October 2005 4-Wheel & Off-Road page 102, Wheeling 'N' Wrenching…

Ea WHEELING 'N' WRENCHING IN WET WISCONSIN 31! Fred Williams PHOTOGRAPHY FRED WILLIAMS oger Hackleberg's '49 Wild Willys made us anxious to get home and start working on our own 4x45 With a 4.3L Vortec V6 under the hood and Toyota mini- truck axles underneath, this bat- tered little rat-wheeler clawed its way up and down the muddy trails with that unbeatable look only a Bugger-equipped flatty has. es, that is a Ford Ranchero body on ion Dalton's trail rig, but what's under that body is even more interesting than the classic Blue Oval styling. Dalton's truck started as an '86 F-150, but a lot has changed since the original rigincluding an ingenious hydraulic suspension that uses custom-built rams that can either work as coilover shocks, or with the flip of a switch become a driver-operated suspension allowing Dalton to raise or lower individual wheels. His cabin is full of levers, which would take a bit to learn what this truck would do, but Dalton was able to raise tires up and over diagonal logs or adjust the weight balance for steep climbs. 7717' emorial Day weekend is a time to reflect on those 2 men and women who have given all to keep our country free. It's also a three~day weekend to go celebrate that freedom however we please. So this year we headed up to Wiscon- sin during a rain-soaked weekend forthe annual Memorial Day Total Off Road Rally put on by the Minnesota 60-4 Wheelers at the Trollhaugen ski area outside of Dresser. This 37-year-old event attracts more than 500 4x45 of various shapes and sizes and packs a giant campground with folks looking for fun. Rarely do we see such a wide range of rigs at a West Coast event as we ca me across up there: fullsize mud trucks, custom monster trucks, homebuilt mud and rock buggies, and various mini-trucks, Jeeps, and Suzukis run ning everything from mini-ATV tires and stock axles to stroked big-blocks and tractor tires. The ingenuity and anythinggoes building style found in the Midwest had us grinning every time we saw folks battering their "junk" (an affectionate term for any 4x4 that actually gets used, so dont get offended) and wrench- ing all night if necessary to go do it again. Well definitely be back in the future. Want to go next year? Call the Memorial Hotline at 651.787.0278 or visit www.memorial4x4.org. r 'I 02 OCTOBER 2005 4-WHEEL Rt OFF-ROAD 4whee|offroad.com