Fat Cat's 99 SAS

[Rusty]

Your rig is AMAZING!!!!! I love the look of it! Looks like tons of work but you came out iwht a nice rig! You should try and get it featured in a mag before you chop it up!
Can't wait to see the next phase!

 

[DB_1]

Your rig is looking awesome these days but you're getting like me, going through several rebuilds until you get it the way you want. I'm sure you cringe like me when you think of all the money you've spent...I try to forget about it:
With that said, have you considered buying a pre built chassis and build off of that? The Explorer frames (and ranger) suck to build from since you have to beef them up with plating everywhere. Yes they can be built to bad ass but seems like a lot of time and money that could be saved with a tube chassis.
Just something to consider

 

[IZwack]

have you considered buying a pre built chassis and build off of that? The Explorer frames (and ranger) suck to build from since you have to beef them up with plating everywhere. Yes they can be built to bad ass but seems like a lot of time and money that could be saved with a tube chassis.

I second this.

The explorer's chassis aren't bent deep enough at the ends so IMHO, you end up lifting the vehicle too much and the center of gravity just shoots through the roof. Not to mention its difficult to get good panhard angles, link angles (anti-dive, anti-squat), and other geometries because the engine is in the way and yada yada yada.

ORRR: you end up chopping everything in front of the link mounts on the chassis and going tubes for everything after that. But at that point, all you have left is a small 3ft or so section of the chassis (the section between front and rear link mounts) so you might as well have just started with a tubular chassis that was build for lower CG (no pun intended).

 

[FAT CAT]

Yeah, that would be the smart thing to do. I keep going back & forth on this rig & every new build up I do, I keep thinking I should just sell it and get something else.

I've spent way more then I should trying to keep it good looking as well as able to carry the family on camping trips and still wheel good.

I plan to go 3 link in the rear & will probably cut off a foot or two of frame when I do. The frame has a lot of reinforcements where the steering box and front cross member are and again in the middle where the radius arm mounts and trans cross member are. It's already as high as it's going to be so & figure that cutting off the body will save a lot of weight and make it less tippy...

The best thing would be to sell it and get or build something else, but at every new stage I keep telling myself that I've gone too far to turn back now...

Well...who knows??? I have a friend that builds buggy's down here & I can get a bare bones set up for about 2K & put all my stuff on it, but we'll see

 

[freaker]

If you end up cutting it up...i will take your fiberglass fenders and grill.

 

[Yomie]

I was just curious to see if you were driving this thing around without the overload springs in still?

I'm leaning towards taking mine out..

 

[FAT CAT]

No, I put them in a while back and had the springs re-arched too. It's about time for some new springs in there.

 

[Ken Cooke]

Fat Cat has been holding back! You guys didn't know this, but the guy went big...REAL BIG!!

I don't know why he didn't let you know, but his Explorer is the biggest one in Tijuana, Mexico! Probably in the entire zona frontera nortena de Mexico!!

...feast on Chris' T.J. Taxi on 40s!!!

 

[IZwack]

Hey Ken Cooke -- long time no see!

 

[Burns]

Dang looking good fat cat

 

[Ken Cooke]

Hey Ken Cooke -- long time no see!

It's been a while...I saw my Ford Ranger in October, and seeing it made me smile. The new owner lives at the end of my street. Small world!

 

[Ken Cooke]

ROCK READY FORD EXPLORER!!!

When you're big like Chris...Pimpin' ain't easy!!

 

[j602]

beadlocks anyone?

 

[Ken Cooke]

beadlocks anyone?

Personally, I don't run them. I never blew a bead in the past 10 years, and Fat Cats rig is big enough that he doesn't seem to need them, either.

 

[IZwack]

Yeah seriously, my rig has ran ~5 PSI and crawled around on the sidewall w/o beadlocks

 

[RangerX]

I hear Fat Cat has a new mod, I can't wait to hear how it works!

 

[j602]

umm, how does the size of the rig affect whether or not you blow a bead?

 

[DB_1]

I still blew inner beads with the Allied's I had and that was only aired down to 8psi.

 

[FAT CAT]

I hear Fat Cat has a new mod, I can't wait to hear how it works!

Yup, picked it up at Wild Bills Midnight Auto Supply

beadlocks anyone?

Are you talking about that last photo? Cause I yeah, after squeezing the beer girls, I almost popped a bead right there

J/K I'll be installing a set of the Staun Beadlocks soon...

 

[DB_1]

J/K I'll be installing a set of the Staun Beadlocks soon...

Have fun installing those, that's unless you have someone doing it for you. Drilling holes in your wheels for the valve stems only hurts for the first one: