Look at the beef in the bottom two pics in this LINK.
Very stout indeed. My only concern is it's still only single range, where an Atlas II or Stak box gives me an extra gear to play with. Now I won't ever actually need the super low gear stuff, the if you read the Billavista doubler article over on pirate, then you know that that extra gear opens up other ranges for you to shift through which provides a more seamless gear range. That at least was my line of thinking on going towards the Atlas or Stak.

Besides, if there is something I learned from VXers it's that the most popular option MUST be shunned for no reason at all!
Truer words were never spoken I would be lying if I said I hadn't looked into some pretty out there alternatives like portal axles and such. The problem with those, at least the military ones I've seen is that you have to find a way to run everything backwards.

If your going to go high $$ for the Atlas you should also take a look at the Lovell. Very stout (comp tested) and air actuated. Can be shifted under load or at full open throttle!
Now that is something definitely VX worthy, but since I didn't see a price, I can only assume it's very high. I think it will end up in the wishlist category along with the LS7 motor, and the 609 spidertrax axles with 60 degree steering.

As for coilovers you may also look into the new ORI struts. Much more user friendly (no figuring out spring rates) and better road manners. There are several posts on Pirate about them.
I'll have to check those out some more in depth. I had never heard of them. They certainly look pretty cool. I think these would be absolutely awesome to run and since there aren't any bulky springs to mess with you could always add bypass shocks later on if you were really getting into situations where you needed the extra damping. I will definitely do some research on these. The only downfall looks to be availability.

As far as wheel base. I plan (when ever my time comes) to stretch the front out around 5 inches. Better tire clearance to keep it lower.
Agreed, the wheelbase needs to get longer for the reason you mentioned, but I think the rear will really need it too. Our departure angle is not a thing of beauty. However, as I said before, making it all come together and not look like hack job city will be a challenge, especially in the back where there's more "fat to trim". I guess what I mean by that is that in the rear, you are actually cutting into the body more, where the front you are really just trimming mostly fenderwell stuff.

What size tires are you planning on running?
I feel that 37s are the largest size I can safely run at high speeds. I'm really liking these a lot:



They are Maxxis M8060 Trepador Competition Bias plys. I'm not crazy about the bias ply part, due to all the irritations that come with it, but they have been high speed offroad tested and look like they'll make great crawler tires too, plus, I've heard they're very sticky out here at the Moonrocks.

Beau, feel free to start you own thread. I just didn't want all this going in the wrong thread. Besides, we need to kick you in the butt every now and then for moral support!
I couldn't agree more. Actually, I think you did a great job building up this thread, so let's kick it here I have to say I have been very hesitant about putting anything up on the forum, because, as I've mentioned to others in private, I like to post results, not string people along on "what ifs", "that would be cools", and other such flights of fancy that come and go over the years. I feel I'm reaching the stage where some of this is coming together and I might actually pull it off, so having the moral support and a good butt kicking every now and again on here will set me in the right direction and more importantly keep me moving.

I want to see the photo chop...I would do it but i totally suck at that sort of thing and it would do it no justice!
Ditto, I have been wanting the same for awhile now, but I have no photoshop experience, so I've just had to guess and imagine. Having some concept pics would be awesome.