Tennessee Red

[gasiorv]

Cove was great, I let my 16yo drive most of the time and he really enjoyed it. Started the morning with a fresh dusting of snow which made it nice. We checked out the cave but it was so busy we didn't stick around too long nor did we drive back into it. Great camping spot was found and we didn't freeze too bad in our tents.

We headed over to Iron Gap Rd Sunday afternoon and that trail is legit! Fun was had.

 

[Andy-WhiteTJ]

Any photos of the frame tie ins underneath?

 

[gasiorv]

I don't have the B or C pillars tied in right now, I am waiting to figure out what I am going to do with the back (I am considering a stretch). The a-pillar is basically a C-channel welded to frame and to the lower plate. I was planning on adding isolation and bought the poly mount but once I received it and seen the size of the mount I decided I didn't want that massive thing hanging down off the body or off the frame and just welded direct from frame to a-pillar plate keeping it as snug to the body as possible. The legs on the C-channel are longer at the frame end to give welding surface and then I tapered the legs to approx 1/4" long at the very edge. I currently don't have a picture.

 

[gasiorv]

Well the '98 TJ which is mentioned in my original post has just officially been turned over to my 16yo son. He got his license last week and after driving the old minivan for a few days he said he was ready to take the Jeep. Another generation of Jeep owners (my Dad had CJ's, I had CJ's and TJ's, now he has a TJ and who knows where that will lead).

 

[gasiorv]

I got my PRP seats installed. If you go back and see while I was building my roll cage, the seats were delayed in shipping so I built the cage around the stock seats hoping that the PRP would be similar. Well, unfortunately the PRP seats are not the same profile as the original seats and thus I have my cross-bars mounted a little too far forward. The seats are installed and in good location for me and my son, but if anyone taller jumps in, the seats are going to be too far forward. I decided to leave it this way for now because I still want to have the cross-bar as far fwd as possible so I can have someone in the back seat if needed. Once my son(s) are moved out and it is just primarily my wife and I, I will most likely redo this cross bar moving it back so the seats are free to move back further.

I made the passenger seat brackets to put the seat at approx stock height. I made the drivers side brackets to put the drivers seat approx 1.25" higher in order to help my son (who is 5'5") see better over the hood when his is wheeling it. It is slightly too high for me, but my fist still fits between my head and roll cage, so I think that is good. I think I will quickly get used to the higher seat as well. the visibility is definitely better.

For the pax seat, I installed RJS 4 point harness. For the drivers seat, I wanted a harness that I could disconnect the shoulder straps and run lap belt ONLY. Most 4 points the shoulder straps are sewn into the lap belts, but I did find a few 5 points where the shoulder straps disconnected, so I got a 5 point PRP harness for the drivers side.

Passenger side bracket which puts passenger seat at just over OEM height.

Driver's side bracket which puts drivers seat approx 1.25" higher than the passenger seat to give my son better visibility.

Seats installed showing them hitting the cross-bars. Going to live with this for now, but once I don't have a need for back seat, I am going to move cross bars back.

I do have one wheeling trip with the PRP seat (just installed on drivers side) and both my son and I liked the PRP Daily Driver. it is a little more difficult to jump in and out of when spotting others, but the comfort over the worn out OEM seats is well worth it.

NOTE: The OEM brackets used were the early model TJ brackets out of a 98 jeep so they both provide the flip forward and they are slightly higher than the later model TJ brackets. I swapped the seats between the 04 and 98 to give my son better seats in the 98 (installed the 04 seats in the 98 with 1" spacers to make them stock height).

 

[gasiorv]

During the Iron Gap trip, I popped one of the ujoint caps on the passenger side front axle shaft and it cut my day short. I had another axle shaft in the truck, but by time I got back to truck I was running out of light so I just loaded up and headed home. So i replaced the Ten factory axles with RCVs.

Other damage found after the last trip is that the currie steering is bent aft, both the drag ling and tie rod and it made contact with the steering stabilizer putting a hole in the steering stabilizer. So I just removed the stabilizer and don't plan on putting another one in it's place, ultimately I will put a hydro assist in that location anyway. The steering is good and there is no other contact so I decided to not straighten the links and just leave them like they are for now, if I ever get a press possibly I would try to straighten them, but works good for now.

I also added airsoft bb's to each tire to try and get them to balance. We'll see if they work, these wheels and tires are pretty beat up and scraped and missing weights, etc.... and it is not worth trying to get them balanced after every trip, so going to give the bb's a chance.

 

[jeepster1407]

During the Iron Gap trip, I popped one of the ujoint caps on the passenger side front axle shaft and it cut my day short. I had another axle shaft in the truck, but by time I got back to truck I was running out of light so I just loaded up and headed home. So i replaced the Ten factory axles with RCVs.

Other damage found after the last trip is that the currie steering is bent aft, both the drag ling and tie rod and it made contact with the steering stabilizer putting a hole in the steering stabilizer. So I just removed the stabilizer and don't plan on putting another one in it's place, ultimately I will put a hydro assist in that location anyway. The steering is good and there is no other contact so I decided to not straighten the links and just leave them like they are for now, if I ever get a press possibly I would try to straighten them, but works good for now.

I also added airsoft bb's to each tire to try and get them to balance. We'll see if they work, these wheels and tires are pretty beat up and scraped and missing weights, etc.... and it is not worth trying to get them balanced after every trip, so going to give the bb's a chance.

Nice build man! I like those PRP seats a lot. I to have punctured 2 steering stabilizers at the axle side mounting point leading me to believe my steering is bent as well.

I live in North GA and have been to Coppinger cove a couple of times but have never heard of Iron Gap Rd until now. That does look like a solid trail. I'll have to see if I can find coordinates and make a trip out one day.

 

[gasiorv]

I'll have to see if I can find coordinates and make a trip out one day.

I can send you gpx file, but it is not the whole trail because I had to turn around and back track to the truck. There is a "community center" where you can park a trailer with a phone number on the side of the building to pay the $10. We just called the number and a lady drove down, we paid her, and she gave us a receipt to throw on our dash to not get towed.

 

[jeepster1407]

I can send you gpx file, but it is not the whole trail because I had to turn around and back track to the truck. There is a "community center" where you can park a trailer with a phone number on the side of the building to pay the $10. We just called the number and a lady drove down, we paid her, and she gave us a receipt to throw on our dash to not get towed.

Heck yea!

 

[gasiorv]

The airsoft BB's for balance weights did not fully work for me so I went ahead and removed them. It was a good opportunity for me to show my son how to breakdown tires in order to vacuum them out so it wasn't a complete waste of time. The bb's actually did work some of the time, but not all the time. Without the BBs I have a constant wobble at 55mph to 65mph. With the BBs it was not constant, but approx 50% of the time. For 50% of the time I didn't want to listen to the BBs when I am in the rocks.

I also straightened my currie drag link and reinstalled an old steering stabilizer that I had laying around.

Speaking of rocks, plan is to hit some next Sat (most likely heading to Hot Springs) in order to test out new axles and ensure everything is working properly. Going to be a good little group with two TJs, a JKU, and a Samurai.

 

[gasiorv]

Got the jeep out on the trails at Hot Springs ORV this past saturday. It was a great trip with 2 TJs, a JKU, 2 samurai's, and a RZR. We left Memphis at 5:30am in a down pour, thunder, and lightning and luckily drove out of that into a perfect day. The rain held off in Hot Springs for us all day until we were loading up at 6:30pm. I literally pulled my jeep up onto the trailer when the sky opened up and then I strapped her down in the rain. Drove home in the rain stopping for a David's Burger in Little Rock. Beautiful sunny day (bookended by rain), great trails, some hard lines, kick ass rigs, and great company made for the perfect day.

Fortunately, I was having too much fun to take any pictures. My TJ worked great, it was one of those days where I picked good lines, and the jeep did what it was supposed to do, pure bliss. All the other rigs did very good as well with a few people stepping out of their comfort zones and seeing what their rigs were capable of.

Recent mod review:
PRP seats and raised driver seat:
Even though I raised the drivers seat for my son, I actually liked the seat being a little higher while wheeling; however, I was the ride leader and was constantly getting in and out all day and the higher seat with the higher bolster side on the PRP (over stock) really gave me a workout. The PRP daily driver was great, really liked it while wheeling; however, as mentioned getting in an out all day, the higher bolster makes it more difficult, it is doable and I am happy with the seats but I was definetly reaching up, grabbing roll cage and pulling myself up and over the bolster, same thing with exit, I was having to grab roll bar and pull my butt up and over the bolster. To be fair, when my stock OEM seats were in good shape, I probably liked them better, but replacing the worn out seats with the PRP was a very nice upgrade that I am happy with.

The 5 point harness with the detachable shoulder harnesses really worked great; it allowed me to just use the lap belt when I was getting in and out, had plenty of freedom to look around and keep eye on others, and then when I felt it was needed to throw on the shoulder harnesses. My stock seat belts were constantly locking up on me when in the hills, so being able to throw on the harness even when the jeep was sitting off camber, etc... was very nice.

RCV front axle shafts:
Honestly never thought about them all day, which is what you want. I did notice some grease on the outside of the passenger side boot so I am going to have to look into that.

Now time to clean her up, do a good post ride inspection, and prepare to do a clutch replacement before heading to Moab at end of April. Clutch is still working fine, but the pedal is extremely high when clutch engages/disengages and it has approx 200k miles on it, so I am thinking it is time.

 

[jeepster1407]

Got the jeep out on the trails at Hot Springs ORV this past saturday. It was a great trip with 2 TJs, a JKU, 2 samurai's, and a RZR. We left Memphis at 5:30am in a down pour, thunder, and lightning and luckily drove out of that into a perfect day. The rain held off in Hot Springs for us all day until we were loading up at 6:30pm. I literally pulled my jeep up onto the trailer when the sky opened up and then I strapped her down in the rain. Drove home in the rain stopping for a David's Burger in Little Rock. Beautiful sunny day (bookended by rain), great trails, some hard lines, kick ass rigs, and great company made for the perfect day.

Fortunately, I was having too much fun to take any pictures. My TJ worked great, it was one of those days where I picked good lines, and the jeep did what it was supposed to do, pure bliss. All the other rigs did very good as well with a few people stepping out of their comfort zones and seeing what their rigs were capable of.

Recent mod review:
PRP seats and raised driver seat:
Even though I raised the drivers seat for my son, I actually liked the seat being a little higher while wheeling; however, I was the ride leader and was constantly getting in and out all day and the higher seat with the higher bolster side on the PRP (over stock) really gave me a workout. The PRP daily driver was great, really liked it while wheeling; however, as mentioned getting in an out all day, the higher bolster makes it more difficult, it is doable and I am happy with the seats but I was definetly reaching up, grabbing roll cage and pulling myself up and over the bolster, same thing with exit, I was having to grab roll bar and pull my butt up and over the bolster. To be fair, when my stock OEM seats were in good shape, I probably liked them better, but replacing the worn out seats with the PRP was a very nice upgrade that I am happy with.

The 5 point harness with the detachable shoulder harnesses really worked great; it allowed me to just use the lap belt when I was getting in and out, had plenty of freedom to look around and keep eye on others, and then when I felt it was needed to throw on the shoulder harnesses. My stock seat belts were constantly locking up on me when in the hills, so being able to throw on the harness even when the jeep was sitting off camber, etc... was very nice.

RCV front axle shafts:
Honestly never thought about them all day, which is what you want. I did notice some grease on the outside of the passenger side boot so I am going to have to look into that.

Now time to clean her up, do a good post ride inspection, and prepare to do a clutch replacement before heading to Moab at end of April. Clutch is still working fine, but the pedal is extremely high when clutch engages/disengages and it has approx 200k miles on it, so I am thinking it is time.

Sounds like a great day to me! I to have to drive about 3 hours each way to any decent wheeling destination. It makes for a FULL day with a lot of seat time.

 

[gasiorv]

Sounds like a great day to me! I to have to drive about 3 hours each way to any decent wheeling destination. It makes for a FULL day with a lot of seat time.

Yeah, Hawk Pride is our closest trails at 2.5 hours which is a decent day trip. Hot Springs is 3.5 hours away and it makes a loooong day! We usually make Hot Springs a weekend trip, but sometimes you got to take the day when you can.

 

[jeepster1407]

Yeah, Hawk Pride is our closest trails at 2.5 hours which is a decent day trip. Hot Springs is 3.5 hours away and it makes a loooong day! We usually make Hot Springs a weekend trip, but sometimes you got to take the day when you can.

I agree. I try and break it up and camp 1 night whenever possible. But with the rain like you were describing I think I would have day tripped it too.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

I agree. I try and break it up and camp 1 night whenever possible. But with the rain like you were describing I think I would have day tripped it too.

Good lookin rig you have there, Jeepster.

 

[jeepster1407]

Good lookin rig you have there, Jeepster.

Thanks man! I've been following you for some time now.

 

[gasiorv]

Harbor Freight has there low end transmission jack on sale for $79, so I ran down and bought one yesterday morning. Dropped tranny, installed new clutch, and got tranny back up with two bolts in, not bad for a days work but I am a little sore this morning (especially in arms and shoulders from man handling that tranny/transfer around under the jeep). I guess that is the result of the easy life behind the computer all day.

I think I could have gotten away with not changing the clutch for a while, but it is worth it to me for piece of mind. Now just to get everything bolted to make sure I didn't "induce" something else wrong. I did note that what I thought was a rear main oil leak is actually coming from my valve cover, so I will take care of that next.

 

[Brianj5600]

I feel your pain. The garage can quickly become a gym. Changing the clutch is a good call. Driving more than half way across the country and then changing it would suck! Peace of mind is a wonderful thing.

 

[gasiorv]

I had a good laugh at myself today, thought I would share to helpfully make someone else laugh or teach a lesson.

Got everything buttoned up today, it was pretty much an ez job except I stripped a skid plate bolt but Luckily I didn't strip the rivnut and I found a new bolt in my spare bin.

After getting her all buttoned up, I jumped in, fired her up, put her in gear, let out clutch, and.................nothing. After murmuring a few cuss words under my breath and running everything through my head as to what I could have messed up, I realized the transfer was in neutral. Ha! That is a great feeling and a good laugh at myself. The clutch engages much closer to the floor now (it was about an inch from the top before) so it was definitely time for the clutch. Since my son's clutch feels the same, I guess I will be putting a clutch in his TJ next.

 

[gasiorv]

We participated in TJ Fest 2021 and had a blast.
Towed out My Jeep and my buddies JKU.
Stats (how we keep the economy going):
3000 miles round trip and 300 gallons of gas per tow vehicle (6000 miles and 600 gallons total).
Four hotel rooms for trip out and back.
1 VRBO house rental for 6 days
Multiple grocery store runs
Visited multiple establishments including Moab Brewery, Zax's, Fiesta Mexican, Multiple T-shirt shops
Stopped at Shell everyday to fill up jeeps with $3.61/gallon gas.
Jeep JK parts purchased at Dixie 4x4.

Trails run:
Poison Spider, Golden Spike, Golden Bar with Team America
Hell's Revenge (including Hell's gate, escalator) in the rain.
Pritchett's Canyon with Team America
Top of the World with Team America

Trails Mt biked:
Slickrock trail
Brand M trails (Laz E - EZ and North 40) multiple loops
Navajo Rocks (Rocky Top, Coney Island, Big Lonely, Big Mesa, Ramblin)

Jeep Carnage:
My TJ - soft top scuffed/ripped on one side and the soft top bows are tweaked slightly.
JK - 2 lower control arms, 1 rear driveshaft, 1 front u-joint (all repaired in Moab and Jeep was ready next morning).

It was an epic vacation (I just added it to my bucket list and then crossed it off). I was very pleased with my Jeeps performance. I completed Pritchett's with clearing every obstacle, never pulled winch cable (TJ's on 35's are completely capable on this trail). I did Hell's gate in the pouring down rain, with not even a tire slip, and my son wheeled a good bit of PS and GS with clearing all obstacles, and he drove the entire TOTW trail with no issues. The only time I had to pull winch cable was in the Escalator, and that is also where I tweaked my soft top, I just couldn't find the line and had to hook up the cable to keep my front end down a little.