A lesson learned—keep it light and nimble!

A sincere thanks for the build support. Any success I've had with it has been a direct result of the tremendous wealth of knowledge on this forum. There are some fantastic folks here with a willingness to share, in-spite of the silly mistakes some of us make! ;)

As for the running, I was never much on the short races. Because of that, mine have been largely half and full Marathons, along with a few longer endurance races sprinkled in. I ran my first Marathon when I was a teenager and have been at it ever since then! :)

Wow, you got started with the marathon young! I enjoyed the couple I got to run before some injuries have relegated me to shorter distances only. With recently moving back to Maryland, I’m hoping to maybe do the Marine Corps Marathon again. I really enjoyed it when I got to run it back in 2013.

More on topic…it was great to read your review of how your Jeep worked out on the trail after all your build time in the garage. I’m also looking forward to your new LJ build!
 
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4340 tie rod ordered. Like @bobthetj03, I'll try running the stock drag link first, then upgrade, if needed.

https://www.shop.blackmagicbrakes.com/4340-TIE-ROD-HEAT-TREATED-4340-TIE-ROD.htm
Part ordered yesterday, shipped notice today. I realize it's partially about inventory, but I wish more businesses were like BMB. I've never had bad customer service. To be clear to anyone reading this, I'm saying this not because Blaine is a prominent member here. I'm saying it because it's true and because he has a business ethic others should follow!
 
Part ordered yesterday, shipped notice today. I realize it's partially about inventory, but I wish more businesses were like BMB. I've never had bad customer service. To be clear to anyone reading this, I'm saying this not because Blaine is a prominent member here. I'm saying it because it's true and because he has a business ethic others should follow!

You mean that they should be on top of inventory on hand and for supply chain disruptions at least communicate what they can? Novel idea :ROFLMAO: TBF, we have gotten used to Amazon style online immediate purchases where automated emails shows us the step by step processing/shipment when the supplier is in their network system. Not a lot of mom and pop shops, niche shops, have that kind of tech yet but it is becoming ubiquitous. At least they can send an email once a month to say what the status is as far as they know. It isn't too much to ask when you ostensibly have the money already.
 
Part ordered yesterday, shipped notice today. I realize it's partially about inventory, but I wish more businesses were like BMB. I've never had bad customer service. To be clear to anyone reading this, I'm saying this not because Blaine is a prominent member here. I'm saying it because it's true and because he has a business ethic others should follow!

I don't know if that is a good idea or not. My business ethic is kind of a blend of what folks expect and what I expect. The first rule is I am not perfect and neither are you. Just because you buy something does not give you the right to abuse me. If I make a mistake, I'll do my very best to fix it, you do the same. I wish I could send out free parts when there is a problem, unfortunately there is a long line of folks in front of you that prevents that from happening. I can't check every single part I use. Sometimes they are messed up, we'll fix it if we possibly can. Check your parts when they arrive. Don't send me a text message at midnight on a weekend install wanting me to next day something I messed up, not gonna happen. We do our best, we aren't perfect and are never going to be.
 
You mean that they should be on top of inventory on hand and for supply chain disruptions at least communicate what they can?

Supply chain bullshit is the bane of my existence and has been for the last 18 months. There is not a single day goes by that I'm not cussing some aspect of it. Add in Centric's bullshit and some days I just want to go sit in a corner and lick the paint.

Bizarre stuff has tried to kick our ass. 13 cube double wall boxes. Really, one of your most common boxes and we have to source them from 3 different suppliers?

The tie rod we shipped yesterday, yep, the last batch of tubes came in wrong. Dropped the tie rod in and it stuck out the top 3". WTF? Mad scramble, check with the company, they are in the middle of a large ass chewing to someone who can't read a tape measure. 36" is useable length between the caps, not the overall length dumbass. Found a tube to cut down and get it out of here which turned a 15 minute job into an hour.

Anyone need some 36" tubes they told us to recycle?
 
You mean that they should be on top of inventory on hand and for supply chain disruptions at least communicate what they can? Novel idea :ROFLMAO: TBF, we have gotten used to Amazon style online immediate purchases where automated emails shows us the step by step processing/shipment when the supplier is in their network system. Not a lot of mom and pop shops, niche shops, have that kind of tech yet but it is becoming ubiquitous. At least they can send an email once a month to say what the status is as far as they know. It isn't too much to ask when you ostensibly have the money already.

Its really not that hard to get this kind of tech. You sign up for an online store provider like shopify and they take care of it, mostly. They handle the emails, you load in your shipping and handling rates, etc.
 
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Continuing the trail cleaning. Removed the steel rocker sliders. Cleaned up the mud, took a flap disk to the scrapes, then repainted them. Also Removed the tail lights and license plate holder. The latter was faded, but 5 minutes with a heat gun solved that problem.

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Spent part of the afternoon fighting with the Johnny joints. The two lower front joints were seized. I was eventually able to get them squared up again, but they are going to need to be removed and re-greased. These have seen less than 3,000 road miles and only one wheeling trip. I'm not going to say what I'm thinking, because others will only pile on. :mad:
 
Spent part of the afternoon fighting with the Johnny joints. The two lower front joints were seized. I was eventually able to get them squared up again, but they are going to need to be removed and re-greased. These have seen less than 3,000 road miles and only one wheeling trip. I'm not going to say what I'm thinking, because others will only pile on. :mad:

I was in the same boat. Mine were dry as a bone after a few months of use. From now on I will regrease new joints with CV2 before I put them in.
 
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Spent part of the afternoon fighting with the Johnny joints. The two lower front joints were seized. I was eventually able to get them squared up again, but they are going to need to be removed and re-greased. These have seen less than 3,000 road miles and only one wheeling trip. I'm not going to say what I'm thinking, because others will only pile on. :mad:
East Coast mountain wheeling will do that.
 
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Spent part of the afternoon fighting with the Johnny joints. The two lower front joints were seized. I was eventually able to get them squared up again, but they are going to need to be removed and re-greased. These have seen less than 3,000 road miles and only one wheeling trip. I'm not going to say what I'm thinking, because others will only pile on. :mad:

I had the same issue with fixed end of my johnny joint control arms (single adjustable) . There's no grease nipple but I thought they'd still articulate.
 
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Just finished reading this entire build thread. Speechless and in awe. Superb!

Saving pennies and some day, if it's available, but wow...
 
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