The (Optima) battery is a great battery.I had the (red)optima battery years ago.They are pricey,but well worth the investment.A regular battery isn`t made to be abused while climbing over rocks, drivng through 1-3 ft. of mud.The (Optima) battery is what you call a dry cell battery.It`s made to take the abuse while in the woods on a rainy day.

 

It`s illegal in any state, if and when you have a tire that pertrudes past the wheel well/front fender more than 1".

 

mass. law Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, no passenger motor vehicle shall be operated on any way if such vehicle has the side wall or thread of any tire projecting outward beyond the outer portion of the fender or side body panel, unless such vehicle is equipped with four-wheel drive or is otherwise modified and intended for off-the-way use

 

That sounds like a carve-out though, as then basically anybody could claim their vehicle is for off-road use. I am assuming these laws are only for usage on public roads and not for off-road trails (so you could say tow a rig to a trail?).

 

Sounds good

 

Very few places in MA to legally off-road, so I'd say yep - that's for the street.

They're not quite as harsh as they were 25 years ago when the whole lifted truck thing took off, though. The staties used to routinely sideline and tow (at your expense, of course) any vehicle they deemed "over the limit". Had a friend that got towed twice. That's if you made it through inspection ... which you wouldn't have, unless you did the lift just after the sticker was put on. Once a year you'd have to take the lift completely out and swap tires to stock, just to have a shred of legality in this bastion.

They don't call Massachusetts "The land of 1,000 laws" for nothing ...

 

IIRC in Pennsylvania your tires cannot protrude and further than the last row of tread past the fender. So I guess if you run slicks they can be as wide as you want. I really need to make a trek down to VA again and see the blazer.

 

Technically, Optima is an AGM battery, not a dry cell

 

Well it's official I am officially on tons!! I pulled into the shop about 2:15 this afternoon and drove it out at 5:30. I ended up pulling the rotors off my 44 and swapping them to the 60 since my buddy still hasn't had time to cut the other ones. I've got all matching studs at all for wheels which is really nice. My tie rod ends are shot so I just put them on enough to move it out of the shop and I have some ruff stuff 3/4" heims ordered so I'll swap all that out when they get here. I've still got allot to do but I'm stoked to finally have a 60 up front. I also have to order a new u joint for my front shaft cause I learned yesterday that the yoke on the 60 is a 1350 yoke.
Back on its own weight got he first time

Back on the 40s

And outside to prove it moves lol!

It's crazy how much bigger things are on the 60 compared to the 44. Look at the difference in the hubs

Next week I'll work on getting all the small things buttoned up while I wait for my heims.

To do list:
Finish Steering
Alignment/center steering wheel
Install locking hubs
Grease King pins
Double check brakes
Double check u bolts
Mod trans cross member
Mod y pipe
Install drive shaft
Install hydro steering
Drive it!

 

Getting there! Those axles should last a lifetime.