Rebuilding Ralph
 

Ralph has been my 2.2 beater since the day I got him built. Was the truck I drove the most during the trip to Moab and back. Been abusing him regularly since, too. He finally got to the point that it was time for a rebuild. The body panels were cracking, most of the paint was bashed off the frame, 3 out of 4 wheel hexes were blown (thanks to the Novak crawler system), and I glued one hex adapter to the wheel that was already stripped. :lol: After gluing that hex to the wheel I snapped the inner axle shaft. :lol:

Poor Ralph. :lol:

Here's a before pic:
http://projecttwin.com/files/beater.jpg

Stripped him down, took him to a buddy's place today and hit the frame with glass beads. While bead blasting the front mounting tab for the hood came off. Welded it back on a few minutes ago.

Here's the bare metal frame:

http://projecttwin.com/files/blasted.jpg

Figure I'll start the primer and paint tonight as well as go through the axles.

Anyway, just at the house by myself and bored here, thought I'd share.

I snapped that first pic while you were beating the snot out of the poor thing at green river:flipoff: Are you gonna change anything on it this time around or just a resto?

Yup, that's one of the shots you snapped.

I'm going to change the shock setup a hair. I think three of them leak. All four have bent shock shafts, I think. :lol:

Same tires, new wheels, will keep the Novak system in him, but on a new motor plate for the TXT tranny that only has one hole.

looks good jason cant wait till your done i love that rig it is one of the netest rigs iv seen.

You should have the frame powder coated. I like the look of powder coat on my sandrail, the color looks better than paint, is tougher, and it helps smooth out a couple of my bad welds. Of course yours dont look to bad. Nice chassis btw.

Thats such a sweet looking rig. Make sure to keep snapping some pictures

Sounds kinda like my situation, only I can't do much.

That's good news for Ralph, he took a beating the past month. Have you decided on colors yet?

One of my favorite rigs on here. Good to know your still beating on him.

ya ralph has been dragged around and humped a bit as well

i say the same thing too.

rich

It is about time that rig got some TLC! You know a rig is well built when it can take a couple years abuse and be good for more 8)

:lol:

He's taken a beatin' since the day I got him. On his first road trip he went to the Portland UROC comp and did a bit of tumbling at the X-Plex. Then he was beat on locally, took him to CT this past August and flogged him there. Brought him back, got him patched up and running for Moab. He's just been patched and repaired enough to keep him running until now.

As far as colors...something with orange, I think. :lol: Who knows.

I had thought about powdercoat, but figured it'd be better to send him off to be coated with other items that will need to be powdercoated. ;-)

So for now he gets paint.

Got the frame primed...
http://projecttwin.com/files/primed.jpg

...and got the new wheels/tires/rings together. RPM Revolvers that are double-narrowed, stripped of chrome, dyed black, and wrapped in All-Ts. Cut the foams and installed a set of rock rings from MSD.

http://projecttwin.com/files/ralphrings.jpg

This rig is fun to drive and EVERYONE loves it. :lol:

Rockcrawler505 tried like mad to buy Ralph in Moab. I told him IF he could convince DTP to sell his BTF tuber to me, I'd sell Ralph to him. :lol:

Still don't think I could part with Ralph. :lol:

Time for paint now. :mrgreen:

Lol cant blame a man for tring. Maybe when you see my bruiser finished you might change your mind lol.

Big Pimping!8)

Just out of curiousity hows the rest of the frame holding up? I wondering the long term ability of the material.

Rest of the frame is fine. Nothing bent.

Thought about cleaning some of the joints up but figured I'd wait until I planned on having it powdercoated before doing that.

The front mount that came off was 'cause the weld was over the joint, didn't fuse'm together.

Looks good. What colors are you going with? The same or different? Just a tip. What ever color you paint the frame. Make sure they make the same color in a Paint pen. Thats what I did. That way after every crawl session I can touch the paint up real easy. I just can't believe I didn't think of that along time ago.

Haven't been around enough to know about Ralph, but sure is a nice rig. Is that tube or solid rod? How well do those All-T's do in mud? I am having a devil of a time finding a set of tires that don't totally fill up with mud at the slightest amount...

almsot my favorite tlt!!

Cool, I was just curious. It's nice to hear that a rig you built has been beaten but still holding up.

BTW, Jason I have the shocks I used to build Ralph if you are interested I'd be willing to sell them to you. LMK

That's cromoly tubing...about 22' of it if I remember right.

No idea how the All-Ts do in the mud.

Picked up stuff for the body panels today...can't decide on a paint scheme.

If any of you have ideas, post'm up.

It's simple! You need a :flipoff: !

:lol:


Wouldn't work well on Ralph's hood.

I'm thinking something with black/silver/orange.

<---------- ?

jason pearl neon green with black pannels with flames.8)

Pearl Blue and Burnt Orange baby.

See, that's odd.

I was just on the phone with the wife and she said "How about blue and orange?"

Never thought they'd look right together.

Frame is painted:

http://projecttwin.com/files/painted.jpg

Wierd,I too was on the phone with my boo.She was talking about blue and orange too.Wierd?????:)

OOOOOr,polished aluminum panels.Get the bling,bling Ludacris theme going?

Not sure about polished alum, but I did have these alum panels on Jr.

http://projecttwin.com/files/almostdone.jpg

to bad you couldnt find some diamond plate for your body panels.

Now you know I can find some diamond plate. :lol:

heres some good color combos i painted(shameless plug) imo...

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h9...4u/revoone.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h9...newbody002.jpg

orange and blue do go together well.

Local guy is cutting paint masks for me.

Hopefully I can get the new skins painted by the weekend.

RALPH has always been a favorite of mine. One of the best looking tubers ever. I would love to have a tuber sized to make Swamp Kongs look the same scale as those All-T's on RALPH.

after all the awsome work you do you cant cut tape ? lol

still have that?

Are these going to be what we talked about?

If so, I want some too.;-)

:lol:

Yeah, I can cut tape, but nothing like what will be on the panels. Just wait. ;-)

No, that is somewhere in the north-east.


Sheldon, Yup! :mrgreen:

Hopefully I can get'm soon enough to have the rig painted and ready to drive this weekend.

I was going to have extras cut for future use...I'll have to slide you a set. These are going to be sized for Ralph but I'm sure you'll still find a use for them.:mrgreen: