Targhee: a Moab/Rubicon flatfender build

A Recap on the History of this Project.

It’s been almost a year since this project began.  I’ve been doing a little reminiscing and decided to write up a short summary for those who might be interested.

There are now two rather lengthy threads related to this project.

It all began late last summer.  I was perusing You Tube and found some videos by Jeff, Stan, et al., on their trips through the Rubicon and Moab.  Up to that point I hadn’t ever had much interest in rock crawling, but after watching those videos a few dozen times I quickly moved the thought of building something to run those trails to the top of my bucket list.

I found a nice clean late ’48 CJ2A down in Utah, made a quick afternoon dash down there and got home with it just after dark. I’d hoped to stop in and meet Stan, but we weren’t able to make the connection.  Still looking forward to that meeting.

I imagined a mostly stock flatty, maybe some different gears, springs and tires.

I started the first thread in the “Discussion” forum and got lots of good suggestions and advice. Once I had a general idea of what I wanted “Targhee” to be I started this thread in the “Projects” forum.  I’m grateful to everyone here who has contributed to these threads.

At about the same time I sent my good friend Eric a short text telling him I decided to turn an old Jeep into a rock crawler.  Eric is a talented technician and craftsman who’s built more than a few very capable off road vehicles. He quickly replied: “OMG! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting for you to do this! You’d better not wus out on me . . .!”

Eric and I had some good talks on how Targhee should go together.  I’ve always been a “mostly stock” person and so I leaned that way, Eric definitely leans the other way. I eventually saw the wisdom of his advice and we started to move away from “mostly stock”.  

Stock springs and shocks got replaced by 2.5” Fox shocks with massive shock towers and a 4 link suspension.  Then the little L head was changed out for a late model 4.3 V-6. The standard transmission went away and a TH 350 with manual valve body took it’s place. Behind it will be a Herm built D18 with Tera Low gears. Manual steering became a full hydro system. Corbeau high back seats with modern belts will sit inside a full roll cage. Tire size grew to 35x12.5x17 on bead locked wheels. The wheel base will end up at about 93”. The whole thing will have a nice coat of satin black paint.

Along the way I switched frames.  I had started out with the late ’48 2A frame. But it was so clean, complete and original that I couldn’t talk myself into tearing it all apart.  I found a bare 3B frame over in Wyoming, the owner and I met in Jackson Hole, had a good lunch together and I brought that frame home.

I’ve spent most of the past winter gathering parts.  Work has been slow but steady as we both tried to find time to fit it in with the rest of our lives. 

Bob has recently joined our little team.  Another talented technician and craftsman, his help is definitely appreciated.

The pace of the work has picked up, but we’re not going to make the mid-summer deadline I’d hoped for. Maybe early fall.

And there’s more. There’s some very cool news I haven’t said anything about yet.  So stay tuned.