John D Super Slo-Mo Rebuild

Picked up a nice set of H2 wheels including a spare tonight at the right price. Four of the wheels are in good condition and the spare is flawless. They came with a worn out set of 35" Wild Country's and decent BFG AT for the spare. Not that you need to see another H2 wheels, but...



Been looking at tires that will work for a combination of street, rocks and sand. Going to go with a 37" and I think I have it narrowed down to two (well three if you count sizes) choices. Cooper STT Pro in 37-12.50/17 or 37-13.50/17 and Maxxis Trepador radial 37-12.50/17. Opinions? If you have an opinion tell me why.

Cooper STT Pro


Maxxis Trepador Radial
 
I hear Treps aren't the most street friendly.
Those Copers look nice, and have a reasonable treadwear rating.
 
we run the bias trep stickies on the street all the time and they are awesome. the bias treps even in the dot compound are going to be way better offroad than the radials. I am a maxxis believer.
 
I decided on the Cooper STT Pros. I have a friend with a shop and I picked them up at cost, so it was difficult to pass up. They look like an awesome tire and I can't wait to try them out. Although they seem much heavier than my 38" SXs with steel wheels, they weren't too hard to balance out.



With my helper today.

 
I ran into an issue mounting my calipers on the rear axle. When I mounted them I noticed there is no room for the u-bolts and spring plate. So, I have to mount them low and they have a lot of exposure to rocks. I can't think of another way to do it than low. Anyone have any ideas? Seen this before? The issue is because of the width, I am running C&C hubs which narrows it a couple inches.

Mounted on top.



Mounted low to clear the u-bolts and spring plate.



With wheel installed.

 
Lots of discussion on another forum, but I did come up with a solution.

Once I got it out of my head that I had to use the mounting holes for the bracket I was able to make it work pretty quickly. The calipers are at about the 90* position which is a little lower than I want, but I don't have a choice with clearing the springs. I think I may make a small skid that goes from the caliper bracket to the axle to add some protection. Overall, pretty happy with the solution.

Ignore the mess...





Rotated back about an inch or so.

 
Kinda slow the last two days working on my arms and front axle location. Lots of measuring, thinking, moving stuff and a little bit of progress. I threw the tires/wheels on for a little inspiration, I can't wait to get this on the road again...

I shortened the arms about 1.5" after this pic. As much as I would like the axle out there that far I just can't do it with the coil springs. Total stretch is a whopping 3' (1" rear and 2" front). Load bearing shocks and hydraulic steering would leave a lot more options. :)

I know it's a mess, I'll cleanup before I start working on Saturday.



 
Tada!!! She is holding herself up. Of course it is nowhere near ready, but it sure feels good to be making progress.
Two important things happened with this...
1) I was able to clean the shop.
2) I can use the lift to change the oil in both my other cars :)

I'm not really sure if I have enough lift for this setup, I will flex it out and maybe budget boost a couple more inches, lol.







Pretty happy with the way the arms turned out. I need to work on steering and track bar next.





Shocks are going to be last and it's going to take some thinking and creativity on the lower mounting.
 
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