One of our old sayings here at the magazines is that some modifications are like pulling the pin on a hand grenade. Today I just pulled the pin on the Comman D'oh and it's only a matter of time 'till stuff starts exploding.

 I cut a bunch more sheetmetal and mounted up the new 35x12.50R17 Maxxis Trepadors on Walker Evans 17x8.5 beadlocks. The Trepadors look like they've got all the requirements to be a killer tire in the dirt and they roll smooth on the street even with no balancing. The wheels look killer and will let me dial down the air pressure off-road. The old-school hot rod red will really tie things together after I get the Flying Tigers shark's mouth painted up. The only bummer is each wheel and tire combo feels like it weighs twice as much as the old 33x10.50R15 tires on 15x8 aluminum wheels.

Acceleration is back in the toilet, as is braking performance. And while the Dana 44 rear and Dana 30 front could probably survive a long time with the smaller tires and wheels, I'm betting a busted U-joint or snapped spline is in my future. But there's no free lunch and off-road prowess often comes at the price of on-road niceness. It's a fee I'm willing to pay over and over again. Besides, it's nothing a more-powerful engine or some larger junkyard axles can't fix!