For those of you who don't remember, Moby used to run around on a set of 40x15.50 Nitto Mud Grapplers mounted on a set of 20" ATX Slab bead lock wheels. But, after installing an LS and a new Dynatrac ProRock 80 and converting over to an 8-lug bolt pattern, it was time to retire the massive meats and move over to something more practical. Of course, the question we were left with was what should we do with the old wheels and tires? Being as big as they are and on wheels with a bolt pattern that most people can't use, they weren't really something we could sell or at least, with any easy and so for months, they just sat in our garage collecting dust... until now anyway.
After seeing OverlanderJK paint up his ATX Slab wheels to match his Dozer colored Jeep and seeing just how awesome it looked, Cindy and I thought that maybe we could do the same thing. Now that RubiCAT is running Moby's old ProRock 60 rear axle and running wheel adapters up front to accommodate a 5x5.5 bolt pattern, it literally would be as simple as painting them up, bolting them on and go. Granted, RubiCAT's front axle is just a ProRock44 and with 5.38 gears so this really wouldn't be something we'd feel comfortable wheeling hard with per se but damn - how could we not do it if only just for looks and just for fun! Anyway, here are some pics documenting RubiCAT's steroid transformation - I hope you enjoy!
To get started, we're gonna need some color matched paint. Thanks to Adam, we found that we needed a PY5.
Removed the rings off of Moby's old 20" ATX Slabs bead lock wheels. As you can see, they were painted white - something we will be fixing.
As expected a handful of the inserts backed out of the wheels which really sucks but, isn't a deal breaker.
Time to cleaning up the bolts.
Here's a before and after shot.
Using a pair of vice grips, we were able to remove the inserts from the bolts but not without damaging the threads on the inserts.
Fortunately, our local Fastenal had just what we needed - new inserts!
Since we're going through all the trouble to paint the rings, we decided to spend some time cleaning up the rough edges with a grinder and then sanding them before priming them up.
And just like that, here's what the rings look like with their new color!
Here are a couple of shots of them mounted up to the wheels.
TA-DA!! Here are a few shots of what RubiCAT on steroids looks like!!
After seeing OverlanderJK paint up his ATX Slab wheels to match his Dozer colored Jeep and seeing just how awesome it looked, Cindy and I thought that maybe we could do the same thing. Now that RubiCAT is running Moby's old ProRock 60 rear axle and running wheel adapters up front to accommodate a 5x5.5 bolt pattern, it literally would be as simple as painting them up, bolting them on and go. Granted, RubiCAT's front axle is just a ProRock44 and with 5.38 gears so this really wouldn't be something we'd feel comfortable wheeling hard with per se but damn - how could we not do it if only just for looks and just for fun! Anyway, here are some pics documenting RubiCAT's steroid transformation - I hope you enjoy!
To get started, we're gonna need some color matched paint. Thanks to Adam, we found that we needed a PY5.
Removed the rings off of Moby's old 20" ATX Slabs bead lock wheels. As you can see, they were painted white - something we will be fixing.
As expected a handful of the inserts backed out of the wheels which really sucks but, isn't a deal breaker.
Time to cleaning up the bolts.
Here's a before and after shot.
Using a pair of vice grips, we were able to remove the inserts from the bolts but not without damaging the threads on the inserts.
Fortunately, our local Fastenal had just what we needed - new inserts!
Since we're going through all the trouble to paint the rings, we decided to spend some time cleaning up the rough edges with a grinder and then sanding them before priming them up.
And just like that, here's what the rings look like with their new color!
Here are a couple of shots of them mounted up to the wheels.
TA-DA!! Here are a few shots of what RubiCAT on steroids looks like!!
