Urban Wheeling at the Toledo Jeep Factory
When Fred Williams and Dave get the once-in-a-lifetime chance to go four-wheeling at the site of the 75-year-old Jeep factory in Toledo
Transcript
00:00 This week on Dirt Every Day we're concrete crawling at the home of the Jeep, Toledo, Ohio.
00:05 A little help, Fred?
00:06 I got you, Dave.
00:08 [Music]
00:35 We are in Brighton, Michigan at Diversified Creations.
00:38 Now like a lot of you JK owners, we brought our JK to a shop to get some work done to it.
00:43 I'm not insulting you and saying that most JK guys don't work on their stuff, but it's true.
00:48 Most JK guys don't work on their stuff. They just take it to a shop and get some work done.
00:52 We brought it to Diversified because these guys are known for building all types of cool 4x4s and hot rods,
00:57 and they got a heated shop and we're in the middle of Michigan and it's freezing here.
01:01 You alright, Dave?
01:02 I'm cold.
01:02 Yeah, it's cold here.
01:03 So we are going to build this JK. We're going to put bigger axles, bigger tires.
01:07 We're going to work with the guys here at the shop and then we're going to take it to Toledo, Ohio.
01:11 That's the home of Jeep. That's where they've been making Jeeps for 75 some years.
01:14 And we're going to see if there's any place in Toledo that we can take our Jeep urban off-road.
01:20 Alright, so we're doing a suspension from JKS.
01:22 We got brand new springs. We got brand new suspension arms.
01:25 Check this out. Not only are their parts really clean, their packaging is clean.
01:29 So there's an adjustable track bar here. There's new drop brackets for bump stops, track bar.
01:36 We're going to put all this stuff on.
01:37 It's only about a two and a half inch lift because we don't want to lift the Jeep really tall,
01:41 but this is a really clean, simple kit that you can put on at home.
01:44 We got the new Ultimate 60 axles from Dana. These are ready to bolt into the JK.
01:58 The wheel speed sensors, the locker wiring, everything works.
02:01 The idea on this is go overkill now and spend your money once.
02:04 You don't need to be buying two sets of wheels and upgrading those axles when you can put the beef right in it.
02:09 I didn't just say that.
02:12 [Laughter]
02:28 There's really no comparing the new 60 to the old 44.
02:31 We've got larger diameter axle tubes, heavier wall tubing, 35 spline, one ton shafts.
02:37 One of the best upgrades they do on these is the worn locking hubs.
02:41 Now you can roll down the road without having all the front drivetrain spinning.
02:45 It's a custom high pinion center chunk for the front.
02:48 It's got improved clearance on the bottom and oiling for the pinion gear.
02:52 Enough of an upgrade that you'll never have to come back and mess with it again.
02:56 I feel like this is a lot of bang for your buck.
02:59 So we've got all the JKS link arms all pre-set to the stock length.
03:08 Track bars are set.
03:10 We kind of got this ready to go ahead of time so it's going to make short work of getting this lift kit put in.
03:14 As easy as all this kit is and all these parts are and how you can basically build a hardcore rock crawler with a stock vehicle,
03:22 it makes me almost want to get rid of my trail rig and build a JK for the family.
03:26 Got 150 pounds of nitrogen in the shock so when you cut the strap off of it you've got to get the bolt in there
03:42 otherwise you fight it for like a few more minutes.
03:44 Good work.
03:52 Where'd you get it?
03:54 There it is.
03:56 Boom!
03:58 The next step on this is going to be to swap the brake lines over to the new calipers.
04:02 It's pretty impressive the size difference in these things.
04:05 I mean this setup is definitely designed to stop like a full-size truck with some big tires.
04:10 So on this little JK it's going to be incredible.
04:13 The rear Ultima Dana 60 is a low pinion full floating axle.
04:17 The front is a high pinion steering axle.
04:20 We're running some Currie steering components, a Currie tie rod, Currie drag link.
04:24 We also have the JKS adjustable track bar.
04:27 JKS, it's new flex connector on the sway bar disconnect.
04:31 Fox steering dampener on the front end.
04:33 You're getting much beefier components in factory and pretty much bolts in.
04:38 There's a few little things here and there like your steering parts you're going to run.
04:41 You're going to want a bigger suspension because you're going to want a little bit more ground clearance
04:45 and you're going to need different wheels in factory.
04:47 So there's a few additional costs than that, but you're ending up with way big beefy parts
04:52 that will hold up to off-road abuse.
04:54 So you really shouldn't have to worry about any of the axles underneath the Jeep when you have these sort of upgrades.
04:59 All right, we're going to replace the driveshafts in the JK with brand new driveshafts.
05:03 This stock shaft has a really large body which actually hangs down more, makes it more likely to hit rocks.
05:09 It's probably really well balanced for running down the highway, but as an off-road driveshaft, not really what you want.
05:15 This one's really heavy.
05:17 Here Dave, let me help you.
05:19 All right, so this has a 1350 CV at this end, big 1350 joint at this end.
05:25 This is made by Dana Spicer.
05:27 This driveshaft is ready to bolt in with their Dana Spicer axles.
05:30 As the axle tucks up, it's more ground clearance to rocks and off-road obstacles.
05:34 Here you go Dave. Got this?
05:36 Thanks.
05:37 All right, that's it. We're just about done. We're going to get out of here early tonight.
05:40 Thanks for all your help.
05:43 [Music]
05:45 Good morning. Day two is getting started on our Jeep JK build.
05:57 JKs are so easy to put together because if you have the right parts and the right tools and the right guys, these things just literally bolt together.
06:04 My brother Dave, my brother Darrell, my other brother Dave have been working really hard yesterday.
06:09 We already had the Dana axles and the JKS suspension underneath the thing.
06:12 Today we're going to put some Rugged Ridge accessories on.
06:14 We've got some bumpers and a winch as well as painless performance wiring.
06:18 So by the end of the day today, we will be just about ready to roll out of here and go play in the dirt.
06:23 You ready Dave?
06:24 I'm ready.
06:25 Feeling good?
06:26 No.
06:27 Dave's catching a cold.
06:28 I'm putting some Rugged Ridge skid plates underneath the transfer case, the transmission and the engine oil pan.
06:36 You probably recall in other episodes of Dirt Every Day where I've driven over things and smashed oil pans and then been stuck out in the middle of nowhere.
06:42 We're going to put this on and then we're going to lower the Jeep down and get the bumpers put on and put our front winch on and start moving up from the bottom.
06:56 There we go.
06:57 There it is.
07:07 So we have the bumper, there's the brackets on the frame, the shackles mount through the bumper into the brackets on the frame.
07:15 And when you're doing this, you want to make sure every bolt is loose so that you can wiggle it around and get it all lined up.
07:24 So watch your fingers.
07:26 Beautiful.
07:29 Dave, did this need to go on first?
07:35 Dave, do you know what this is?
07:38 Trail rocker, trail, trail rocker.
07:40 Yeah.
07:41 This is a trail rocker.
07:42 It's got all these switches.
07:43 You can run all of your accessories, electrical and otherwise, off of this.
07:47 It's super clean from painless and you just have to mount all this stuff up here.
07:53 That was so easy it was painless.
07:55 So this is the Rugged Ridge light bar.
08:01 It uses three different lights up here and then there's also a slot here so you can mount side accessory lights.
08:07 And these will all run off of our trail rocker system.
08:09 So this is a roof rack of our ExoTop.
08:12 It's basically a roof rack that goes on the back of the Jeep and then ties into the B pillar.
08:20 Set it right down on that rail.
08:23 Awesome.
08:25 Firestone MTs have been around for a while.
08:40 These American Racing wheels are brand new.
08:42 You've got two different styles.
08:44 You can get these tires and wheels from Tire Rack.
08:47 We're going to put them on our Jeep and go four wheel.
08:49 Anything else we're missing Dave?
08:51 No, we just got to clean up our mess and get out of here.
08:54 Alright, so as soon as Dave's cleaned up our mess, we're going to get out of here.
08:57 Hopefully it doesn't snow overnight and we're stuck here in Michigan for the rest of our lives.
09:01 Why is it so cold today?
09:18 Okay, we'll be done with this JK in no time.
09:21 Got to finish putting the top on, bolt the tires on.
09:24 We've got some flares coming and...
09:26 Paint from the hood shop.
09:28 Get the hood from the paint shop.
09:30 We thought we were almost done yesterday, but then we actually went back and read the instructions
09:41 and we had more work ahead of us.
09:43 So button up the top, put a hood on it, and we're out of here.
09:47 Normally there's a factory flare right here, it kind of wraps down.
09:51 And it actually impedes a little bit of your tire.
09:54 If your tire went up all the way, it would probably eat into the flare.
09:56 Rugged Ridge offers a lot of different types of flares.
09:58 We've got these, which are their flat fender style pocket flares.
10:02 These will bolt into 99% of the factory holes.
10:06 We trim the inner fender liner just a little bit, so we'll be able to protect the engine from mud
10:11 and fit our nice big tires.
10:14 Awesome!
10:16 Alright, roll out Fred.
10:40 Lockers disengaged. Engage highway speed.
10:44 Hey, check it out, an off-road trail.
10:53 Great.
10:55 We're going to have to get a new tire.
10:57 We're going to have to get a new tire.
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17:11 Seems like you're working it, Dave.
17:13 Tear it up over here a little.
17:15 [Music]
17:28 Log pile crawl.
17:30 Whoa, whoa, whoa, Dave.
17:32 We're urban off-roading.
17:34 There's probably some sort of woodland creature in there.
17:37 Roller log pile crawl.
17:39 Oh boy. Here we go.
17:41 Oh boy.
17:43 Go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go, go.
17:53 [Laughter]
17:57 That was awesome.
17:59 Log crawling champions of the world.
18:02 Concrete pile crawling.
18:04 Let's go over there to the construction site.
18:06 [Music]
18:17 Go up that way, Dave.
18:19 [Music]
18:22 Rock crawling.
18:24 Rock crawling.
18:26 [Music]
18:28 Hang it up.
18:30 You got the lockers engaged?
18:32 Yeah, it's all on.
18:33 Awesome.
18:34 Get it, Dave. Get it.
18:36 Up there, up there, up there.
18:38 Keep going, keep going. You got it.
18:40 Back up. Realign.
18:43 This is a little more technical than I was ready for.
18:45 Yeah, you got it. You got this, Dave. You're a pro.
18:48 Keep going.
18:51 Perfect. Right here.
18:53 Ah, look at this.
18:56 So much urban off-roading.
18:58 You got telephone poles, big rubble pile full of concrete, some mud bogging.
19:04 What are you looking at?
19:06 I smashed the front end.
19:07 Is it all right?
19:08 It looks good.
19:09 Laughed it off.
19:10 My turn.
19:12 I'm driving off this cliff.
19:14 [Music]
19:18 [Laughter]
19:23 I got it.
19:25 Day in the 60s.
19:27 Hill climb.
19:29 [Music]
19:51 All right, Dave. Let's do some power line crawling.
19:55 That's a bad idea.
19:56 I'm pretty sure these power lines were used for years, bringing energy to the Jeep factory to build Jeeps full of freedom.
20:05 Ready?
20:06 Yeah.
20:07 [Music]
20:12 I think we have all four wheels off the ground.
20:14 Yeah. This one's touching. That one's touching.
20:17 I have the front off the ground.
20:19 You want me to look under?
20:21 Yeah.
20:25 We got hung up on the belly like really good there, but it's not so bad that I don't think we can pull off of.
20:32 Fred's going to try something different.
20:34 We're going to hook up to the power pole we're actually stuck on.
20:37 This synthetic rope's like the only thing that's not cold.
20:44 You just making a choker out of it?
20:46 Yep.
20:47 So now it'll choke onto that.
20:49 Hopefully it will move the Jeep before it drags the pole or drags down the pole.
20:53 Urban recovery engaged.
20:55 Get in and drive.
20:56 All right.
20:57 Go for it.
21:03 Stop.
21:07 Good work, Fred.
21:11 Woo-hoo!
21:12 Good job, Dave.
21:14 Let's go do some other stuff.
21:18 Think we can drive down there, Dave?
21:20 I'm curious, Fred.
21:24 How's it look?
21:25 It looks bad, Fred.
21:29 Give him a little driver if you can.
21:40 See, it's not holding up on this side.
21:45 It's really bad on the belly and all this old concrete and mud is not sticking around
21:52 long enough for it to get traction to pull either forward or back.
21:55 So we're going to need to get the camera crew out here to take care of this for us while
21:59 we get a good coffee.
22:08 That might be it.
22:13 All right, now everybody get out of the way.
22:16 Oh, there's that stupid rock that was hanging me up.
22:19 Yeah, hard passenger.
22:22 There you go.
22:23 All right, cool.
22:26 Passenger.
22:28 Perfect.
22:31 Woo!
22:35 This is just like normal off-roading, but kind of a little sketchier here.
22:40 All right, we're going to try and drive up this V-notch.
22:46 Did you ever bother looking at the other side of this thing?
22:49 No.
22:51 Okay, let's go.
22:56 Whoa!
22:58 Whoa!
23:00 It's like Jingle Bells, all the rebar.
23:03 I think we got this.
23:04 Yeah, we totally got it.
23:09 There it is.
23:10 Oh, come on.
23:11 Come on, little dude.
23:14 Yes!
23:15 What are we getting into?
23:16 I don't know, but it's awesome.
23:23 How's this drop-off look?
23:24 This one's way better than the last few.
23:27 We'll probably get stuck.
23:28 You might need to just keep it rolling.
23:30 Okay.
23:31 There you go.
23:32 Drive it out.
23:36 Woo-hoo!
23:39 We got it.
23:41 Low bridge.
23:44 All right, Fred, you keep getting this thing stuck.
23:46 Let me drive.
23:51 My old bones are sore.
23:54 Cold out here.
23:57 All right, Fred, this is how you do it.
23:59 Show me.
24:00 Have you been over this thing yet?
24:02 This looks like an easy one.
24:14 Dude, you're doing great.
24:16 Awesome.
24:17 I'll be back.
24:18 I'm going to go get something warm to drink.
24:20 Get it!
24:27 I can tell you're a professional.
24:34 Looking good, Dave.
24:43 That's it for Dirt Every Day.
24:45 We'll see you next time.
24:46 Thanks for meeting, Dave.
24:50 We'd like to throw out a special thanks to Rugged Ridge Painless Performance, JKS Suspension,
24:56 the guys at Diversified Creations, and Dana Spicer for helping us build this Jeep.
25:01 Special thanks to the people at Jeep that loaned us the Jeep to give us something to
25:04 go beat around in.
25:05 And definitely special thanks to the city of Toledo.
25:08 You guys have a great city.
25:09 It's really cool that we got to do something most people never get to do.
25:12 Right here is where Jeeps have been built for 75 years, and we're the first guys to
25:16 get to go four-wheeling on it.
25:17 Good times.