The Travels of an 03 Rubicon
- Thread starter MaloStapalo
- Start date
OP
Yeah it's mostly blind, it's right eye is damaged. It feels pretty safe and warm so it hangs around a lot. The other properties chase him off since he gets in the trash if you leave it out. Blind foxes dont catch many mice in the winter I imagine.
Ha, I would imagine so! I guess I don't blame him for wanting to hang out in the heat either!
OP
Well spring is around the corner so back to Jeep work! It was nice to have everything go smoothly after so many "easy" tasks being everything but.
Put on the Savvy body lift. Now maybe I just got used to the 4" suspension lift but just like my wife says, that extra inch and quarter really hit the spot! It looks great now.
Will remove the rock hard rear bumper and clean, paint, and inspect the frame tie in rails. They look good from the outside but it needs to be done so I have a baseline of condition. The rear bumper will raise up an inch to hide some of the crack. But even then, it's not bad.
Broke down and ordered the savvy gas skid, and the savvy engine skid. Will also raise the gas tank and inch higher now.
Last picture has the passenger side done and the driver side OEM. It's a noticable difference.
Tomorrow I will adjust my antirock for the increased fender clearance and then next day off I will do the MORE motor mount lift.
Put on the Savvy body lift. Now maybe I just got used to the 4" suspension lift but just like my wife says, that extra inch and quarter really hit the spot! It looks great now.
Will remove the rock hard rear bumper and clean, paint, and inspect the frame tie in rails. They look good from the outside but it needs to be done so I have a baseline of condition. The rear bumper will raise up an inch to hide some of the crack. But even then, it's not bad.
Broke down and ordered the savvy gas skid, and the savvy engine skid. Will also raise the gas tank and inch higher now.
Last picture has the passenger side done and the driver side OEM. It's a noticable difference.
Tomorrow I will adjust my antirock for the increased fender clearance and then next day off I will do the MORE motor mount lift.
OP
Got the rear bumper frame tie ins pulled off. These were installed in 2007 by the previous owner and the frame looks great under them. Will clean them and paint and reinstall when I raise the bumper to the higher setting.
Anyone know what I can use to chemically strip the frame tie in, they have a nook I can't get a wire brush into.
Does that angle make my gape look big? We will see what raising the bumper and the gas tank do for that.
Anyone know what I can use to chemically strip the frame tie in, they have a nook I can't get a wire brush into.
Does that angle make my gape look big? We will see what raising the bumper and the gas tank do for that.
OP
With the help of my wife, I got the rear bumper raised and the frame tie ins painted and cleaned.
Now have the savvy gas skid and engine skid waiting in que for install.
Raising the rock hard carrier that extra inch really did a lot to hide the gap. With the carrier closed, it looks pretty much like it did the body lift.
Now have the savvy gas skid and engine skid waiting in que for install.
Raising the rock hard carrier that extra inch really did a lot to hide the gap. With the carrier closed, it looks pretty much like it did the body lift.
mobile chernobyl
Member
Just saw your build thread now - how do you like the currie antirock out here on the off-camber trails?
Also - are you taking forest service roads north of 70 to span Avon to Vail? I've heard there's great 4wd and OHV trails back there - would love to explore that area more this summer!
Also - are you taking forest service roads north of 70 to span Avon to Vail? I've heard there's great 4wd and OHV trails back there - would love to explore that area more this summer!
OP
OP
So far it's been great. I've only used it a few times and nothing extreme just the FS roads north of me. This will be the first year everything is ready for harder trails.
There is a lot of trails that go from wolcott to Avon to Vail. Beautiful views and good camping. Relatively mild fun so don't worry about breaking things. You're welcome.to come up sometime and I will show you places. Holy Cross is in my backyard also.
mobile chernobyl
Member
There was a bunch of CO folk commenting about holy cross on my build thread as well... I've always thought it was like a carnage canyon style trail but I if I can hit it on 33-34" tires and a winch - then I'll try but I've always thought you need lockers, 35s minimum and little care for your vehicles well being to hit that trail haha
Generally speaking and based on what I saw on my ride along, Holy Cross requires a typical locked 35s build to do all but Cleveland Rock at the very end. Once my rear locker is fixed, I'll give it a go with 33s. But my setup around 33s is a little further along than your typical 35s build.
Carnage, especially the last 100 yards, is something else entirely!
OP
Generally speaking and based on what I saw on my ride along, Holy Cross requires a typical locked 35s build to do all but Cleveland Rock at the very end. Once my rear locker is fixed, I'll give it a go with 33s. But my setup around 33s is a little further along than your typical 35s build.
Carnage, especially the last 100 yards, is something else entirely!
I'm looking forward to practicing that area. I don't plan on making it past cleveland rock besides on foot. I've seen videos haha
OP
Installed the MORE bombproof motor mount lift yesterday. Pretty straight forward. Did the drivers side first and removed the engine bracket, little tough getting it back in place because it's so large and a little heavy above your head after 10 minutes.
If you are installing this, MAKE SURE YOUR JACK IS TALL ENOUGH. So after the drivers side I move to passenger. Easy enough all the bolts come out and I try to lift the engine higher. I ran out of jack height lol. Then I spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out how to safely take the weight of the engine off the jack so I can put a bigger piece of wood in between my belly housing and jack. I ended up having to reinstall the passenger oem mount and then I could put a larger block of wood under the jack.
I'm using my house mates jack that he got for his Audi rs4, I think now I'm officially too tall for his jack.
Looks good though, I removed that metal lip off the frame bracket that people said may cause vibration at idle. Using a smaller dremmel worked better than my air cut off wheel. The smaller dremmel disk let me get a cleaner cut. Threw some paint on the raw metal and then bolted everything up to torque.
She sounds way better than before, at idle, under power, everyway possible. I must have had a bad motor mount (2003 rubber) because not only did I lose idle vibes, she sounds and feels like more power is going to the driveshaft. I also have barely driven it in a few months other than turning it on and moving around the parking lot to make sure oil coats all the gears and engine.
I like the zinc plating also.
If you are installing this, MAKE SURE YOUR JACK IS TALL ENOUGH. So after the drivers side I move to passenger. Easy enough all the bolts come out and I try to lift the engine higher. I ran out of jack height lol. Then I spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out how to safely take the weight of the engine off the jack so I can put a bigger piece of wood in between my belly housing and jack. I ended up having to reinstall the passenger oem mount and then I could put a larger block of wood under the jack.
I'm using my house mates jack that he got for his Audi rs4, I think now I'm officially too tall for his jack.
Looks good though, I removed that metal lip off the frame bracket that people said may cause vibration at idle. Using a smaller dremmel worked better than my air cut off wheel. The smaller dremmel disk let me get a cleaner cut. Threw some paint on the raw metal and then bolted everything up to torque.
She sounds way better than before, at idle, under power, everyway possible. I must have had a bad motor mount (2003 rubber) because not only did I lose idle vibes, she sounds and feels like more power is going to the driveshaft. I also have barely driven it in a few months other than turning it on and moving around the parking lot to make sure oil coats all the gears and engine.
I like the zinc plating also.
OP
Per the great advice from mebers here as usual, I went with the Polk db522 for the roll bar. I had an Amazon gift card I needed to burn so these fit the bill perfect. Install was easy, I cut off the factory connection then butt crimped the wires and wrapped with electrical tape. Also stuffed the pods with poly fill. Sound is greatly I proved and they look sharp. I couldn't get the Polk grills to fit in my sound pods, but the speakers fit fine and I actually like the somewhat raw look of the speakers uncovered in the pods.
OP
Drilled rear drain holes in between the transfer skid and the rear control arm mounts. Crazy they didn't put any there! I knew the rest of the frame was good but had not been able to see that back area. Looks solid to me!
I'm going to see if I can raise the skid and take advantage of my MML
I'm going to see if I can raise the skid and take advantage of my MML
OP
Savvy skid mounted to OEM transfer case skid. Have the kid on the highest option to take advantage of my MML, I did need to trim a little around the exhaust area. Used all new grade 8 hardware where the OEM and savvy join. That amount of spacer won't cause problems with possible rock force pushing on the skid?
17" of clearance at the oil drain diamond.
17" of clearance at the oil drain diamond.
OP
Skid installed and hopefully found my emissions related CEL by replacing a line that was split. Savvy skid is good stuff.
OP
Before body lift, bumper raise, and savvy gas skid on the raised setting. Also hard top vs soft frameless.
OP
Finally got the savvy shifter cable adjusted correctly. Big thanks for the ideas @AndyG I had been having a hell of a time getting it right. Drained the TC and everything looked fine, refilled with valvoline atf +4, then right before the trails open I will replace that again with the Redline D4 that I run in it.
Starting to be top off type weather, our local trails open up June 21st so working on getting everything ready. Greased all the control arms and steering, track bars everything that has a zerk.
Starting to be top off type weather, our local trails open up June 21st so working on getting everything ready. Greased all the control arms and steering, track bars everything that has a zerk.