Crabs

Zuks Off Road sells a nifty item called a "crab."  Basically, it's a weld-on mini-skid plate for your differentials.
The aftermarket has a lot of different protection gear for differentials.  Some Zuk owners cut a large pipe cap in half and weld it to the lower part of the housing.  We've looked at all the alternative and decided Myron's crabs were the best available technology.  Ideally, someday somebody will develop a bolt-on protective device but who know how long that might be.  We went over to Myron's Place on a rainy March day and quizzed him about the physics of the crab and so forth and he gave us very straightforward answers and showed us the type of abuse a crab can take.  It was very impressive.

There are three main areas were skid plate protection is essential.  The front diff  is point #1.  The t-case is point #2 and the gas tank is point #3.  We will soon be getting a bolt on skid plate for the t-case from Trail Tough.

Anyway, we decided to buy a crab for our front diff first.  That's the the thing we worry about the most.  It's the first point of impact if we goof up and misjudge the size of a rock or mess up and get our wheel placement wrong.  (NOTE: Wheel placement is a big deal.  Most wheeling people can see where their wheels are in their sleep.  What we do occasionally is put a lot of empty aluminum cans on a gravel road and make a slalom course.  The goal is to have the tire precisely covering a can.  It sure helps improve your wheel placement.)

Myron said he would install a crab for $20.  So, we took SuziQ over to Myron's March 23rd and had him put on the crab.  His $20 fee was an amazing bargain as it took him and a helped danged near 45 minutes to get the crab on properly and make sure there was clearance for a socket to pull the filler plug.  The total "out-the-door" bill came to $52 for everything.  Myron is an amazing person and the more I deal with him, the more impressed I am.  THANKS, Myron!

Click here for ZOR's online description of the crabs.

Below the photos are additional comments.

Myron's bulldog "Big" checks out the Rust-Oleum Hammertone paint job for the inside of the crab.

Myron doesn't hesitate to dive right into a job.  He reminds me of a professional wrestler in a lot of ways.  Watching him work is a lot like being ringside at a wrestling match.  One of Myron's wintertime employees is a professional hunting guide, Marco.  He's a hoot and is Myron's right hand man.

Here's the crab before Marco shot it again with more Hammertone.  Myron had to burn out the access hole a little bigger because it didn't align right for a socket to loosen the filler plug.  We are VERY pleased with this new addition to SuziQ.  It's going to reduce our anxiety when we encounter tall rocks in the trail.  Our clearance from the bottom of the diff is 8.375 inches.  We often get into discussions that go like this, "You think that rock is 8 inches?"  "Naw, I think it's only 7."  "Well what if it's 8 or more?"  And on and on and on it goes.  Now, we're not going to worry about splitting hairs (or diffs)--we've got some margin-of-error literally built into the Zuk.

2nd Spare Tire Mount

Here's how we secure our 2nd spare.  We've learned the hard way that if you don't really bolt down your 2nd spare, it can and often will get slightly airborne when you hit rough spots going too fast.  A loose tire likes to roam around!  Luckily for Zuk owners, the solution to cinch down the 2nd spare is very simple.  All Zuks actually come with four so-called "frame nuts" strategically placed to anchor the front of the back seat.  If it's a bench seat, only the far left and right bolts are needed.  If the Zuk was originally sold with the rare twin folding jump seats, then all four bolt holes were used.

The two center bolt holes are 9.,5 inches apart.  We used a piece of aluminum angle stock.  We bought longer 8 x 1.25 mm bolts to really crank in this bracket.  Next, we fitted the bracket with two eye bolts spaced to fit twin lug holes.  We use that other hole to place a bolt that hold down our rigging board described in the blog post below this one.  This arrangement really anchors down the 2nd spare and provides a platform for all of our personal gear described below.

We also use the two bolt holes at the far center back of the body to anchor down our tool tub.  We're thinking about using the rear seat belt bolts to anchor down twin .50 caliber ammo cans.

Personal gear rigging

Here's how we rig our personal gear.  A piece of OSB is bolted on top of the spare tire.  Various eye bolts are placed around the board.  Susun and I each have our own plastic tub for whatever we care to pack.  The bungee cords really hold those tubs down well.  The small cooler wedges firmly between the two tubs and doesn't need a separate tie down.  (Another soft cooler sits behind the driver seat so it doesn't violate the "within arm's reach" Law of Wheelin'.)  On each side of the spare tire are two folding chairs, our hiking sticks and a lightweight camera tripod.

The photo below shows how it looks from the back.  The rear tub holds all the tools and stuff described below.  That tub is attached to the Zuk floor using the two bolts that normally secure the rear sear bracket.  The blue bag to the left holds the tow strap and chain.

The photo below shows how the OSB sits in relation to the spare tire.  Below that is a photo of how we can rig other stuff on the open space in front of our personal tubs.  Having five eye bolts up there gives a lot of options for keeping stuff from moving around.  Two ZOA members are thinking about making for sale a custom rigging set up for the interior of a Zuk.  We sure hope they do but in the meantime, this is the core of what we travel with.  There's plenty of room for our tent, sleeping bags and the other stuff we will need to camp with when that time comes this summer.

Travel Tools

Here's most of the tools we travel with.  This assortment will change when we get back to Idaho.  That's where all my "real" tools are located, as well as all my spare Zuk parts.  At least this inventory is a bare bones minimum to get us through until our May return to Tater Nation.  That's a 10-ton bottle jack.  It's definitely overkill for a Zuk but the big jack was less expensive than a smaller jack.  Go figure.  The jack is sitting on an aluminum plate that helps stabilize it in loose or soft soils.  The black box contains a portable CB radio.  We're hoping to get our HAM license and a decent hand held  HAM band radio before we head north.  We always carry the stuff for the stock Samurai scissors jack.  It's a pretty worthless jack but "ya just never know."  We always carry a breaking bar with the right size socket for any given vehicle's lug nuts.  The Zuk's are 19 mm.

Not shown is a bag containing our tow strap and chain as well as our two first aid kits.  Two first aid kits?  Whazzup wit dat?  Well, one first aid kit is for us humans.  The other one is for the Zuk.  It contains duct tape, electrical tape, baling wire, assorted cable ties, fuses, JB Weld, and Super Glue.

We also need to add a container of coolant and brake fluid.  The only other thing not shown is a small tarp.  That tarp can come in real handy if you're changing a tire in sloppy conditions.