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

6 minute(s) of a 391 minute read

I really like how this video came out with the Gopro mounted to my buddies rig. Fun to watch my little heep do work!

It's a sweet 4runner. Not all beat to crap like most others. He keeps it clean and takes pride in it. It's dual cased on 37 MTR's, locked, geared, hydro assist... all the goodies and get's around quite well on it's leafs and is stable as all hell in almost every situation even with a relatively high lift height. It's got about 25" of belly clearance that I'm always jealous of.  

10-24-2013

Ok here's a real tech question..... I just discovered my rear yoke nut backed off. I torqued it to 150ft lbs. during SYE installation. What gives? I noticed because the yoke had a little play in it, I also used the funky plastic washer, but didn't recall any mention of using loctite? Upon a brief search of the issue it appears that maybe some RED loctite is in order? Art????

10-26-2013

Working on maintenance... I re-torqued the year yoke nut with a healthy dose of red loctite and hope to not deal with that again. I also took off the front driveshaftjust to make sure both of them didn't back off on me. The front was fine. Fixed a rear sway bar link that must have gotten into a rock and almost pushed itself out of it's bushing. Inspected the front end for anything out of the ordinary.... I had a new little faint click every now and then on the last wheeling trip that was pissing me off so I hope it becomes obvious or goes away. Also it looks like I somehow bent my R/F control arm enough to warrant a replacement. I don't know when it happened but their is some nice rash where it's bent. Oh well.... **** happens. It almost motivates me to just make my own arms, ditch the radius and weld up the 3 link brackets. Not a good time financially so I'll throw another single arm at it and have my fun until Spring. I WILL be starting to buy Duroflex joints next week though.... I should be able to pick up the 4 I need for the lowers, and I am really pumped to get them installed. My current R/C lower 1.25 joints are in desperate need of a cleaning and re-greasing and I don't want to do it!  

I've got a couple more engine related thing to do also, new plugs and an oilchange due to a mandatory smog requirement this time with my registration renewal that's due this month. BOO!

10-29-2013

Plugs, wires, oil change, air filter..... bring on the smog test. Jeep is ready for some wheeling again this Saturday. Heard they got some snow up in the Sierra's.

11-1-2013

Jeep passed smog no problem, I don't know why I always worry about it. Snow wheeling tomorrow.... I hope there is enough for fun and not just a muddy mess!

11-2-2013

Beat that D35!

Beautiful day wheeling today. Bits of complete snow, bits of slush, bits of dry. Just enough moisture to make some usually easy obstacles un doable and some a bit more interesting. Jeep did well, and I conquered an obstacle that's been on my list for a while that I tried pre-stretch and was very sketchy. I decided at the last second to even try it so I didn't get any video or photos.... But here is another guy running the same line in a toyota. Lot's of rolls happen on this hill going the EASY way.... witch is to the right of the rock in the center.  





50 foot waterfall....



The obstacle I conquered today... I was SUPER pumped!

A little note on that waterfall... you see that log at the very bottom? Well my buddy said "what if you were at the bottom on that log and had to climb up".  

My son absolutely terrified climbing out on the log for a photo op.... click it's a video...

11-4-2013

Ordered 4 of these bad boys just now for my lower arms. Excited to get them on.  

11-5-2013

Guess I should post this in my own thread also. Today I added bracing to my Barnes flat skid plate. After much discussion in Danno's thread I decided to tackle the project. I'm happy with the results and I know that I've definitely improved it's strength. Time will tell if it holds up to my abuse. I think it's going to be fine though. Hopefully this will help anyone looking at the Barnes flat skid... or any flat skid for that matter. Keep in mind this is an AX-5 transmission so those of you with other transmissions will face other (similar) challenges.  

Reversed cat hanger... 

Bracing mocked up... 

Test fitted and welded... 

I'll post some more after it's re-installed.