Picked up the Stranger this week as a result of being frustrated with not being able to attempt every obstacle on a trail. My 99 TJ was extremely capable for a street legal rig, but I was missing being able to attempt trails like Brittney Spears, or obstacles like Suicide Hill and the last waterfall on Upper Helldorado.
The Stranger began life as the Lovell Racing built Super Ranger that I believe won more UROC Legend events than any other one rig in the series history, including every event in 2005 and the World Championships in 2006. It has also competed in Ultra 4 races and the King of the Hammers in 2008.
Although it has a great history it's gone through 3 owners since the Lovells and has been rode hard and put away wet a few too many times. The last owner bought it to run 4500 class Ultra 4 racing but found it to be more of a project than he wanted and opted to purchase another rig that was closer to being competition ready. As a result the little Ranger sat for almost a year. Mitch was very upfront with the condition on the rig and I don't anticipate many surprises with this project. This will be a work in progress and actually needs some key things fixed before I can even hit a trail.
The first order of the business is tracking down multiple electrical gremlins, the most prominent being finding out why the fuel pump runs whenever the battery is hooked up. This problem has also killed the batter so a new one is in order. The next high priority fix will be replacing most, if not all, of the heims in the suspension. After these 2 areas are covered I'll be hit the trails out west for some orientation and to identify other needs and wants.
I knew going into this that it would be a project, but I couldn't pass up the price for what was a such an award winning and capable rig. It will be great to be back in a buggy and hopefully by Thanksgiving I can have it tested and functional and maybe head to Moab. The pictures in orange are how the rig looks now.
The Stranger began life as the Lovell Racing built Super Ranger that I believe won more UROC Legend events than any other one rig in the series history, including every event in 2005 and the World Championships in 2006. It has also competed in Ultra 4 races and the King of the Hammers in 2008.
Although it has a great history it's gone through 3 owners since the Lovells and has been rode hard and put away wet a few too many times. The last owner bought it to run 4500 class Ultra 4 racing but found it to be more of a project than he wanted and opted to purchase another rig that was closer to being competition ready. As a result the little Ranger sat for almost a year. Mitch was very upfront with the condition on the rig and I don't anticipate many surprises with this project. This will be a work in progress and actually needs some key things fixed before I can even hit a trail.
The first order of the business is tracking down multiple electrical gremlins, the most prominent being finding out why the fuel pump runs whenever the battery is hooked up. This problem has also killed the batter so a new one is in order. The next high priority fix will be replacing most, if not all, of the heims in the suspension. After these 2 areas are covered I'll be hit the trails out west for some orientation and to identify other needs and wants.
I knew going into this that it would be a project, but I couldn't pass up the price for what was a such an award winning and capable rig. It will be great to be back in a buggy and hopefully by Thanksgiving I can have it tested and functional and maybe head to Moab. The pictures in orange are how the rig looks now.
