Author: DPVJosh

By Josh Man, sitting down in the shop with Alex for our latest podcast episode really put things into perspective. We’re officially back where it all began—two years since we kicked off this wild ride—and looking back at 2025, I’m struck by one thing: the “Pain” is just the seasoning that makes the “Victory” taste…

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about Alex, it’s that he has a magnet for “cheap” projects that end up being a physical workout. This G30 van is a beast, but getting it home was a bit of a grind—literally. We had a slight “casualty” with the fiberglass running board during loading [03:00], but hey,…

What’s up, guys? Josh here. If you’ve been following the build of the Big Chief, you know I’ve wanted to ditch the old Quadra-Trac and go bulletproof for nearly a decade. Today, we finally made some serious headway on the 203/205 Doubler setup. This is the heart of the “Victory” side of things—getting that ultra-low…

It’s finally happening! We’ve officially started the 203/205 Doubler build, and man, there is something so satisfying about cracking open a heavy-duty gear box. This project is all about the “Victory” of having an unstoppable crawl ratio, but right now, we’re knee-deep in the “Pain”—specifically, the greasy, needle-bearing-filled kind of pain. The mission for this…

Hey guys, Josh here. Looking back at some of the older projects in the shop, I realized I never really gave the NP203 transfer case its fair shake on the blog. If you’ve spent any time around 70s-era half-ton or three-quarter-ton trucks, you’ve likely encountered this cast-iron beast. At first glance, it’s easy to focus…

Looking back at our past projects, there’s one piece of hardware that consistently stands out as the backbone of a solid rig: the New Process 205. I’ve spent a lot of hours with this 140lb lump of cast iron on my workbench, and even though this video is from a little while back, the lessons…

By Josh Man, I’m still buzzing from our latest podcast episode. Alex and I have been friends for over 30 years, and if there’s one thing we’ve spent a lot of time doing together, it’s wrenching in less-than-ideal conditions. We’ve done it all: gravel driveways, rainy roadsides, and tiny sheds where you have to step…

You know that feeling when you have a terrible idea, but the math just makes too much sense to ignore? That’s pretty much the foundation of Alex’s and my entire friendship. In this week’s episode of the Days of Pain and Victory Podcast, we tackled a topic that I know tempts every budget-minded gearhead scrolling…

There’s a difference between being reckless and being relentlessly determined, and our friend Tyler Bolland is the perfect example of the latter. He’s one of the smartest guys we know—an ex-military aviation mechanic who applies that same “failure is not an option” precision to a garage build. But he’s also got enough grit to take…

We finally did it. We took the families, the rigs, and a whole lot of anxiety to the Rubicon Trail. If you’ve been following the channel, you know the formula: Pain and Victory. And let me tell you, the Rubicon served up a double portion of both. This wasn’t just a wheeling trip; it was…