2004 Jeep Rubicon Built by a Toyota Guy
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Have fun. Going to Hollister Hills by chance? I was stationed at Ft Ord right before it closed and then lived in Monterey for a while after I'd gotten out of the Army.
I had full doors for my TJ and only installed them maybe 3 times as I really didn't like them. About the only feature I did like was a roll up/down window.
They are too expensive IMO to want to take off-road and damage. I have a nice dent in my drivers door from getting wedged between two trees.
Had one and loved it. After the switch in 86 to IFS, I stopped paying attention.
For sure, I dont get it either. I would say the rivalry is actually worse on the Toyota side though ironically. I also agree that the 4runner is much much better for camping given the gobs of space it has. I have a huge fridge, full kitchen setup, powered water and a nice comfy roof top tent. Not bad for such a heavy setup that has been on Fordyce and the Rubicon.
I know all about getting wedged up against trees and taking panel damage
Yup we will be heading to Hollister Hills on Saturday, unfortunately its the closest place to get onto dirt from the Bay Area. I'm not complaining though since it has a pretty robust obstacle course.
My 97 was the same. Once that first dent/scratch happens though its nothing but fun.
Clean rig--eager to see where you take it!
Ok so the first order of business is a good baseline of maintenance and most importantly addressing any identified problem areas. When I was inspecting the vehicle before buying it I noticed the rear diff was leaking a decent amount. So I wanted to address that as a first step.
This thing has 92,000 miles on it and Iām not entirely sure if the diffs have ever been serviced. There was a good amount of metal collected both on the drain and fill plugs. The RTV job looked questionable and was the main source of the leak. So I had fun scraping that off for an hour.
Iād like to keep things leak free for the future so I installed a nice Lubelocker gasket and dumped in some Royal Purple 75w140.
Next up is the transmission, Xfer case and front diff.
This thing has 92,000 miles on it and Iām not entirely sure if the diffs have ever been serviced. There was a good amount of metal collected both on the drain and fill plugs. The RTV job looked questionable and was the main source of the leak. So I had fun scraping that off for an hour.
Iād like to keep things leak free for the future so I installed a nice Lubelocker gasket and dumped in some Royal Purple 75w140.
Next up is the transmission, Xfer case and front diff.
Keep using RTV for the front. My front lubelocker, after several bashes, was leaking pretty substantially
Lube Lockers are a favorite but do know that a few members have had issues with them leaking. It's been yet to be determined as why they had the leak but it's suspected that there was a uneven surface on the axle.
Preventive maintenance is always a good thing & gives you a starting point for the future.
Oh boy thanks for the heads up, I need to do more research next time. I did notice that there was a bit of a lip on the bottom part of the diff interface. I was tempted to sand it down but decided not to. Ill keep an eye on it.
I was a big pusher for a lubelocker but not so much anymore (at least up front). The rear tends to drag over rocks and the front gets hit. If you hit it hard enough the RTV will compress and go back to where it was whereas the lubelocker will deform. This was the amount of gear oil leaking out of my hpd30 in a span of about 2 months. Ill try and remember to get a picture of the LL, I believe I still have it hanging on the wall but I recall it not sitting flat at all
I'm originally from Santa Cruz. Grew up with dirt bikes in Hollister hills! One of my favorite places when I was a kid. Get out early, punch through the fog and look down on the clouds. My buddies dad was a cabinet guy, helped him pull a bunch of lumber out of Fort Ord when it closed
So Iām not huge into cosmetic mods but the wheels that came with this Jeep were wayyyy too pretty for my use case. Iād feel terrible chewing them up on rocks so I decided to replace them. They are for sale btw in the classifieds section 16x8 Walker Evans Racing wheels.
I really liked the stock Rubicon wheels but discovered that they were increasingly hard to find these days. I somehow lucked out and found a set in really really rough shape somewhat locally. At $50 per wheel I wasnāt going to complain but again they have seen better days.
Against better judgement I decided to repaint them myself. First came sanding and priming:
After just about 10 hrs of labor of painting, clear coating and sanding I got them to a decent state. Not perfect and Iāll need to refinish them to get them shiny but I think theyāll do the trick and look much better than before.
16x8 Walker Evans Racing wheels.I really liked the stock Rubicon wheels but discovered that they were increasingly hard to find these days. I somehow lucked out and found a set in really really rough shape somewhat locally. At $50 per wheel I wasnāt going to complain but again they have seen better days.
Against better judgement I decided to repaint them myself. First came sanding and priming:
After just about 10 hrs of labor of painting, clear coating and sanding I got them to a decent state. Not perfect and Iāll need to refinish them to get them shiny but I think theyāll do the trick and look much better than before.
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Wheels look really good. Nice job on painting them.
How was your first trip out in the Jeep? What was your first impression of driving it off-road compared to your Yota?
How was your first trip out in the Jeep? What was your first impression of driving it off-road compared to your Yota?
It was a ton of fun taking it to Hollister Hills OHV yesterday a few takeaways when thinking about the TJ vs. a 5th Gen 4runner:
- Solid Axle and Front Locker - Having a solid front axle with its improved articulation and front locker is a game changer. In the chunky stuff I had gobs more traction and I was able to pull myself up tricky obstacles which would have been much trickier with my iFS open diff + e-LSD in the 4runner.
- Ride Comfort - Wow these things donāt ride very comfortably at all. Iāve never appreciated how cushy IFS rigs are off-road but there is a big difference. I think I can fix some of this with higher end suspension but itās not that big of a deal to me right now and not a priority.
- Manual Transmission on Rocks - Not really a Jeep vs Toyota thing but I've been driving manuals for just about 23 years and even currently have a manual track car for racetrack driving. I've actually never driven a manual 4x4 off road until yesterday. Let me tell you something it's a lot trickier than I anticipated. It took me a couple of hours before I got a good feel on how to manipulate the clutch properly when crawling over rocks. It was pretty damn hard but I can see how once you have that down how it will introduce a whole new level of control.
Bonus recovery of an overturned SXS that was playing stupid games in corners with a group of kids. Luckily no one was hurt and we just winched them back upright.
What PSI are you running your tyres on the street? I run mine at 26PSI for street driving. Your shocks also have a huge thing to do with ride comfort.
Seat Time. Seat Time. Seat Time.
With a manual, most of what I have read is needing to get a lower crawl ratio.
With a manual, most of what Iāve learned is that autos are better!
How does the quote go? "You will have to pry my cold dead fingers from my gear shifter"
For street I'm running 26 psi, when I had the wheels swapped out the tire place set tire pressures to 40 psi and I felt how bad that life was. As soon as I got home I aired them down. Sometimes I second guess sticking with 16" and not moving to 15" for C-rated tires but I was trying to do the most economical thing given the tires that came with this thing are in such great shape.
For trail riding I had them down to 15 psi, I'm sure I could have gone a little lower but not having beadlocks gets me nervous to go into single digits. Especially given i've debeaded tires at those pressures in the past.
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This my buddy kills it in first gen t4r with twin cases even out wheels me