With the first wheeling trip looming in the near future, I knew that the stock running boards were not up to the task of sliding along the rocks. Well, I guess they would one time, but two times? Probably not so much.

It’s fun to take a look back to see how things progress. This was take just after the 31’s were put on: And here is where we sit today: It grew up just a tad…

I have a dream that will probably never become a reality, but I hope to aspire to it one day. That dream is to have all the tools required for the Merc to just live in the Merc full time. That way when I’m ready to wheel, I won’t have to spend any time getting things loaded up, hoping that I didn’t forget something. I can just jump in and go.

With the rear out of the way, it was time to knock out the front shocks, bump stops, and track bar. A little work with the plasma table and I was able to get the brackets knocked out for the track bar (reusing the old axle bracket I had):

I spent way more time fretting about shock selection than I probably should have given what I wound up going with. The best I can tell, I needed about a 10-12” travel shock in the rear, and an 8” travel shock up front. With that in mind, I was going back and forth between the Bilstein shocks and the Rancho shocks. I had mixed luck with the Rancho’s on the last rig so I was hesitant to go down that…