Militery Surplus Tires

Here is a list of sites that supply surplus tires. Some site sell other cool items as well.

Berg Tires

Trailworthy Fab

Klc Surplus

100 Dollar Man

Military Offroad Tires

Gov Liquidation

Orrs Mud Bog

One Happy Host

It was a cool overcast day, but no one seemed to care. The mud was good, if a little soupy, and people were happy. But what redneck wouldn't be happy at a mudbog?

This is the owners truck. It performed heroically with 40 inch tires, one ton running gear and a worked 400, but he actually ended up with mud inside the engine after getting stuck. The wave backed right up the exhaust after the engine stalled from a wet electrical system.

No problems with mosquitoes

This guy didn't make it due to a wet distributor, but help was on the way.



Rescue truck came up and hit him without even slowing down... got him out though.















Here is an example of tenacity. He did not give up until he made it all the way through. Too bad his passenger didn't show the same fortitude.









The sun went down and the bonfire was lit, and another great time was had by all. Did I mention this sport freakin' rules.

Friends Truck

These are some pics of a truck a friend of mine is building. It started life as a late 80s F250. The frame has been shortened and the front Dana 50 has been changed out for a high pinion single wheel Dana 60.





The rear suspension is a custom 4-link hooked to a Lincoln locked Sterling 10.5. The frame has been shortened, and a custom shortened bed will go behind a stock regular cab.










The front suspension is the stock leaves with 1 inch blocks.




The tires are 38 inch boggers, and will surely move some real estate.





The engine is a fuel injected 460 that is stock except for mild porting on the exhaust ports, and a set of headers. These engines have great power, with 250 hp and 400 lbs of torque.

Bithlo Hill n Hole

This is, possibly, the coolest thing I have ever seen. I wish I had been there to see it in person, and I am surely going to Bithlo to see the action. I can't say enough about it. Freakin Awesome!!!!





Info:Myspace.com/BithloMudBoggs

Winching

Your stuck. Now what do you do? Call Uncle Marve to bring his old Farmall and pull you out. Maybe, but walking out eight miles to the nearest phone doesn't sound like all that much fun. A winch can be a very valuable thing to have, especially at times like this.

Most of the mud bogging that I do is at some kind of event, and there are provisions to get you unstuck, but if you do any trail riding, a winch can be indispensable.

There are other tools such as chains, tow straps (which I prefer way more than chains), come alongs and handy man jacks, but the winch can usually do the work of all of these.

Choosing The Right Winch

I suppose the biggest determining factor in winch selection is budget, but having an underpowered winch can be about as valuable as no winch, especially when trying to free a truck mired to the doors in gooey mud.

Ideally your winch should be rated a to pull twice what your truck weighs, but for a full size truck, an 8000# winch is a minimum.

Electric winches are less complex than hydraulic winches, but that does not mean that installation is easy. Care should be taken when fabricating winch mounting brackets, and if your not sure about your skill in metal fabrication, then hire someone to do it for you. Most friends can be bribed into helping, and you probably know already how much beer it is going to take, just be sure to give it to him after the fab work is done.

If you can't get the help, buy a winch mounting bumper. They look cool, and winch companies actually spent good money designing them for proper fit and function.

Electric winches come with two types of motors, permanent magnet and series wound. Permanent magnet motors draw less amperage, but are less durable and not as tolerant to heat. For light duty winching, permanent magnet motors are fine,but series wound motors are better for heavy duty applications.

Winches draw huge amounts of power under load, sometimes reaching peaks of 475 amps. A single battery will be quickly drained from continuous high amp draw. A typical stock alternator puts out around 65 amps to 100 amps, and some industrial alternators can put out up to 200 amps. A second battery makes good sense, and not a $49.00 Walmart battery.

A typical automotive battery can stand up to repeated deep discharges, and a deep cycle battery often does not carry the cranking power for cold weather starting. A good choice is marine batteries or spiral batteries such as the Optima batteries.

Two batteries wired in parallel with a good 100 amp or better alternator will really help in tough winching situations, but careful attention has to be paid to battery voltage and alternator duty cycle. When voltages drop below 10.5, winch motor life is seriously compromised, and most alternators have a duty cycle in the 60% range.

Duty cycle is the relationship between operating time and the resting time of an electric motor. Duty cycles are figured on ten minute intervals, so a 60% duty cycle would mean six minutes of work followed by four minutes of rest. Over working an alternator by exceeding duty cycles is a sure way to burn it up.

Power supply lines for winch should be at least 1/0, and I would use 2/0 or 3/0 to reduce voltage drop. Make secure connections at the battery, and the ground wire has to be as heavy as the supply side. I recommend running the ground straight to the battery as well. Cables tying two batteries together should also be the same size as the smallest cable. Be sure to route all wires safely away from sharp corners and protect from chafing. If a supply line shorts to ground, its a good chance you will have to call your insurance company for fire replacement of your truck.

To get a good idea of how much power will potentially be going through these cables, think of a welder. To weld half inch steel plate, a welder will require 25 volts at 120 amps. To weld quarter inch steel, the numbers are around 19 or 20 volts at 100 amps.

If you make provisions to relocate your winch to the back of your truck, then some kind of quick disconnect is necessary. You can use the two pole quick disconnect such as these:

But for the larger cables such as 1/0 and larger, I prefer welder cable style connectors.

Use dielectric grease for connections, and make sure all contact points are clean. Corrosion raises resistance, and causes voltage drop, translating into loss of performance.

Winching

It is a good idea to have leather gloves handy when winching. The cable spurs that eventually rise up on all cable are very sharp, and can reek havoc on your hands. If possible, stretch out as much cable as you can. Winches lose a percentage of their pulling power, and raise current draw, with every wrap of cable.

Never wrap a winch cable around a tree and hook back into the cable. First, the hook can damage the cable, and the cable will damage the tree, possible becoming lodged into it. Use a tree saver strap. When pulling, it is a good idea to drape a coat or winch blanket over the cable. A broken cable can break windshields and cause severe injury, and a few simple precautions can go along ways toward turning a situation bad.

A winching kit is a good idea. This consists of at least a pair of gloves, a winch blanket, a tree saver strap, and a snatch block. You can add a chain and various clevises.

A snatch block can be indispensable. It doubles the pulling power of your winch when pulling back to yourself. When pulling some one else, it can be used to redirect the winch cable when you can't line up for a direct pull.

If you are trying to pull someone heavier than yourself, or someone that is heavily mired, it will be necessary to anchor your truck to a tree or another vehicle. Use care when anchoring, as there will be as much tension on your anchor point as on the winch cable.

Never hook to a tow ball!! When they break, they are deadly projectiles.



A winch can save you from a long walk out of the woods. It can also be used for work style pulling, all it really requires is common sense and a little research to learn more.

Clarks Mud Bog

The weather was perfect, nice and sunny, but not too hot. The mud was even better, and with a crowd of people there all for the same reason, that is mudbogging, then who could ask for anything more.


The trucks ranged from mild street drivers to highly modified rigs built just for the mud. The pit was about 100 feet long, and early in the day, it was perfect for training and smaller tired trucks.

This Toyota had 38's or 40's and performed well, but when the mud got deeper, he was hindered by a stock motor.

After watching everyone make it through with relative ease, it was time to toughen up the pit a little. With the help of a backhoe, bog revision was done in no time, and the drivers were more than ready to go.

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Some of the big boys went through first to mix up the mud. Stage two of the bog was definitely more of a challenge, but nearly everyone was still able to make it through.

This guy said "You wont break this box tubing bumper.", and he was right, too bad he couldn't say the same for the bumper brackets. Later that day, the rear bumper suffered a similar plight.

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This jeep was an awesome performer, and a real crowd pleaser.

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This Nissan, to me, gets right to the heart of what this sport is all about. Build a truck you can afford, modify to the best of your abilities or wallet, and hit the pit. When someone who has a bogger like this, and beats it mercilessly to get through the pit, the cheers from the crowd are as loud as for the bigger trucks. Everybody loves an underdog.

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As the pit gets meaner, you have to try to pick a different line, especially if you have smaller tires or less power.

This guy was a hero,but he didn't make it through.

This Cherokee looked like a good performer, but the driver pussy footed at the beginning of the pit and didn't have the momentum to get through, so he got pulled out too.

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This Chevy has 2 1/2 ton axles and a custom lift. A modified 454 pushes it along, and it did perform.

This guy tried hard, and we all cheered hard for him, but it wasn't to be. When he got pulled out, his bumper folded up and put his brush guard through his radiator. A good lesson though.

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The bog shows no favorites. This cruiser belongs to the host and land owner. It has full size truck axles and a modified Chevy small block.

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It now seemed like the right thing to do would be to massage the pit again, so out came the backhoe, and things started to get interesting after this.

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This girl in the green jeep did great all day long. She got stuck right after this picture was taken, and she claimed it was only the second time she had ever been stuck.

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This truck is full of young girls no doubt driving dad's truck. It got really stuck. I hope her dad doesn't see this!

This picture should give a pretty good idea just how deep the mud was.

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This Toyota has 38 inch gumbo mudders and the motor has been beefed up. I have seen him pound this truck senseless for at least five years, but here it finally spun a bearing.

I know I'm a self professed ford man, but this truck is the only one that actually shook the ground under my feet, and he only has $500 into the build. I will be doing a feature post on this truck coming soon.

This Suzuki had amazing traction and would have been a great performer, but it just ran out of power and would not even turn the tires.

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Even the host had to hook his own chain.

Perfect weather, good people, and medbogging, what could be better. The only thing missing was our truck, which sits pathetically in the grass, just waiting for me to find the time to finish it. Maybe next time. Happy mudding.