04 LJK Repair, Redo, Recycle - The 3 R's of a First Build

Yes I'll agree wheelin back on the east coast is WAY different than out west. It is why all the different national 4WD org's fight so hard to keep the areas out west open as much as we can. I remember when I was station in MD a lot of our wheelin was done in farmers fields or on private property.



You can thank all the stupid Eco-Natzy idiots from Seattle that got all the spots closed down. When I was a kid or even in the early 80's when I was stationed at Ft Lewis there were a lot more spots. And not to start a bitch fest but because they closed down all the wheelin spots on the westside now everyone comes to central WA. The trails in the Naches area use to open up on 1 April but due to the huge influx of people coming over it has all changed.

You do also have Evans Creek and Elbe Hills if you want to drive a little, Unfortunately with traffic it is about the same amount of travel time as it is to make it to the Naches area.
Ya i hear you, west-siders are the worst.

I really like Evans Creek, i am going to do that one again soon. I went there when i was brand new to wheeling a couple years ago. Will be fun to go again with all the work ive done since then.
 
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Ya i hear you, west-siders are the worst.

I really like Evans Creek, i am going to do that one again soon. I went there when i was brand new to wheeling a couple years ago. Will be fun to go again with all the work ive done since then.

Last time I went to Evans I was still sporting a CJ-5. I'd guess it was about 1999 or 2000.

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My last time to Elbe would have been 2005 before my TJ went under the knife.

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Since you play at Walker Valley:

https://www.facebook.com/walkervalleyorv


WALKER VALLEY RECREATION AREA BOUNDARIES:
Some of the logging roads lead outside of the Walker Valley Rec area, onto managed and private land. The DNR have been getting complaints about folks making their own trials outside of the park. Particularly those north of the park, in the Split Rock Area. They are trying hard to keep those logging roads open for use, but if the "Pirate Trails" or off logging road trails continue, tickets will be written! If it continues past that, these logging roads will be closed for good!!!
Many of you know that Split Rock can be reached by logging road, and that it is outside of the park. It is a beautiful spot for wildlife and photography! This area is NOT A PART OF WALKER VALLEY RECREATION AREA! We are being allowed to access this area, as long as we are respectful to landowners, and abide by the TREAD LIGHTLY rules!
PLEASE, STAY ON THE LOGGING ROADS, DO NOT DAMAGE OR DESTROY THE FOREST, DO NOT LEAVE TRASH! If the damage continues, the area WILL BE CLOSED!
If you see someone going off the logging roads, please educate them!
Thank you!
PLEASE SHARE
 
Since you play at Walker Valley:

https://www.facebook.com/walkervalleyorv


WALKER VALLEY RECREATION AREA BOUNDARIES:
Some of the logging roads lead outside of the Walker Valley Rec area, onto managed and private land. The DNR have been getting complaints about folks making their own trials outside of the park. Particularly those north of the park, in the Split Rock Area. They are trying hard to keep those logging roads open for use, but if the "Pirate Trails" or off logging road trails continue, tickets will be written! If it continues past that, these logging roads will be closed for good!!!
Many of you know that Split Rock can be reached by logging road, and that it is outside of the park. It is a beautiful spot for wildlife and photography! This area is NOT A PART OF WALKER VALLEY RECREATION AREA! We are being allowed to access this area, as long as we are respectful to landowners, and abide by the TREAD LIGHTLY rules!
PLEASE, STAY ON THE LOGGING ROADS, DO NOT DAMAGE OR DESTROY THE FOREST, DO NOT LEAVE TRASH! If the damage continues, the area WILL BE CLOSED!
If you see someone going off the logging roads, please educate them!
Thank you!
PLEASE SHARE
Sounds like it's still open just have to stay on the road. If it's between you and me... Sounds like the work of Toyota owners
 
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In my time with the forest service, I have yet to see a trail closed because of Jeeps :unsure:

It doesn't matter who is doing it. It's just like everything else in life we all get lumped into one. Be it SXS's or Jeeps or Toyota owners all I have seen is we all get blamed. I've had some bad experiences with some FS people.

EDIT: I'll add I have had some GREAT interaction with FS people who really care about their jobs and what they are doing. It's like everything there are good and bad ones out there.
 
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In my time with the forest service, I have yet to see a trail closed because of Jeeps :unsure:
My buddy who used to wheel yotas says there's kind of like a jeep privelege thing going on. When in his raisin body yota got pulled over for mudflaps and fender laws. Now he's on a fairly low stretched TJ with 40's and never gets hasseled.
 
My buddy who used to wheel yotas says there's kind of like a jeep privelege thing going on. When in his raisin body yota got pulled over for mudflaps and fender laws. Now he's on a fairly low stretched TJ with 40's and never gets hasseled.
There is a big stigma. But there’s also some truth to the crushed up rigs on junkyard axles that tear up the zones outside the trails. It’s all about how something looks, if your rig stands out because it’s heavily used (most wheeling Toyota’s are) vs a JL on 35s (looks stock to those who don’t know) the first one gets in trouble.
 
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Been camping with the fams lately. About ready to go chase king salmons locally. Had to get the F250 spruced up. Put new PSC steering gear and a motorcraft drag link to address steering slop. It was cool to do this maintenance work with confidence knowing that I had done this on the Jeep. This is one way we get a little ROI on our jeep obsession. Also have I mentioned how much I LOVE MY VICE!

wow the 05+ SD Dana 60's are freaking massive. I know why folks drop these in jeeps. I am liking the looks of everything, they're cheap, HUGE, and have good aftermarket support. Any reason not to build SD60'S? It would be cool to share spares between tow rig and jeep. I'll have to do some reading about offset on rims to see what the min track width I could get on SD60. I wouldn't want to go over 80" total width. I'm not seriously doing an axle swap right now it's just something I am constantly reading about knowing that sooner or later tons will probably happen.

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this was a fun journey to read about, @B00mb00m, I tip my hat to you...and I laughed hard at the end of this where you are finally now enjoying what you have completed only to talk about swapping in 1 tons!
 
this was a fun journey to read about, @B00mb00m, I tip my hat to you...and I laughed hard at the end of this where you are finally now enjoying what you have completed only to talk about swapping in 1 tons!
Shush!! My wife will hear you! It is super fun getting to use the jeep in the summer. Last summer was wiped due to front end work. I haven't put my doors on for a couple months. LOVE IT!
 
Salmons were decent we worked at it and were able to average 2 a day. Had a great camp and now I am ITCHING to wheel before hunting season starts in August. Ford did good but have to readjust drag link to center wheel more.

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Been doing everything but wheeling these days. Tried to paint my f250, the paint was cracking all the way to bare metal. I sanded and primed the fenders and box and gave up Ive got an appointment with a professional painter tomorrow. This is WAY more work that I thought!!

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I did get all my fasteners finally organized, they're no longer scattered about my work bench and floor! All the containers are from Habor Freight. They're mounted on boards and hung on the French cleats.

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Finally did something the heep. I have been running the savvy front bumper for a bit now and since I was saving pennies when I bought the bumper I didn't get the corner wear plates. Talking with Blaine he said they were a requirement for hard wheeling and I did find that the corners had already been dragging and not fairing so well. I loosened up the bumper and installed these plates. They actually took quite a long time!

Additionally, I am still on my quest to chase the source of my jeep whistle. https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/calling-jeep-sound-detectives-whistle-squeal-ehine.36952/
I put on a new OEM belt tensioner and an amazon alternator.

Finally, I put on a TRE thimble and fairlead on. my warn fairlead was getting pieces of the rope embedded into the aluminum. I thought an annodized one like this from TRE might fix it but my first test pull seemed to have some rope debris as well. I did the bury splice and added a whippet.

Do you guys take off the winch rope sleeves? It doesn't wind very well through the fairlead.

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Here's the way the warn fairlead looked.

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Last thing I have been needed to address from my spring wheeling damages is some way to protect my ram assist. I almost destroyed it at Reiter. I was envisioning all kinds of complicated skids and then talked to @mrblaine and I believe I've captured his idea here. IMO this is everything I need and nothing I don't. 5" x 3/8" steel bottom piece, 2" x 1/4" steel v brace. @mrblaine is this about what you were thinking? I have the v brace welding into the savvy truss.

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