Welcome to Botches Off -Road. Join us as we talk
about everything from gear reviews to trail stories,
tank camping to rock landing, and all things
to do with the outdoors. Today we have Scotty
Thunderfox. Scotty, you don't have a YouTube
channel or anything, right? You're just Scotty
Thunderfox on everything? So I do have, like,
Facebook is probably my main thing, but there
is Thunderfox Garage on YouTube. So there's a
couple of videos on there. We're hoping with
this upcoming trip, I'm going to make a full
video series for everything. Yeah, this upcoming
trip, I'm pretty excited about it. I'm so jealous,
man. I can't even hide it. Oh, the one you're
going to? Okay. I thought you were saying that
you were going somewhere, too, and I was like,
I didn't hear about this. I mean... That would
be awesome, but I doubt it'll ever happen. So
where is this? Because I don't know that I heard
about that. So I made it onto Unreal Adventure
2025. Oh, yeah. Okay, I did see that. I thought
it was something like Canada or something. No.
Yeah, UA has always been my dream. When I started
building the TJ, it was solely because I wanted
to go on UA. That is really cool. That was the
main purpose of the AMC. Was it? That was what
I wanted to do, and I knew that there hasn't
been an AMC on UA, so that's usually how it goes.
It works out pretty well that way. And so, yeah,
just the past three years, I want to say, is
I've just been working to get it to this point.
I mean, there's been AMCs, just never an Eagle.
Oh, yeah, especially a two -door. Yeah. No, the
S6 -4 is sick, man. I just saw another one today
that looked more like a race car than an off
-road rig. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I actually tried to
buy an Eagle when I was 15, and my dad told me
no. I still hold a grudge about it. So the guy
that I got mine from actually had like four or
five of these things. that he got from an estate
sale. And I picked pretty much the best one that
was the most solid and brought it home and just
started tearing things apart and ripping all
the IFS out in the rear axle. And what was funny
is the original plan was I was just going to
buy an XJ and I was going to swap the XJ drivetrain
into it. Super simple. But my good friend Justin,
who is LS swap the world kind of guy, was like,
just do it. Just do it. Just do an LS swap. And
yeah, I do not regret it one bit. Oh, yeah. So
wait, what are you using as like the base frame?
Is that a JKU? It is stock Unibody. Oh, yeah.
Oh. I thought you swapped the frame out, too.
I thought it was just basically the body on there.
I'm not a fan of unibody on -frame swaps. I mean,
they can be done nice, but usually they don't
look all that nice. So the unibody was decent.
I just built all my own custom frame stiffeners
for the entire car. So they're like a two -part
unibody. They separate in the middle of the car.
And I actually built a connecting subframe to
connect those two parts to make it stronger.
It's interesting that AMC did that on the Eagle
because I worked on a Javelin and it split in
almost the same spot as an Eagle. I mean, obviously
not the same because the Javelin is a drastically
different design. But, you know, it's like almost
halfway through the doors. Is it the same spot
on the Eagle? Yep. Yep. Wow. That's crazy. God,
this thing is beautiful. What's funny is I was
super close to not ever building an AMC. I was
actually set to go pick up a Ford Pinto. It was
already completely stripped. I was like, this
will be perfect. It was supposed to rain and
he didn't want anybody coming to get it in the
rain to mess up his yard. I came across the guy
with the AMC Eagles. I was like, I kind of like
this better than the Pinto. AMCs have always
been kind of a really cool -looking car brand.
They haven't really had a bunch of super ugly
ones or anything. My first car was an AMC, and
then my third car was an AMC. I have a huge love
for AMCs. I always just liked the wagon look
of them. I was just like, I like odd cars. Not
that AMCs are odd, but they're not, like, the
generic. AMC came out with the Gremlin. They're
very odd. Yeah. I mean, the AMC, I forget which
one it is. It's just kind of like the regular,
like, muscle car. Probably the Javelin. Javelin,
probably. Probably the Javelin. I really liked
how that looked. It was one of my... Yep, yep,
yep. Yeah, that's one of my favorite. muscle
cars out there it's just it's just so sexy so
i would love to build a wagon um i thought it
would always be kind of cool to take like a wagon
and build into like a tow rig and to haul the
sx4 yeah um i think that would be pretty sweet
of course a wagoneer would look really good pulling
the sx4 too oh man yeah Or a J truck. Whoa. I'm
sorry. I'm getting stranded by these javelins
on here. This is so cool. But like an old international,
like Restomod. Kind of cool. Oh, yeah. Yep. Love
the way those internationals, real soft bodies
on the older ones. I've been seeing a lot more
internationals out there. Dude, I just saw one.
That's like basically restored on marketplace.
And I mean, they want like 18 for it, but it's
beautiful. So you've got an LS. What axles do
you have under that? 05 Super Duty one -ton axles
with 488s. That just seems to be the default
at this point. Everyone seems to be doing the
Super Duty axles. Yep. I was fortunate enough,
the junkyard that's over here by me. He sells
axles for $150 a piece. So I was able to scoop
a set of one -ton axles up for $300. Yeah, because
you're over on the east side of the state, right?
More southwest. Oh, okay. So you're kind of over
by us. We're up north of Grand Rapids a little
bit. Okay. Yep, so that's about an hour and a
half -ish away probably. We're in the magic capital
of the world. The magic capital? We're in the
onion capital. Yeah. Interesting. I've never
heard of the magic capital. Yep. Good old colon
Michigan. Colon. That's crazy. So, now you did
core. Was that last year or two years ago? That
was last year. I know it was the first year of
core, and I should have paid more attention.
That looked like a really fun trip, man. Yeah.
It was probably the biggest trip I've done at
that time with the car. I mean, I've been to
Badlands a bunch of times. That's usually about
the furthest that I really have been. And it
was really great. The car performed really well
until the end of the first day where I caught
the car on fire. Oh, shit. what happened yeah
um so there was a ravine and i was second in
line and i was following the leader his name
is cody and he was in i believe it was a yj uh
it was an older jeep and i think he was only
on 35s and so he goes down and he he gets sideways
because it's it's a really deep ravine and i
ended up having to use my winch to kind of guiding
down through it and so i came down and i i almost
rolled and i throttled out of it and made it
through but when i did that i came down really
hard and i didn't have a crossbar for my front
shock hoops and they flexed enough that it knocked
my brake reservoir right off the master cylinder
so brake fluid went everywhere over my exhaust
and caught on fire wow it's kind of a shitty
situation all that compiling like there You said
this was in Core, too? So, not the Core that
you're thinking of, Core. Yeah, thinking of a
different Core. Yeah, so when you think of Core,
you think of the Kiwanaw Overland. Yeah, that's
why I was very confused. What does Core C -O
-R -E stand for? Do you know? Complete Off -Road
Experience. Gotcha. Yeah, that's what it is.
Yeah. Yeah, I'm thinking I'm like ravines. I'm
like, I don't imagine any cars having issues
with any ravines in the Q &A. Yeah, Gavin's our
local overlander, so he's very confused. Yeah,
I fit more into the overland side of things.
I like to wheel. It's just not like I don't want
to be doing it like 100 % of the time. I do like...
No, I get that. I think what's funny is... I
did not build the AMC to be an overland vehicle,
but I'm about to take it on this giant trip where
that's where what I'm going to be doing is overlanding.
So I'm going to have to do a bunch of modifications
so I can make room so I can have a fridge, certain
tools and pack out stuff that I wouldn't normally
take. Overlanding affects your overall weight
and the way that it's distributed too. that's
gonna be cool though i'd be really interested
to see like what you do to make it to make it
work i mean i assume you're tent camping or yep
um i got one of those um it's like it comes with
a cot and then the tent is part of the car yeah
yeah yep yeah so just a little one man like it's
a good size um Those are pretty nice. That's
why I'm going to be sleeping out. I'll have two
of those because my co -dog will be with me,
and he has a similar setup. Then, obviously,
we'll have a fridge for food, tools, a whole
bunch of tools. Crawler off -road keeps me up
with some tool rolls that I can put on my roll
cage because that's a big thing that is... It's
a two -door car, but I took out the rear seats.
I need to make room for all this stuff. Tools
that I got to carry spare parts for that, especially
being that far away. You got to be prepared for
pretty much everything. You should tell Crawler
to get a hold of me. I'll give you my email.
I've been trying to get a hold of him for a while.
Trying. I just want to know where the ropes are
actually made at. okay because i i'm really curious
if they're you know who they work with to actually
have them made because i know they design them
but who actually you know puts them together
yeah yeah i've got their i've got their winch
line i've got their tool rolls i've got a bunch
of their stuff good stuff huh yeah so you've
got is uh is tyler sponsoring you again too or
just uh just crawler um nope they so they're
not really sponsoring me um if you will it's
more of a like hey we know that you're going
on this trip yeah and i'm pretty faithful to
them so just kind of hooked me up a little bit
thank you yeah yeah very cool yeah i will say
the sponsors for ua oh yeah yeah yeah that's
oh man build something so you can make it on
ua yeah yeah i dude i want on so bad i mean i'm
not too far off with the forerunner i just uh
it'd be weird having an ifs rig on ua that's
for sure yeah um my my second gen forerunner
um that the motor is currently Tick tocking.
I started building a custom Dana 60 and swapping
the pumpkin to the passenger side. Yep. So it'll
have one ton axles on it. Sweet. I am really
excited to see your second gen done. I'm more
excited to see the TJ, but the second gen, it's
going to be cool. Yeah. That, that one is going
to be more like overland ish. like designed um
something i could take the family with because
between me and my wife we have six kids so i
need something that uh we can kind of take some
of the kids with some of yeah yeah not all i
uh i jokingly sent this really cool motor home
to our group chat earlier and i was like guys
this should be my next overland rig but i think
scotty needs it more than me i don't know i was
looking at your instagram you had a uh a dodge
with a flatbed on there oh yeah and uh be really
cool to throw a cab on the back of that uh or
like a cabin and take that out but that's only
what that's only a two -seater bench isn't it
yeah yeah then uh before that well i guess it
was like the same time i also had a big giant
green school bus yeah i was just yeah seeing
that in the background pictures i didn't know
if that was yours so i didn't say anything but
That's pretty cool. Yep. Nope. We bought it as
a full, it was a full complete school bus and
we removed everything. And then we made a wall
right in the middle of it. And then, so the back
half was like a toy hauler. Oh yeah. The front
half was like a camper. Yeah. We were joking
with Joey Amber from MST to telling him that
he needs to do that. I actually reached out to
Scotty to see if he still had it so Joe could
buy it. That was cool. I was going to say that
could be your rig to get out there at least.
Take one of the other ones. Why did you not stick
with the school bus? Was it just too much to
plan and use in? So it was kind of having some
other issues, and it did really good. So I put
a hitch on the back of it so I can haul two vehicles
with it, and it didn't care. It had an international
7 .3, so it did not care what was behind it.
It would have pulled it. The fuel mileage was
terrible. It did not get good mileage at all.
That's what the six, six, three or six, six,
six. I don't remember what they called that.
The international version of the seven, three.
You got me, buddy. But yeah, no, it's a, Oh,
T four, four E I'm sorry. Yep. And I think that
was a four 44 or something like that. Yeah. I,
uh, I built a power stroke. I mean, really close
to the same thing. And I'll tell you, I got like
four miles to the gallon in that stupid thing.
Yeah. That's ridiculous. But mind me. Just going
to Badlands and back, it was like $300 in fuel
to get there and back. What is that, like a two,
three -hour drive for you? Yeah, it's about three
and a half. Yeah. Oh, the park. Yeah, for us,
it's like five hours or so, four and a half,
five hours. yeah but i haven't made it down to
badlands yet that's on my uh my bucket list if
you will not really a bucket list because it's
achievable but yeah it's um it's a fun park um
so i'm right down the road like five ten minutes
away from roush off -road which is a pretty like
beginner park if you will It has some good trails,
some obstacles, but it's a good test if you do
something new to it. Then Bundy Hill is probably
a half hour, 45 minutes from me. That's a pretty
good intermediate park if I look at it. And then
Badlands would probably be the next step up above
that. It's definitely got a lot of cool. Usually
we would go there and go straight to the quarry,
break, and then go home. So now I've gotten the
habit of going there, going through the actual
trails and actually seeing the whole entire park.
And when you do that, you start finding some
really cool, like, places in that park. And you
can make a weekend trip out of it for sure. Hell,
yeah. Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Have you ever
made it up this way for Rocks and Valleys? So
I've attempted twice to make it there. Not last
year, I think the year before. It was in the
wintertime. And I took the school bus and hauled
my car and my buddy's Jeep all the way up there.
And I pulled the car off the bus, and it doesn't
move. Transmission stopped working. So I ended
up riding with my buddy in his Jeep until he
broke his driveshaft twice. And then we loaded
everything up and headed home. And then we went
to make it up there for the great American crawl.
And I was probably like 10 minutes away from
the park and I blew a tire on my trailer. I didn't
have a spare. So I was like, you know what? No
big deal. I can drive the car there. We'll deal
with the tire after the trip. So I unload the
car and I start driving. My wife is with me.
So she's driving the truck and all of a sudden
the car just stops moving, which was like really
crazy because. I know what caused my problem
before. And this time it didn't act like it was
overheating or anything like that. It just stopped
moving. And I was like, man, like why? And come
to find out my filter dropped in my pan. And
so it just wasn't picking up fluid. Dude. So
I have yet to actually wheel rocks and valleys.
We'll have to plan a weekend or a day or something
up at Rocks and Valleys. I'd say about a day.
You're not going to get much more than a day's
worth of entertainment out of it. Yeah. But,
yeah, it's a good time. So the little bit of
wheeling you did do, how do you compare that
to, say, Badlands or Bundy even? You know, numerous
times I've been told that Rocks and Valleys is
the best park in Michigan. I've only seen the
park in the snow, and that was a blast. Like,
we were just full sending it through all the
trails. Like, it was fun. So I really don't know
if it's any better than, like, Bundy Hill. If
anything, maybe it's pretty comparable from just
my experience. But for sure, if it's even comparable
to Bundy Hill, it does not compare to Badlands.
Badlands has a lot harder obstacles and trails
out there. Badlands still isn't the hardest.
Windrock is obviously way harder than even Badlands.
If you're looking to really push yourself and
not have to drive extremely far away like Badlands,
it's a beautiful place. First off, their camping,
how they have everything set up. They have everything
put together really well there. I don't think
I saw pictures of you there, so I'll ask, but
you weren't at Leatherwood this year with MST,
were you? No. Nope. I think I planned on going,
but I've just been doing a bunch of changes to
the car. Yeah. And so every time, like, a big
trip, it's like, yeah, I want to do that. Yeah.
And then I'm like, oh, I think I want to do this,
and then I end up changing a whole bunch of stuff.
Yeah. That looked sick. you would have been right
in your element down there that was a blast yeah
watching the videos and looking at all the photos
um it's definitely on on the list for sure yeah
i i want to get a trip down there with less people
because we just had too many freaking people
there so yeah i mean it was fun don't get me
wrong but there's a lot of stuff i want to do
that we just couldn't get to right right yeah
oh so what What size tires are you running on
that right now? Because these look fucking massive.
They are 40s. Oh, damn. Yeah, they almost look
bigger just in comparison to the car. Originally,
I set the car up for 37s, and then I got a crazy
deal on these 40s, and so I've just been running
those. This is massive, though. Oh my God. You
know, when, when you see a 40 inch tire every
day, it really doesn't look like that big of
a tire. I can see why like, Oh, I have 37. I
think I need to go to forties. Yeah. Oh man.
These forties are looking kind of small. Yeah.
Well, it's like, I forget who it is that there's
a guy that's got a Wrangler that's on a forties.
I think he was down at Leatherwood. I forget
his name though. But that thing is massive. I
didn't really realize it until I... Yeah, TJ?
Yeah. Oh, TJ has 40s. Yeah. I'm trying to think
of who was down there with 40s. Oh, it's... He's
got a JK. Oh, is it a JK? Yeah. I can't remember
his name. I can't think of his name. But yeah,
I know what you're talking about. It's black.
Yeah, yep, yep. I went to Barnbeer's or whatever
and other Derek's. and it was sitting in the
garage, and I walked in. I'm like, Jesus Christ.
It's just like a whole different level. Hey,
my little 33s just look like babies. Yeah, the
biggest I've ever gotten was 37s on my J truck,
and the 4Runner just needs so much stuff done
to it to fit anything bigger than a 35. You just
have to cut more. Take your fenders off. oh it's
not fenders it's it's firewall and inner fender
and i uh i need to get a set oh my god i need
to get a set of 30 i need to get a set of 37s
and test it now that i've got the long travel
on see how different it is yeah i wonder god
you'd be pretty fucking slow at 30 yeah you'd
be really You need to re -gear after that if
you did that. I need to re -gear when I go to
35s. Yeah. We'll see, because I'm putting that
manual in, and that's got a whole different gear
set than the automatic. So they say not to re
-gear until after you manual swap, because you
don't quite know where you want to be yet. With
my second gen, and it's a manual, I've got, I
think, 33s on there now. And I could put it in
four low in first gear, and it'll crawl itself
up obstacles. Huh. So it might be okay. Yeah,
that's kind of what I'm looking for. I'm doing
dual transfer cases, though, because I wouldn't
be able to drop it in low -low. Low -low. We'll
see. That's like the three -year plan. My three
-year plan is just to get to 35s. I mean, I could
probably do it like straight right now, but.
When like Toyota guys do like dual transfer cases
and then they'll throw gears in the axles. And
I think someone did like the math. It was like
a thousand to one gear ratio after everything
is done. That was Tyler and Jimmy when they were
on total off road. I think they did that, that
math. Yep. That was what, two years ago, a year
ago? I don't even remember. That was a long time
ago. Yeah, it's crazy what you can do with the
Toyotas, though. Having come from Jeeps my whole
life, it's a whole different world. Yeah. And
I'm kind of trying to stick with IFS just to
experience the best you can do with IFS, but
man, do I miss having a solid axle. I mean, look
at Dirt Lifestyle Nate with his Tacoma. That
thing is gorgeous. Yeah. That thing is Girth
Brooks. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. That's a lot of money
into that because he's got portals on it, too.
Oh, that thing is. Oh, yeah. I'd be living pretty
lavishly. but he does some cool stuff on it though
too i mean he uses it oh yeah right yeah it's
not just a show pony yeah don't just google girth
brooks apparently it's a male porn star yeah
what was your yeah i mean i could have probably
told you that man your algorithm is gonna be
kicking your ass now for the next couple months
yeah dude I haven't looked at this truck in a
long time, but every time I do, oh, my God. Yeah,
and he just did a bunch of work to it, too. What
is that, a Tacoma? Yeah, it's a Tacoma. Okay.
I'm not searching it because I don't want to
screw up my algorithm. Because now he's got portals
on it. It looks like long travel and portals.
So there you go, Gavin. Someone has done it.
Yeah, I've seen it. I just, oh. yeah don't look
girth brooks on instagram either son of a bitch
i thought i was safe on instagram nope he's official
oh that's hilarious 26 000 followers are you
kidding me let me clear that out of my recents
so yeah you're uh your list of projects you've
got tj amc yep forerunner then i got uh Yep,
and then I got the kid's Bronco, an 85 Bronco.
Aren't you doing a JKU, too? Oh, yeah, and I
have a JKU that is currently, I got a long -arm
kit on it, and I did 99 -04 Super Duty axles
on it, too. I thought I remember seeing you were
messing with a JKU tub not too long ago. Yep,
a bunch of the body mounts. The guy got it from
me, just cut them off. So I need to cut them
out. I'm just going to weld plates in with a
weld nut on the backside and throw it on. Go
ahead, Gavin. Oh, that's what I was asking earlier.
I asked if it was on a JKU chassis because I
saw the frame sitting there and I thought maybe
it was a flashback, but I didn't actually read
the description yet. Although that Bronco 2 is
really cool. Yeah, that one's going to be for
the wife. I've already got a 5 .3 for it. I'm
going to do a 4L80 trans. And if I can get my
hands on an Atlas, that'd be phenomenal. And
then I'll probably do like roll cage, all that
stuff. It doesn't have anything inside. So I'm
going to custom build the dash and center console
and then roll cage and all that kind of stuff.
I kind of want to see the Bronco too, because
that was before I got the FJ. I was seriously,
seriously considering buying. There was an Eddie
Bauer edition Bronco II for sale that was just
mint. And having those 40s sitting next to it
on your Instagram profile, that thing actually
looks really cool. I could see the vision behind
it. That would be really cool. I remember. I
already got axles for that as well. The 40s that
are on the AMC now are going to go on to their
Bronco. It still has the stock 2 .8, which I
got running. So I'm just going to let them run
that thing until it doesn't run anymore. I've
got YJ leaf springs that I'm doing front and
rear. So keep it super simple. you know isn't
going to require a lot of maintenance and something
they can abuse and it's not going to cost a lot
of money if i need to fix any kind of parts yeah
right aside from the windows being somewhat wrapped
but that was like i was like dude car camping
in the back of the bronco too like that that
would be so cool having those giant windows there
to be looking out of and i just thought that
would be the coolest little overlander but Yeah,
with more than a couple people, you get a family,
and I was like, yeah, this is not going to work.
Yeah. Well, and back in the day, like five years
ago, I'd tell people to get Bronco 2s because
they were cheap. Now they're not cheap. No. I
traded a CJ hardtop for that Bronco. Jesus. I
mean, other than the cutting, it looks pretty
solid for. Yeah. The floor is. Not as there as
it should be, but the patina on it is super nice.
So I'm probably just going to clean it, clear
coat it once I get everything done, and then
just leave it sit like that. I'm browsing Marketplace
for the cheapest Bronco II I can find, and you
can get Broncos for less than you can get Bronco
IIs now. oh here's the cheapest one i found they
want three grand for it and it is not pretty
yeah that's just the eddie bauer one i saw it
was 11 grand but it was i mean it was completely
there i mean absolutely zero rust anywhere on
the frame anywhere it it looked like it was a
showroom basically i think it had a a tight like
a like a light lightened area on the seat and
lightened area where the hand or the arm goes
on the armrest area on the door but that was
it it's just crazy to me seeing those cars getting
that expensive because i i mean i had a buddy
who bought one for 300 bucks in arizona like
they just they weren't worth anything older vehicles
they just turn into more like stock items like
you have to you can cash them in at the ebb and
flow of the the vehicle market it's like toyota's
right now If you had a little parking lot full
of old Toyotas that were rust -free, you could
be rolling in the dough now. You should talk
about your TJ, though. I'm really excited about
that one. That's going to be so cool, man. Yeah.
So what's funny is how I came about the TJ. Someone
reached out to me with a Grand Cherokee. It was
a ZJ. And it was super clean. And a good friend
of mine had the TJ, and he traded the TJ for
my Grand Cherokee, which is crazy. So I was driving
it, doing a little bit of work on it, had a locker
in the front, was running 31s or 33s. And then
he had... did all this wiring for a bunch of
custom lights that all these Jeep, Jeep people
do. Yeah. And it caught on fire while I was at
work. And so, and the engine, cause I had a four
Oh and it was burning oil. I was going through
two quarts of oil a week at least. And so I was
like, you know what, what if I, Just strip it
completely down and build it into what I want
it to be. And so that was what I started as.
And now it's sitting over in the barn waiting
its turn. But we're going to do, it's going to
get one ton axles. Maybe do like a nine inch
and a 44. I think if put together really well,
they hold up considerably. And it's going to
be super light. There's not a whole bunch of
weight there. But, yeah, we're going to do a
boosted Honda K24 engine, and then we're going
to do an adapter plate to a GM transmission and
transfer case. That's crazy. Do you know which
transmission you're going to run behind it or
just GM in general? I'd like to do a 4L80, but
personally. Especially because it was supposed
to be for the wife, and she doesn't want a manual.
But now I'm building her the JK, so now I can
build the TJ for me. And I would absolutely love
for it to be a manual, especially having the
turbo and everything like that and be able to
two -step it and shoot. Yeah, so we're kind of
cruising five -speed options, six -speed options
for that. yeah yeah and really with it being
a k series you don't need a whole lot i mean
obviously you don't want to just throw any transmission
in there but it doesn't need anything super strong
because you're gonna boost it to what like 400
horsepower um so i know with stock internals
and a good turbo setup and tuned uh they push
700 easy right um so i'd like to get it in around
like six 600 is where i'd like to see it i think
Cause when I had a civic side that was boosted
and that made, it was only like 10 pounds of
boost, but it made like 380 horsepower. Yeah.
Like all stock internals, some Chinese wind bang
blower on there. I'll probably stick with like
37 on it. I don't think it'll need anything crazy.
I want to keep it low. Kind of how I did the
AMC. I want to keep it low. Cause a lot of the
TJ guys. when they go to like bigger tires they
just get super tall and yep they look cool don't
get me wrong but it's i just like to have that
lower center of gravity for off -roading and
stuff like that yeah when i i uh when i built
mine my goal was to keep that low center of gravity
because wheeling in arizona man that gets scary
when you're on those steep inclines and you're
on your side basically So, I mean, I only did,
the biggest tire I put on there was a 33. I never
got any bigger before I blew it up. But take
the fenders off. You can just, you know, just
taking the fenders off, you can put the wheels
all the way up over the hood on those TJs. Yeah.
I mean, there are crazy amounts of flex on those
things. Yep. Yeah, I'm really excited for that.
My two biggest loves, boosted K20s and TJs. I
originally was going to chop it in half and do
like a brute conversion on it. Have like a little
truck bed in the back, which I still might do.
I won't know until I get to it. I usually do
whatever kind of comes into my lap, like the
axles and stuff like that. I do what usually
comes to me first and then kind of just play
it by ear that way. Yeah, we've got a long, long
-term project going right now that's going to
be a YJ body on a 4Runner frame with a Toyota
engine. I mean, Toyota everywhere except for
the YJ body. And originally the plan was to just
cut the frame behind the rear axle so it fit
the YJ. But we've been discussing turning it
into a brute because we'll have that little bit
of extra frame there. Yeah. So we'll see. Either
way, that's going to be a really cool one. Then
to have all Toyota suspension stuff on it. I
know. The point is to piss off the Jeep guys.
Oh, yeah. You'll do great. There's a company
out there that makes IFS conversions for the
JK. They're super expensive. I was like, man,
just to be different? Right. What do they use
it for? Baja kind of shit? Isn't that the only
thing IFS does a little better than solid? Probably.
A lot of people go to the IFS because they do
ride fairly nice. Other than that, it's not something
i would like yeah let me ifs swap this to go
hit the trails like right yeah it's more like
a like a trophy truck kind of thing yeah i would
imagine i uh i saw i saw a jk with twin ibeam
on youtube the other day and i just it's just
wild to me yeah because i i remember having to
rebuild my twin ibeam on my f -250 all the time
and now people are putting them on their jeeps
it's just yeah Like, this is the best thing ever.
Yeah. And I'm like, man, back in the mid -2000s,
we were rebuilding those all the time. I don't
even know what I -beam is. Hold on, let me educate
myself. Twin I -beam? Yeah, let me do that. Searching.
Just look up a 97 F -250, or front end, that'll
give you an idea. Oh, okay, yeah. It's like,
I don't know the names of them, but I kind of
like, I know what they look like. Yeah. Twin,
twin I beam is good for go fast jump applications
pretty much. Right. I'll have to share the one
guy. It looked like he had two different. It's
like, it looked like two different, um, like
just axles on his Yoda. Uh, it looked kind of
like an I beam, but it started in the middle
and came out. It was like a, you know what I'm
saying? I don't really know how to explain it.
I'm not very good with words. That's what the
Bronco 2 came with. Oh, yeah. Those would have
had the, yeah. I think all F -150s, the Bronco,
well, the Bronco had them too, right? Those weren't
solid axle. Right. And then. So F -150s, Broncos,
Bronco IIs, F -250s. I mean, pretty much everything
in the Ford lineup until you got to one tons.
Yep. I don't think Chevy or Dodge ever even messed
with twin I -beam. I think it was only Ford.
Yeah, not that I can think of off the top of
my head. Because Chevy always had their weird
IFS with the crazy long control or trailing arms.
Yeah. Dodge for the most part was solid axle.
Yeah. Yeah, we had an F -250 growing up, but
for the most part it was Jeeps, and Jeeps are
always solid axles. Right. At least in my situation.
I guess there are newer ones that are IFS. Yeah.
Or IRS, because the Trailhawks are IFS and IRS.
Yep. and they don't flex at all. They look like
a board just tipping side to side on the trail.
But, yeah, we're hitting about 45 minutes. I
think it's a good time to call it. I got a lot
to do this weekend. Yeah. Thanks for coming on,
Scotty. Yeah. I can't wait to see the UA video
this year. It's cool having someone. I mean,
I know we've never met in person, but we talk
online every once in a while. Oh, yeah. it's
cool having someone I, you know, quote unquote,
no being in there. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's I'm
really looking forward to the trip. Like I said,
if you, cause I'm gonna start posting videos
on the car here soon on that, on my Thunder Fox
garage. I've got Thunder Fox garage, Facebook,
Instagram, and YouTube. I'm going to post everything.
I'm going to record my trip on the way out there,
the whole entire trip. I'm going to try to do
the best I can to get some actual good footage
of it. It's something I'm going to want to look
back on years from now, I'm sure. They always
do a good time putting out good videos too, so
it'll be cool to see your take on how things
go and their takes. Now that they've separated
from Motor Trend, they have a lot more freedom.
to do that kind of stuff and so that's that's
been their main focus is getting as much content
out for these trips as they as they ever did
in the past yeah that and that motor trend that
motor trend collapse is kind of wild yep but
at least we uh still have all the cool personalities
even if they're not with motor trend oh right
yeah at least i'm glad that they didn't just
when they ended everything else ended and um
Just to add a little bit to this trip, without
spoiling too much, my trip isn't going to just
end on UA. Okay. So there will be more trip details
after that. All right. That sounds interesting.
Yeah. It's like a little spoiler here. Yeah.
So yeah, we'll definitely watch a Thunder Fox
garage on all the socials. Scotty does some really
cool stuff. So yeah, we'll thank you. We'll catch
you guys later.