What started a few days ago as a simple driveshaft u joint replacement has snowballed into ticking off several maintenance items. Changed the oil and filter to conventional high mileage, new paper air filter, redline mtl in the transmission and the transmission mount was in awful shape so I’ve got a new one of those to put it all back together with. I’ll probably change the transfer case fluid as well and should probably do the rear diff as well to get everything else on the same schedule.
I’ve been making some changes over here the last couple weeks. Ordered a motobilt stubby front bumper and some 0” flare highline fenders while they were running their free shipping special. I removed the rear fender flares as well.
Initial trimming of the hood went well, I’ve got about a quarter to half an inch more to do and then install the hood pins. It’s really not bad, don’t over think it guys…
The Jeep has wheel spacers on it since I got it. I’m going to remove them to tuck the wheels in a little bit and gain back some scrub radius, we’ll see how much I notice the track width difference on the trails.
Fenders are going to be color matched “amber fire pearl” i got a few 12 oz aerosol cans from “touch-up direct” and a 2k clear coat. Going to cross my fingers it turns out semi decent.
Most of the smittybilt is finally gone except the rockers and rear corners. Those are staying for now till I re do the suspension this fall and figure out if I can stretch it out a little bit.
Waiting on Barnes to come back in stock with their “tail plate” rear bumper. I’m losing the hitch but at 3/16” thick I gain a decent amount of departure angle, and I really didn’t use the hitch on the Jeep at all.
Initial trimming of the hood went well, I’ve got about a quarter to half an inch more to do and then install the hood pins. It’s really not bad, don’t over think it guys…
The Jeep has wheel spacers on it since I got it. I’m going to remove them to tuck the wheels in a little bit and gain back some scrub radius, we’ll see how much I notice the track width difference on the trails.
Fenders are going to be color matched “amber fire pearl” i got a few 12 oz aerosol cans from “touch-up direct” and a 2k clear coat. Going to cross my fingers it turns out semi decent.
Most of the smittybilt is finally gone except the rockers and rear corners. Those are staying for now till I re do the suspension this fall and figure out if I can stretch it out a little bit.
Waiting on Barnes to come back in stock with their “tail plate” rear bumper. I’m losing the hitch but at 3/16” thick I gain a decent amount of departure angle, and I really didn’t use the hitch on the Jeep at all.
Operation: Approach and Departure is finally complete.
Every time I do a project I seem to start with a small idea and it gradually snowballs into something a lot bigger.
I originally planned to just swap the front bumper, however I was getting a lot of rubbing with the tire on the back of the front fenders so after a little back and forth I jumped on a new set of highlines while motobilt was offering free shipping.
I removed the front smittybilt fenders and the rear fender flares since I figured they would be easier to sell as a whole set, and I wanted to do away with the rear flares anyhow.
After getting the fenders painted and installed, I realized I should probably just pony up now for the inner fenders, and ordered a battery box while I was at it, so add that to the list.
Then finally last week Barnes got their “tail plate” rear bumper back in stock so I got that painted up last night and installed this morning.
I think I have before measurements somewhere but I took somewhere between 4-5 inches off the front and 3-4 inches off the rear.
During this process I also removed the 1.5” wheel spacers that had been on the Jeep since I got it, to gain back some scrub radius and improve on road drivability. We’ll see if it is a dramatic difference off road because if so they may go back on.
I was able to get $400 out of the front fenders, rear flares and rear bumper, and another $200 out of the front bumper and winch plate which greatly helped offset some of the incurred costs.
Every time I do a project I seem to start with a small idea and it gradually snowballs into something a lot bigger.
I originally planned to just swap the front bumper, however I was getting a lot of rubbing with the tire on the back of the front fenders so after a little back and forth I jumped on a new set of highlines while motobilt was offering free shipping.
I removed the front smittybilt fenders and the rear fender flares since I figured they would be easier to sell as a whole set, and I wanted to do away with the rear flares anyhow.
After getting the fenders painted and installed, I realized I should probably just pony up now for the inner fenders, and ordered a battery box while I was at it, so add that to the list.
Then finally last week Barnes got their “tail plate” rear bumper back in stock so I got that painted up last night and installed this morning.
I think I have before measurements somewhere but I took somewhere between 4-5 inches off the front and 3-4 inches off the rear.
During this process I also removed the 1.5” wheel spacers that had been on the Jeep since I got it, to gain back some scrub radius and improve on road drivability. We’ll see if it is a dramatic difference off road because if so they may go back on.
I was able to get $400 out of the front fenders, rear flares and rear bumper, and another $200 out of the front bumper and winch plate which greatly helped offset some of the incurred costs.
This is looking really good! You’ve made some big strides for clearance and your approach and departure angles.
Nice work on the paint. Painting ain’t easy!
I ordered 2 cans of color and 1 can of 2k clear. That was enough for two decent coats of color and 3 light coats of clear. I have a smidgen of color left for touch ups. Prob did 2 coats of primer underneath with some sanding.
One of my rear shocks was bent. So I finally got a chance to replace it. I put skyjacker blackmax in the rear because they were significantly cheaper and fairly consistent good reviews around here. The fox were pretty stiff. I clearanced the rear lower spring mount so hopefully these won’t collide there.
Also finally got some revolution chromoly front shafts and swapped those in this evening.
Headed to Windrock tomorrow for the next few days. It’s going to be hot but I think the rain should stay away. It’s gonna be a good time!
Also finally got some revolution chromoly front shafts and swapped those in this evening.
Headed to Windrock tomorrow for the next few days. It’s going to be hot but I think the rain should stay away. It’s gonna be a good time!
4400. So far they feel ‘better’ definitely a more compliant ride. I’ll probably switch the fronts out as well because you can tell it has a little bit of an unbalanced feel right now, but it’s better than it was.
Wind rock looks like a blast! You’re going to love those BlackMax compared to the Fox. I’ve been there.
Wind rock looks like a blast! You’re going to love those BlackMax compared to the Fox. I’ve been there.
For as much as they were a piece… they kinda perform like dogshit. Windrock is a blast! It’s quite the hike for you, but would even be worth flying out and riding shotgun if we can get a good group together sometime. 72,000 acres of privately owned land that essentially backs up to about 500,000 acres of state land. JV and Moab get all the hype, but I like wheeling in the woods personally.
Windrock is 100% in the plan next year. To many project this year, and my best wheeling buddy just lost the 6.4 in his Ford. So now we get to rebuild that too.
I like all trails. Back home in TX I wheeled at Hidden Falls, Wolf Caves, and Katemcy Rocks. Those are all great places. I liked Wolf Caves the most. It’s a granite wonderland. They call it the Little Moab. Up in WA I’m just getting started. Most good areas are on the West side. I live on the East side.
