Rockhound's Offroad Adventures
 

                                                              From Hilda to Helga

                                                          The transformation of Aussie Matt's rig




 

     People all over the world enjoy 4-Wheeling.

     I was selling some old stuff on Ebay, and one of the winning bidders was from down under!

     It seems Matt had a Toyota he was interested in doing some modifications to. He had some questions about doing some of the same mods I had already done to T II, so I helped him where I could.

     After getting his feet wet, or his hands greasy as the case may be, his truck started to take on a different attitude.

     Before he started the transformation, he affectionately referred to his rig as Hilda. After making the truck more capable and giving her a more aggressive stance, the mild mannered Hilda took on her new personification...Helga!

     Below is a picture of her, before Matt was bitten by the bug.

We don't see many of these in the states. It looks like somebody has already started some mods. Mud tires on spoke wheels, flatbed (they're trays in Aussie speak), and rock guards.

 

I like that sticker! Nice of him to put that on there. Run and Play is world famous!

 

  Looking from the front. After Matt installed the spacers I sent him, she's already starting to take on a more aggressive look.

This shot is looking back at the rear wheels.

With a wider stance, Matt wanted to lift his truck for ground clearance.

 

  He wants to do something about the flat springs. Maybe some rears up front. It's an effective way to increase ground clearance and articulation.

 

Like a man possessed, Matt starts on the next phase of changes slated for the once mild mannered Hilda.

He takes his rear leaves out and puts a set together for the front...

New rears up front pack.

 

On the right is a shot of the stock front spring. On the left is the swapped in rears. You can see a noticeable difference.

 

Now with both rears mounted up front, it's obvious there's more work to do. The brake line is stretched out, the drag link needs to be dropped and the shocks look to be maxed out in length.

Another necessary mod. With the longer springs up front, something needs to be done about the shackle hitting the frame. Matt's ingenuity, and budget parameters, produce a one off set of custom boomerang shackles. Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

I'd say he did a stellar job. 

 

There's another problem created by mounting rears up front. The front axle is re-located about 1 1/2 inches forward. When the suspension flexes, the front driveshaft slip yoke isn't long enough to accommodate the increased suspension droop. In a pinch, Matt bolts up his front shaft with some spacers.

Booty Fab! You can just see the splines starting to show

 

Once again, Matt calls on his fabrication skills to solve the problem. a beauty of a square shaft, with massive amounts of slip built in.

In this shot you can see the spring shackle almost hits the frame just sitting still. If you're on the trail and stuff the suspension, those shackles flatten out and limit suspension travel. The Matt Made boomerang shackles will solve that problem. That square shaft will take all the trail abuse you can dish out and it should have enough slip built in to allow the front axle to drop to it's limit.

 

Here's the old girl with her new look.

 

 Compared to the first shots, it looks like he's gained a couple inches up front.

  

More importantly, check out this flex!

It's a lot of work, but it's a lot of fun too! When you can work on your rig and improve it's ability, it's a good feeling. There's not another one in the world like Helga!

 

    I'm sure Matt hasn't finished with his mods. He just added a performance exhaust system, and there is a locker in Helga's future.

     I'll try to update Matt's build up as I can. Stay tuned.

 

 

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