Adventures with Peggy's jeep.

[sdsupilot]

I received my Xmas present early. I’m really bad at waiting so I didn’t just open them. I installed them.

Kind of make the rest of my gauges look bad. So for Xmas I will wrap my original broken clock and working 4 cylinder tach.

I was really happy having all my gauges work. I then decided to see what else I could fix. Did a little research and found a thread on here that stated Dorman 600-551 switch vs the original Chevy switch. This is because the Chevy and dodge/Jeep switches are opposite in circuitry. The switch is pretty cheap, but I needed the weather pack connector. That was $35 and I’m feeling cheap. Off to pull a part I went. $2.50 out the door. Wired it in and now I have a working 4x4 light!


I love my engines location being low and as close to the firewall as possible. Except when I am doing anything wiring related.

 

[sdsupilot]

It’s been a while since I’ve updated anything here. 2023 has kept us busy. We moved from our first house after living there 14 years. I’ve learned that I am a bit of a hoarder.

Our new house is older than our first. We needed some renovations before moving in so we had 2 houses for a few months. Fixing on one to move in, the other to sell. Our first house got hailed on and needed a new roof. Fun stuff.


The new house got a completely new kitchen and appliances. I will pretend I don’t know how many nice Jeeps I could have bought with that money. I removed the fur downs in the kitchen and rerouted the electrical. Had my HVAC friend add a gas line.


My helper texturing the wall.


Dabbled in tile and plumbing.


Had a new septic installed, I think they hit most of the sprinkler lines. Played with plumbing some more. Especially after they parked the backhoe on the sprinkler manifold.


Then finally a Jeep project. Added my flat fender grill to the workshop.

 

[sdsupilot]

While the kitchen was being gutted and reconfigured, Jeep Jamboree took place at Crossbar Ranch in Davis. As with Ultimate Adventure I was a trail guide.

I feel bad for taking the time off looking at the pictures.

Not too long after JJ I got the cabinets installed, might have made up for the time I took off.


Ran into a couple folks that guide JJ at SMORR. Neat little CJ5. He has wheeled and even raced it for over 30 years. The other was a clean CJ8.


The group I was guiding asked for hard trails. I ran most of the hard trails at the park minus the buggy lines.


The JJ VP rode with us the first day and had a minor incident with a tree while climbing a waterfall.

 

[sdsupilot]

We started the second day heading to Turner falls. The city of Davis wanted to give a quick sightseeing tour of the area.



We then took the southern trails through the creek to lookout mountain.

After that we headed to the northern part of the park. This is the rockier and more challenging part.

Pictures really don’t show how deep this notch is. It can make your day pretty rough.

 

[sdsupilot]

After Jeep Jamboree the 8 has been busy on home improvement and ice cream runs. The 8274 does a fine job with tree work.



I then “accidentally” bought a set of race line wheels. I polished up the beadlock rings the. Cleaned up the hardware.


They aren’t perfect. But will be getting scratched up anyways.

Also did a bit of trading. Someone needed my AMC 20 for their CJ7. Offered a 14 bolt in trade. Then I picked up my old Suzuki I’ve had forever for yard work at the new place

 

[sdsupilot]

Last weekend we took a quick run to Crossbar Ranch in Davis OK. We ran most of the harder trails towards the north part of the park.


I made a mistake on my line selection and fell into a chest deep notch. It took a bit of winching to get out. I had the drivers front in a bind and broke a front u joint.


It took a bit of winching to get it out of that bind. It bend the ears on the stub shaft but the inner custom length shaft looks alright. We will see. Sadly it has sewn some seeds of doubt in my 44. I am starting to plan a trip with some friends to the rubicon and possibly Moab next year for our 40th birthdays.

All that said, I contacted RCV and will probably do some upgrading this winter. I just don’t want to be worried about u joints

 

[John N]

Last weekend we took a quick run to Crossbar Ranch in Davis OK. We ran most of the harder trails towards the north part of the park.
View attachment 111310View attachment 111315View attachment 111316View attachment 111317View attachment 111318View attachment 111319

I made a mistake on my line selection and fell into a chest deep notch. It took a bit of winching to get out. I had the drivers front in a bind and broke a front u joint.
View attachment 111311View attachment 111312View attachment 111313

It took a bit of winching to get it out of that bind. It bend the ears on the stub shaft but the inner custom length shaft looks alright. We will see. Sadly it has sewn some seeds of doubt in my 44. I am starting to plan a trip with some friends to the rubicon and possibly Moab next year for our 40th birthdays.

All that said, I contacted RCV and will probably do some upgrading this winter. I just don’t want to be worried about u joints View attachment 111314

After I broke a front axle joint on my 44, I put in a set of Moser chrome molly inner and outer shafts…no problems since. I do still carry the complete take out shafts as spares, but haven’t needed them.

 

[sdsupilot]

I called and talked to Del at Parts Mike as I have one of their knuckles. I was hoping the bore was larger to clear the RCV. Apparently Fords have a much larger bore and the RCV joint can pass through without much headache. But, with Jeep or GM knuckles the install on RCVs is much less fun.

John, glad to hear you are happy with your moser axles. I am leaning towards either dutchman or moser. I would have a complete backup set and future maintenance would be easier.

 

[bigwalton]

I had three bolts break on the AEV beadlocks that came on the JKU we bought and it wrecked one wheel (or I did attempting to remove the sunken bits). I know it's a lot, but I'd be replacing all the bolts with new on those beadlocks and basically start over, FWIW.

 

[sdsupilot]

@bigwalton I know you are right. I kind of thought it was a waste of time while cleaning up the old hardware. It just makes more sense to start with new hardware and valve stems.

 

[sdsupilot]

I changed out the broken U joint. Looks to have been a Moog 371. I replaced it with the non greasible spicer 5-760.


The rotor, hub and locking hub look to be good. The waterproof grease on the spindle still looks new.

Original on the right, new on the left. Rock auto listed one stub shaft for the J10 and 2 for the K20 that i used the hubs for. Spicer 41677 is what I used. It looked identical to the original or whatever was in it before.

Notes from when I sent the axle to Moser to shorten.


The inner axle ears were in pretty good shape. Just a slight ding. Quick work with the file.

30 7/8-30 15/16 should work for the next inner axle shaft.

I think this winter project will be chromoly front axles, a borgesen steering shaft and redneck ram steering. We will see how far I get with that.

 

[sdsupilot]

Well parts have arrived and projects have started. I decided on and received Dutchman 4340 replacement front axles. 3 out of 4 were standard off the shelf parts and were delivered in a couple days. This winter I will pull the front apart and replace the stock shafts.

Next was a load of PSC goodies. Here are two hydro assist kits. One for me, one for a friends TJ.

Last weekend I installed the PS pump, reservoir, gearbox and a borgesen steering shaft in my 8. Now it drives like a new 45 year old Jeep! The steering is very tight with no slop. Excellent upgrade. Another winter task will be to install the ram and mount.

I also bought a new voltmeter and oil pressure gauge from speedhut. Love the way they look. They changed their backlighting from the pair I bought last year. So unfortunately the new gauges don’t match the lighting of the other pair. Not a huge deal.

 

[sdsupilot]

Been busy with continued home and Jeep projects. The PSC is fully installed. Made a huge difference. The steering is extremely tight now. It can be a bit twitchy at speed but is much more stable in bumps and such.

My helper and I swapped to my new to me racelines. I bought new bolts and used anti seize. Took a while but after the first one it was pretty quick.


Then went and did a flex test for clearance. I need longer shocks in the front. Not bad though.


Tried to see the tipping point on this Jeep. Stopped at 55 degrees. It was getting close and we didn’t want to push our luck. We had a winch line hooked to the cage so we wouldn’t actually tip it over.


Had my first issue with my Ox lockers. Went to engage the rear and could hear air hissing out of the dif vent. Called and talked to Chip. Really the only thing to leak is an O ring. I ordered a few and installed one. Maybe the old O ring shrunk, not sure. You can see the new O ring looks bigger.

Easy to service. Remove the external fitting then remove the E clip from the piston. After that unscrew the locking arm from the piston. Pull it out and swap the O ring. Works just like new again.



Gears look to be wearing in well.


Now just maintenance and prep for the trip to the Rubicon. Planning on mid July!

 

[Grendel]

I read it all. Nice journey.

 

[sdsupilot]

Rubicon prep is mostly done, we are just packing for the journey. My wife decided about 3 weeks out that she wanted AC for the trip as the scrambler will be our only mode of transport.

Talked to Jeep Air and bought their under dash system. I suppose it was as easy of an install as one could get. I used a stock GM compressor and they sent all the fittings I would need. Went to a local Napa to get the hose ends crimped. Then had my friend vacuum the system and charge it.

Last picture with the York.

Compressor installed, lots of room with this short engine.

Moved the transmission cooler from the front to the back of the radiator within the shroud. I was just out of room. I will probably change to an electric cooler later on.


Then did a full service and inspection. When I took the York off I noticed I needed my serpentine system needed some love. Ordered a new alternator, tensioner, idler pulley and belt.


Added the PSC cooler.

Then I loaded the Jeep on a dolly as we will be towing behind a class c. I thought the wheel nets were big enough. They weren’t. I nearly lost my Jeep on a 4 mile test. Back to the drawing board. Made some new tow shackles and attached a tow bar.



I don’t love the idea of flat towing but it will be fine. I shouldn’t need to pull the rear driveshaft with the np241 case but I will just to be safe.

Rubicon here we come!

 

[gpassida]

Nice. I will be adding the Jeep Air AC kit on my Chevy 350 this winter. (that's when the budget is workable for it...)

Have fun on the Rubicon and take lots of pics! Is this your first time? Just be careful with your rear body panel overhang. Watch your lines and which obstacles you hit. I still need to fab up some guards for mine. The ones I used before I rebuilt everything no longer fit with the wrap around armor. I definitely came down on them a few times on the harder lines.

These are the ones I ran for years: 1/4" steel that wraps around the corner and is flat on the bottom. And a bottom support bolts into the roll bar mount.



Now that area is vulnerable again. I have the Poison Spyder wrap around 3/16" steel panel but a vertical hit will still dent it. I will not be running the Rubicon this year and will have some new guards for next season.

 

[AdamH]

I’ve installed a couple Jeep Air kits. Such a nice setup from a great company.

 

[sdsupilot]

Nice. I will be adding the Jeep Air AC kit on my Chevy 350 this winter. (that's when the budget is workable for it...)

Have fun on the Rubicon and take lots of pics! Is this your first time? Just be careful with your rear body panel overhang. Watch your lines and which obstacles you hit. I still need to fab up some guards for mine. The ones I used before I rebuilt everything no longer fit with the wrap around armor. I definitely came down on them a few times on the harder lines.

These are the ones I ran for years: 1/4" steel that wraps around the corner and is flat on the bottom. And a bottom support bolts into the roll bar mount.

The Jeep Air kit is a really nice unit. I installed it when it was about 102-105. The pressures were a little higher than the instructions recommended. Called and talked to Trish. She said for the conditions we installed that it sounded about right.

This is our first time on the Rubicon. Hopefully the ol 8 comes home looking somewhat similar to how it started. We will watch the sides for sure. You have a beautiful Jeep, it would make me pretty nervous to wheel something that nice.

 

[sdsupilot]

I’ve installed a couple Jeep Air kits. Such a nice setup from a great company.

They were great to deal with. My setup was a bit non standard. They recommended I source the AC compressor on my own. They sent everything else I needed to finish the install except the freon and oil.

 

[gpassida]

This is our first time on the Rubicon. Hopefully the ol 8 comes home looking somewhat similar to how it started. We will watch the sides for sure. You have a beautiful Jeep, it would make me pretty nervous to wheel something that nice.

Looks like you are setup well. I am skipping the Rubicon this summer for just that reason! Will do many milder trails this year but back at it in full next year. Once I build some new rear corner guards, I will feel better about the big rocks!

Not sure if you saw my video when I did the Rubicon in 2017 before tearing down my Scrambler for the rebuild. That trip was the toughest time for me on all the Rubicon trips. The first day was cold and alternating between snow, hail and rain. Wet, cold granite does not provide much traction for wet, cold rubber tires. Lots of slipping off big rocks. I got through without any damage but we had one jeep break a leaf spring and a YJ that rolled on its side. Even with that, we made it from Loon Lake to Rubicon Springs on the first day. We were tired for sure. After that the weather cleared up for us.