DuncLJ's Big Bolt-On Bonanza

[DuncLJ]

This is more like it!!!!
Sierra National Forest is open as well as my favorite local trails.

Did Bald Mountain Trail today. First time with 5.13 gears , lockers, and 5.25" lift.
Wow! Great improvements, it handled everything I could throw at it without blinking an eye. The only thing holding my rig back now is my own testicular fortitude.
I didn't go to crazy today because I was alone. If I was wheeling with a group or partner, it would have been balls out.
I had a great time on this granite playground though. Lots of poser shots. Lol.

Also, stopped at 2 of my favorite places, the old Dinkey Creek Bridge and McKinley Grove giant sequoia forest.

Great day to just chill and appreciate nature!!!

 

[NashvilleTJ]

This is more like it!!!!
Sierra National Forest is open as well as my favorite local trails.

View attachment 278408



Did Bald Mountain Trail today. First time with 5.13 gears , lockers, and 5.25" lift.
Wow! Great improvements, it handled everything I could throw at it without blinking an eye. The only thing holding my rig back now is my own testicular fortitude.
I didn't go to crazy today because I was alone. If I was wheeling with a group or partner, it would have been balls out.
I had a great time on this granite playground though. Lots of poser shots. Lol.

View attachment 278409
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Also, stopped at 2 of my favorite places, the old Dinkey Creek Bridge and McKinley Grove giant sequoia forest.

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Great day to just chill and appreciate nature!!!

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Way cool. Jealous.

 

[Irun]

Way cool. Jealous.

Me too!

 

[DuncLJ]

Thanks guys, it's nice when things out here aren't locked down or on fire.

 

[Irun]

View attachment 278416

ROTM picture here......just saying!

 

[DuncLJ]

A few more pics from yesterdays adventure...

It's like the surface of the moon... if the moon had trees growing out of solid rock.

 

[UKTJ]

ROTM picture here......just saying!

I suspect more than one strong candidate amongst those!

 

[DuncLJ]

ROTM picture here......just saying!

I suspect more than one strong candidate amongst those!

Thank you both! Maybe I'll post one up on ROTM next month just to see what happens.
There are always so many great pics on there.

 

[DuncLJ]

I'm doing a little transition now and trying to spend more time on the trails and less time in the garage. I've been doing nothing but building the last 18 months. I've got a decent trail worthy rig now, so I'm going to let the "Eagle out of the birdcage" and have some fun.

I couldn't help myself but to buy some more stuff though. At least this round of goods is designed to make the trails a little more pleasant.

I picked up some Coyote Deflators, a Viair 400p, and a TRE snatch block.

The Coyotes were supposed to be preset at 12 psi, but a functional test of all 4 showed 7-8 psi when they shutoff. Not bad, but I'll tinker with them to get them closer to 10-12 psi.

The Viair 400p worked great in it's test. Filled up each of the 35's in about 2 1/2 minutes each from 8 to 26 psi with no cool down period.

I didn't test out the TRE snatch block yet, but it sure is pretty. I see what all the fuss about. It's a very well built piece.
TRE even included a little swag. I got a sticker, a coozie, and a nice pouch to put the snatch block in.
Of course I tested the beer coozie out. It performed flawlessly.

 

[DuncLJ]

Yesterday I did my 1000 mile gear lube change after regearing in August. I did the 500 mile break-in procedure as directed, and since then have done a couple of wheeling trips.

Broke open the diffs and everthing looked good. A slight sparkle of micro metallic bits in the old fluid, but no chunks or bits of anything. I did a torque check in the bearing caps and the ring gear bolts. Everything looks good.

I cleaned up the mating surfaces, swapped in some Lubelocker gaskets, bolted everything back up, and refilled them.

No leaks on the diffs this morning.

I couldn't be happier with how the new gears and lockers have performed. It wasn't cheap, but it was so worth it!

 

[DuncLJ]

So with my diffs freshly serviced, I thought I'd hit the trails today. We got snow last weekend up there and a new storm is expected next weekend to dump alot of snow and rain in the Sierra's.
I figured i'd try to shoehorn a mountain trail ride before winter closures start happening.

There was some old crusty snow in the shady draws on the way up the trail, but traction was still pretty good.

Once I broke out of the trees and up on the granite, the snow was melted on the warm rocks.
Cool but not to cold, clean clear air, and lots of sunshine.
Great day! Glad I called in sick to work today.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Wow, that’s beautiful.

 

[DuncLJ]

Wow, that’s beautiful.

Thanks. I live in the central valley of CA at an elevation of 300' , right at the base of the Sierra Nevada's. It's very nice to drive 50 miles in less than an hour and be at 6500' in the pine trees surrounded by mountains and lakes.
Kind of depressing driving back home though.

 

[DuncLJ]

Hit the trails today. Loving this beautiful weather, but the lack of snow is concerning. Even the peaks of the High Sierras in the background are bare. We need a decent snowpack this year or next summer is gonna be ugly.

On a more positive note, the trails are open, dry and just about perfect. I tried the TrailsOffroad with Gaia app on my phone.
It really works good. GPS is spot on, and the waypoint feature is nice.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Interesting timing: There was a story on NPR this morning on the lack of snow pack.

 

[DuncLJ]

Interesting timing: There was a story on NPR this morning on the lack of snow pack.

Yeah, reservoirs are drying up, wildfires are getting worse each year. We're looking at mandatory water rationing if things don't improve.

 

[DuncLJ]

Had a great time wheeling yesterday, but I did notice an abnormal metallic "Clang!" when I came down a ledge. I thought, Hmmm... that didn't sound good, but I thought it was just a control arm johnny joint banging against the mount. The Jeep performed well the rest of the day.
I got home after dark and didn't think much of it.
In the middle of the night my OCD took over and I became obsessed with finding out what caused that noise. I needed a better look in daylight.

At 7am i went outside and saw this...

Yes, that is the bump stop cup, bumper, and bolt wedged between the spring and the bumpstop pucks. I don't know if it simply unscrewed itself, or if a jarring impact broke it loose.

I didn't get to work on it today since I was Christmas shopping with my wife, but believe me this is what preoccupied my mind. I'll jack it up tomorrow and see what's up. Hopefully, it will screw back in all will be well.

 

[DuncLJ]

I got around to jacking up the Jeep today to extend the coil spring enough to fish the bump stop, cup, and bolt out that had worked it's way loose.

It looks like it simply unscrewed itself, and then a few impacts with the lower stops allowed it to come completely unscrewed and fall out.

The bolt is pretty chewed up and has some flat spots on the threads. The upper perch seems to be undamaged where the bump stop screws in. I threaded a new bolt into it and it holds good tq.

I could just install it all back in with a new bolt and call it good, but I'll take it as a sign from above that I need to install a Rockjock bump kit and get rid of my stock bumps and hockey puck setup.

Ordered the Rockjock bump kit today. It should be in by next week.

 

[DuncLJ]

This time last month, I was lamenting about the lack of snow in the Sierra's. Well, December was a banner month, and we are now at least 160% of average for snowfall.

I headed up to the forest today to check out the snow and play around in it a bit.
I wanted to test out my Yukon Grizzly lockers on the icy roads as well. Auto lockers like the Grizzly and Detroit don't have a great reputation in ice or snow.
I tested it out on a moderately icy highway headed up to about 7000'. I took it slow and as long as I didn't give any sharp inputs on the accelerator or steering wheel, it handled quite nicely. The only time I would be in situations like this is when I go snowboarding or get caught in a storm. The Grizzlies performed well enough that I would have confidence in them to get me down or up the mountain without feeling like I was jeopardizing my life and would spin into a ditch simply by attempting to drive on ice.

I got off on a forest road for a bit, but didn't get far. I underestimated how deep and soft the snow was and didn't make it a 1/4 mile and got stuck. I winched myself back onto the center of the trail and managed to get back to the road.

Spent the rest of the day farting around and taking in the scenery. Glad the snow is here, hope there is a lot more to come.

 

[TRE3TOP]

Fresno… interesting place. I had a couple day detour there after breaking down leaving Yosemite valley. Big Sur would have been much cooler.