Tennessee Red

[gasiorv]

A basic fact is that any trip around home after wheeling Moab is a "wtf" moment and you think your rig is not performing right (because of lack of traction). My recommend is to NOT make any changes (like tires) to the rig just after a week in Moab because you are going to be doubting your decision during that next trip. Run what you ran at Moab for at least one more trip so you can come back to reality before making changes.

It is a basic fact that Moab will make you cocky and riding high, then you go back east and are like "WTF" and the disappointed will linger just right up to the point where you bounce it off the rev limiter a few times and the smile comes back

 

[Apparition]

A basic fact is that any trip around home after wheeling Moab is a "wtf" moment and you think your rig is not performing right (because of lack of traction). My recommend is to NOT make any changes (like tires) to the rig just after a week in Moab because you are going to be doubting your decision during that next trip. Run what you ran at Moab for at least one more trip so you can come back to reality before making changes.

It is a basic fact that Moab will make you cocky and riding high, then you go back east and are like "WTF" and the disappointed will linger just right up to the point where you bounce it off the rev limiter a few times and the smile comes back

It’s definitely a different kind of wheeling. Still, too bad you didn’t have the wheels and tires at Moab.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

It’s definitely a different kind of wheeling. Still, too bad you didn’t have the wheels and tires at Moab.

Victor could run skateboard wheels on his rig and he would still figure out how to make it work….

 

[Apparition]

Victor could run skateboard wheels on his rig and he would still figure out how to make it work….

As long as he can keep air in them…

 

[gasiorv]

Victor could run skateboard wheels on his rig and he would still figure out how to make it work….

Past experience has shown that with skateboard wheels one of you all would be running me to the emergency room.

 

[Brianj5600]

-Welded 1/4" plate to bottom of rear diff housing and then ran a few hardface beads across the plate. Eager to see how that holds up.

I am not much of a picture taker, but I got a few.
Here is how much it was wore down:
View attachment 319446

And here is the plate installed:
View attachment 319447
The horizontal beads is the hardface.

I used my press to bend the plate, it had to be bent in two directions so it took some tweaking to get it right. The two holes in the plate were already in the plate from another project, they weren't added or needed for this.

Not sure if this is the correct way, but I will find out!

I need to address the bottom of my rear axle. What did you use on the hardface beads? Stick welder and special rods?

 

[gasiorv]

Yes. They were from Blue Demon, I think BD-7000. I have a whole box of them, if i lived closer I would give you a handful.

I did rip the 1/4" plate off, bad welds, I think oil contaminated the welds. So the second plate I welded on I cleaned it up real good with brake cleaner and then I took a torch to it (trying to burn off any residual diff fluid in the metal). Second plate welds held up much better and the plate and hard face was still intact when I removed the axle.

In lieu of adding a plate, you can check out Starkey build thread for how he built it back up with just weld.

 

[gasiorv]

My wife wrecked her car a few weeks ago (everyone was OK, car was not). So I had to turn my jeep into my daily driver while we looked for a new car for her.

I cleaned all the dust out of it after the last SMORR trip (figured I shouldn't stretch the casual in business casual by showing up with dusty pants), threw on the soft top and soft doors so I had A/C, and threw the 35's back on. Been driving it daily for the last few weeks and am pretty happy with the way it has driven, really happy with how good the A/C works! If I had to drive it as my daily full time I would definitely go back to the 4:88 gears (the 5:13s are too low with the NV3550 on the Memphis flat roads) and I would do something different with the exhaust to quiet it down and have it come out the back, in lieu of being turned down just past the trans skid. Other than that it drove great. I am happy that we found her a car today and I get my F150 back, I guess I am spoiled with the Lariat options.

As for my wife's new car, this is what I just told my son to get his right leaning conservative Mom for her next birthday

 

[Apparition]

My wife wrecked her car a few weeks ago (everyone was OK, car was not). So I had to turn my jeep into my daily driver while we looked for a new car for her.

I cleaned all the dust out of it after the last SMORR trip (figured I shouldn't stretch the casual in business casual by showing up with dusty pants), threw on the soft top and soft doors so I had A/C, and threw the 35's back on. Been driving it daily for the last few weeks and am pretty happy with the way it has driven, really happy with how good the A/C works! If I had to drive it as my daily full time I would definitely go back to the 4:88 gears (the 5:13s are too low with the NV3550 on the Memphis flat roads) and I would do something different with the exhaust to quiet it down and have it come out the back, in lieu of being turned down just past the trans skid. Other than that it drove great. I am happy that we found her a car today and I get my F150 back, I guess I am spoiled with the Lariat options.

As for my wife's new car, this is what I just told my son to get his right leaning conservative Mom for her next birthday
View attachment 441706

Should post that up in the Subaru thread. Glad nobody was hurt.

Hopefully her transition goes well, don’t forget she’ll need blue hair.

 

[gasiorv]

She told me that she already ordered this sticker

I am not left or right, I hate both parties and just think for myself. But I am happy to see that she is looking at a firearm site.

 

[Apparition]

Congratulations, you did it!!! Fits with your recent posts also.

https://www.wate.com/news/tennessee...d-in-these-four-tennessee-cities-study-finds/

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – Beep beep! A new study shows motorists should take extra precautions when traveling in certain areas in the Volunteer State.

Four Tennessee cities ranked in the top 25 for the worst drivers in America, according to a new study by ConsumerAffairs, with one Tennessee city claiming the number one spot.

The study comes after U.S. safety regulators introduced a proposal that would set higher performance standards for automatic braking systems in new cars.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the technology could save up to 360 lives per year.

In fact, Tennessee had 34 deadly crashes per 100,000 people in 2021, which is a significant increase compared to the national average of 12 deadly crashes per 100,000 people.

To determine which U.S. cities had the worst drivers, ConsumerAffairs assigned each area a “crash score”, which looked at traffic fatalities due to violations like speeding and driving under the influence.

These four cities in Tennessee made the list:

• Memphis: Ranked #1
• Knoxville: Ranked #12
• Clarksville: Ranked #17
• Chattanooga: Ranked #19

According to ConsumerAffairs, Memphis ranked first as the city with the worst drivers in America. The study found that majority of deadly crashes in Memphis are caused by bad driving. In fact, the study states that in 2021, bad drivers were the cause of 203 deadly crashes in Memphis, which is more than any other city.

To see the full list of cities with the worst drivers in America, click here.

 

[gasiorv]

My wife actually wrecked in East TN while visiting her family, but Memphis being #1 is right. Memphis has always had the worst drivers but it has gotten way worse since COVID. During COVID the Memphis police stated that they weren't going to monitor "The Loop" or I-40 anymore (even though it was their responsibility per the agreements with the state) and only report to accidents on the highways. Well, it has turned into a freaking race track, especially with the local Dodge Charger and Challenger crowd. It is freaking ridiculous and super dangerous to drive the highways around here. The State had to step in and now the TN Highway Patrol is patrolling all highways (interstate and state route roads) in the Memphis area, but it is going to take them a good long while to get it back under control. Amazing how fast lawlessness comes to fruition when the law steps back. To top it all off, a few weeks ago the Memphis PD announced that they are no longer going to pull over anyone for a burnt out taillight or an expired tag, so I suspect most of the typical city dwellers won't renew there tags ever again. Most were already expired anyway, it is easy to tell this year because TN changed the license plate color, most of Memphis is still riding around with the old "green" plate and the new tag is blue.

Luckily I live in a suburban city of Memphis (and not in Memphis) and the local PD is pretty good and the streets are safe. Unfortunately, I work and all the good local brew pubs are in Memphis, so I got to drive in Memphis.

 

[Woodrow]

I just read through your build thread to get more info on your rig. I really enjoyed watching you wheel it in Moab but was so wrapped up in the newness of everything about that trip, that I didn’t have the mental bandwidth to talk to you more about your build. I like your approach and the result (as that little girl already confirmed). Also, 36s and new wheels look great. I hope your tire issues are solved!

 

[gasiorv]

Got the Crawltek Inferno highlines installed. Relatively easy install. I like how they fit and how everything went together, the only thing I don't like is the coating they put on seems chintzy and it scratches super easy, also dust seems to be attracted to it. Doesn't really matter with my jeep, but someone who cares about appearance may want to strip them and paint. We will see how the inner fenders do with the mud, may have to replace the inner fender grill with a solid sheet of aluminum to keep mud and dust out.

 

[Apparition]

Got the Crawltek Inferno highlines installed. Relatively easy install. I like how they fit and how everything went together, the only thing I don't like is the coating they put on seems chintzy and it scratches super easy, also dust seems to be attracted to it. Doesn't really matter with my jeep, but someone who cares about appearance may want to strip them and paint. We will see how the inner fenders do with the mud, may have to replace the inner fender grill with a solid sheet of aluminum to keep mud and dust out.

View attachment 442999

View attachment 443001

View attachment 443002

I didn't realize you were getting crawlteks. Seems we all will have a set soon enough.

What'd you do for the battery mount? I believe Blaine said it was subpar. I've still not unwrapped mine to see how what all I have.

 

[gasiorv]

I didn't realize you were getting crawlteks. Seems we all will have a set soon enough.

What'd you do for the battery mount? I believe Blaine said it was subpar. I've still not unwrapped mine to see how what all I have.

I bought the crawlteks right before 4th of July once I realized the 36" tires needed more clearance. They were the cheapest decent highlines I could find and they were also having a 4th of July sale, offered free shipping, etc... so it was an easy decision.

The battery mount that they provide only has a front support on the outboard side and with no support on the inner front side it has some bounce to it. So I added a support to that inner front side. I cut up the factory bracket and used the inbd side to pick up two holes on the firewall, then I welded a tube between the modded factory bracket and the crawltek bracket. I had a piece of square tubing laying around from another job so I just used it for the support which is way overkill and kind of ugly, but it didn't cost me anything. Once the mount was installed, I installed the factory battery tray but I moved it forward and outbd slightly in order to get me clearance for battery and for the hold down. Just a matter of drilling a few holes for the tray attach and also for the battery temp sensor.

Here is the added support, ugly as can be, but no one will ever see it. Also, my photo skills suck I didn't take a picture of the tray installed.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Nice work, Victor.

 

[Brianj5600]

Nice. My favorite tool is my welder.

 

[gasiorv]

Last few wheeling trips we had some work to do on rigs in the evenings and a vice would have come in handy. Harbor Freight sent me a coupon for a cheap vice so that kicked off the next project.

Mounted vice to 1/2" plate and welded on 2" square tube. Then I welded a 2" ID square tube to the trailer in two places. 1 on the LH side on the front side which is where the vice will stay during transport and is also at a good height to work. To keep it somewhat secure I put a lockable hitch pin through and also added a clamp bolt to keep it from vibrating around while in transport (and to hold it tight when working on it).
Transport mode:

Work Mode:

Sometimes the trailer is not always parked in a place where I have easy access to both sides, so there is a chance that the vice could be in the wrong location, so the 2nd receiver was mounted on the RH side about 1/3 of the way back.
Work flush with trailer:

Raise it to not have to bend over:

I didn't feel like moving the trailer to my welder so I pulled out the old stick welder. I learned to weld with stick but I haven't stick welded in quite a while, I figured it is wise to pull it out and practice stick welding every once in awhile in case I would need it in the future. I quickly remembered why I haven't stick welded in a while, it's because I suck at welding vertical with stick Having said that, my real concern is not my welds but will the cheap HF vice hold up.

 

[Apparition]

Having said that, my real concern is not my welds but will the cheap HF vice hold up.

I'm assuming you'll keep it inside when not traveling? Otherwise I'd soak it the protective film of your choice.