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Bigwalton's LJ - Formerly "The LJ gets some big tire love"

bigwalton said:
To pick up from where this left off, 505 delivered, eventually... I don't want to get into the whole mess, but it took a month to get everything from them and my comment would be that you should 1) not be in any kind of hurry when buying from them and 2) ask for tracking information repeatedly until you get it. My first shipment took 10 days to get to me and was incomplete with no tracking info or packing list. Getting the missing items was a nightmare and took the remainder of the month. I had to press the Postal into daily driver status, thankfully, the weather and our schedule worked to keep it off the roads when there was salt down and there was a lot of rain to wash them off.

With all that said, the cam is now in and I took the LJ to the Silver Lake sand dunes for opening day for the season with Mr. Beep and it ran great. The power between 2500 and redline is incredible. It started on the 3.5 hour drive to the dunes. I've never had so much fun on cruise control! The Jeep will do ~78 mph at 3k RPM (remember, 37" tires and 5.13 gears) all day long and IT WILL PULL HILLS ON CRUISE (into a headwind no less)! I couldn't believe it. Without the supercharger, there's no way 6th gear would hold on hills. Short of running up on slow traffic, I didn't need to touch the gas pedal with the cruise set.

On the sand, I managed to guess well right out of the gate and made Test hill on the first try using 5th and 6th gear in low range. Playing around a bit, I could do everything in 1st and 2nd in high gear, but the gap between the two was brutal for wheel speed. First was too low and second too high. 3rd through 6th in low was the sweet spot for wheel speed on the sand.
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Sounds awesome! I assume a write-up in JPFreek is coming?! It is hard to believe how many companies haven't figured out customer service! As a small business owner it is quite simply THE BIGGEST thing we strive for. It is what customers remember and sets the reputation of your company. United Airlines is learning this lesson in a BIG way right now. Of all the different 4x4/Jeep companies I've dealt with over the years, I can easily say ARB and Warn have the BEST customer service bar none. It is sad to hear of companies (possibly like 505?) that have a great product but drop the ball on customer service. No matter how good the product they won't last without the good service.
 
No, I didn't try to document the cam swap. 1) this is beyond what the majority of my target audience would take on, 2) yet again, I was going to be unable to do before/after dyno pulls to quantify the difference and 3) anything I try to do for a story instantly takes 2-3 times longer than it otherwise would because of how I have to document it.

This being my DD and having already had it down multiple weeks, I simply needed to get it back on the road.

The trip to the sand dunes was Laura's spring break vacation and I needed to have the LJ with us so I could get photos for other pieces already. I ended up with just enough time to test the new setup out sufficiently to feel good about making the trip to the dunes, so I couldn't have had any other delays. :shrug:

Just glad to have it back. The only issue I'm having is sporadic cat converter performance codes. Seeing as how my cats have nothing in them, that makes sense ;) I was going to try some "O2 spacers" on the rear sensors to take care of those.

What I'd like to still do to it:
HD driveshafts (time to replace the u-joints again anyway)
Big brake kit (though I have to say I'm still shocked that the stock brakes aren't completely overpowered)
Some form of replacement gas tank with HD skid (still have the gas tank vent issue that makes fill-ups a PITA)
 
I too had delivery issues with 505 and for the life of me I can't figure out why they don't want to be a more successful business. You definitely take a chance on sending them money, that being said their products seem well built and thought out . They are very passionate and skilled at what they do, just don't expect Morris 4x4 or even eBay type of customer service.

I honestly think they are in business just to fund their own off road projects and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Glad your LJ is back on road, I just hate looking at pictures of it because I want one so bad.:thumbsup:
 
This thread needs an update and today was worthy. I wheel the Postal, so this doesn’t get near enough trail time. Hit Bundy Hill ORV Park to get some testing in on the new Yokohama MTs. I had one serious “Oh $&@?” moment when I crested a sharp hill that turned left and immediately went off-camber to the left making me tripod the very upper left rear corner of the Safari Cab roof into a tree trunk.

The “thud” echoed through the Jeep and made my heart drop. Luckily just surface damage as best I could tell. :eek: Being solo, not the most exciting photos, but this is a working gravel pit during the week and it has lots of great Rocky/sandy short climbs that were perfect to see what these tires would do along with lots of mud holes.

I was very impressed with the tires. I only aired down to 15 and didn’t run the lockers to see if I could get them to break free. The only time I could manage was goosing it in water holes. They did great and thus far they ride really well on road too. Stupid quiet for how aggressive they are.

7844C171-4A93-4081-B8E8-F193211B4C2B.jpeg24C4B25A-72C1-41EF-A093-CBC0CB8F0313.jpeg109855D3-5F9E-483C-AE89-B382D076F444.jpegE81B16A7-C0A9-4A7A-BBBD-C0DAD16873F9.jpegB1D79275-4425-4385-9216-E32CFC9B98D4.jpegE84E5F37-6C4B-4A0C-A493-6D33F4D7A1AC.jpeg

And the spot that caught the tree trunk. The tree was pretty much vertical, not hanging out over the trail, so this location can help explain the “Oh $&@?” part of that situation :huh:
6B664AD2-F518-4A26-9A81-AC5143625CFD.jpeg
 
BW this might be the first time I've seen this thread. Reading some now. Looks like some pictures gone. I don't see LJs here. Maybe 1or 2 years back. What engine ? Is / was there a problem with those engines? Is that hard top original equipment ? What is ODPA ? Thanks
 
Belizeit said:
BW this might be the first time I've seen this thread. Reading some now. Looks like some pictures gone. I don't see LJs here. Maybe 1or 2 years back. What engine ? Is / was there a problem with those engines? Is that hard top original equipment ? What is ODPA ? Thanks
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ugh, I’ll have to go back to look on my laptop for the pics. Damn.

4.0 is the only engine these had unless swapped. The OPDA is a long explanation, google “4.0 OPDA problem” this is the second cam this engine has had. Ours was recalled with less than 500 miles on it. I’m getting another cam/crank sensor misalignment code but I pulled it and the gears look fine. I think I have it right on the edge of the alignment “zone.”

The top is a GR8TOPS Safari Cab. Definitely not stock.
 
bigwalton said:
ugh, I’ll have to go back to look on my laptop for the pics. Damn.

4.0 is the only engine these had unless swapped. The OPDA is a long explanation, google “4.0 OPDA problem” this is the second cam this engine has had. Ours was recalled with less than 500 miles on it. I’m getting another cam/crank sensor misalignment code but I pulled it and the gears look fine. I think I have it right on the edge of the alignment “zone.”

The top is a GR8TOPS Safari Cab. Definitely not stock.
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OPDA=Oil pump drive assembly. Basically the distributor replacement on the OBDII setup.
 
Yeah those tops are really nice looking. No wonder I haven't seen one around here. So did the jeep originally come with soft top and when that wore out it was decided to go with the GR8TOPS ? I would maybe drive with a hardtop & A/C with one of those. Thanks
 
Belizeit said:
Yeah those tops are really nice looking. No wonder I haven't seen one around here. So did the jeep originally come with soft top and when that wore out it was decided to go with the GR8TOPS ? I would maybe drive with a hardtop & A/C with one of those. Thanks
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It was dual top when we bought it new. Still have the soft top. I worked with Matt at GR8TOPs to help develop these and got the second one he built as a beta test. I got another when he made a number of improvements to the design for final production.
 
Needed to find this thread, so adding our 2020 Christmas tree retreival pic. Hadn't done this in the LJ in forever, if ever. :christmas:

IMG_0234.JPG
 
Did you sell the LJ? If not, put me on the list.
 
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