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Mitchell's Roxor Build post

Colderweather86

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Immediately following the purchase of our 2020 Roxor; on the last day they could be sold, I was unhappy with the performance. Great blank canvas, but I am a person who has to travel to the place others cannot. Not long after, I received the very first Max Travel suspension kit Max made. That worked well in Arizona coupled with a set of 33" BFGoodrich KM3's. Well, 2 ,months after purchasing the Roxor, we made the decision to relocate once again, from our hometown in Northern Arizona, back to Palmer Alaska. I left the Caterpillar dealer I was with for many years, to take a job with the Caterpillar dealer up here.

We weren't here in Alaska for even a week before I buried the Roxor in the yard at our new home. As soon as the funds arrived from the sale of our Arizona home, I spent a dollar or 2 on some parts from our well known Roxor friend, Wade LaLone with Diesel Freak. RX41, Stage 2 tune, clutch, and all the associated components to hold the boost in. Quite a ride it became. It did pretty well until the rain started. EVERY time we set out on a trip, I was getting hauled around by SXS's. I had a winch, I had the power, but 33" mud tires are Childs play.

So, October of 2021, I set out to fix that. I bought a set of Dana 60 axles I found on Marketplace for $400. Hell of a deal. I slowly pieced everything together to build a rig that I will be comfortable taking my wife and daughters deep into the Alaskan bush, without fear of getting so stuck that I can't get us out.



Today, the final piece to the puzzle has finally arrived. So today begins the hopefully not too long task of taking our Family Adventure toy from mild to wild, With the help of my pal Max. I have reinjured my back pretty severely in August, to the point where it became an eye opening experience that I need to make a permanent career change. With that being said, getting this build completed may take me a bit of time having been forced to take it easy with ergonomics.

So stay tuned. I am terrible with taking pictures, it's just never been my cup of tea, so I will do my best to document the process as best as I can. I don't post on Facebook. Apparently my IP address is a target for the banning algorithm, so everything will be documented here.
 
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Colderweather86

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Just my luck, my brand new bottle of shielding gas is empty, and it's a holiday weekend. So instead of welding, I will start off with cutting I guess.

This is a picture Max took of his shock mount after cutting it off with just north of 100 miles on it. Zero penetration in the weld, but most importantly, the shock mount pocket being rusted. I have almost 1000 miles on my I think, and it has so far been completely submerged in mud and water at least 4 times in the past year and a half. Not to mention having spent a winter here in Alaska. So I will have my version of this photo posted soon..
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Max A.

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Subscribed! Looking forward to watching this monster be built.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Colderweather86

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Been a long while since I've posted an update. I made a career change 2 months ago that has given me the opportunity to be home more. So now I FINALLY have time to get the projects done.


I cut 2" out of the ROPS, low and behold its DOM. So I sleeved it with 1 1/2" DOM, plug welded, and then fully welded it back in. Here's what she looks like currently. I will get it finished up this weekend.
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Colderweather86

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Ditched the factory battery tray. Nutserted the firewall, and installed the busbars for my front winch, starter cables and main feed wire back to the battery
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Colderweather86

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Please excuse the ugly cuts. That's not how I am leaving it. It's a rough cut so I could get the battery inside. This is under the passenger seat. It will have a diamond plate aluminum hinged door to cover it up. Should have the wiring and mounting buttoned up this weekend as well.
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Colderweather86

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And here's my new Enormous battery. It weighs 75 lbs. Should have PLENTY of lead in it to keep the voltage from dipping when I am pulling the heavy brick out of the thick mud we have up here.
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AZROX

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Good idea to put the battery under the pass seat. Just like an HMMVW. And if its anything like in an HMMVW, your passenger will always be warm in winter.
Nice Safari-style cage.
 

Colderweather86

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Under hood wiring complete (minus shortening the cooling fan power wire just because it's about 10" too long now.
Picked up more parts this week in Anchorage to finish the battery relocation this weekend. Everything is going to have its own fuse.
Battery-350A fuse
Front winch-300A
Rear winch-300A.
Notice on the hood lip there is a smaller fuse block. That's going to be my power distribution block for each accessory I am running inside the cab.
GMRS
Winch control front
Winch control rear
Front Locker
Rear locker
Windshield wipers
Additional Rigid cube lights for the front
I will have 1 extra spot on the panel for another accessory.
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Colderweather86

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Exciting weekend starting soon. Axles are built. I bought the bullet and paid a driveline shop to do the work. $1600 for both axles. Steep, but done correctly. Should have the rear installed by this evening. Hopefully the front done Sunday if everything goes my way. Stay tuned for pictures.
 

Colderweather86

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I have a set of 16" wheels to set it on to roll it out the door. Should be ok. As it sits now the cage contacts the lifting arm on the garage door by 2 inches. It's way too tall. I will have to get shorter springs. It's sitting at 7'4" with the 37s.
 

Colderweather86

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On the roller tires fully inflated, I'm sitting at exactly 72". I'll let the air out to get it out of the garage so I don't rub the seal. Need to get the last spring hanger on the driver side welded in before I can pull it out, back it in to get the front axle in. Parts are SLOW getting here from the lower 48. I've been waiting 2 weeks now for some front end parts to arrive. If they don't arrive by Friday then it's going in anyways.

It has been slow going with my work schedule. Didn't get anything done this Holiday weekend. Took the family fishing instead of me sitting in the garage by myself.
 
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