Nate's 2002 TJ, Not so simple anymore by gst95dsm

10 minute(s) of a 391 minute read

Haven't been able to hook up with my buddy with the exhaust shop so I decided upon his recommendation to simply cut off the flange and the tail pipe and switch sides. Originally the inlet is in the center and the outlet to one side. So swapping ends will result in the muffler moved over a few inches, and able to clear the upper link. It fit's good!  

It's nice and quiet again. Now I can start shaking it down a bit over the next week. Going snow wheeling on New Years Day.  

12-28-2012

I had my buddy flex it out with his forklift today, to check clearances and what not. Everything looked good. He was in a hurry (busy! very successful exhaust business) so I just had a minute to look it over, I wanted to take measurements. Oh well looks like I'm cleared for wheeling on New Years~!

Crappy photos.... to much SUN today over here!

1-1-2013

Not really any good photos to share from today. It was just shenanigans all day. About 30 rigs were on the trail. In various forms of STUCK all day long. It was super fun though and what I expected. It's kind of a tradition to go wheeling on NYD around here.  

My jeep did well though. Felt solid. I really didn't think this would be a good test for the suspension but I was wrong. It wasn't a matter of flexing it out today and crawling, but there were several miles of quick, well tracked snow trail with various dips, bumps and what not. It REALLY gave the suspensiona work out similar to dune wheeling. I just did a post trip inspection (briefly) and everything looks good, nothing loose, no signs of anything rubbing on anything it shouldn't. So all in all I'm happy.

Oh yeah and it was just a beautiful day up in the Sierras today.



Stuck.....



Toyota's and Jeeps everywhere...



Sorry to much driving, winching, pulling, walking in the snow, getting soaked and laughing for pics today... I regret not getting more now though!

1-2-2013

Yeah Beasley, it's your turn now! Just try not to make me look to bad!  

Just a couple more pics from the day.

4psi!







My son enjoying the snow.

1-8-2013

Well I cashed in some unexpected stock dividends and got a little play money, so I bought some fun stuff for the heep. I'm not in the mood yet for any fab work so I got some easy stuff I've been wanting for a while.  

IGGEE seat covers! Finally my interior can look nice again!



10lb Polyperformance CO2 kit!!



And finally.... a cool CRAWL fire extinguisher mount.



Got a Currie Antirock in the shopping cart also.... just can't get myself to pull the trigger. I'm not convinced I'll like it! I've been reading like a mad man about the benefits. Just can't wrap my simple mind around WHY it would work better for my type of wheeling, I picture just how badly a stock sway bar hinders actual rock crawling, then try and picture how a much softer sway bar would hinder it less, and then how NO sway bar would hinder it NONE.

I don't see how when flexed out hard in the front, pulling the low side of the chassis down even further with a sway bar attached is MORE stable or comfortable in the jeep. It seems like the tub angle would be much more severe. I can see a benefit in off camber situations reducing body roll and pulling the "high" side down. Then obvious high speed benefits.... not happening!! Hmmmmm.....

1-11-2013

Got my Iggee's today. Pretty satisfied with them. looking forward to when they are broken in and trained better. Fit is good though and material is the best i've ever seen on a "cover". I took out the seats for install to make things easier and to clean up my interior a bit.  

All dirty!

Faded cloth rear seat, Faded Rugged Ridge bottoms (waste of money) and torn factory vinyl.

Simple Green to the rescue...

And looking pretty good for a cold install. Really cleaned up the interior I think.

Got my CO2 kit also.... gonna work on that tommorow.

1-12-2013

True, since I can't find one used, they must hold there value!

Got my CO2 tank mounted up today. Worked out pretty good I think. I had to fab up some small spacers to go between the bracket and the tub to space it out for my cable attachment for the swag tailgate kit. Easy stuff though.

I bought the 10lb. CO2 KIT from PolyPerformane. I wasn't willing to spend powertank money but was going back and forth between this and the Smittybilt. I'm not sure if I made the right choice! The Smittybilt is $225 right now with free shipping / no tax. It just does not come with any kind of bracket. The Poly one was $240 but I paid shipping and tax on it. The smitty comes with an adjustable regulator, quick release coupling and a nice hose. The poly comes with a fixed regulator, no quick release, and a TERRIBLE cheap hard harbor freight type yellow hose, that is surprisingly a VIAIR hose. I hate it! And just the fact that I had to run to the hardware store to buy some couplings for a quick disconnect irritates me. (I didn't know the hose was going to suck, or that no couplings were included). I should have just bought the Smitty and bought a bracket, or just pieced it together with a good powertank hose. Oh well, aluminum cylinders look cool though! I can't wait to fill this sucker up and use it!

I remembered why I ran my CB cable like that... it was to darn short. Well I went and bought a 20' and it was perfect. I ran it up over the pedals, and along the driver side where all the other wires run, then down into the tub through the existing grommet in the L/R, then across in the channel behind the bumper and to my antenna. Looks a lot better and I bet it works a lot better too. The old cable was kinked, smashed, and also frayed at the end. I'm surprised it worked at all. Thanks for the motivation bobthetj03!  

1-13-2013

Spent a little time perfecting my CO2 set up today. The terrible hose the Poly kit comes with was making me angry just thinking about it! So to my surprise I went to Harbor Freight today and they actually sell a nice Polyurethane braded 25' hose. Temp rating of -30 to 175. 250psi rating. Overall pretty much perfect for what I need it for and super light weight. (the cold performance was what I was most worried about and this was the lowest cold rating from rubber, pvc, and polyurethane. FWIW, the actual powertank hoses are -40.)

I also needed some fittings, and found a pretty cool little assortment at Pep Boys, anodized red for coolness points! So I added a blow gun and two different tire chucks. Now I'm good to go besides the tank being empty until Tuesday.





Very compact when coiled and lightweight, I think it takes up less spacethan a springy coiled hose.

1-14-2013

Thanks man! Here's a link to the exact hose I bought. I figure if I get a season out of it, it's $10 and readily available.

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-ft-x...ose-60353.html

I got my neato CRAWL fire extinguisher mount today! Cool little thing. Can't wait to paint it up and install it tomorrow. It's nice how even the little things in this hobby can be fun and exciting to install and attain. Came with a little swag to, always appreciate that!