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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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