On episode 57 of Dirt Every Day
Category
🚗
MotorTranscript
00:00 (dramatic music)
00:03 This is the Alabama Army Truck.
00:04 Everybody loves this truck.
00:06 It is a mid-80s square body Chevy.
00:08 This truck has been all over the place.
00:10 We started in Alabama with it.
00:12 We put a hot rod engine under the hood.
00:14 It had big tires, and in the past two years,
00:16 all those parts have been stolen.
00:18 They went into other vehicles,
00:19 and now it's been sitting, growing cobwebs
00:21 on these tiny little tires,
00:22 looking really sad in my backyard.
00:24 But it is back.
00:26 This episode of Dirt Every Day,
00:27 it's getting a bigger engine, bigger axles,
00:29 giant tires, and we're taking it
00:31 to the biggest state in America, Alaska.
00:33 (dramatic music)
00:36 (engines revving)
00:45 (dramatic music)
00:48 Alabama Army Truck is in the shop,
01:07 and it is time to get this thing back together.
01:09 You guys have been asking for it.
01:11 This is the bigger engine that's going in there.
01:13 This is an 8.1 liter out of about a 2005 Suburban.
01:17 You can get these things all day long
01:19 for somewhere between $1,200 and $2,500 at a junkyard.
01:23 This is a used engine.
01:24 It's gonna be awesome in this truck
01:26 because we'll be able to wheel it hard,
01:28 not worry about the engine.
01:29 The Chevy square bodies are really popular these days,
01:32 and Steven Watson is here.
01:34 He works for Offroad Design.
01:35 In fact, he owns Offroad Design.
01:37 These are the guys you need to know
01:38 if you wanna build a square body Chevy.
01:40 Offroad Design makes everything from suspension parts
01:43 to gearing parts.
01:44 We're building it big, we're building it strong
01:46 to go on this epic adventure out in the middle of nowhere.
01:49 - We have a lot of work to get done,
01:52 and this truck is also a real truck.
01:55 We're not cutting two things in half
01:56 and welding the middles together.
01:58 We've gotta have the Loctite on the bolts
02:00 and the silicone in the right places
02:01 and all the right things torqued,
02:03 and it's a lot of details,
02:05 and I'm a little worried that as we keep getting closer,
02:07 the detail list is gonna keep growing instead of shrinking.
02:11 - This is the proverbial Dana 60 front axle,
02:14 and this is what guys are looking for
02:16 if you're building something
02:17 that's gonna run really big tires,
02:18 probably 37s or larger.
02:20 You can find these under Chevys, Fords,
02:22 Dodges of different years.
02:24 There's different styles of Dana 60.
02:26 This steering, this knuckle brakes,
02:28 all this stuff is going away
02:30 because what we're doing is adding these.
02:35 This is a portal box.
02:38 The axle shaft comes in here and turns a gear,
02:40 which spins two other gears,
02:42 and so you actually get five inches of ground clearance
02:45 just by putting this box on the end.
02:47 Basically, it will reduce all the stress
02:50 on everything upstream by putting more gearing right here,
02:53 but we'll also have all this more ground clearance
02:55 down here in the middle,
02:56 so when we're off-road in Alaska,
02:58 we should be able to straddle over deep ruts,
03:00 tree stumps, boulders, grizzly bears,
03:03 polar bears, panda bears, Sasquatch,
03:06 anything else we see up there.
03:08 So we're bolting in this new engine crossmember
03:12 'cause this is a lot stronger system
03:14 and goes directly between the motor mounts
03:16 and gives us room for the suspension pieces
03:19 that are gonna end up in here.
03:20 We're kinda having to wiggle everything around
03:22 to get it to line up.
03:23 - The cab of the truck has six body mounts.
03:27 We are replacing them with a new set
03:29 of polyurethane Daystar mounts.
03:31 We can come in with a floor jack and a block of wood
03:34 and lift the body up enough
03:36 and pull the old body mount off.
03:39 These are the parts we're putting in from Daystar.
03:41 This polyurethane piece will go here.
03:43 Again, the frame rail, which has a hole in it,
03:45 this will come down through that.
03:47 This will go on the top
03:48 and then it will screw into that nut
03:52 that's inside the body.
03:54 What we have here is a bit precarious,
04:00 this floor jack holding the body up,
04:02 so when you are putting this back inside there,
04:05 don't spend a lot of time with your fingers in there.
04:07 If this should fall and your finger's in there,
04:09 you're gonna probably be really bummed
04:11 'cause you kinda need all those fingers.
04:12 You get a lot of spares, but you still might need them.
04:15 Awesome first day on the Alabama Army Truck.
04:25 Watson's doing a little bit of trimming
04:27 on the body mount, cross-members in.
04:29 We got completely filthy today
04:31 'cause a lot of grinding and dust up our noses.
04:34 So we're gonna finish up a little bit more tonight
04:36 and we will see you in the morning.
04:38 Come here, hey.
04:40 Come here, guys.
04:42 Ugh, it didn't finish itself again.
04:46 Last night we got the frame mounts
04:48 for the suspension tacked in place.
04:49 We measured 'em off of the rear spring hangers.
04:52 We're gonna sweep up everything,
04:54 get our axle underneath here,
04:56 start mocking up our links,
04:58 and take the whole suspension to full compression.
05:00 That way we know where it's gonna go
05:02 when you come off a big jump or drop off a big boulder
05:06 or come off a curb at the mall
05:08 and the suspension fully compresses.
05:10 The axle's gotta go up until it hits something,
05:12 which will probably be the engine cross-member.
05:14 And then that's where we'll start measuring our links
05:16 and make sure that everything else clears.
05:18 We'll cut some link tube, tack in some bungs,
05:21 and then after that we'll start mounting shocks.
05:24 You said bungs.
05:26 This is about where the axle would be
05:28 sitting on a 42-inch tall tire,
05:31 which is the tire we're putting on it at full compression.
05:34 So--
05:35 - So basically the truck's gonna be,
05:36 fender lip's gonna be about here.
05:38 - Yep.
05:39 So we're basically gonna drop the axle down,
05:40 which is the same as moving the truck up.
05:42 Stop.
05:43 That's 14 inches from bump stop to bottom of frame.
05:47 - This is probably farther than it'll ever go.
05:50 - All right, this is our Fox 2 1/2-inch coilover shock.
05:54 We're gonna weave it up through this mess of wires
05:57 and hoses.
05:58 We cut the hole in the fender.
06:00 This is gonna be what mounts the shock to the chassis.
06:03 We just need to mount the ends of this hoop
06:06 to weld down to the frame rail,
06:07 and then we'll have a pair of tabs sitting right here
06:10 to mount the top of the shock.
06:12 - Front suspension links are all pretty well set.
06:15 Our trailing arms, our track bar are all in place.
06:19 Hopefully this time tomorrow we are hanging
06:20 our 8.1 liter big block so we can go to Alaska,
06:23 which I think is that way.
06:25 (upbeat music)
06:28 - All right, good morning, it's day three
06:30 of the Alabama Army Truck build.
06:32 Watson is cutting out the fender wells
06:34 to put our shock towers in
06:36 so we can put those coilover shocks.
06:38 I'm prepping the 8.1 so we can stuff that in here.
06:40 We're gonna have my buddy come down with his forklift.
06:42 Hopefully by the end of the day we're peeling out.
06:44 Maybe not, but pretty close, closer than yesterday.
06:47 Come on in, Randy.
06:48 (upbeat music)
06:58 - I'm on my manifold stud over here.
07:01 Mine is hitting firewall here.
07:04 - So we're gonna come down through here
07:05 with the plasma cutter, just kinda cut that back.
07:09 Part of the firewall here also seems to be in the way,
07:12 so we might come through here and massage that a little bit
07:15 so the exhaust manifolds can drop right in.
07:17 All right, Randy, once again, up, over, in, down,
07:20 side to side.
07:22 - This is all pretty thin.
07:24 - And on his side, the top of the C-channel's thicker.
07:27 I didn't trim it there because I was just clearing
07:30 for the flange in the back.
07:32 (upbeat music)
07:35 So this is the third and maybe final,
07:43 probably not, time it's going in.
07:46 Frame rail has been completely massaged.
07:48 Mr. Randy, can you let some weight down on it?
07:52 - Okay, so we're gonna need to put the transmission on now.
07:55 - Yes.
07:56 - Ecker on out there, Randy.
07:57 Thank you.
08:00 All right, special thanks to Mr. Watson
08:02 coming out from Colorado to help us out on the truck.
08:04 The front suspension is just about dialed.
08:06 We're gonna do another shock hoop, crossover tube.
08:09 We got the big block in here
08:11 because neighbor Randy brought his forklift down.
08:13 We got the engine in, the transmission case mocked up,
08:16 and next thing you know, we'll be peeling out.
08:19 All right, it is Tuesday,
08:24 and this truck needs to leave on Friday.
08:26 This is one of the most aggressive builds
08:28 we've had on Dirt Every Day.
08:29 Luckily, I've been calling in all my buddies.
08:31 My buddy Todd, he's got a shop called Mercenary Off-Road.
08:34 He was actually on his way home from vacation.
08:36 Next thing you know, he's on the truck working.
08:38 Todd is working on the fuel system.
08:41 James is working on the wiring,
08:44 which is a little nerve wracking because James is British.
08:46 British wiring is not always the best.
08:48 Jeep and Joe is working on the rear brakes with Rob.
08:51 We still got a lot to do.
08:52 It's all those little things
08:53 that take up the last 75% of the 100% of build.
08:57 This is a 42-inch Maxxis Trepador.
08:59 This is a bias-ply tire, super aggressive.
09:02 This thing is giant.
09:04 Of course, it's gonna mean we need to cut a giant hole
09:06 in the fenders to fit it.
09:07 Sorry, square body guys.
09:08 I know you're gonna be sad when you see what we're doing,
09:10 but we got plenty of gearing to turn all this.
09:13 I can't wait to take these things off-road.
09:14 What we're doing in the rear suspension
09:19 is a little bit trick.
09:20 We're keeping the leaf spring, the six-inch SkyJacker lift,
09:23 but we put it under the axle.
09:24 You're gonna get a lot of axle wrap
09:25 because you have all this leverage of the portal box,
09:27 but if all this leaf spring stuff fails and it doesn't work,
09:31 we can cut all that stuff out
09:32 and actually run them as coil overs.
09:34 I put a truss on it because there's so much leverage.
09:36 I don't want the axle to rip the tubes
09:38 out of the center section.
09:39 I pulled the wiring harness off of the engine when I got it.
09:46 It's a junkyard engine,
09:47 and I sent it up to Tilden Motorsports.
09:49 They redid the whole wiring harness,
09:50 got out the stuff that we don't need.
09:52 I'm also running a lot of parts from Painless.
09:54 So Painless has all of these wiring fittings,
09:58 ground straps, giant battery cables.
10:01 They also have this thing that's really new.
10:02 It's called the gauge controller.
10:04 So you're not actually running the gauges to the engine.
10:07 You're running them to this controller,
10:08 which then runs off of the engine computer.
10:10 This is an LMC truck fuel tank for a Chevy Blazer.
10:19 Aeromotive has this new fuel pump.
10:23 You basically cut a hole, drop it all in there,
10:26 bolt it tight, keeps the fuel pump cooler
10:28 'cause it's submerged in gasoline,
10:30 and you just have positive and ground right there
10:32 to run the whole thing.
10:33 We did the brakes, we did the fuel tank,
10:35 we did a bunch of wiring,
10:37 but right now it's gonna leave the shop with the winch
10:40 'cause we gotta tow it down to my buddy Hank's place
10:42 and get the exhaust done,
10:43 and we'll bring it back here one more late night
10:45 on this truck and be ready to go.
10:49 Hi, Hank.
10:50 - What's up, Fred?
10:51 - Here's your bungs, hangers.
10:53 We brought the Army truck down to Hank.
10:55 Hank builds lots of really cool stuff,
10:56 and every now and then we con him
10:57 into working on one of our projects.
10:59 We usually need it done like yesterday, really fast.
11:01 We're gonna have a really loud, rumbly, cool truck.
11:04 Time to go play.
11:05 Last night we were frustrated the car would not start
11:19 the engine, the 8.1 was sitting there mocking us,
11:22 and if there's one thing that you should learn
11:24 about wiring, it's always check the grounds.
11:27 Behind the engine there were two grounds disconnected.
11:30 Hooked 'em up, fires right up.
11:33 Boom, ready to go.
11:34 Oh boy, one more tire.
11:47 (grunts)
11:49 Ah, transmission has fluid, engine has oil,
11:59 but we don't have any way to check
12:00 the oil pressure right now.
12:02 There's a lot of things that aren't finished,
12:03 completely hooked up, and I still need to trim
12:05 for the wheels and tires, but time for a test drive.
12:08 (engine starts)
12:11 I like it.
12:25 It steers pretty, it steers really nice.
12:28 Woo hoo!
12:35 Truck runs, drives, shifts gears, steers, stops.
12:39 Oh, that stops.
12:40 Probably use bigger brakes, but it's done-ish.
12:44 The next time you see this truck, it'll be out in the dirt.
13:05 We made it to Alaska.
13:07 We're at Frank Winneger's shop.
13:08 Frank's a friend of mine.
13:09 He's got a Jeep up here, he's gonna show us around Alaska.
13:12 One of the things I did before we left town
13:14 was I put an Alaskan camper on the truck.
13:16 The thing is not gonna work.
13:17 The truck was way too top-heavy, so we came to Frank's shop.
13:20 We already unloaded the camper.
13:22 Another thing I have to do is put
13:23 the brand new front driveshaft in,
13:24 'cause the driveshaft was too long.
13:26 And then we're gonna go four-wheeling.
13:27 Frank's gonna show us around.
13:28 We're gonna go explore Alaska
13:30 in a brand new Alaskan Army truck.
13:33 (upbeat music)
13:36 There's a flange on the front of the Atlas
13:39 that has four bolts,
13:41 and the CV joint has holes that are threaded.
13:44 So they have to be on, put this flange on,
13:46 bolt it to the Atlas, then bolt the CV to the flange.
13:50 As tall as this truck is,
13:51 it's not tall enough to sit up under,
13:54 and the driveshaft is just heavy enough
13:56 that it wants to fall on your head.
13:58 It's awesome.
13:59 I knew this part was gonna be fun to do.
14:02 The Alaskan Army truck is ready to go.
14:04 Driveshaft's in, we put our stickers on.
14:06 Got a few other things we buttoned up.
14:08 Special thanks to the Winneger family
14:10 for putting us up out here in their shop.
14:11 We're going wheeling.
14:12 Time to get this big truck dirty.
14:14 (upbeat music)
14:16 (engine revving)
14:19 Guess who I found out in the woods of Alaska?
14:39 - Me!
14:40 - Mark from Daystar.
14:41 You guys remember Mark.
14:42 Actually, Mark came up here with us to go four wheeling,
14:44 and there's a really nice vista up on top of the hill,
14:46 and I was gonna introduce you
14:47 and show you Mark's cool new truck.
14:49 And then we had a little problem with the wiring.
14:51 - Because you broke it.
14:52 - I didn't break it.
14:53 - You totally broke it.
14:55 - Well, I've been riding around in it the past few days,
14:57 but for some reason, the electric fuel relay just fried,
15:01 and now the fuel pump won't run.
15:02 So we are going to fix this truck,
15:05 hopefully do some hot wiring,
15:06 get back up on the trail before sunset,
15:09 when the shark moose come out and eat men alive.
15:13 - This truck is a 1941 Dodge Power Wagon.
15:16 It started out life as a military truck.
15:17 It runs a 6.2 liter supercharged 720 horsepower engine.
15:22 I'm running a Dana 60 front, corporate 14 bolt in the rear,
15:25 Magnum doubler,
15:26 just in case I need to crawl over some extra stuff,
15:28 and 42 inch tall tires.
15:30 You know, minus the little glitches you have
15:32 when you build a truck, it's been a real blast.
15:34 (upbeat music)
15:36 - My army truck is doing so well out here.
15:45 The big block is great.
15:47 It's got lots of torque,
15:49 the Gearstar 4L80 grabbing gears,
15:51 it's climbing the hills, it's having no problems.
15:53 Running the Atlas in both high range and low range,
15:55 because I have all that gearing in the axles
15:57 with the big Axel Tech portals.
15:59 So it's got plenty of ground clearance, plenty of gearing,
16:02 nothing seems to be running hot,
16:03 transmission's not skipping a beat.
16:05 Those 42 inch Maxxis tires are tearing it up.
16:09 (engine revving)
16:11 (upbeat music)
16:14 Feed lock wheels are working,
16:20 the thing's not losing any air pressure.
16:22 I'm so glad we got rid of the camper shell
16:24 because this thing would have been a dog
16:26 with that camper on there.
16:27 Now it's climbing, it's nimble, it's powerful.
16:30 It's getting into the ditches,
16:31 it's getting all over sideways,
16:32 it's wobbling all over the place,
16:33 and it's still climbing.
16:35 The steering is like almost one finger,
16:37 so the Ram Assist steering, I'm really happy with that.
16:40 Overall, stoked with the truck.
16:43 Still interested to see how the rear spring under suspension
16:45 with the portals is gonna work the rest of the week,
16:48 but it doesn't seem to be wrapping up too much.
16:49 It hasn't broken yet, the drive shafts are still in one piece
16:52 so high five to my buddies back home.
16:54 (upbeat music)
16:56 (engine revving)
17:04 (upbeat music)
17:06 (engine revving)
17:09 (upbeat music)
17:12 (engine revving)
17:15 (upbeat music)
17:21 (engine revving)
17:24 (upbeat music)
17:26 (engine revving)
17:45 (upbeat music)
17:48 - This is awesome up here, Frank.
18:02 - Yeah, we'll be heading to the top there above tree line.
18:05 - All right, let's keep going.
18:07 The big army truck is doing so well out here.
18:11 Max's tires are ripping it up.
18:12 I think we might wanna air down a little bit more
18:14 'cause the tires are brand new,
18:15 kind of get them broken in a bit.
18:17 That A1, letting her eat,
18:19 having a good time up here in the Alaskan mud.
18:21 One more hill.
18:22 (engine revving)
18:25 (engine revving)
18:31 (upbeat music)
18:34 (engine revving)
18:38 (upbeat music)
18:43 (engine revving)
18:46 We had a little trail fix on the bottom of this hill,
19:04 but we got it running.
19:05 Everything's running good.
19:06 You happy?
19:07 - I'm really happy.
19:07 - Behind me is Pioneer Peak and Matanuska Mountain.
19:11 And in the middle is Canook Glacier.
19:13 Now our goal is to put these two trucks on that glacier.
19:16 (upbeat music)
19:20 - You know, yesterday the bootlegger truck
19:23 had some awesome problems.
19:25 Like it lit on fire in the fuse box.
19:27 Man, I'm so nervous about running this thing
19:29 with the fans always on, the fuel pump's always on.
19:31 So I built this little wiring harness.
19:33 So it's a dead kill switch so I can actually run it
19:36 and make this a switch so the fans
19:38 and the fuse block will actually work.
19:40 So anyway, we're gonna install this real quick.
19:42 Cole's gonna drill the hole.
19:43 And that's the great thing about our off-road environment.
19:45 Doesn't matter where you go,
19:46 you're gonna run into somebody that can help you.
19:47 He's not excited.
19:48 I'm really, really excited.
19:50 So let's see how it goes.
19:51 (upbeat music)
19:53 (engine revving)
19:58 - All right, Mark's got his truck fixed.
20:05 And the local guys are back.
20:08 They're gonna take us out on another trail.
20:10 Time for me to do some more wheeling.
20:11 All right, guys, let's roll out.
20:13 Woo-hoo!
20:14 (upbeat music)
20:17 (engine revving)
20:45 - Oh yeah, this is awesome.
20:47 - It makes me feel happy.
20:49 - I know, it's weird.
20:51 It's like really awe-inspiring to look at all that.
20:54 - Yeah, it's like I'm driving a full-size one-ton truck
20:57 and it feels small.
20:58 (upbeat music)
21:01 (engine revving)
21:04 - Here's where we'll find out if I have axle wrap or not.
21:25 (engine revving)
21:27 (upbeat music)
21:30 (engine revving)
21:33 (upbeat music)
21:35 (engine revving)
21:38 (upbeat music)
21:41 (engine revving)
21:43 (upbeat music)
21:46 (engine revving)
21:49 (upbeat music)
21:51 (engine revving)
21:54 (upbeat music)
21:57 (engine revving)
22:04 (indistinct)
22:15 (engine revving)
22:19 (laughing)
22:24 - You brought 700 horsepower to Alaska
22:26 and I think you used all of it.
22:27 There is no moose left to be seen.
22:29 I think they all took off.
22:30 - That is awesome.
22:31 - Let's go to the glacier.
22:34 - Let's go to the glacier.
22:35 (upbeat music)
22:38 - I'm pretty sure we will see moose out here.
22:51 - You keep promising me that I'm not seeing it.
22:55 - Your truck is too loud.
22:57 - My truck is too loud.
22:58 My truck is too fast.
22:59 Can you stop complaining about the power wagon?
23:02 - Power wagon is too shiny.
23:04 It scares away the moose.
23:05 (upbeat music)
23:08 - Corey's radiator is full of mud.
23:16 Strange.
23:18 Luckily we filled this can cam up with water back at camp.
23:23 This thing, they're impervious to all types of fluids,
23:26 but really water is a good one to haul out here.
23:28 Okay, sun is setting.
23:36 All of our camera batteries are dying.
23:38 We are hoping to get to the glacier before sunset.
23:42 Nobody brought sleeping bags or any camping gear, so.
23:45 But it's situation normal.
23:47 Four wheelin' in Alaska.
23:49 I think any second now we're gonna pop out.
23:51 I can see a glacier.
23:52 (upbeat music)
24:00, We made it to our glacier.
24:05 (upbeat music)
24:07 We made it to our glacier.
24:29 Look at this.
24:31 Real Alaskan glacier ice.
24:35 (upbeat music)
24:37 We drove all the way up here.
24:38 We played in the mud.
24:39 We made it to K'Nik Glacier outside of Anchorage, Alaska.
24:43 This is awesome.
24:44 - This is amazing.
24:46 - We broke your truck.
24:47 We fixed your truck.
24:48 All these guys from Alaska are awesome.
24:50 They brought us out here as if it was no big deal.
24:53 - It's a big deal.
24:55 - This is a big deal.
24:56 (upbeat music)
24:58 I built this truck specifically to come up here.
25:03 I wanted to fit these giant 42 inch tall tires on.
25:06 I knew I needed gearing.
25:07 Putting those portal boxes on.
25:09 A lot of people were telling me
25:10 that wasn't a really good idea.
25:11 It was too much work to get done in two weeks.
25:13 I'm so glad we did it.
25:14 For the most part, this truck is awesome.
25:16 It's dominating out here.
25:17 It's working great.
25:18 The tires are working great.
25:20 I'm stoked that Mark came along with his big truck.
25:22 Has a lot of power.
25:23 Big truck, big suspension, big block engine.
25:27 Biggest state in America.
25:28 I couldn't ask for anything more.
25:30 (upbeat music)
25:32 How's your truck doing?
25:37 - Hey, I really like it.
25:38 It's, you know how many other people
25:39 bring their SEMA truck to Alaska a month before SEMA?
25:42 - I know.
25:43 Are you gonna wash it for SEMA?
25:44 Or are you gonna leave it all dirty like this?
25:46 - I'm gonna wash it.
25:48 - I'm stoked.
25:49 The portals on mine are doing awesome.
25:51 - But I've got a racing engine from Summit.
25:54 And it's much better than yours.
25:59 Here, eat more chocolate.
26:01 - I believe that's my reward.
26:02 (laughing)
26:04 - Here, bear.
26:06 Here, bear.
26:06 (upbeat music)
26:17 This week on Dirt Every Day,
26:26 we're bringing back everybody's favorite Army truck
26:28 and we're taking it to the biggest state in America, Alaska.
26:32 (upbeat music)
26:34 (upbeat music)
26:37 (upbeat music)
26:39 (explosion)
26:42 (cymbal crash)