High travel, high clearance & high octane, a streetable adventure LJ story

Looks like your shovel mount could use a stainless washer 🤣 I’m amazed how quickly stuff rusts there.

Yeah, that washer has been on there for about 10 years now. The other 3 are stainless for reasons unknown to me. I want to rebuild that shovel mount at some point into a smaller lighter design.
 
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So it seems that my Jeep has a little bit of an identity crisis. I built it with the intention of being a capable go anywhere rig. However I noticed that the more comfortable I get with it the harder I drive it. I'm driving it harder than I ever have before and it's limit isn't even within view. With the current trend, once I have the new engine in I'm sure I'm going to be having a hard time keeping it off those more difficult trails.

So far the interior is mostly modified stock. And I've noticed a few shortcomings:

1) When side hilling it's difficult to stay secure and upright in the seats. As a driver this affects my ability to see over the hood and adequately reach the gas/brake pedals. I personally think the factory seats are comfortable for long days in the Jeep and I've never had a complaint with them before. I'm going to start trying out different seats until I find some I like.

2) My gauges aren't all easy to read with them being placed all over the dash wherever they'd fit. I don't love the look of it, but I'll be switching the dash out for a digital screen which will be able to be customized to display everything I need and I won't be distracted glancing around at gauges while driving anymore. I'll be covering the details of this over on my engine thread.

None of this was on my radar as something I needed/wanted until recently. I think it's a testament to how well my Jeep build came together since it's something that I've been able to grow into rather than grow out of. I'm consistently impressed by it on road and off road!
 
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So it seems that my Jeep has a little bit of an identity crisis. I built it with the intention of being a capable go anywhere rig. However I noticed that the more comfortable I get with it the harder I drive it. I'm driving it harder than I ever have before and it's limit isn't even within view. With the current trend, once I have the new engine in I'm sure I'm going to be having a hard time keeping it off those more difficult trails.

So far the interior is mostly modified stock. And I've noticed a few shortcomings:

1) When side hilling it's difficult to stay secure and upright in the seats. As a driver this affects my ability to see over the hood and adequately reach the gas/brake pedals. I personally think the factory seats are comfortable for long days in the Jeep and I've never had a complaint with them before. I'm going to start trying out different seats until I find some I like.

2) My gauges aren't all easy to read with them being placed all over the dash wherever they'd fit. I don't love the look of it, but I'll be switching the dash out for a digital screen which will be able to be customized to display everything I need and I won't be distracted glancing around at gauges while driving anymore. I'll be covering the details of this over on my engine thread.

None of this was on my radar as something I needed/wanted until recently. I think it's a testament to how well my Jeep build came together since it's something that I've been able to grow into rather than grow out of. I'm consistently impressed by it on road and off road!
Curious to hear your reviews on seats. My last trip in Moab made me think mine need replaced. Hanging off the side of a cliff on cliffhanger makes you start to appreciate the seat situation a bit more than driving to work.
 
Curious to hear your reviews on seats. My last trip in Moab made me think mine need replaced. Hanging off the side of a cliff on cliffhanger makes you start to appreciate the seat situation a bit more than driving to work.

For sure. I tested out 10-20 PRP seats at their booth a few years ago and at the time I didn't feel like any were an improvement vs stock. Obviously my needs have changed now so I expect my thoughts will be different now too.

It'll probably be a slow process over a year or two to find seats I like.
 
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I love my full bucket seat that I took out of my old Miata, but it’s not meant for comfort. It’s a knockoff Bride Vios III (I couldn’t afford $2k seats when I was 16). Having a seat hug you is possibly the best thing to instill confidence as you’re not bouncing around or trying to readjust in the rocks.
 
Have you sat in a VW? The GTI seats are quite comfortable and hug you. I’ve been looking for a scrap VW with a TDI for parts, I’m not sure how much trouble it would be to get them adapted, not quite sure how weather prof they would be either.
 
You probably are going to want more bolster support than Factory can provide but if you want to look in the meantime, check out the bottom cushion. On mine, the seats were starting to break down and I was getting a lean to the door. It was affecting my back some and I was looking for replacements. I found some low mileage stock seats (I also think the factory seats are pretty comfortable) and swapped the covers. When I disassembled the seats to clean them, I noticed that my seats had a giant tear in the foam, right where the seat frame went under it. The low mileage seats were starting to tear in the exact same spot. I assume its from sliding across that area, while getting in an out.

Once I noticed that, I reinforced the area with some fabric I got from a local mattress manufacturer. I told em what I was doing, and he sold me a yard of reinforcing material they use on box springs for like two bucks. I used some spray adhesive (like 3M 90) and so far, it seems to be holding up. I also steamed the foam to restore a bit of its resiliency. I honestly think the seats in my wrangler are more comfortable than the ones that were in my 14 F150 or my 17 Colorado.

BUT...I can see where they are lacking in bolster. You might look into adding some bolster foam and fabric as well...Its not hard, at all, esp for someone with your skill. Once you get some basics down, sewing is a piece of cake.
 
One more short coming I've found is my turning radius. It's bothered me ever since my second wheeling trip through the woods. Back when I built the steering I should have figured out a way to get more steering angle out of it. Right now it has a touch under stock steering angle. With the longer wheelbase it's just not cutting it. I've been in a few situations where I need to backup on a turn to make it into a multipoint turn and everyone else with a shorter wheelbase is able to swing right through the turn...It's kind of embarrassing.

Before I fit the LS in I want to improve the steering. I took a preliminary look today and I should be able to do it fairly easily by grinding down the steering stops until right before the RCVs bind, lengthen the pitman arm, and move the trackbar rearward. Right now the track bar and drag link just kiss the diff cover at full stuff so I need to check how close they are to the actual ring gear to see if I can modify the cover, go with a different cover, or need to bend the linkages so they go around the diff once I move them back. Once I have that set, I'll know how far back to set the LS since the track bar will stuff right in front of the harmonic balancer.
 
i cannot believe that i cannot find a pre-build front axle TB that is bent to fit right OVER the diff cover.
everything i find is bent around it, they all come forward from the axle mount, around the cover then to the frame mount.

i took an old JK stock TB and altered it.
this configuration will fit directly over the profile of my diff cover. it fits behind the face of the cover but not above the front truss's profile. no part of this bar will be above my front end profile at full stuff, the link on the truss is the 1st interference still.

this bar in this configuration will allow the front axle to move 3" forward putting the diff cover up to the pitman radius. i'd really like to find 1 made like this and not pieced together.

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The front diff report came in. As with the April report, the miles are based on engine miles and not actual miles seen at the front diff since it's unlocked on the street and not spinning. I would guess there's around 750 off road miles on it in this report.

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spent a bit lookin, but cannot pinpoint it. didn't you have and issue with 1 of the RO valve grommets not sealing correctly? and you used a sealant to fix it, i think i remember, no?

if so, what was the sealant?
1 of my bulkhead fittings won't thread on well enough using the poly washers. thinkin about loosin the washers and just using a sealant. think that would be sufficient? it's a "never touch again" plug really. the cell is poly.
i was considering permatex aircraft grade sealant.
 
spent a bit lookin, but cannot pinpoint it. didn't you have and issue with 1 of the RO valve grommets not sealing correctly? and you used a sealant to fix it, i think i remember, no?

if so, what was the sealant?
1 of my bulkhead fittings won't thread on well enough using the poly washers. thinkin about loosin the washers and just using a sealant. think that would be sufficient? it's a "never touch again" plug really. the cell is poly.
i was considering permatex aircraft grade sealant.
RO?