Hey y'all, this is my buddy Dave. Along with his friend Shane, they trailer this CuckVee all the way from Connecticut to wheel in Moab at this year's Blazer Bash. He's built a very capable truck, a lot of choice upgrades and attention to detail and he was kind enough to walk us through the truck and tell us a bit of the story about this build. This thing started off as a CUCV, 1984. It's M-188, came with a Detroit locker in the rear. It comes with a 14-bolt in rear, a Dana-60 up front, 456 gears. So right off the bat, we got a pretty good platform and I got tired of the old 6-2 so I decided to drop a 98-P pump 12 valve in there with an NV4500. Now there are a lot of common swamp Chevy's out there but few are executed quite as cleanly. So the truck's got plenty of power. I did an off-road design six-inch lift. It's got their custom front springs and rear springs and we just put those in as we got here in the gravel parking lot so that was an adventure in its own. This is awesome. You drove all the way where did you drive from? Connecticut. Connect to kit. Yeah, practically England almost just mean just a short little ferry ride to England. All the way across the country. Yeah, trailer did. Just a drive on some rocks with you. Yeah. We took the truck apart in the gravel parking lot. Jacked it up, swapped the springs out. We got it done pretty quick. I picked up my girlfriend from the airport and then we started wheeling on Thursday. Yeah, Thursday. I literally took this thing from the driveway out to Moab, Utah. This is probably my favorite part right here. This seat was done by my aunt. She's a seamstress and I picked out the camel. I knew what I wanted and she cut out the seat for me but new new foam in there from USAWand Industries and this seat came out pretty awesome. Yeah, everybody. So in terms of like the things that you learned through this process because you didn't just, you know, you didn't just do this engine swap. You did a whole drive train. You've got the 4,500 and a 205. So you've really gone through the entire. Oh, yeah. What are the things that you took away during the process? So at the beginning, I knew I wanted a lifted rig. I knew I wanted a little more power but really from being from the east coast everything is rusty, real rusty. So this thing was orange underneath. Everything was, everything was orange. It had seen better days. So everything came off. The cab came off. Front clip, motor came out. I had to sing down to just the frame. Literally just the frame and the cab. We had this, I had the frame sandblasted, axle sandblasted. This thing was restored before it was built. So you ran it with a 6-2 and a restored fascia and then pulled. Yeah, I drove it for a year. I drove it for a year. I loved it but it just wasn't enough for me. I really love the build. I'm almost bored now because it's done. Yeah, I know what I mean. We'll see what's coming next. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. The build can be a lot of fun, very rewarding in its own way. And then you get to the using and it's still fun and enjoyable but it's the whole experience. For sure. Making sure. So tell me a little bit about the sliders that you got. These sliders can't be slated. These sliders I saw on a truck in one of the magazines there. And they're from Rockhound Off Road. He's based out of California. They are some serious sliders. I knew as soon as I saw them that I had to have a set. So here they are. Have you tagged them at all? Oh no. I don't think so. I don't think so. We got a lot of ground clearance on this thing. Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, 37s. 37s, brand new niddles on a race line, race line, bead locks. So before I came out here, I did the Yukon hubs, new wheels and tires and these rock sliders. And I got to say, and the Leafs rings, everything put together. It just works so well. It's incredible. I think when you... And we put it to the test this weekend. Oh, yeah. For sure. So, you know, fins and things, y'all ran fins and things on Thursdays. Yeah, fins and things. And that's a good like proving trail. Just make sure all your stuff works. Hells has got a lot of nice slow flexing so you can see clearance. And then out here on Flatiron Mesa, it's a little bit more technical. Yep. I think this is done extremely well. You've followed me most of the time and I think your wheelbase is like within... I think I'm a little bit shorter than you, right? Yeah, just a little bit. It worked out well. So, I assume you built this whole thing in like a real nice fancy shop. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Lift, you know. Here. Nope. A staff. So, tell me about what you did to build. Let's see. I was... I'm 26 now. I bought the truck when I was 22, 21. The truck was bone stock. I built it in my parents' driveway. It was outside in the winter. Nothing got done during the winter because it was snowing. I'd wait till springtime. Snow had cleared. We just started working on it again. I think the last, last leg of the build was in my buddy's garage. We did a lot of the wiring and all the little little stuff but it came out really well for being a driveway built rig. And it just shows that anybody could do this. This is cool, man. I'm so glad you came. It's been good getting to know you. Thanks for twisting my arm to get out here. I didn't have to twist it that hard. You kind of, I think, maybe wanted to go from the start. Yeah, I did. I asked a couple... Can I do this trail? Oh, yeah. My junk can go do that. Absolutely. Yours can. So, this truck does extremely well. I think you built a beautiful, brilliant, really, just a very beautiful truck. Thank you. And yeah, it was good meeting you and your girlfriend, sure. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Yeah. You're back bumper. I'll hit a little bit. You're just going to drive it out. Nice and slow. Right rear is going to drop. Okay, back bumper is going to drag a line.