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.