Varg In Jeep's Clothing

Update on the rear shocks... Fireball stopped by yesterday, and we got this thing all crossed up down in a hole. It was teetering on 3 tires, and the rear was still rubbing the shock. I’ll move the rear axle mods up a little higher on the priority list.

 

That was fun. Even though I've been through the whole thread it's really something to see the Varg in person. The workmanship and cleverness of fitting 50lbs of stuff into a 40lb box is something to behold. So much thought and planning. ...and the fabs skills to actually do it.

A testament to Ryan's work is how well it runs and drives right out of the box. He has a few minor things to fix like he rear shocks and driveline angle, but it rides and handles like a car on the road and climbs the steep hills on his property like a mountain goat. Just a great rig.

Beautiful. Evey place you look, you discover a new fascinating detail:


On the road:


On the property. You have no idea hos steep this was, the photo does not do it justice:

 

I know what you mean and I think I rode with Ryan up that hill in the clapped out 3B. My favorite 3b..

 

I posted this video a while back of the 3b crawling over this stump....



I removed the sway bar links on the Varg this morning (took a total of 3 minutes; just 2 nuts, two bolts, and a zip tie to hold the bar from moving).
It’s the first time I’ve driven it without the sway bar, and I’m a bit surprised at how it feels. It leans a little more at speed, but it’s nowhere near un-drivable as I expected. I notice the lower level of harshness over bumps more than I notice the lean.

Off road, the feeling is crazy-good. It was crawling in slimy snow like it was locked front and rear. I took it down to the spot in the above video, and it walked over it just as easily as the 3b did.

I’m excited to get this thing out in the real world and put it through the paces. It’s gonna be a long winter.

 

Maybe you can get snowcones instead of ice cream now.

 

Topped with salt and mag chloride.

 

Just had a thought, we should get Ryan to build a Varg 2 and have it raffled off here on the site!, $100.00/ticket, I'd be in for a few

 

I said something to my wife about “every Jeep I build from here out will have fuel injection...” the other day after fighting with a cold, damp f-head, and got some serious side-eye.

 

Efi on a 292?

 

Yeah but no fuel fumes with efi.

 

Here we go....

 

Tearing it all apart and starting from scratch.

 

I was telling @Fireball over the weekend about how our one home computer scrolls through the photo file as a screen saver, and when I looked up from school work and saw this picture....



...it felt like I got kicked in the gut. The thought of going back to that point made me instantly feel sick to my stomach.

Pulling the rear axle this morning gave me a similar feeling. I’m just over this stage of it and want to be done.

 

I may have missed what's going on with the rear axle? Why are you pulling it again?

 

I think he found a Volvo axle to go under there....c303.

 

I overestimated the pinion angle, so I’m rotating the spring perches a little, and the shock mounts are moving in an inch. Just some fine-tuning.

 

Mounts cut off...



Pinion angle set...



Welding the perches twice in the same spot warped the tubes pretty badly, so I flame-straightened them. Before:



All painted and ready to put back in - in a day or two after the paint dries.

 

Just curious. With all the heat from the welding and flame straightening, did you notice any discernible change in the length of the housing? Probably not a great deal but as you know, it is shorter in length now.