Went on the first "long" road trip in the Scrambler since I swapped the T176 back in, Biloxi, MS to Hawk Pride ORV near Tuscambia, AL, about 370 miles. Surprisingly, it wasn't "terrible" on the highway, 65-70mph at 2800 RPM getting 15mpg (33's/4.10/no OD). Not as good as the T5, but OK. Biggest thing, I miss being able to drive faster. But until I decide/acquire a stronger OD manual transmission, the T176 will do fine. I am still waiting on some new shift forks for my T176, to hopefully tighten up the shifter some, but it works and shifts fine. Just a little "pet-peeve" of mine
My group briefly saw George and a few other "big Scramblers", so the CJ8's were well represented this weekend. My group consisted of JK's (33"-37" tires), a TJ on 39's, and a Toyota on 39's. We ran all easy-moderate trails, for two days, and everyone had fun. We lost one BFG KM2 to a torn sidewall, upper control arm bolt off the TJ, rear spring issues with the TJ, flopped the Toyota on its side (busted windshield, no injuries or major damage), busted the rear drive shaft on the TJ (getting way too happy with the throttle "hopping" on one of the harder obstacles), a few "JK Rubicon Lockers not wanting to always work issue (which seems common), and a JK transfer case cable shifter linkage doo-dad (shifted back to 2wd for the ride home by manually shifting the transfer case from underneath the Jeep). The TJ and the Toyota were brought in on trailers, so they had no problems getting home
I came to Hawk Pride right after I built this Scrambler, when it had 35's. I did not have fun, it was way too tipsy. This time around, with the 33's, I had a blast. The Scrambler was very stable, it never really felt like I was about to flip it over. So all in all, I am much happier with the 33's. If I was wider, 35's would be OK, but I am happy with what I have. I did get stuck in the mud, where 35's might have helped, but the the tradeoff in stability for the little bit of clearance just isn't worth it
The Scrambler did great at Hawk Pride. I only got stuck once, in the mud, on the last trail we hit, in deep ruts that required 35" or larger tires to clear. I did not take any pictures, too busy driving, but I will post them up here as I get them.
Here is one:
I need to finish cleaning it up, and inspect it for any issues, but it should be fine.
I now have 17,000 miles on this Scrambler, so lots of trail riding and highway driving, and lots of fun. Besides the T5's blowing up, the only other issues I need to address:
1) I need to replace the axle u-bolts. I have smashed the bottoms of them (didn't trim them after I installed them, my fault) so they are boogered. I have also "re-used" them, so they tend to get a hair loose, easy fix. The front driver side tends to get a little crooked, I think due to the unused factory steering stabilizer bracket. Since I don't run a stabilizer, I will remove this piece when I swap out the u-bolts.
2) The front spring main eye bushings are tore. I guess all the flexing finally did them in. They are still "OK", but I can hear a "metal on metal" squeak every once in awhile. When I change the U-bolts, I will install new bushings.
I hope to post up some more "ride pictures" soon, but that's it for now