Nate, I can’t wait for you to get that truck back up. Let’s get out ASAP.

I haven’t posted here in a few weeks. I was about to take my Jeep out on my birthday, two weeks ago, until I discovered some carnage. I got it all fixed up now and I’m geared up for Labor Day weekend in Moab! :rock: Planning on having the Jeep all packed up on Wednesday night, drive it to work on Thursday and leave for Moab right after work. It’s gonna be a good weekend. :D

You're unstoppable :p

Moab today! :rock:

:mad: :(

The forecast calls for rain in the mountains on Monday when I’m trying to return to Denver. I opted for the most complete top I have. It’s not watertight by any means but I’m interested in how dry i can stay. My luck? It won’t rain at all on the way home. :lol:

I had to take the pry bar to the tub rails to get Cobound’s old tonneau cover on. Thanks again, Cobound! :thumbsup:

https://i.imgur.com/jowWM5y.jpg

:lol:

:thumbsup:

It was a blast this weekend. Had some freak accidents but no trail carnage. My buddy Steve finished a one ton swap in his 5.3L powered 4Runner and the front 60 he bought already set up with gears. He was driving down the road in Sand Flats at about 30 mph when his front tires violently locked up and brought the rig to a screeching halt. After taking it apart on the trailer and discovering the pinion gear was totally seized, he took it to a shop for them to spend the day on it while he went and relaxed and rode along on Poison Spider. When we got off the trail, I went back to Dixie with him and they informed us that everything was still salvageable but whoever installed the gears didn’t put a crush sleeve or spacers in, resulting in the bearing chewing itself up. Paul had a front caliper egress his SAS’d tacoma. No idea how that happened. No breakage here; I’m starting to get real comfortable with driving my TJ on the highway in the mountains and of course it did not rain at all when I had my top on. :rolleyes:

I didn’t actually take many pictures but we had a lot of people riding along taking pictures so I will post them as they come in.

https://i.imgur.com/U1ZPAda.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/dqH9eTM.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/5gvZF25.jpg

:rock:

Awesome!

After EJS and especially Suicide Hill, I could tell Steve was rethinking those Yota axles :lol:

Yeah he was a huge fan of Toyota axles and I kept hounding him (and the rest of my Toyota friends) about the fact that half tons have no business under a rig with 37”+ tires. I have talked a couple of them out of their mini truck axles (including Ryan, with the periwinkle 4Runner pictured above) but Steve was the first to get it done and he did the swap in an impressive 3 weeks. It’s a sick rig now!

Hell’s revenge at sunset:

https://i.imgur.com/GgnOjav.jpg

Fuk I wish I lived closer :banghead:

If/when I build the rig I have planned it will technically have a 1/2 ton front axle :dunno:

Don’t do it! :lol:

The last trip out last year was in October. The rear driveshaft was making all sorts of noise on the way home. I pulled it out and sure enough - there is a grease zerk in the CV that I have neglected for 15 years and of course, the CV is shot. I had a few plans over the winter for this thing. I have not touched it and I will probably press my luck this season with all that needs to be done and just get a new drive shaft in and run it.

Moab in 4 weeks, and yes, I am driving it there. :lol:

What all else ya need to do other than the shaft?

Current status:

http://i64.tinypic.com/wmm3qr.jpg

http://i66.tinypic.com/wlam4n.jpg

Burning the midnight oil...

:eek:

Burning the midnight oil ran a few hours short...shortly after I ran out of .035" wire. :mad:

Ran out this morning and got some more. Welding to the housing suuuuucks.

Pre-heat with oxy-propane setup (10ish minutes), burn it in (1 minute), use oxy-propane setup to make sure both materials cool at equal rates (20-30 minutes). I usually try to keep all areas within 20°F of each other (laser thermometer).

Only two more welds and it should be all I have to do thankfully.

The clutch, as far as I know, is original at 150,000 miles and on top of that, the transmission is fawked and will barely stay in first gear.

The rear t-case output leaks like crazy, especially when going up hills. The case shifter linkage won’t stay in place and I have to crawl under it to get it out of 4wd after every trail.

Still haven’t gotten around to getting hydro assist in, despite really only needing to drill and tap my steering box for it and some fab to get the cylinder in.

Still no cage/harnesses/spare carrier

Still rocking the super limited rear suspension setup but will address this when the cage goes in.

General ****box 4wd cleanup items for wiring, etc.

Still no windshield washer fluid bottle.

Sounds like I just need a driveshaft and I’ll be ready for wheelin season. :D

:lol:

If I didn't have the buggy to scream along to try and make it, I'd tell you to drive your arse up here. We could swap in the AW4, get your shifter linkage fixed(buy a boostwerks linkage kit, he's in FoCo), and rear t-case output done in a long day.

We could have a cage day/weekend this summer and get you knocked out in a weekend...I've got a bender, plasma, etc.!

:chug:

May need to plan a trip up there. Or two. :D

I lose my truck to the body shop May 13th, so that might be a good time for a weekend wrench fest :lol:

That's the spirit! :rock:

Driveshaft is in, she runs like a top. Did highways speeds with her for the first time in 6 months last night. That counts as wheeling, right? :D

EJS in a few weeks :dunno:

I spent the last weekend of EJS in Moab with the Jeep. Drove it there and back, of course. During my wheeling adventures, I decided it’s time for a new transmission. First gear will randomly and sometimes violently come out of gear and it got very frustrating in Moab. It’s to the point that it won’t stay in gear unless I hold it.

This weekend, I picked up an AW4 from Nefarious, then I headed to the junkyard for the TCM from a ‘98 XJ. I’m trying to get this swap done before the end of May.

Woot! Work away, wheel away!

Shoulda just started your own thread :lol:

Looks like fun though! We need to get together again one of these days...if nothing else, so I can pick up my coozies!

:dunno:

:lol: :f2:

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead. I have finished the AW4 swap but not completely. I have since lost my garage and haven't made any progress on the Jeep since November or December, when I was able to drive it again.

The AW4 swap, while the trans itsself is largely bolt-in, necessitated a bunch of other changes, as a result of the trans being 1-3/8" longer than an AX-15, and some other crap that was my fault.

I still need to modify the skid plate, weld in the bump stops, fab some strap tabs, install my limit straps, clean up all of the wiring for the AW4, and install the center console again. It doesn't sound like much, but it is a fair amount of work. Without a garage, I'm relying on the kindness of my friends to facilitate my needs. My living situation is too good right now, however, the Jeep sits street side in down town Denver for now. :D Kind of sucks watching it rust away on the side of the street, but it motivates me to kick the tires and drive it more often.

I did some pavement pounding the past couple weekends...did a Jeep parade last Sunday, passed my brother inlaws place where my nephew was turning 9..so we gathered over 250 Jeeps to pass his place, and a couple hospitals, around a couple lakes in the cities (MN is the land of 10k lakes)...was a beautiful day, we had a great time and kept our distances.

Birthday boy's parade

https://scontent.ffcm1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...b0&oe=5EBA414F


https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.n...e1&oe=5EB8DEB0

This kid put a vid together of the parade, he's pretty excited...my Jeep is leading the pack when he shoots us under the overpass he's on :D

https://youtu.be/8Y0ur3xee30



Yesterday we did a JEEP gathering in the Canterbury Park horse racing lot...with permission, police escort to another parade (I did not parade, just did the Jeep portion).

https://scontent.ffcm1-1.fna.fbcdn.n...c1&oe=5EB83D80

Jeep Drone footage - Canterbury Park, MN

Glad we did it last week and yesterday, there's a few inches of snow out there rolling through the state today!

Well, when you can't go wheeling :dunno:

I really need to get out and wheel.

Repaired the two sidewall holes on my MTR, now to get it mounted and make sure it holds air.

Other than that, I'm pretty well ready (though likely forgetting a couple nice to haves).

Need to get my trailer fenders knocked out, ramp storage repaired, and get a WD hitch setup going.

Would like to pull the headliner in the truck and get a couple things done (fix leak), and get my gauges that I've had for years installed.

Think a weekend Indy and/or BV trip needs to happen. Asap.

what all did you have to change because the trans was longer? was the tcase hitting the link crossmember?

Yeah, that was the biggest issue overall, the link crossmember being in the way of the driveline.

I ended up ditching the lower link crossmember and gluing the lower links to the bottom of the frame, like I should have done originally. Then I decided if I was going that far with the rear suspension mods, I'd just go full dumbarse and add 3" to the wheelbase, too, which then necessitated custom lower shock tabs.

Also, the transmission mount had to be changed significantly to make everything work. I had to also change the exhaust.

I’m going on a mini overland trip this week...have a week of furlough, 3 of the next 9 weeks I’m off, so I’m headed to the boonies.

Between a buddy that owns 180 acres, cousin owns like 50 and my mom has around 30... I’m going to trek out and stay a couple days at each spot, have a fire, roll around in the Jeep where I can, and hike. Probably sit and catch up on some magazines I’ve not read in a while, drink some, etc... can’t wait! :rock:

In don’t have the mountains, so this is where I’ll be till then. Hoping to get out west early May yet, but that will have to be monitored.

Well, went and came back...was a solid run! I had 6 days of no worries, self contained, saw a few people via social distancing. Most of all, self contained and out in the middle of the woods w/ nothing but my Jeep, food, fire, whiskey and some mags to read.

Love this tent, excited to hit the road again soon to really get out there, and LOST!

Got lost out this way...

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...73&oe=5ED0CCF4

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...ee&oe=5ECF985E

This table is the bomb, too...have had it in 3 different Jeeps now, it's a keeper, use it all the time.

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...57&oe=5ED0BC28

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...ac&oe=5ED28971

https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...53&oe=5ED1CFB0

Wish I could get away. Going to take three weeks in the islands when this all passes over. how long is the drive to Key West from here? :D Lots of wheeling on the way.

Looks like I'll be heading to Montrose Memorial Day weekend :cool:

Got some stuff to get done on the truck and trailer, but drove the buggy around the block last weekend and all seemed good as it was.

Islands :rock:

Montrose...I'd like to swing in around there!

I may be around Moab and into CO sometime between May 10-14 :dunno: