Somewhere in Spanish Fork, Utah, most likely near Byron Hair's house, there's a pile of Wagoneer parts. Doors, chunks of fenders, a liftgate, a tailgate, some back seats. Consider it collateral damage. In Hair's mind it all had to go away to create a better wheeling machine. And that it did. You liked it enough to make it the 6th most popular vote-getter this year, so Hair and his Wagoneer are coming to Hollister.
Specifications
Owner name/city: Byron Hair/Spanish Fork, Utah
Occupation: Machinist
Vehicle model: 1977 Jeep Wagoneer
Estimated value: $6,000
Engine/aspiration: 455ci V-8, Quadrajet carburetor, 21/2-inch into 3-inch exhaust
Transmission(s): TH400, Hayden cooler
Transfer case: Divorced NP205
Suspension (f/r): Three-link, coil springs, Rancho RS 5000 shocks, limiting straps/Four-link, coil springs, Rancho RS 5000 shocks, limiting straps
Axles (f/r): Rockwell 2 1/2-ton, Detroit Locker, hydraulic steering/Rockwell 2 1/2-ton, welded
Axle ratio: 6.72:1
Wheels: 20x9.5 military with custom internal beadlocks
Tires: 46x19.5-20 Mickey Thompson Claws (cut)
Second only to the Warthog in sheer volume of tubing, this Wagoneer has a full 2-inch-diameter exo-cage that is fastened to the rig at 10 points. The nerf bars are made from 3-inch-diameter 3/16-wall tubing and the front and rear bumpers are made from 4x2 steel. Up front there's a Warn 9500XP on a custom mount and a trio of 5-inch-diameter lights. Custom-cut 46-inch Mickey Thompson Baja Claws are mounted to military wheels that have been converted to internal beadlocks. | 
The interior is a study in function and only the basics remain. This is an interior that could be immersed in the worst water hole in the Tank Trap and then be simply hosed out no worse for the wear. The only major mods include four Sunpro gauges and a custom shifter. Here you can also see the tubing for the cab-mounted engine air-intake system. | 
Hair put the cargo area of the Wagoneer to good use by utilizing it as a mounting point for a number of items. Securely mounted to the floor is a storage bin for trail essentials, a Harwood fuel cell, a Hi-Lift jack, and a pair of Optima Red Top batteries. |
Compared to some of the other competitors, Hair's Quadrajet-topped 455ci engine is low-tech. However, low-tech simplicity can be a good thing when one is deep in the Tank Trap. What the engine doesn't have in injectors and fancy engine management systems it makes up for with 350 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque. All that power is sent through a Hayden-cooled TH400 transmission before being transferred to a divorced NP205 transfer case. Both the transmission and transfer case rest on custom crossmembers. | 
Hair removed the stock leaf-spring front suspension and replaced it with a new custom coil-spring suspension that locates the Ouverson Ultra Locker-equipped, hydraulically steered Rockwell 2 1/2-ton axle forward 9 inches. The coils give over 14 inches of lift and the three-link bars have spherical rod ends at each end to allow plenty of flex. A pair of limiting straps ensures that the suspension doesn't overextend. Braking is accomplished via a custom driveline brake that uses a Dana 44 rotor. There's a single Rancho RS 5000 shock at each wheel. | 
Like the front, the rear axle is a Rockwell 2 1/2-ton and it has a custom driveline brake like the front axle. The rear suspension is a duplicate of the front, utilizing coils, limiting straps, Rancho RS 5000 shocks, and three-link bars with spherical rod ends. The rear suspension relocates the axle 14 inches rearward. Together with the front-axle relocation the rig has a 23-inch-longer wheelbase than stock. |