The Firetruck

Shane first bought the FireTruck as a close-to-stock '97 TJ Wrangler, with a 4.0L inline 6 cylinder engine and a 5 speed manual transmission on 31” tires. Over the years the FireTruck has been lifted, stretched, widened, lightened, cut and modified more times than we care to count… transforming her into one of the most capable and recognizable Jeeps in Australia.

As the tires got bigger, and the trails got harder, the stock axles (Dana 44 rear and Dana 30 front) were retired for a pair of heavy duty high pinion Dana 60's stuffed with Detroit lockers, 4.88 gears and 35 spline shafts. These have since been upgraded to a pair of high clearance Rockcrusher Crusher 60R's, with 35 spline alloy shafts throughout. If we do have to let up on the skinny peddle, chevy ½ ton disk brakes front and rear and a Dodge 3500 brake master cylinder take care of stopping duties.

A beefy Atlas 4.3:1 twin stick transfer case allows individual control of the drive to the front and rear axels, and splits the power from the stock 5 speed manual transmission. Getting the power down to the rear axel is a High Angle Driveline 1350 CV driveshaft, coupled to one of High Angle's Atlas e-brake kits… perfect for dig turns in those tight situations.

The torquey 4.0L inline 6 cylinder engine is still kicking, with the help of a snorkel, Donaldson filter, bored throttle body, JBits bored throttle body spacer, a MAP fuel correction module and adjustable crank shaft timing module, custom extractors, high flow cat and muffler and 2.5” mandrel bent exhaust system.

Our contact with terrafirma comes thanks to a set of grooved 38.5” TSL SX Super Swampers mounted on 16.5x9.75” steel double beadlocks courtesy of ABT4x4 and Stazworks . Making room for the big rubber up front (and saving some weight) is a Custom Carbon Components fiberglass high hood. Pointing the rubber in the right direction is a full hydraulic steering system from ABT4x4 and Performance Off Road Systems (POS) running off a high flow POS power steering pump.

The FireTruck's wheelbase has been lengthened to 102” by pushing the rear axel back around 7” – a Cheezy Racing A-frame holds the rear axel in place and an antirock off road swaybar keeps us stable and balanced. Up front Cheezy racing pushed the front axel forward a few inches as well, using a 4 link (+ track bar) and a pair of 14” Swayaway Racerunner coilover shocks from ABT4x4 to keep the Rockcrusher axel under control. The added wheelbase makes a huge difference to stability and climbing characteristics. Cheezy Racing also helped out with an 8 point roll cage, with light-weight plastic racing seats tied into the cage and 4 point harnesses holding us in place.

A brawn 9500 winch sits up front, just in case we have to recover someone else (not for us of course)… but it spends most of it's time connected to the front axle to winch down on steep climbs and off camber.

Team ABT4x4 FireTruck use and recommend Valvoline fluids – we run Valvoline gear oil, engine oil, ATF, brake fluid, radiator coolant, etc.