Louie4's YJ by Louie4

13 minute(s) of a 411 minute read

Thanks man! I certainly will next time we plan a trip out there. Windrock is our next destination in a couple weeks. I've enjoyed your build as well.

In other news, I loaded the jeep up Saturday and got it to Knoxville. It would get a little hot with the thermostat and low speed and instead of seeing how it handled it I just turned on the high speed a majority of the trip. It kept the motor cool and steady right under 210 but it was pulling a good bit of juice from the battery. It was a little sluggish starting when I made stops but I'd rather replace a battery than a motor.

Actually when I was about 30 minutes away or so I just left low speed on with the thermostat to see what it would do. It would get above 210 but not much and would eventually drop back down but I didn't want to take the chance with 4 hours of driving. I definitely don't regret getting the new radiator as this u-haul trailer was a good deal heavier than the small dinky one I put my washer and dryer on. I don't think I would done to well with the old one still in.

8-6-2012

A sneak peek of what's to come. I still haven't taken it out of the box because I have plenty of other boxes that need to be unpacked first and I still have the hardtop. The second picture is upside down because I took it upside down. I also got a new MacBook Pro this weekend. Tax free and educational discount equals a win. I may post a pic of my old laptop I was using. It had a whopping 1 GB of RAM and 30 GB hard drive.

8-14-2012

Here's a taste of what happened this past weekend.

The first day was like Jurassic Park.

One of my buddies rolled his pristine '95 YJ. The custom roll cage definitely turned out to be a good investment.

My brother got a short video of me going up a good size rock when my pass. side u-joint snapped. You could hear it on the video.

Upon taking everything apart I found out my unit bearing was shot and my drivers side TRE on the tie rod was loose. Apparently I put too much taper and the threads were all the way through. So I found a large washer and solved that problem as well. My buddy had an extra hub also. Wouldn't you know it, I threw my spare away when I moved a few weeks ago!

I have a few more pics to take of some body mounts. They do not look too good.

8-15-2012

For a day ride it's $17 a day for a permit. If you get two days it's $33. You'll also need to buy a map for $5.49. This is assuming you don't stay at the park. I stayed in primitive cabins for $100 a night. It has (2) bunk beds so (4) places to sleep, sink, microwave, small refrigerator, bathroom, and shower. I'm not sure how much the primitive camping is which is what I usually do. We decided to get the cabins because it was a double bachelor party for my buddy and me.

Here's another problem I need to address.

Anyone have good recommendations for body mounts? I need cut these off and reweld them all around. These bent because only the sides were welded. What sucks is I don't know when I can fix them. I don't have access to place to work on my jeep nor a welder.:thumbdown:

8-20-2012

I also got my nut riveter in from H.F. I think this will work perfectly. I think I'm going to put some RTV on the inserts when I set them in the windshield. Now I just need to get rid of the hardtop.

I was also visiting my home town. My fiancé's bachelorette party was there this weekend so I visited the folks and my grandparents. While in town I picked up a pack of Terrapin Pumpkinfest. It's a seasonal from our local brewery in Athens, GA. I can't wait to taste it. October is my favorite season for beer.

8-21-2012

Here's a couple of short videos of me on the trail.

If you are having trouble seeing this video, watch on YouTube

This one is where I snapped my pass. side u-joint. I think you can hear it pop.

If you are having trouble seeing this video, watch on YouTube

8-24-2012

I've been out messing with the jeep some and got a few small things done and found a few things I need to fix.

I need new front u-bolts. My leaves on the front pass. side spring pack were shifting. They never have before. Here's why:

That there was a nut on there but it just spun.

I got around to taking the old u-joint out of the spare shaft soonermatt gave me. I also got to use my new vise my buddy Steven got me as a going away present. It works pretty well. I had to figure out a few tricks for it to get the u-joints out. Once I had the vise tight I hit the top backside with a hammer and it would just pop the u-joint caps through.

I put new rubber hangers on my exhaust. I still need to cut the end of the pipe off though.

I unspooled my winch line and respooled it proper.

I finally put a sheet metal screw in my high-lift jack handle. The handle walked out on me while I was riding the trails and it was only held in by the Daystar isolator.

As of now I need to get a new u-joint since Autozone gave me the bigger one for the axles, buy a set of front u-bolts, and clean the jeep up. I have a guy coming to look at the top this weekend so it may be gone. That means it's time for the Softopper to go on.

8-25-2012

Thanks Fernando! I appreciate the compliments.

Well I sold the hardtop this morning. Pretty excited to get rid of it. I took a lot less than what I think it was worth but it's Summer time and I don't want to put the Softopper on in the Winter.

I had some foam tape on the sides of the tub where the side rails use to be. It was very dumb to do that and I didn't realize there was foam on the underside of the hardtop so I put this dumb tape on there. It was a PITA to get it off. I used up a majority of my Goof Off to get it clean. I also put some on the top of the windshield frame...ugh. I spent several hours cleaning that off.

After that I pulled out the nut riveter out of the package and decided I wanted to use the #10-24 inserts. When I went to put the stud in the tool I found one end was not threaded. I emailed the pics below to Harbor Freight. I'm debating whether or not I should thread it myself or just wait for HF.

What would you guys do?

8-28-2012

Well hardtop is gone.

Did some cleaning on the side rails and the top of the windshield.

I put the nut rivet inserts in the top of the windshield. I used the #8-32 inserts and HF is sending me the #10-24 tool that was messed up in my package. However the #8-32 is holding well. I put blue loctite on the threads with small washers and I put electrical tape over the other holes I drilled in the top.

I finally cut off my roll bar padding. It's been on there since '93 and though I liked the look it was very old.

8-28-2012

Softopper installed. I like the adjustability and I still need to adjust it out.

Oh yeah. These came in the mail yesterday. Thanks notmyj!

Now I just need to find a jigsaw to borrow.

That does sound daunting.

I also have another problem. Whenever I wipe the hood the paint is coming off. Not good. I hope it can survive a couple years till I get a more permanent residence.

Anybody have any quick fixes? I guess I could just rattle can the hood.

9-7-2012

I think I forgot to post the actual pic of my buddies roll. Here's what I got.