Turbo Steve
New member
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2024
- Member Number
- 7252
- Messages
- 4
Let me give ya some of the back story of my F-Toy AKA "Groom Digger"
Me and the fam have been desert junkies for very long time. When my son was about 4 years old when we got wind from a friend that the first King of the Hammers was going down and made our way out to Johnson valley for the very first time in my Turbo 4 Runner. I included some pics to show what we started with. It was a very cold and windy on the lake bed that morning but we were fired up to check out the scene having no idea what was about to go down.
we spent the morning checking out the cool F-toys there before the race started and quickly realized that we needed to convert our runner into a F-Toy. We were bit by the bug so to speak. My kids were young and I really wanted to start a project with my son so he could get some experience wrenching. Little did I know that it would be my daughter that fell in love with actually building the toy with me. My son just wanted to drive it :).
We drove up to Santa Cruze that summer to Hendrix and purchased our F-Toy chassis. I had never done anything like this build before and was totally blown away with Hendrix knowledge and F-Toy community that was so helpful in getting us going in the right direction. We had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into though. Mind you, I had just watch Ian and Jesse on extreme 4x4 build a F-toy in like three episodes so I figured it would only take me a year or so.... but it took more like five years and it was not the easy budget build, it was hard and expensive with lots of lessons learned along the way. Seems like it comes down to money and time and I never seem to have both at the same time ,so it took like what seemed FOREVER.
We finally got it done and on its very first voyage across the Mohave trail in 2013ish. We attended KOH every year since and have made many modifications and improvements along the way. Now my kids are off to collage and its just me, wifey and our two maliraptors. Our days of crawling up waterfalls and enduring the elements on the trail are coming to transition and a new build with a few more creature comforts like AC, windows and heat when needed. I honestly questioned even selling it because it has such sentimental value to the family but it goes back to the same money and time equation. My wife and I recently purchased a diesel pusher to tour the country in as kinda a victory lap for getting our kids off to college and we are looking for something that can be towed with us for easy comfortable but capable access to trails.
Here are some of build specs.
Toyota 85 strait axel, Hendrix Ultra 4 tube chassis Toyota 22TEC 220HP Motor, T3/4 Garret Turbo, Intercooler, Custom Tuned Haltech Engine Management, Turbo Trans, Marlin Twin Stick Crawler, ARB Lockers front and rear, Chromoly Axles, 3.0 king bypass shocks and coilovers, 10 Speaker 1200 watt stereo, on board air, maxxis 37" super stickies,
We have over 60k into this build. We are looking for best offer or trade for a 2017 Jeep Rubicon or newer.
We will be at king of the hammmers this year if you want to sync up and get a closer look let me know.
Steve
txt or call 760-497-7471
Me and the fam have been desert junkies for very long time. When my son was about 4 years old when we got wind from a friend that the first King of the Hammers was going down and made our way out to Johnson valley for the very first time in my Turbo 4 Runner. I included some pics to show what we started with. It was a very cold and windy on the lake bed that morning but we were fired up to check out the scene having no idea what was about to go down.
we spent the morning checking out the cool F-toys there before the race started and quickly realized that we needed to convert our runner into a F-Toy. We were bit by the bug so to speak. My kids were young and I really wanted to start a project with my son so he could get some experience wrenching. Little did I know that it would be my daughter that fell in love with actually building the toy with me. My son just wanted to drive it :).
We drove up to Santa Cruze that summer to Hendrix and purchased our F-Toy chassis. I had never done anything like this build before and was totally blown away with Hendrix knowledge and F-Toy community that was so helpful in getting us going in the right direction. We had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into though. Mind you, I had just watch Ian and Jesse on extreme 4x4 build a F-toy in like three episodes so I figured it would only take me a year or so.... but it took more like five years and it was not the easy budget build, it was hard and expensive with lots of lessons learned along the way. Seems like it comes down to money and time and I never seem to have both at the same time ,so it took like what seemed FOREVER.
We finally got it done and on its very first voyage across the Mohave trail in 2013ish. We attended KOH every year since and have made many modifications and improvements along the way. Now my kids are off to collage and its just me, wifey and our two maliraptors. Our days of crawling up waterfalls and enduring the elements on the trail are coming to transition and a new build with a few more creature comforts like AC, windows and heat when needed. I honestly questioned even selling it because it has such sentimental value to the family but it goes back to the same money and time equation. My wife and I recently purchased a diesel pusher to tour the country in as kinda a victory lap for getting our kids off to college and we are looking for something that can be towed with us for easy comfortable but capable access to trails.
Here are some of build specs.
Toyota 85 strait axel, Hendrix Ultra 4 tube chassis Toyota 22TEC 220HP Motor, T3/4 Garret Turbo, Intercooler, Custom Tuned Haltech Engine Management, Turbo Trans, Marlin Twin Stick Crawler, ARB Lockers front and rear, Chromoly Axles, 3.0 king bypass shocks and coilovers, 10 Speaker 1200 watt stereo, on board air, maxxis 37" super stickies,
We have over 60k into this build. We are looking for best offer or trade for a 2017 Jeep Rubicon or newer.
We will be at king of the hammmers this year if you want to sync up and get a closer look let me know.
Steve
txt or call 760-497-7471
