Here's pictures of our run down the Rubicon... videos to follow...
Great pics, Mac. So jelly.
Battle damage assessment...one minor mystery dent in the rear driver corner...must have slid into something. Very glad I extended my Dirtworx bumper.
Axles took some rubbing, along with the transfer case and gas tank skids but nothing major. No oil pan skid... didn't hit it or my exhaust or driveshafts.
Brute Power fuel pump seemed to misbehave...I think...fuel pressure dropped to 30 psi a couple of times and at one point after a hard jostle the fuel light came on, gauge pegged at zero...and ten minutes later it was fine. Since I have no experience with TJ pumps sans mine... it's either pump assembly misbehavior or just aereated fuel and the float gauge bouncing everywhere.
Belt - one rib section of the belt cut down the length of the belt and chunked off in places and started thumping on Friday morning. Pulled off the trail in a wide spot and swapped to my spare belt. (Two other vehicles there...one ripped a control arm mount off an axle and not sure about the other.)
Next day the spare belt did the same thing.
@CMBD and I looked over all the pulleys...I ran my hand over all of them...no defects or sharp spots. I removed one rib section on the belt...ran it forward... here's the interesting part...the belt rolled on its own to the back of the crank pulley. We reset it, and it did it again. Two theories...crank pulley (which is new) went bad or possibly didn't get drawn on all the way (was installed a year ago... before the tub swap and zero issues.) Or power steering...it was hot hot hot and probably needs a cooler... perhaps the drag on the pump...which is one of the few parts I have NOT replaced...caused the belt issue.
Gas mileage - filled up in Placerville...topped off at the Chevron before Ice House Road...made it over the trail, through Tahoe to Reno and got just about 8 mpg.
Coming home we passed a gas station in Aiden on a quarter tank...then ran out 70 miles later 2 miles from a gas station...jumped out, flagged down a blue JK and got a tow using my Yankum into town. Got 13.3 mpg on that tank...got 11.5 on the other three.
Never touched my winch.
Battery...so our cheap Amazon F40C4TMP fridge...which was rear ended, and has endured mud and dust...fan whines on the compressor but a healthy spray of WD-40 can shut it up for a bit. However every time the fridge kicked on the battery (Jeep not running) would drop from 12.3 to 11.7 and the fridge fail safe would shut off the compressor. Fridge had a voltage gauge... assuming it's accurate. So basically we had to keep the Jeep running to get the fridge to stay running. I bought a 100 w solar panel in Placerville at Harbor Freight...but I hooked up the regulator wrong and ended up driving it over the trail buried under our gear because it was useless.
The obvious answer is the Optima Yellow Top is junk. I think the answer is slightly more complicated. I don't think the PCM's voltage regulator...which essentially exists to charge and maintain a car battery...can properly charge said battery to make it effective and functional. Thinking of a small lead acid race battery hooked to the Jeep, a DC to DC converter to the Optima...and move all my USB chargers and power ports I added to the back (ala fridge) to the Optima. Or just buy a real battery.
Ran 12 psi down the trail.
Was in 4 low the entire way... except just a little at the last Forest Service roads.
Picked up a lot of trash. Tons of ball joint caps. Probably a cable tie chunk every 10-15 feet. Lots of rachet strap pieces. Found a completely intact bow shackle. Lots of hose pieces. Not that many cans and bottles.
Will edit this post if I think of more stuff or add pictures.
-Mac
