We’re gearing up for a big ride out west with our FREE abandoned Can-Am Defender, and that means its time to throw the parts book at it! Before we can bolt 32-inch tires to this rig, we need to upgrade a few other systems, including the clutch, and suspension.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 All right we're back with the Dirty Defender. We brought this thing back from the dead. It was
00:03 abandoned in the Arizona desert. We've done a bunch of maintenance to it, oil and all that stuff, so
00:08 it's pretty much ready to run in stock form. What we're doing in this video is modifying it.
00:12 So we're basically beginning with, we're going to put 32 inch tires on. To put 32 inch tires on
00:26 we need to do a little bit of a lift with some A-arms and then we're also putting some
00:31 Ray-Tv aluminum doors. You know when you change the tires, when you go to a 32 inch tire, you're
00:35 basically changing the gear ratio. What we're doing is, A) we're putting a new Gates belt on it
00:40 and also we're re-clutching it. So we're using a new primary and a new secondary designed to
00:46 work together and designed specifically for the ratio that we're going to achieve by putting the
00:52 32s on it. Let's get started. Let's first mod. This is going to be the clutch.
00:56 Oh not too bad.
01:03 So off she comes. Good to go.
01:12 So we're going to clean it out in here and get it ready to install the new clutch.
01:18 We'll start with the primary. This is the KWI piece. It's factory K&M parts with KWI special
01:26 parts. On the secondary side, this is their Groovix. Beautiful billet. We're super excited
01:32 to try this out because we are going to rock crawl. We are going to have adventures. We want
01:36 to see how it works. So most of the time belts either have an arrow in the way that they're
01:59 supposed to travel or you just put them so you can read the words.
02:09 This is more fun stuff. I love the modifications. We did the clutch. Super rad doing the clutch
02:26 because we want the big tires. If we want the big tires, we got to do the suspension. So that's what
02:30 we're doing. We're going to replace these A-arms with extended A-arms that go farther forward.
02:35 We're going to take off the shock, take off the brake, take apart the hub, disconnect the axle,
02:40 and get the hub separate from the vehicle so we can slide the A-arms in and then put
02:45 some new mounts for the shock in as well. So let's get into it.
02:58 There's more dirt. There's more dirt.
03:11 Yeah. There's a pile of dirt on the ground underneath where I was working. Who knew?
03:19 Here we are.
03:29 So
03:42 at the rear, we're going to attack the high clearance two-inch offset A-arms. So we got to
03:52 remove the A-arms that are here and then put these on. They're thicker. They're heavier tubing. And
03:58 what we get out of that is more clearance for the wheels. We have those big 32s, so
04:02 we want them to fit. That's what we're going to do. We're going to dig in and get it.
04:05 Shock out.
04:24 So
04:35 we got it all together. The rear extended A-arms gives you room for the tires. Pretty cool.
04:50 Exciting. I can't wait to get tires, get the thing back on the ground and see what the stance is all
04:55 about. So you can see I've got a door. We're going to fit the passenger side door. We've got the
05:01 brackets installed. You install them loosely so that you can slide the door into position.
05:06 And then I tighten all the hardware and then that should be it for the door install.
05:15 So
05:23 I love changing tires. I love new tires. Anyway, we're going to change tires, throw this bad boy
05:35 on the rear rim and we'll do a comparison so you can see the rim in the tire with the stock one and
05:40 see what advantages we're gaining. This is what we're done with here. This is what we're getting.
05:50 You can see there's a massive difference in diameter. That's what we got. It's nice.
05:54 Rolls easy over big stuff. We are almost home and I am desperate to be finished. I've been crawling
06:01 around on concrete for weeks just chipping away at this project and now we're almost finished with
06:07 the mods. You can see the front suspension is nearly done. 32 inch Kenda Mastodons. We can't
06:12 wait to see what the stance is like when we get that done. The clutching is finished in the back
06:16 and the power delivery is going to match the wheels. The stuff that's out there still is
06:20 basically kind of cosmetics a little bit performance. We have a windscreen dialing in
06:25 the upholstery so that our custom seat covers look the best. And then we have a custom wrap coming,
06:30 basically, you know, killer graphics. And our next big thing will be to reveal this thing in
06:34 all its glory, all the graphics. And we're going to do that out in Arizona on a big adventure with
06:39 the UTV Driver East Coast Office guys. So if you like what we're doing, hit the like button. If you
06:44 want to ask questions or have comments about what's going on, hit the comments below. And if
06:49 you subscribe and hit the bell, then you can know when our great stuff's coming out next. And it'll
06:54 show up in your feed and you can check out what happens with this rig next time.
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