Vicariously wheeling through you @Woodrow! Nice write ups.
Woodrow's 97 Green TJ Moderate Build
- Thread starter Woodrow
- Start date
Before I move on to the next Jeep mods, I wanted to briefly finish up the last couple of days in Moab. They were mellow. The last wheeling day was Friday, June 14. We did the Moab Rim trail. It’s a mostly scenic out and back although the Z-turn is somewhat technical.
Here we are at the top:
And coming back down:
The view of Moab from the look out:
On the day before, I took a break from wheeling and rode the Whole Enchilada trails on my mountain bike. Its a series of trails from the La Sal mountains to the Colorado River. This ride is a classic MTB ride. The forest service doesn’t open the road for shuttles to the base of Burrow Pass until July 1 so I didn’t do the top few miles (though I have in the past). My ride this time was about 25 miles (starting at the green arrow and ending beyond the red arrow). Total descent was around 5500-6000 feet. Although primarily downhill, its a technical ride with lots of little bursts of energy required to get up and over various rocks and such. I started at 0830 and finished at 1230. Though cool at the top, it was over 100 degrees at the river and then I had 5 miles of road ride to get back to my truck. By that time I was out out water and close to heat stroke although I felt fine on the trail itself. Anyhow, I made it back and it was a good ride. Here is a view off the trail near Porcupine Rim into Castle Valley:
Spectacular. But for mountain biking, It think Oregon is better. I stopped in Bend on the way home and did another 25 mile ride along the Deschutes River.
It felt like home.
Moab was great, though.
Until next time.
Here we are at the top:
And coming back down:
The view of Moab from the look out:
On the day before, I took a break from wheeling and rode the Whole Enchilada trails on my mountain bike. Its a series of trails from the La Sal mountains to the Colorado River. This ride is a classic MTB ride. The forest service doesn’t open the road for shuttles to the base of Burrow Pass until July 1 so I didn’t do the top few miles (though I have in the past). My ride this time was about 25 miles (starting at the green arrow and ending beyond the red arrow). Total descent was around 5500-6000 feet. Although primarily downhill, its a technical ride with lots of little bursts of energy required to get up and over various rocks and such. I started at 0830 and finished at 1230. Though cool at the top, it was over 100 degrees at the river and then I had 5 miles of road ride to get back to my truck. By that time I was out out water and close to heat stroke although I felt fine on the trail itself. Anyhow, I made it back and it was a good ride. Here is a view off the trail near Porcupine Rim into Castle Valley:
Spectacular. But for mountain biking, It think Oregon is better. I stopped in Bend on the way home and did another 25 mile ride along the Deschutes River.
It felt like home.
Moab was great, though.
Until next time.
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While in Moab, I was accused by @Apparition of having poor commitment. Working on it…
How this?
I’ve got some work to do, however.
How this?
I’ve got some work to do, however.
Well, saying you’re going to do something and actually doing it are not the same…
Cough cough cough, as he says he's got a LJ on 40's with a LS swap in it.... yep you know.
No, I said I have an LJ, 40's and an LS.
Mike - You are hard core. I remember when we were all standing on the Moab Rim overlook, looking across at the LaSalle Mountains, and you pointed out the route you took on the bike. From the top of the mountains down to the valley on the left. I was astounded.
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Does it count if they're all in the same garage?
Thx Jeff. I’ve been riding (and building) mountain bikes for almost 30 years at this point and I still love it. There are also bunch of guys on WTJF who ride. @gasiorv is one I’ve ridden with. He’s a great rider. Pretty much rides like he wheels
. There are a few people who have ridden the Whole Enchilada as a loop (river to Burro Pass in the La Sals and back to the river). Thats about 55 miles of technical trail riding and over 6000 feet of climbing. Not something I aspire to, but I’m impressed.
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I made some good progress on the butt crack delete today:
About ready to start welding it all together.
About ready to start welding it all together.
gasiorv
I'm a new world samurai, and a redneck nonetheless
Supporting Member
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Thx Jeff. I’ve been riding mountain bikes for almost 30 years at this point and I still love it. There are also bunch of guys on WTJF who ride. @gasiorv is one I’ve ridden with. He’s a great rider. Pretty much rides like he wheels
Look forward to riding with you again!
I finally finished raising the rear of the frame back up to the body (post 1.25” body lift). Everyone calls it “the butt crack delete” and it is cosmetically better. But the real reason for it is to bring the tank up for improved departure clearance. As usual, a lot of fuss for a small thing; in this case removing these 2 pucks:
I showed the puzzle pieces held together by hand in a previous post. Here they are tacked together.
And now mostly welded. I have a big gap to fill on top on this side.
And ground smooth (ish). Its hard to get this to look good. Note, I didn’t weld a re-enforcement plate here on the inside. I considered it and even cut them out of 3/16” steel but ultimately deemed it unnecessary because the 1/4” frame tie-in brackets bridge the weld (with 2 bolts forward of it).
Now I’ve plug welded the old forward 2 frame tie-n bracket holes and drilled the new ones and primed.
The Genright 3/16” aluminum tank skid is not withstanding the rocks. Its not just scratched. Almost every surface is slightly bent.
So I felt it was time for yet another do over. I reached out to Genright and asked if they would sell a 3/16” steel skid without the tank. They did, and for a good price. So off with the spendy but not tough enough aluminum skid.
And the tank went into the new (heavy) steel skid.
Speaking of weight, The aluminum skid is 19 pounds.
The steel skid is 53 pounds (for a 34# gain). But I think it is worthwhile and at least the added weight is low and in a spot that will lead to more neutral weight balance.
So, with the frame ready, time to reinstall the tank…
Problem.
This is a close-up of the top front passenger corner of the tank. By pushing up the rear of the tank, the top of the front is hitting the frame crossmember right behind the shocks. The front can’t be lowered anymore and I wouldn’t want to anyhow. Here is a backed out pic of the contact areas (red arrows). You can see the frame drill holes for the front mounting tabs (green arrows) are already very low.
So I got out the grinder with a cut off wheel and started making clearance. I had to cut into the window the shock protrudes through so I used a piece of what got cut off rotated up at 90 degrees to reinforce the defect. With the new found space, I could move the front skid mounting holes up around and inch, so I plugged the old holes.
Before finishing the welding, a test fit showed it was tight, but no contact.
Then the welds were finalized and painted.
Now everything could be reinstalled. One nice thing I did was route the fuel lines, the electrical harness for the fuel pump and the rear diff breather over the crossmember. Some might recall I pinched my fuel line between the tub and my track bar bracket last year, so I really dig this new location.
All done.
For reference here is a pre-delete pic taken right before this year's Moab trip.
And now:
Check out all the new bumper scrapes since Moab this year above vs before. I think this helps make the case for the project.
I may want to modify the tailpipe as its slightly less protected now. Another day…
I showed the puzzle pieces held together by hand in a previous post. Here they are tacked together.
And now mostly welded. I have a big gap to fill on top on this side.
And ground smooth (ish). Its hard to get this to look good. Note, I didn’t weld a re-enforcement plate here on the inside. I considered it and even cut them out of 3/16” steel but ultimately deemed it unnecessary because the 1/4” frame tie-in brackets bridge the weld (with 2 bolts forward of it).
Now I’ve plug welded the old forward 2 frame tie-n bracket holes and drilled the new ones and primed.
The Genright 3/16” aluminum tank skid is not withstanding the rocks. Its not just scratched. Almost every surface is slightly bent.
So I felt it was time for yet another do over. I reached out to Genright and asked if they would sell a 3/16” steel skid without the tank. They did, and for a good price. So off with the spendy but not tough enough aluminum skid.
And the tank went into the new (heavy) steel skid.
Speaking of weight, The aluminum skid is 19 pounds.
So, with the frame ready, time to reinstall the tank…
Problem.
This is a close-up of the top front passenger corner of the tank. By pushing up the rear of the tank, the top of the front is hitting the frame crossmember right behind the shocks. The front can’t be lowered anymore and I wouldn’t want to anyhow. Here is a backed out pic of the contact areas (red arrows). You can see the frame drill holes for the front mounting tabs (green arrows) are already very low.
So I got out the grinder with a cut off wheel and started making clearance. I had to cut into the window the shock protrudes through so I used a piece of what got cut off rotated up at 90 degrees to reinforce the defect. With the new found space, I could move the front skid mounting holes up around and inch, so I plugged the old holes.
Before finishing the welding, a test fit showed it was tight, but no contact.
Then the welds were finalized and painted.
Now everything could be reinstalled. One nice thing I did was route the fuel lines, the electrical harness for the fuel pump and the rear diff breather over the crossmember. Some might recall I pinched my fuel line between the tub and my track bar bracket last year, so I really dig this new location.
All done.
For reference here is a pre-delete pic taken right before this year's Moab trip.
And now:
Check out all the new bumper scrapes since Moab this year above vs before. I think this helps make the case for the project.
I may want to modify the tailpipe as its slightly less protected now. Another day…
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Yeah, and quit getting ahead of me, though I do appreciate having your bread crumbs to follow. 
Well DAMN... This doesn't make me too optimistic about my chances with the aluminum skid on my tank then. I'll run it until I bend mine up and then get the steel skid like I should have done in the first place.
Rest of it looks great and good work as always.
