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

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

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.

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

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!

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...

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.