Prerunner or Rock crawler

[The Jester Race]

I cant decide how I want to build my B2, do I want a rock crawler or do I want a prerunner/dezert truck. Help me decide.


If I build a prerunner/dezert truck here are my plans:

Prerunner style front bumper tied into engine cage
Engine cage
Fiberglass one piece front 2007 conversion(front clip, hood, fenders), 6" flare
Full width Dana 44 TTB
Coilover front suspension
3 link rear suspension
Ford 8" explorer rear axle
Fiberglass rear fenders, 3" flare
Interior roll cage
33"x11.5"R16 Mickey Thompson Baja Claws
Mickey Thompson Classic Lock wheels
4.0 Liter engine swap



If I build a rock crawler here are my plans:

Stinger style front bumper(tied into exocage)
Exocage
Full width Dana 44 solid axle
Ford 9" rear axle
ARB air locker
3"-6" lift
35"x13.50"R15 BFG Krawler
American Racing Outlaw II wheels
4.0 Liter engine swap
Not too sure how I want to run the suspension for the rock crawler.

Here is the design for my prerunner bumper.

And here is my design for my stinger bumper.

The yellow squares are the head lights and the orange squares are the turn signals. They are there to show how the bumper would sit in relation to the front of the truck. And the grey tubes on the stinger represent the frame rails.
Designs are far from final, but its the basic shape.

What do you think?

 

[ckblum]

Well both are pretty cool and it really is preferance I would say if you can run a prerunner to its full potential (as in you actually have desert/big trails) definitely go for it. High-speed fun definitely gives more rush than crawling like a baby on a trail you can just hike to enjoy (no offense crawlers, my Dad likes crawling so I am not completely anti-crawl lol). Then again my Dad didn't crawl to get an adrenaline rush but to enjoy the outdoors and get to places regular vehicles (and prerunners) couldn't go. Then again a prerunner, especially a 4x4 one, can go a surprising number of places too.

My vote is for prerunner. But both would be rad if you built them like you described.

 

[CopyKat]

Go with your prerunner build and take it out on the rocks you may be surprised how it handles it.

 

[4x4junkie]

I would think the BII's wheelbase is too short to make for a good "prerunner".
If you do decide to build it prerunner-style, I would say at least incorporate some stuff into the build to allow for some decent rockcrawling (the ARB lockers and some armor underneath, for example)

 

[grey ghost]

i would try to use the winch on either bumper you never know when it might come in handy?

 

[The Jester Race]

The stinger bumper actually has a receiver built into it, I dont know if you can tell from the pictures. I plan on using a cradle type winch such as, http://www.warn.com/truck/winches/src/xd9i_multimount.shtml, with the rock crawler. But I pretty much scrapped the stinger bumper today when I started to design my exocage. My plans were to have a receiver on both the front and rear and then one on each side of the truck. That way with a cradle winch you can winch from any direction.

4x4junkie,
I dont understand why a short wheel base is bad for prerunners:icon_confused:, people keep saying it but no one ever explains why. Educate me. Living in NorCal I will build it as a multi use truck, but styled more like a dezert truck if I go with the prerunner.

-Jester

 

[sasdranger]

My guess would be for more stability when you land..

I can't really decide. they would both be really fun in the end.

 

[hopster]

The short wheelbase on a B2 makes high speed stability more difficult to obtain. also when in a slide the shorter the wheelbase the harder to keep under control. But if you stretch the wheelbase and track width on the B2 it would be alright at higher speeds.

 

[4x4junkie]

4x4junkie,
I dont understand why a short wheel base is bad for prerunners:icon_confused:, people keep saying it but no one ever explains why. Educate me. Living in NorCal I will build it as a multi use truck, but styled more like a dezert truck if I go with the prerunner.

-Jester

hopster basically explained it, a shorter wheelbase tends to be more squirrelly at speed than something longer. That doesn't mean you can't build it to go fast in, you just likely won't have the same control as you would in something longer like a Ranger pickup.

 

[bmxryder]

its whatever you want man. i like prerunner becuase i like the adrenaline rush of going fast. also you should go by the terrain around you and what you are allowed to drive on because its useless to build something that you cant even use to its full potential.

 

[bmxryder]

oh after reading that you have a bronco (didnt even think to check) then you should definantly go as a crawler just for the short wheelbase factor. if you hit whoops in something short you are gonna get tossed back and forth like a shaken ragdoll.

 

[The Jester Race]

OK this is what Im thinking, since it is just about 50/50 with everyone I talk to. Style it like a prerunner, fiberglass fenders and hood, and prerunner style front bumper, but build the suspension more towards the rock crawler aspect.

Dana 35 TTB with dana 44 knuckle swap up front
Explorer 8.8" in the rear
3"-5" suspension lift
Rock Sliders
Differential skid plates
Interior cage
Warn locking hubs
ARB air locker

Maybe run James Duff suspension
And I get my 4.0Liter next monday, so its just about time to start building.
Thoughts? Advice?

-Jester

 

[CopyKat]

OK this is what Im thinking, since it is just about 50/50 with everyone I talk to. Style it like a prerunner, fiberglass fenders and hood, and prerunner style front bumper, but build the suspension more towards the rock crawler aspect.

Dana 35 TTB with dana 44 knuckle swap up front
Explorer 8.8" in the rear
3"-5" suspension lift
Rock Sliders
Differential skid plates
Interior cage
Warn locking hubs
ARB air locker

Maybe run James Duff suspension
And I get my 4.0Liter next monday, so its just about time to start building.
Thoughts? Advice?

-Jester

Sounds like my truck. I just don't have the cage yet.:icon_cheers:

 

[sasdranger]

and the first rock or tree you slide against or lean into is going to shatter your expensive glass fenders.

not trying to bust your balls man, i wanted some fiberglass fenders but its just not practical.

 

[ckblum]

Well they aren't too expensive actually. $300 a pair plus shipping, How much are replacement metal fenders? Or how much work is it to fix? Plus fiberglass is a lot stronger than you think, it bounces instead of just shattering. It's flexible and strong, not brittle.

If you bump a tree with metal you dent and crunch it and have to spend time popping it out and bondo or just buy another fender. If you hit the same thing with fiberglass the fender would just flex and if it cracked it is pretty easy to repair cause it has a lot more memory than metal

 

[4x4junkie]

OK this is what Im thinking, since it is just about 50/50 with everyone I talk to. Style it like a prerunner, fiberglass fenders and hood, and prerunner style front bumper, but build the suspension more towards the rock crawler aspect.

Dana 35 TTB with dana 44 knuckle swap up front
Explorer 8.8" in the rear
3"-5" suspension lift
Rock Sliders
Differential skid plates
Interior cage
Warn locking hubs
ARB air lockers

Maybe run James Duff suspension
And I get my 4.0Liter next monday, so its just about time to start building.
Thoughts? Advice?

-Jester

That sounds like a decent plan, although I agree with sasdranger, fiberglass and rocks/trees don't mix well.

Feel free to check out my BII Cardomain page, maybe you can glean some ideas from my build.

P.S., I put a plural in your quote, you'll need that if you want to play in rocks

 

[The Jester Race]

Just to give you guys an idea of the places I wheel. Not alot of time is spent up close with rocks and trees, its pretty much wide open. But of course Iv only had my truck for about 4 months and only been out on the trails a couple of times.

Now you cant tell me that the B2 doesnt look sick with the fiberglass. But right now Im going to focus on getting my 4.0 Liter built and in:icon_thumby:. Anybody know what kind of performance parts are available for the 4.0? And where to get them?

-Jester

 

[CopyKat]

Here is a picture of mine.

When I made my glass fenders all the guys I wheel with gave me the gears about banging them up. I've yet to hit a tree or rock, with the steel fenders. So the fiberglass ones shouldn't be a big deal. I've got plans to help stiffen the glass should I glaze a tree or rock.

 

[4x4junkie]

Just to give you guys an idea of the places I wheel. Not alot of time is spent up close with rocks and trees, its pretty much wide open. But of course Iv only had my truck for about 4 months and only been out on the trails a couple of times.

I would think you being in Northern Cal you'd probably want to check out the famous Rubicon trail up near Lake Tahoe some day. Awesome trail (although a little crowded at times).
I ran it a few years ago myself and thoroughly enjoyed it, real pretty up there in the high Sierras.

 

[The Jester Race]

Actually that picture wasnt taken too far away from the Rubicon. Maybe 50 miles as the black bird flys. Same distance from my house to either place.

"A" is the staging area at Loon Lake and "B" is where my pic was taken at. I would like to go through it, but Iv seen people tear the shit out of their trucks going through it, and thats not something Im looking to do. Maybe go through in someone else rig first. And like you said 4x4junkie, the Rubicon is crowded. I go wheeling to get away from people, and there are plenty of places to wheel in NorCal that are just as fun and as challenging as the Rubicon that see alot less traffic. North of I-80 there are hundreds of miles of old logging roads that people wheel on.

Im still undecided on how I want to build my truck, I think a prerunner will look goofy out on the trails, but a rock crawler cant do the high speed runs and hit the jumps like the prerunner can. I love the way the prerunner B2 looks, but I also like the way a lifted B2 looks. Id like to see one with an exocage before I decide. *Arg* I dont know. I get my 4.0 Liter in 4 days so Im going to focus on getting that built and put in and go from there.

[sarcasm]Thanks everyone for making this decision so easy for me[/sarcasm]:icon_rofl:

CopyKat,
Are you running drop brackets or did you cut and turn your beams?

-Jester