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

10 minute(s) of a 391 minute read

Great time wheeling Yesterday. Trailering up the hill went perfect. Took it easy on my rig, being this close to Moab I didn't want to have to fix anything or spend any money on repairs. We camped overnight on Wednesday and I froze my *** off. Good times though. Gopro vid is uploading.  

I hope this is at least a little bit cool, I put a bit of effort into it. Haha!

5-25-2013

Doing some final detailing before MOAB today.... just a little paint here and there. The cleaner I used the other day is giving me hell though, it must have left quite a residue and is causing some paint issues even after after wiping down with thinner. Oh well.... I just really wanted to get that L/R rub rail repainted after it came out so dull after I touched it up a couple weeks ago using a different satin black than I normally do. I also had the bright idea to swap out my incredibly worn stock rear sway bar links that are a tad bit to short (they almost lay flat with the sway bar flexed out and could possibly swing back the other way = bad) with stock links from a cherokee that are about an inch and a half longer....well that was all going well, I just need to drill out the sway bar one bolt size bigger....well my damn bit is completely DEAD! Off to the parts store again!  

What's everyone else working on today????

Well the sway bar links worked out well. Did you know the rear sway bar is made out of diamonds and is virtually impossible to drill??? Even after running to the closest hardware store and getting a new 1/2 bit, it STILL wouldn't drill out. I don't know anything about metallurgical properties but something has been done to that thing. Oh well I had to use my step bits and kind of keep wallowing it until I could get the bolt in. They went in nice so no worries. I always had a hard time finding aftermarket sway bar links that were longer than stock but only by a small amount. Or they never listed the lengths so I never bought any. These Cherokee links are only about 1.5" longer than stock..... so perfect for 2"- 3" lift. And available everywhere.... My stock links had about a 1/8 of play in them. So it's nice to have the sway bar nice and tight again and not fully extended anymore while flexed.

Got my 10' mini USB charge cable for my Gopro today also.... so my Gopro setup should be pretty legit. Picked up the suction mount also and a dual USB cig. adapter to keep my phone charged to control the Gopro while it's mounted outside the rig. Nice not to worry about the battery! Gopro currently does not make a case for the Hero3 that allows you to plug into the side so I had to drill a hole in mine. And of course I had to buy another housing in case I need waterproof capability. They aint cheap!

5-27-2013

Last day off until departure for MOAB. Just going through my spares, and prep stuff..... looking good.  

You can fit a lot in a small action packer!

Spare: u-joints, TRE's. Brake fluid, RTV, JB Weld, Serp. belt, funnel, fixaflat, first aid, snatch block, hitch d-ring, lug wrench, gloves, zip ties, (2) 3 day survival kits, air line, PSI gauge, Air down tool, sunscreen, bug spray, winch controller, jumper cables and who know's what else!





Prepping my truck box with spare axles front and rear. Along with my non mesh bikini top in case of rain. Throwing my spare in the bed of the truck, locked down.



Gonna be a LOOOOONG week.... waiting to leave.

6-4-2013

Having a great time here in Moab. Really fun to actually meet all these people, and everyone is wheeling hard and doing very well with everything. Its too much of a pain for me to post photos, but I have some good ones, not to mention over a 100 gopro clips so far. Its going take some time to go through all that! Should be some good stuff.

6-6-2013

Awesome photos. Looking forward to viewing the go pro footage.  

Big thanks to all the jf crew for making this trip so memorable. Props to Lu for running helldorado today, I don't know if anyone could have talked me out of it, but it was nice to have another "little" Jeep with me. And thanks Jeremy, Mike and Art for the spotting, laughs and entertainment!

6-7-2013

Thanks for posting those Art! I'm HOME... finally.  





The waterfall was scary enough winching up it...... just try not to stall half way up like I did..... and then it wouldn't start for a few tense seconds. Haha.

Just starting to look at the gopro footage...... I'll see if I can get something up tonight. Just a raw clip or two.

I'm going to post up some raw clips from Helldorado since not everyone in the group got to be there, and since they are pretty sweet by themselves. Then try and make an edited video tomorrow. There's A LOT to go through....

Me going through the squeeze..... if you were to fall off to the driver's side, it would be bad!

6-8-2013

Helldorado Gatekeeper....

Video, "collage" is uploading..... maybe. It's 28 minutes. I think it's neat.... it was hard to pick through it all and if you were not in front of me or you ran obstacles faster than I could get over there I missed a lot! Oh well I did my best!

6-9-2013

6-10-2013

This is a cool shot of me in the Helldorado gatekeeper. Thanks Jeremy's wife.

6-19-2013

Having a hard time deciding if I should just wheel my rig as is for the summer or start on my next round of mods that will probably have it down for a couple months. I'm anxious to wrench.... and to wheel! Decisions.....

You guys are right, ill wheel it until the trails close for winter again. Planning some stretch action Lu.... rear..... and front! Whatever it takes to get to 104" is the plan in my head. We will see how it turns out in reality. D35 stays. Haha, Tates Jeep purchase has been put off to next spring due to us moving and the expenses I've incurred over selling my old house. Boo.

6-20-2013

I did have a hell of a time. Actually one of the best times of my adult life. I highly recommend anyone who even thought about going this time.... DON'T miss the next one. We spend all this time and money documenting our builds and running our local stuff, but it's really awesome to meet the people behind the builds, run some stuff out of your comfort zone and truly use the machines we build for what we built them for.  

My son had a great time. He's at an age (13) where he's got a lot going on, so he's just a typical teen. Kind of selfish and self absorbed but it only took one short talk on the first night to get him on the program (looong wheeling days). Everyone may have thought he was on the cell phone the whole time but he was actually controlling the Gopro for me with it via wifi. He got a little sick of me telling him when to stop and start recording, haha.