Regardless of if you have a horde of miscreant offspring to cart around off-road or you and your closest dirt crew make up an octet, JD Fabrication has the parts and know-how to level your ’00-’06 Chevy 1500 Suburban 4x4 and outfit it with a 2.5-inch-diameter free-bleed King bypass shock at each corner. The JD Fabrication mid-travel leveling kit makes room for up to 35-inch tires, with some minor trimming, and increases front wheel travel to 11 inches. It is designed to fit all GMT800-series 4x4 chassis as well. The free-bleed shock design eliminates all of the noise normally associated with traditional bypass shocks, yet still provides position-sensitive shock valving and a smooth ride both on- and off-road. The JD Fabrication spec King free-bleed bypass shocks offer a 2-inch bump zone to help control more aggressive trail impacts. We stopped by JD Fabrication in Escondido, California, to see how it all comes together.
This 1985 Ford Bronco 4X4 owned by Todd Sanderson of Leucadia Motorsports is the definition of multi-purpose. Used for years to mark SCORE racecourses up and down the Baja Peninsula, it has and does go everywhere. There is a big difference between running a racecourse at speed and constantly stopping and starting to set up course markers, and Todd’s Bronco does both equally well. Everywhere you look on this JD Fab built Ford Bronco you find smart, simple, and functional design paired with clean fabrication.
The Ford Bronco was built in 2007. After taking delivery, Todd immediately drove straight to Ensenada, Mexico, where he picked up course-marking supplies. He then set out to mark the SCORE Baja 1000 course, which ran all the way down the peninsula to Cabo San Lucas. After marking the course, he returned home, traveling roughly 2,500 miles without an issue. The Ford Bronco marked the Baja 250, 500, and 1000 courses until 2012. It has covered many thousands of miles of the toughest Baja terrain without skipping a beat and rescued countless stuck prerunners along the way. Todd and his Leucadia Motorsports crew now compete in the NORRA Mexican 1000, a race that travels the length of the Baja Peninsula each year. At this point, Todd probably doesn’t even have to steer the truck—it knows the way!
The 4-Wheel & Off-Road Ultimate Adventure, presented by BFGoodrich Tires, is the coolest wheeling trip we take all year and the one we know you all lie awake at night dreaming about going on. It's a weeklong expedition to string together the best wheeling trails the off-road world has to offer, and to do it in vehicles that drive on the street more than 1,200 miles as well as they tackle the trails. Make no mistake, there are no trailer queens on this trip, and anyone who whines about not being able to handle the terrain or fix their stuff when it breaks ain't coming with us. No matter who you know.
The secret to Ultimate Adventure's success is that it is unlike any other off-road trip because it is completely different every year. We purposely seek out the trails less travelled and combine them with the big-name trails you know to demonstrate what is possible with a group of dedicated off-road enthusiasts who are passionate about their hobby and the vehicles they build.
This year we threw away all the safety nets of being close to home and decided we needed a challenge that included more than just rockcrawling. We also wanted to shake things up by bringing along some new vehicles that we thought would be better suited for the Southern mud runs we had planned in Murphy, North Carolina; Monteagle, Tennessee; Birmingham, Alabama; Starkville, Mississippi; and Hot Springs, Arkansas. To guarantee things went smoothly, we called in our partners at BFGoodrich, Flowmaster, Rhino Linings, Warn Industries, Tuff Country Suspension, Trailready, Poison Spyder Customs, Dynatrac, and Detroit Locker to help us make this year's UA take off. We're thankful to have had this support and logistical help when we where closer to their backyards than our own.
But most importantly, we heard your requests for more reader participation and we stepped up to invite three readers with us on this year's Adventure. Mike Copeland of Brighton, Michigan, Bryan Richman of Robertsdale, Alabama, and Tommy Galbreath of Courtland, Virginia got the nod. All three of them submitted their entries and won a spot on the adventure of a lifetime. We'll be watching for your entry next year.
Sooner or later, you'll be faced with making a decision without having enough time to ponder the pros and cons. The results of such decisions will vary, but for the most part, they don't normally turn in your favor. If you enjoy the rush from leaps of faith, then you probably play the roulette tables in Las Vegas. On occasion, good things come from blind decision-making. If the timing is good and you're educated on the subject, the percentage of good results increases.
Chad McGarity of Encinitas, California, found this to be true when he made an educated guess on a cheap T100 he purchased via the Internet. Chad was scouting for talent on his favorite Web sites when a pop-up window suddenly overtook him. A picture of a '97 Toyota T100 4x4 with a discounted price tag got Chad to pick up the phone and call the owner. But there was one little problem: The truck was in Pennsylvania.
Chad wasn't about to go purchase a ticket to Pennsylvania for a T100, so he entertained the idea of gambling on it. Chad was sure the owner was honest about the working condition of the truck, which brought him closer to purchasing the truck unseen.
Pam McGarity (Chad's wife) was ready to brain him for investing a few thousand dollars without being able to investigate the truck. Did we mention Chad is a sadomasochist (which basically means he likes to inflect pain on himself)? He pulled out the Visa and purchased the truck sitting in a driveway about 3,000 miles away. Three weeks later, the Toy' showed up on a car hauler. Pam made Chad drive the truck "as is" for a year, just to make up for the fact that he'd gambled without her blessing. She wasn't too bent, though, because the truck was in pretty good shape. The year of driving the T100 gave Chad a chance to make some decisions on what he was going to do next.
The problem with off-roading, like most expensive habits, is that you just can't get enough. Chad set out to put his prerunning desire to rest when he started building the Toy'. After careful consideration, the little truck was taken to JD Fabrication in San Marcos, California, where most of the build took place. Jesse and Dave of JD Fabrication tore into the truck, removing all the stock suspension components and fabricating the 4x4 with controlled long-travel flexibility. Up front, the A-arms and knuckles were completely scratch-built and opened up with a larger track width and longer stroke. A one-off rollcage stretches across the length of the prerunner, strengthening the frame. Triangulated webbing strengthens the roll-bar tubing at intersections and bends where forces from off-roading would make the frame flex. Long scratch-built trailing arms and an upper wishbone link attach the frame and differential. Triple bypass dampers and 2-1/2-inch coilovers on each corner tame the radical suspension movement. This suspension setup provides 18 inches of 4x4 wheel travel.
APP 17x8-inch rims are wrapped in BFG 35x12.5R17 Mud-Terrain KRs. Custom-built axles and 930 CV joints provide the transition of power from the TRD supercharged 3.4L engine to the wheels, while 4.88:1 gears and lockers provide all the traction needed. The fiberglass fenders have plenty of room for the 86-inch track width up front and 84-inch track out back. Steel-braided brake lines run from the hard lines to the six-piston Wilwood brake calipers on all four corners. Car Coat in Escondido, California, painted the T100 with '00 Chevy White, and Rare Form Industries of Vista, California, laid the graphic design over the carcass.
Prerunning can be tedious work, so some sort of entertainment relief was in order. Chad equipped the Toy' with a Pioneer head unit sporting a CD/MP3 player with XM radio. The doors were equipped with a set of splits, and two 10-inch 'woofers in custom enclosures are mounted to the rollcage in the Extra Cab. Two amps provide good power so the voice coils in the drivers can be fully exercised. This includes Rockford Fosgate's 300-watt four-channel and 900-watt two-channel amplifiers.
See, not all blind decisions turn out negatively? Timing has a lot to do with the outcome. In fact, you can walk right into a good thing. Hell, even a blind squirrel gets a nut. Well, Chad, it looks as though your leap of faith turned out pretty killer. We hope you didn't spend too many nights in the dog house.
It’s no secret that the Ford F-150 SVT Raptor is one of our all-time favorite pickup trucks. From the 411hp 6.2L V-8, 35-inch tires, and off-road-tuned suspension to the comfy leather seats and commanding controls, the Ford Raptor has little competition from the 1⁄2-ton OE truck market, especially if desert two-track is your favorite trail of choice. Nonetheless, a common misconception about the capable Raptor is that it has long-travel suspension. It’s true that the 11 inches of front and 12 inches of factory rear wheel travel are more than what you’ll find on a typical 1⁄2-ton truck. However, in the off-road world, it’s still only considered a mid-travel prerunner. The stock Raptor isn’t designed to hit deep whoops at 60-plus mph. When put in this situation, any sane driver will quickly realize the truck is out of its element. So what do you do when mid-travel suspension won’t work for your off-road needs? You drop your zero-mile ’13 Ford Raptor off at JD Fabrication in Escondido, California, for a complete six-month suspension, chassis, and interior makeover.
The crew at JD Fabrication quickly went to work and stripped the suspension from the brand new truck and gutted the interior. To start, a full bumper-to-bumper rollcage made from 1.75-inch, 0.120-wall DOM tubing was added to provide increased chassis stiffness and safety for the occupants in the event of a rollover. The factory Ford Raptor front suspension was scrapped in favor of true long-travel A-arms, while the rear leaf spring suspension was lopped off and replaced with a custom JD Fabrication four-link. The wider stance and 37-inch BFG tires required more coverage, so JD Fabrication installed a fiberglass front fender and hood kit. In the rear, the crew at JD Fabrication dumpstered the stock Raptor pickup bed and hung fiberglass fenders over custom aluminum bed panels. With the rollcage tucked and hidden in the body of the Raptor, V&J Custom Upholstery in Vista, California, was free to slather the headliner and other interior bits in luxuriously padded suede leather, maintaining the top-tier sentiment of the F-150 inside and out.
Since day one our plan has been to build a new '04 F-150 into a four-wheel-drive prerunner that we could romp across the bumps and jumps of the Southwest desert to satisfy our need for speed. We're almost there--this is written as our Ford is just a SEMA show appearance away from hitting the dirt.
If you've been following along, you read last month that we took the truck to JD Fabrication to have a long-travel independent front suspension developed. This month we'll show you what the guys came up with, and, as a bonus, we'll share a secret--you'll be able to buy this front suspension from JD Fabrication for your own '04 F-150. Not excited enough yet? Watch for the final installment next month when the paint gets applied, the 37-inch Goodyear MT/Rs get mounted, and our F-150 gets airborne.
JD Fabrication started by focusing its attention on the all-new Ford IFS and has developed a plan to build a custom front suspension that is stronger and much more bump-friendly. The stronger part is no problem for Nelson and Dinsmore. Everything these guys build leans toward overkill. So naturally their material of choice for our Ford's new suspension is nothing less than 4130 chromoly steel. Building suspensions that handle bumps is no problem for these guys either--they eat, breathe, and sleep the stuff.
They knew the front would keep an A-arm design, but they planned to lengthen the arms for increased suspension travel without binding the CV-shafts. They also have plans to upgrade the shocks with Bilstein 9100-series coilovers and hydraulic bumpstops. Are you drooling yet? Well, if all this doesn't excite you, what if we told you that JD Fabrication also plans to offer our trick new suspension as a kit for your new F-150? Yeah, we thought you'd like hearing that.
So this month we'll walk you through the front suspension design and pick up next month with the upper A-arms and rear suspension. At this point we've got a lot of seat time in stock '04 F-150s, and love the way they perform in the high-speed rough stuff. We can't wait to see what these trucks are capable of after JD Fabrication gets done with ours.
Here's the plan: Take an '04 F-150 that no one in the aftermarket has ever seen before and build it into a capable go-fast off-road truck in under 11 weeks for the SEMA show in Las Vegas. But don't worry, our stress is your excitement as this truck will be built to rock--even if it never crawls on them. Of course, by the time you read this the SEMA show may have come and gone, but the project will have only just begun as this new F-150 could prove to be our gateway into the desert race scene that we've been away from for the last few years. We'll let you, the readers, decide if you want to see more.
We've already lined up JD Fabrication in San Marcos, California, to brew up a max-travel independent front suspension that will let us keep the truck four-wheel drive--even with double-digit suspension travel. The next step will be some custom bodywork and paint to set our Ford apart, followed by some interior upgrades that will keep us safe and comfortable, no matter how far off the road we get.
This month we'll get started by showing you what we've got to work with and give you some clues about where we're headed. Check in next month to see how we're making out, but read fast 'cause this project is going to move quick. Try to keep up!
Well, there's no going back now. If you're like us, and you probably are, there's only so far you're willing to travel in the stuffy confines of your trail vehicle. For the most part, a true trail vehicle is an open-top vehicle. You can commune better with nature, throw junk in the back, hop in Duke-Boy-style, and simply not roast your cajones off while wheeling.
In our case, the A/C on our Ramcharger stopped working two years ago, the tailgate wouldn't open on uneven terrain, and the side glass kept us from negotiating the really fun stuff for fear of shattering it. It was time to put up or shut up. We decided to cut off the top, ditch the squeaky factory dash and gauges, lose the hammered, uncomfortable stock seating, and have a custom rollcage built for safety, stability, and vehicular preservation (more on this later).
Going ToplessUnlike the other vehicles you'll read about in this Topless Wheeling section, we removed that which was not designed to be removed. On our Dodge, as with Cherokees, Wagoneers, or even cars, the roof is a structural component in keeping the body together. Removing it is like taking the top off of a house of cards. Without the roof to tie things together, twisty trails or even the vibration of street driving will cause the whole body to sag, fold, and collapse.
Topless PreservationTo keep our rig (and ourselves) from getting destroyed off road, we wanted a rollcage that tied into the frame but that also used plates to sandwich the floor. This not only stiffens the whole structure and prevents unwanted frame and body flex, but it's also like adding six additional body mounts. Plus, there's added safety; by connecting the cage to the frame, there's no chance of the floor ripping during a roll and making the rollcage just one more projectile in the cabin. Since we fabricate like a bunch of blind monkeys, we hooked up with Jesse Nelson and Dave Dinsmore of JD Fabrications in San Marcos, California.
We needed this cage built right and we needed it built fast. We've seen a lot of rigs roll out of JD Fabrications and are continuously floored by the quality of their work. It's quickly becoming the place to get your rig built-not only because of the great craftsmanship, but also because of the extremely fast turnaround time. It's little wonder why guys are trucking their projects there from all over the country. Nelson and Dinsmore graciously squeezed us in and busted out our cage in about a day and a half, including the removal of the roof.
However, before bringing it down to their shop, we first installed a set of Daystar Products polyurethane body bushings that we ordered from Rocky Mountain Suspension. Call us lazy, but we like mail order companies that can get us almost any part we need in a matter of days without our having to leave the house. The poly bushings raised the body slightly and put the fender and door panels back into alignment before the rollcage made things permanent. Then, we blew out the side windows, unbolted the tailgate, removed everything from the interior except the steering wheel and driver's seat, and crossed our fingers that the CHP wouldn't notice us.
Weighing OptionsWe take a lot of ribbing about having a big, heavy fullsize. That ribbing only increased when our friends heard we were adding about 180 pounds of rollcage tubing. Here's a breakdown of what we removed and how it compares to what we added.
Trucks are much more than carefully assembled kinetic sculptures. They're pieces of puzzles that make up their respective owners' lives. One truck might be its owner's rolling business card. For another, especially a racer, it might be its owner's livelihood. For most of us, our trucks represent freedom, escape, and fun.
Ricky and Cassandra Gallade of Fallbrook, California, own the 2000 Toyota Tacoma on these pages, and it fits firmly into the “freedom, escape, and fun” category. Ricky purchased the Taco from a friend who was in a financial bind and needed some fast cash. The low purchase price left some room for upgrades. Little by little, the Tacoma has taken shape, reaching its current form after four years of incremental upgrades.
Color-matched fiberglass fenders, bedsides, and hood slightly camouflage the serious transformation that's taken place. Jesse Nelson and Dave Dinsmore of JD Fabrication were entrusted with the major metallic surgery. The suspension took shape first, with a JD long-travel kit leading the way and a revamped leaf-sprung rear suspension out back. A bumper-to-bumper rollcage connects all the structural dots, transforming the truck into a single cohesive unit. Care was taken to keep the street-legal status, and all the smog equipment is present, functional, and accounted for. Under the four-pin hood, there's a supercharged 3.4L Toyota V-6. All told, this is a truck that excels in a variety of off-road terrains, and can string dirt sections together by legally driving on the pavement.
Since when is a proud-to-own-it, fun-to-drive-it truck not everything? Despite the impression you might get from reading truck magazines like this one, trucks come and go. They break down, need overhauls, and they'll rust if they sit too long. What trumps a truck? Family.
When we met Ricky and Cassandra, they were very close to the birth of their first child. The smooth ride and rollcage kept Cassandra safe, and Ricky did an admirable job of keeping his right foot in check. A few days after the photo shoot, the Gallade household welcomed a son into their world.
If you're expecting to see a "For Sale" sign on this Tacoma, don't hold your breath. The truck might gather a little dust during the first few months of the young Gallade's life, but rest assured the trio will be in the dirt before long. Both Ricky and Cassandra have spent a lot of time off road and have a big list of trails to show their son as soon as he's ready. Our photo shoot was the last hurrah … for now.
It takes dedication, determination, and unvarnished stubbornness to finish a major truck build, especially when you're a full-time fabricator during the day. Jesse Nelson of JD Fabrication started off by buying the 1996 Chevy 1500 2WD on the cheap from a friend. It was built during evenings and on weekends. The initial plans described an easy, mild build, but one thing led to another, until Jesse ended up with the masterpiece he drives today. The back half of the frame was chopped off so Jesse could re-configure the rear suspension as a linked system that features plenty of bump travel. Up front, you'll find a custom A-arm system guided by a production steering box that connects to a custom sliding centerlink. Everything works on this truck, with one notable exception: the Auto Meter clock is permanently set at 5 o'clock. No matter what time it is on the outside, it's always 5 o'clock on the inside. Building the truck was a huge effort, and Jesse made it that much more intense by TIG welding the whole thing. He's happy with the Chevy, but comments, “Never again!” Since this truck was done once and done right, Nelson won't need to.
What's in a name? We've noticed that many of the best prerunners we've found come from fab shops bearing a pair of initials, such as H&M, B.K., and C&D. If you equate these initials with high-quality fabrication and fast-moving off-road trucks, then we've got another pair of initials to add to your list: JD.
JD Fabrication is the melding of two pairs of talented hands, namely those of Jesse Nelson and Dave Dinsmore. Jesse and Dave first became acquainted through a common interest in smaller-scale speed: R/C cars. As time passed, the R/C cars gave way to full-scale trucks, and the quest began to find ways to make their trucks faster and more capable in the dirt. Fast-forward a few years to find Jesse and Dave's talents and resources pooled into what has become a thriving business partnership. JD Fabrication began with long-travel kits for '86-'95 Toyota 4x4s, and now offers kits for several Toyota and Ford models and model years. From individual suspension kits to turnkey buildups, Jesse and Dave willingly apply their off-road expertise to a full spectrum of machinery. The JD portfolio also includes Chevy pickups, Baja Bugs, early Broncos, and Jeeps.We caught up with JD during a weekend of fun disguised as product testing. "I've been coming out here for years," Jesse tells us, speaking of the Ocotillo Wells OHV area.
Ocotillo Wells is part of the San Diego area's backyard and gives off-roaders a chance to test their mettle and machinery against a variety of off-road terrain types. Deep sand? That's found at Blow Sand Hill and at Devil's Slide. Nasty whoops? You can find those in several places such as San Felipe Wash and the Shell Reef Expressway. Once you conquer the whoops on the Shell Reef Expressway, you can test your truck's jumping ability (and your intestinal fortitude) on the Shell Reef jumps. Ocotillo Wells offers something for nearly everyone.
There are more than a few full-time fabricators who don't have well-built trucks of their own. Like cobblers who go barefoot, they spend their best hours building the dreams of paying customers while personal projects get pushed by the wayside unless perseverance and outright stubbornness prevail. "If I don't work, I don't get paid," comments Jesse Nelson. Jesse is the owner, fabricator, and driver of the '96 Chevy 1500 on these pages. "Once you commit to a project like this, it gets done during evenings and weekends. It can take years."
Jesse is half the staff at JD Fabrication, a business he shares with fellow fabricator Dave Dinsmore. If you haven't guessed, JD stands for Jesse and Dave. A typical workday at JD Fabrication usually starts at about 6 a.m. and winds down at 4 p.m. Personal time starts around 5 o'clock.
Jesse bought the '96 on the cheap from a friend. "I wasn't planning to go crazy with this one," he reveals. "I was going to build a new front suspension and put long-travel leaf springs in the rear. Partway through, I decided that it really needed a 'cage. When I got to the rear suspension, I decided that the stock frame didn't have the right shape, so I was going to cut it off behind the cab and put some box tubing in place instead. At that point, it made the most sense just to link the backend instead of sticking with leaf springs."
While much of the stock chassis was ditched during the build, Jesse retained quite a few stock parts when it came to the amenities and the drivetrain. The stock brake booster, windshield wiper system, defroster, and even the factory underhood work light are still there. The hood is part of a Trailer Products Avalanche conversion clip, but it pivots on factory hinges so one person can lift it. Under that hood lurks a 5.7L Vortec V-8 that feeds into a 4L60E transmission. Both powertrain pieces were salvaged from a wrecked Tahoe. A factory steering box with a modified ratio handles steering chores, but more on that later.
Using stock parts to keep the truck easy to live with was part of the overall strategy. Another facet was keeping the interior as quiet and comfortable as possible. To that end, Jesse retained the factory heating and air conditioning system, albeit with aftermarket vents that are built into the custom dashboard and center console. The roof has thick foam insulation, and the floor is coated with sound-deadening material. Ingress and egress are easy, too, thanks to door bars that snake along the floor.
It's got a smart selection of stock parts and a comfortable interior, but make no mistake: There's some hardcore hardware on board. What's left of the stock framerails has been boxed in, and the complete chassis was reinforced with a front-to-rear rollcage using 1.75-inch tubing. Even though he's an expert MIG welder, Jesse went to the trouble of TIG-welding everything on this truck. The front suspension is completely custom, right down to the fabricated steering knuckles, A-arms, and steering system. Front wheel travel is a long-legged 19 inches. At the aft end, you'll find a gusseted 9-Inch rearend with full-floating hubs. The 9-Inch is part of a four-link suspension that cycles through 28 inches of wheel travel. "It rides like a big marshmallow," comments the owner.
While sitting in the driver seat of the big Bow Tie marshmallow, Jesse often checks the vital signs via Auto Meter gauges. At the far left is a clock. "I could have hooked it up and made it work," he confesses, "but it made the most sense to leave it set at 5. This truck is a lot of fun, so it can be any time of the day or night outside, but once you get in here, it's always 5 o'clock."
Street or dirt, fast is fun. There's just something primal about mashing the pedal and feeling the landscape streak by at ever-increasing velocity. Even rockcrawling, the quintessence of low speed, has recently dabbled in going fast with the introduction of rock-racing competitions.
Ralph Cimarusti of Valley Center, California, is a longtime connoisseur of high velocity and has been an automotive enthusiast, he says, "ever since I was a kid."
A member of the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association, Ralph owns and wrenches on a '55 Chevy Nomad and a '28 roadster pickup. If there's a common thread among rod and custom enthusiasts, it's that the need for style should be mixed with the need for speed. When it was time to combine speed, style, and dirt, Ralph carried the rod-and-custom approach over to the bad-in-black '03 Chevy SS AWD on these pages. The SS had to look good and ride smoothly. Most of all, it had to be fast.
Nearly a century ago, William Randolph Hearst set about building his ultimate getaway estate near San Simeon, California. Set among thousands of acres of mountainous terrain, Hearst's La Cuesta Encantada ("The Enchanted Hill") contained 56 bedrooms, 19 sitting rooms, an indoor swimming pool, an outdoor swimming pool, a tennis court, a theater, and the world's largest private zoo. In constructing The Enchanted Hill, builders incorporated art treasures and architectural components purchased from Egypt and Europe. Five-hundred-year-old ceiling panels are juxtaposed with 20th-century masonry and plumbing. "The Ranch," as Hearst referred to it, was largely self-contained, beginning with a gravity-fed water system that tapped the H2O supply from a nearby mountain. Getting to and from Hearst Castle was no easy task back in the day. Honored guests arrived in Hearst's private DC-3 aircraft or rode the rails from Los Angeles in Hearst's own train car.
Our '06 2WD F-150 has been a fun truck and we've done some mild suspension upgrades over the last year or so. But, we were ready to take the performance up a few more notches. We were looking to add a long-travel front suspension and immediately turned our attention to the guys at JD Fabrication in Escondido, California. Jesse Nelson and Dave Dinsmore have been building off-road hardware and vehicles for more than a decade. Along with doing full custom work, they offer a handful of long travel kits for 2WD and 4WD trucks.
We were after one of their '04-and-up 2WD F-150 kits that widen overall track width by 8 inches and offer 16 inches of usable wheel travel. Their kits have been proven in use for a number of years now. In fact, one of their F-150 kits was used during early prototype development of the Ford Raptor.
The kit comes quite complete with 4130 chromoly boxed lower A-arms, billet aluminum or steel boxed upper A-arms, custom lift spindles, heavy-duty tie rods, and shock mounts with an over-the-engine crossover tube. FK rod ends and uniballs, Crown Performance brake lines, and all other hardware are included, as well. The kit offers the option of running a coilover shock along with a bypass shock, and a hydraulic bumpstop. We opted to use Bilstein coilovers with Eibach springs, combined with Bilstein bumpstops.
Though not as common as they once were, there’s still a lot to like about Toyota’s ’86-to-’95 4x4 IFS mini trucks. With fully boxed frame rails, excellent visibility, decent fuel economy, a stout steering box, and compact dimensions that fit well on most trails, these Toyota trucks (and corresponding 4Runners) make great all-around vehicles.
JD Fabrication introduced its long-travel IFS 4x4 kit several years ago, but has continued to refine and upgrade it ever since. Custom upper and lower control arms are 3 inches wider than stock per side. The JD long-travel kit provides 13 inches of wheel travel and uses stock T-100 IFS axleshafts to retain functional four-wheel drive.
Installing the JD long-travel Toyota system is straightforward, but requires cutting, drilling, and welding in addition to wrenching.
Jessie Nelson’s father is a Midwestern farmer who doesn’t understand crazy California. He was especially worried when his only daughter moved to “the land of fruits and nuts.” To keep her safe, he wanted to make sure she had access to a fast, reliable 4x4 that she could pack up and get out of town in if need be. He picked up a well-taken-care-of 1984 Toyota FJ60 Land Cruiser. He quickly learned that while the Cruiser was extremely capable in stock form, it needed just a bit more of everything.
The carbureted inline-six mated to the factory manual transmission was heavy and slow. The suspension was marginal, and it needed way more storage and adaptability for his daughter. He was also hoping for some grandkids real soon, so he needed to find a way to encourage that too. He rolled the FJ60 into JD Fabrication in Escondido, California, for the builders to go through the whole vehicle. In no time, the engine and tranny were pulled, the axles were taken apart, and the suspension and interior was getting special treatment from the plasma cutter and welder.
FJ60s are already very well-balanced 4x4s, so it’s easy to screw up what the factory did right. Fortunately, JD Fabrication specializes in soft, custom long-travel suspensions and go-fast drivetrains. The FJ received a 430hp Corvette LS3 V-8 engine and GM 4L75-E four-speed automatic transmission adapted to the factory transfer case via an Advance adapter. The axles received ARB Air Lockers front and rear, suspension wheel travel nearly doubled, and now there’s plenty of storage to easily allow Jessie to disappear for the weekend, or longer.
If you have a lifted ’99-’06 GM 4x4, you’ve had to futz with torsion bars. In a stock application, the torsion bars work OK, but they add a lot of complexity and weight to your suspension system. When you add a lift kit, the required drop brackets generally hang down far below the frame, significantly decreasing ground clearance. JD Fabrication in Escondido, California, went to work on the GM IFS to come up with an affordable mid-travel steering and suspension solution. The company developed a simple weld-on coilover kit that replaces the clunky torsion bars and related crossmember bracketry. JD Fabrication specializes in go-fast long-travel suspensions for 2x4s and 4x4s. The company already offers a complete high-end long-travel IFS kit for the ’99-’06 GM 4x4 that provides up to 15 inches of wheeltravel. The new coilover kit increases wheeltravel to 11 inches. The kit also provides the performance and easy ride-height adjustability of a 2 1/2-inch-diameter King coilover shock with a remote reservoir. Here’s how it all comes together.
The JD Fabrication kit includes 2 1⁄2-inch-diameter, 10-inch-travel King coilover shocks, 700–in-lb coils, and custom shock ends that fit the factory GM lower A-arm. The truck height can be adjusted via the coil adjusting hardware.
The ’99-to-‘06 Chevy Silverado 4x4 is a popular truck and many are still in use today. They serve as daily drivers, and then turn into weekend warriors by hauling bed toys, getting us to campsites in the outback, or hitting the dirt in one form or another. While the stock front suspension on these trucks is decent, there’s certainly room for improving the handling and the ability to keep the tires well planted off-road.
JD Fabrication has been building kits to improve Chevys, Fords, and Toyotas for a good number of years. If you’re looking to toss the entire front suspension and go with a long-travel alternative, they can help you there. For owners who don’t need that level of performance and want a more affordable option, JD now has a mid-travel IFS 4WD kit that can be installed in less than a day.
The kit replaces the upper A-arms with custom tubular pieces, while retaining the factory lower arms and shock mount location. New upper shock mounts are provided and must be welded to the frame rails. This opens up the option to use a high-performance aftermarket shock to dampen the front end and provide better resistance to fade with the addition of a remote reservoir, if desired.
Our kit was installed at JD’s shop in Escondido, California, and supplemented with a set of 6-inch-travel Prodigy remote reservoir shocks from Pure Performance. We measured an increase in useable suspension droop of about 1.75 inches.
Once done, the truck handled more precisely on the road and in the dirt due to less A-arm flex. Besides that, the overall handling felt tighter. On uneven ground the extra droop kept the front tires planted more firmly and the truck feels better on cross bumps/ruts that always seem to pitch IFS trucks back and forth.
If mass chaos comes tomorrow, or even later today, there’s one man who is ready to bug out. He’s the owner of this ’86 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ60, and his rig has a variety of modifications designed to make the Cruiser the go-to vehicle in the event of civilization’s collapse or whatever bedlam should come to pass. The owner of this Cruiser wishes to remain anonymous, as many doomsday preppers do. But the truck’s builder, Jesse Nelson at JD Fabrication, says, “The idea behind this build comes from the doomsday prepper within.” He says the idea was to capitalize on reliability and function, while at the same time keeping drivetrain electronics to a minimum. “So going with the 12-valve Cummins turbodiesel engine and NV4500 five-speed manual transmission was a must,” he goes on to say.
The owner of this rig is no stranger to Land Cruisers. Over the years he has owned a number of them and he is a big fan of older Toyotas. Thus, it was a no-brainer that when it came time to build a bug-out rig, his first choice was a Cruiser. It was also a given that he’d have his friend, Nelson, build the rig for him.
The result is an incredibly capable 4x4 that’s packed with proven parts. This makes it a reliable machine to count on if things go south.