the youngest premier driver in American rally racing and is a local 21 year old driver; a very laid back guy.

There was a rally in Paris, Texas and his usual co-driver couldn't make it. I sat in for Rob and after a crash course and no sort of in car practice, we ended up winning both races in the open (highest) class in a Japnese only, imported Lancer Evo.

While he is young, Dave is no novice to rally racing. Last year he won Pike's Peak and the Snow Drift challenge in his tired Evo. This year he got a new car... and won Pike's Peak Rally for a consecutive year in the open class. The man has serious talent!

Which brings me to his next milestone. His company, Rally Ready Motorsports is moving to a larger shop off of Ben White. He will be sharing a portion of a 15000 square foot warehouse with another company. This gives Dave the space he needs to build and maintain more rally cars.

The new shop will also be the head quarters of Rally Ready Driving School. Their team is building a full rally training course with a skid pad and several miles of track in San Marcos. Details are still in the works, but it looks like classes will start as early as October. In the beginning, it will be a two day weekend class... run what you brung. There will be classroom and field instruction, driving and braking techniques, and an intro to stage notes.

Hopefully, I will be in one of his preliminary test classes. Eventually, Rally Ready will offer race prepped vehicles to rent for the class. After talking with Dave a bit about it last night, his preference is a stock front wheel drive beater to teach people the basic skills of this kind of driving... acuras, hondas, vw jettas and gti's. This can be a very fun low budget "beater" kind of racing if you don't go high tech on an all wheel drive turbo car. Honestly, any car can be rallied. A lot of people race escorts, festivas, old bmw's and other $1000 vehicles. I'm looking at it as training for desert racing. With the Texas desert racing scene starting to take shape, there may be the same opportunities for hosting rallys on these properties and start a Texas rally circuit...

2009-08-20T11:44:00.005-05:00

We are making some progress on the suburban. The steering box, old suspension, and shackle hangers have been removed. The frame brace has been welded. Most of the frame has been POR15. Today we will work on mounting the 2wd PSC box for the crossover steering and hopefully get the D60 from Boyce swapped in.

We will also see what's up with Mike's CJ5 and try to figure out why he keeps blowing up u-joints.

This has been a tough week with Chris out due to illness. but, we have fixed my old Prerunner's rough running, Chris' squeaky clutch and worn bearing housing, and finished Michael's TJ transformation (4.88's, ox lockers, 4.5" rubicon express, sye with cv drive shaft, 35" KM2's on black Alloys, an Rockhard tire carrier).

Krawltex on the move to North Austin!

2009-08-19T07:59:00.001-05:00

It's official... got the signed lease back today! Krawltex will be moving to North Austin between the end of October and the end of November. The new shop is a 3500 square foot facility built in 2006 and has never had occupants. The location is 500 Brushy Creek, Suite 4 in Cedar Park. We are the building next to the Fastenal. This is two exits north of 620, off the 183 toll road. Look for more updates here and on the blog.

We get the keys on October 1st. If they have all the eletrical built out, we will start to outfit the shop with our shelving, work benches, and air lines. There WILL be a grand opening celebration... although I can not promise strippers or carnies.With more space, we will be able to take care of our customers and patrons much more efficiently... especially in the custom fab area.

Once settled, I will be building a hot rod classic truck or a tube buggy. More than likely we will be redoing Chris' buggy. Ted will probably be building a J20 to serve as a daily driver and tow rig. And there are other additions and suprises in the works.

Sweetwater Texas Desert Race October 10th

2009-08-18T10:07:00.001-05:00

Of course, we will be attending and racing our bombshell racing class 5 unlimited. Last week we dialed in the dual carbs. After a fire suppression system and tube work, we will be ready.

Sweetwater is close to San Angelo. for those of you that have wanted to go to a high speed desert race, it doesn't get much closer to Austin than this. As of now, at least 20 people are entered with 4-5 Trophy trucks committed. 4 or 5 Jeepspeeds. Not sure how many buggies.

The property is pretty damn big, I've seen the topographic map. They have carved a 30 mile loop on this game ranch with tons of table tops, sweepers, tight turns. We'll be riding the rim of a fairly tall mesa in one part of the course with quite a huge drop off on one side of it. Should be good times. I will post more info as it comes.

pre-runnning on friday from 10AM till mid afternoon. Then they will open the rest of the game ranch and you can cruise the whole property and see all the weird exotic animals they have thee. BBQ dinner. Racing all Saturday for 200 miles.

2009-08-13T10:54:00.002-05:00

Eric is working on a 3" body lift on the black YJ.

Ted is almost done regearing the rear axle on Michael's TJ with 4.88's and OX lockers front and rear.

Chris is almsot done with the 4.5" rubicon super flex kit. Then it's on to reworking the upper tube bars in John's Jeepspeed. They are bgine raised to provide the SCORE regulation 3" of clearance over the top of the driver's helmet.

Tomorrow we will get to cleaning and painting the 12C for Jake's Suburban and get it back in the shop... POR 15 the frame, replace the rear bushings with greasable poly pieces, and maybe start on the front suspension if the leaf springs ever shop up from ORD!

2009-08-11T23:44:00.002-05:00

Today we started on the transformation of Michael's TJ. Chris knocked out the tire carrier install yesterday and completed the 231 slip yoke eliminator kit. He also started dismantling the rear suspension. Ted has begun installation of the front OX locker.

Yesterday, Ted finished testing the electrical and enigne mechanics of Aaron's YJ and found a faulty coil. The fuel system, computer, and timing chain were all ruled out.

Eric did a water pump on a Grand Cherokee today while I worked on a YJ's steering.

This week is comprised of a 4.5" Rubicon Express lift kit on Michael's TJ with 4.88 gears and ox lockers front and rear. We will do a 3" body lift on Kevin's YJ along with some other maintenace items. The Jeepspeed will have a few head bars redone in the front cage and the 12V will be repainted, while we wait for the crossmember and transmission components. We will attack the front suspension when the front D60 and leaf springs show up. And assuming the wiring harness shows up this week for Tori's FJ40, we will begin on that project.

2009-08-06T18:57:00.002-05:00

It's been a hard week with Chris in and out, and a broken foot. We got James' YJ cage done. It's painted, installed, seats and harnesses are in.

Last friday, ted and I pulled the cummins out of the donor truck for Jake's 12V Suburban project.

Chris was able to finish the seat cage in John's Boyd's Jeepspeed and it looks very pro.

Eric has replaced struts, tie rod ends, ball joints, and a front diff in John Lloyd's 02 Tundra. The 4" Tuff Country suspension made things a bit more difficult.

Ted replaced a starter, battey, flywheel and epaired the wiring in Scott's FJ60 with a Chevy 350. On tuesday, Ted did a leveling kit on tommy's 09 tundra. He is also in the process of regearing a Scout 44 with an ARB.

Tomorrow Eric will work on an XJ brake system and driveshaft. Ted will work on Aaron's YJ stalling issue, a vaccum problem in my old F150, and possibly tune a water injection system on a TJ.

If Chris can make it in, we'll start on the Suburban's rear shackle flip.

2009-07-30T20:50:00.001-05:00

yj cage painted and sitting in Jeep.

Aaron's YJ runs again.

Cummins is pulled.

Tomorrow... finish rear frame tie ins on YJ cage and bolt interior back together

swap flywheel in FJ40

mount seats in Jeepspeed

Look at ranch YJ towards making street legal

2009-07-30T14:02:00.002-05:00

It's already thursday? Guess I've been slacking on the blog. Chris broke a toe the other day, so I finished the YJ cage. It's being painted right now. After we reinstall it with the seats, harnesses, and put the top hardware back together, all that will be left is to finish the rear frame tie-ins. Hopefully, Chris will be back tomorrow.

Ted and Eric knocked out the 5.13 re-gear on Patrick's Rubicon. The rear also got a 35 spline axle upgrade with an ARB to avoid the inevitable Rubicon rear locker failure.

We finally got the forrect cap and rotor for Tori's FJ40. Thanks to the guys at Wimberly 4wd. I cant tell you how many wrong caps were sent back to the local parts store.

Scott's FJ60 got to the shop on a tow strap. We warrantied the alternator, but looks like it also needs a flywheel. We'll be pulling that one part tomorrow, more than likely.

As we speak, Ted is diagnosing Aaron's YJ. It hasn't died on us after a 20 minute test drive, but we're going through electrical diagnostics right now.

After Eric is done painting the cage, it's on to cummins removal.

2009-07-24T17:32:00.002-05:00

Chris and Eric knocked out this sport bar on James' clean half cab EB.

2009-07-24T17:04:00.002-05:00

Cory's 4Runner is finally done. He'll be driving it to New Mexico for storage while he is deployed in Korea in a few days. Be safe, and thank you for your service!

2009-07-22T11:18:00.002-05:00

So far, this has been a very productive week! Ted is doing some finsihing touches on Cory's 4runner, but she does run and drive under her own power with the 3.4L and 5spd conversion. Joe's Firebird is also finally gone, with working a/c and zero overheating problems.

Chris knocked out the 8.8 swap in Dallas' TJ, as well as a leveling kit on an 08 FJ cruiser, and reworking the rear coil suspension on JJ's Scout.

Eric has started forward progress on Tori and Will's FJ40 project. He is also working on mounting/modifying the gen-right sliders that will complement the cae work on James' YJ.

The remainder of the week will be spent regearing Patrick's Rubicon, setting up Jason's Currie D44, Building a sport bar for an EB, diagonosing the brakes and steering on another EB, looking over the front axle/suspension of a Tundra, and working on mounting seats in the Jeepspeed.

More exciting news, we just got the deposit on the 12V Cummins swap in to an 89 3/4 ton Suburban. Check the forum for pics and a full build thread.

2009-07-17T01:19:00.003-05:00

It's been a long week! We have been pushing forward to get Cory's 3.4L and 5spd conversion done so he can drive it before being deployed again. Pretty confident we will have it done tomorrow.

Chris knocked out the YJ cage in James' Jeep. Once the suspension seats and harnesses arrive, we can build the seat cage, pul it out for final welding and paint, and get it back to Houston.

Eric has proven to be a great match with the company. Today he finished a Camburg suspension on Thomas' 02 F150. The kit is comprised of eibach coils, heimed steering knuckles and chromoly arms with Bilstein shocks. The rear suspension also has bilstein shocks and flexy Deaver springs. On the 285's it looks pretty killer. Check out the photo gallery in the next few days for pics.

Tomorrow, Ted and I will finish Cory's 4runner. Chris and Eric will work on Dallas' 8.8 swap and SYE transfer case conversion. We will also put Tori and William's FJ40 landcruiser in a bay and get it on the road to street drivable again.

2009-07-14T10:01:00.002-05:00

First off, I'd like to apologize for any communications we might have missed yesterday. I run the office now and the guys knock out the work. Monday, I was in Granbury for the funeral of one of my dearest friend's mother. I will get back to every body by the end of the day in the order messages were left.

The guys got a ton done while I was gone.

Leah's Isuzu alternator problems and valve cover leak are taken care of.

My father's oldsmobile now has working a/c.

James' YJ cage is done mostly done. She just needs the seat cage, front and rear harness bars, finishing welds, and paint.

Cory's 4Runner lacks very little. Pedals, shifters, and most of the wiring are done. Still need to finish the wiring, install the intake and hoses, plumb the clutch hydraulics, modify the exhaust that was built around the automatic tranny, cut the hole in the hood for intake clearance, and fire that bitch up.

We will be focusing on the 4runner, YJ cage, and firebird wiring today.

The rest of the week will be dedicated to a Camburg 2wd F150 kit, Dallas' 8.8 TJ swap, the Jeepspeed rear air bumps and seat cage. We will also squeeze in a trackbar for a coil sprung Scout and some steering work on an EB. As time permits, we will be going through an FJ40 that has sat in a field for two years, trying to get it back towards road worthy status.

What a busy week!

2009-07-08T18:25:00.003-05:00

Today was pretty productive. Eric got all of the mounting plates built for the YJ cage. Chris got a few of the bars in place. The rest of the cage should go pretty quickly tomorrow.

Ted is whipping away on cory's 4runner. The complete drivetrain is mounted and together. After the pedals and shifters go in, we'll make the clutch lines, bleed the slave, and move on to the wiring.

I knocked out some brakes on a Grand Cherokee. tomorrow we will continues with the YJ cage and 4Runner. If there is time on Friday, we'll do the seat cage in the Jeepspeed and wiring on the Trans AM.

Next week will be a Rubicon ARB and regear, a 8.8 TJ swap, a Scout traction bar, an WJ40 rewire and maybe a few others.

2009-07-07T14:52:00.003-05:00

Chris finished the Jeepspeed rear shocks. We will be focussing on the seat cage in the next parts of this build.

Right now we are looking at James' YJ cage. It will probably model closely to the poison spyder trail cage design, but not have the cheesy plate steel brackets on the dash. It will also have the front seats tied in to the cage and a removable rear harness bar.

Ted and Eric have Cory's 5spd and clutch in place. We are tracking down the correct bellhousing bolts before the t-case goes up. Tonight we'll get the pedal assembly and shifter off of one of Patrick's parts yotas. Once the bellhousing is secure and the t-case is installed with the modified adapter plate, we can check for issues with crossmember mounting and rear driveshaft length. The clutch master cylinder should be here in a day or two.

I finally got my diesel back on the road. Turns out the injector I bought was faulty. I will wait for my refund before I publically blast the company.

Tomorrow we'll continue on Cory's truck and the YJ cage. We will also have an 8.8 swap at the end of the week in Dallas' TJ. Next week we will continue to work on the Jeepspeed, pull Tori's FJ40 in and look at some wiring, regear Patrick's Rubicon, build a track bar for a coil sprung Scout, and maybe start on removal of the 12V to be swapped in Mark's Suburban.

2009-07-02T14:43:00.002-05:00

Ted and Eric knocked out most of Aaron's Rubicon upgrades... Savvy offroad aluminum raised gas tank skid, Clayton oil pan and t-case skid/crossmember, 3/4" poly spacers, 1" motor mounts. We are waiting on inner axle seals for the front from the dealer so we can get this truck off the lift and I can work on my truck!

Hopefully Ted can finish the e-brake system on Henry's yota while we wait.

Chris and I are coming up with design pics for James' YJ cage. He should have the Jeepspeed rear shocks done soon. I'll probably work on the website photo gallery a bit.

2009-06-30T21:49:00.003-05:00

I'm closer on the diesel. going to try a couple procedures tomorrow and hopefully I will have my truck back. The guys and some friends have been helping me out with that.

Ted has been mentoring Eric and helping me out around the shop today. Eric is doing great. He prepped the Clayton skids with paint, installed the trail gear sliders and Daystar 1" motor mounts on the Rubicon.

Chris figured out a game plan on mounting the rear bypass shocks in John's Jeepspeed today, despite some cage work that will get removed. Tomorrow he'll work on that. If there is time left, we will start stripping the interior of James' YJ and designing his family style roll cage... 6 point, spreaders, grab handles, seat cage, harness bars front and rear.

Ted will be working on Henry's 4runner if thedamn brake cables show up. He will also tackle the front D44 seals in Aaron's Rubicon while Eric does motor, tranny, and gas tank skids with some 3/4" coil spacers in the mix too.

The rest of the week will be finishing up the vehicles we have a the shop, working on the rollcage, and we will drag Cory's 4runner back in. Ted and Eric will work on the wiring and mounting the 5spd/chain drive t-case. I think we have everything we need except the master cylinder and pedal assembly to complete that swap, assumng we don't need any driveshaft work. But that's unlikely.

2009-06-30T08:17:00.002-05:00

The weekend was good. Chris and I finished up a couple things on the race car so we could run it on saturday. She pulls really well with the new dual carb set up. The tranny is geared perfect for the new motor and the shifter glides like butter. 5099 is a completely different animal now. All she needs are a few tweaks here and there, a jet kit and some brake maintenance. She should be good for some more practice time and finally back to racing!

Yesterday, Ted was moving out of his house. Chris and I worked on the 12V suburban bid and did research about what it's going to take.

We also swapped an injector on my F350. Hopefully, we'll get all the air purged out later today.

This will be a good day. Ted will work on Henry's e-brake system and Joe's Trans Am. Chris has the rear shocks to mount on te Jeepspeed. Eric will start working with us today and get familiar with the shop. I'm going to the tax office and try to finish my Ford

2009-06-25T20:43:00.002-05:00

this bumper is kicking my ass. back to the drawing board for some reengineering.

Ted did a Tundra leveling kit and worked on Henry's e-brake.

Chris finished the Jeepspeed engine cage.

Tomorrow, I'll figure out what to do with this Landcruiser. Ted will finish the e-brake and start on the 5spd conversion on Cory's 4Runner. Chris will work on the rear shock mounts in the Jeepspeed.

We also have to prep 5099 so we can test it out saturday. Next week we will continue with Cory's 4runner. Build a cage for James' YJ. Start planning this 12V swap in the 2500 Suburban. And will look at rewiring an FJ40 with a V8 and nitrous.