pingpong

Pete, so the wedges were used to just level the spring buckets out? or were they used to recenter the buckets in line with the coils as well? The steering on it is pure beef. I am not sure what ends the guy used, but it appears to be 1ton ends, or some yota stuff. It is all ready flipped over the knuckle, and seems to work fine.

Pete you might be right.... :dunno: but after I dumped the bed and all the crap I carried in my rig.... it felt like I had more power.. Yes I have had to pull a leaf out my pack, but that was cause they were custom built Alcans and they ask you to weigh your rig, and where you keep the weight

Thats on the reinforcement side of the bracket. I would just clean it as best I could and run a bead over it, making sure you got good penetration, w/o burning through

Frankenstien... I just posted up a tranny and t-case for sale.. will take a lil modding to make it work, but it is a great swap. 6.8 to 1 first gear :beerhead:

I used to carry a complete steering setup, Spider gears, enough u-joints to change every one on my rig, upper and lower rad hoses, sepertine belt, LCA's, front driveshaft, unit bearing, and a alternator. That was for local trips.. for the ones that were over 20 miles... We had enough parts on my rig and on my buddys trailer that we could replace t-cases on the trail. In other words if we had a spare it went with us

Dirty.. I have read Mr. N's guide to D44 as well :D It really don't matter if it is a 78, cause I have another to thrash on :nanner: Plus Casper is for the wifey to have a DD. otherwise I would have stripped the thing all ready and sold off all its parts. I figure the skid plating would have brought me a couple, the roof rack 150, the blue top 100, the running Ho motor and comp 300, the celica seats and mounts 150. A good ax15 250, not to mention some mud rovers for 350, 5o for the coil springs 125 for the tracbar setup. I would have made a few bucks, and been hapy, instead I am further butchering a XJ to make the wifey happy

Try getting hwlp when you need it. I tried to bribe every l0ocal 4x person I know to help me pull out a tranny and t-case combo... I got er done myself :eek: needless to say.. I am busy from now to eternity for the ppl I asked

I have seen one person fry his Brand New S/S brake line cause his ground was on the frame, and he was welding on the axle :brows: it was a pretty site, cause he was fixing his broken spring perch on the side of the trail using some one premier power welder... it was kinda funny to wtach the guy almost crap himself when the line ruptured

Remember on the renix style FI there are only 4 sensors that can make it run funky, and the on.y one you can't make it back w/o is a CPS. Places I wheel... Paragon.. even the most remote trail.. you are within radio/walking distance to the main road, and then only a short jump back to the staging area's. Crozet.. even though that place has some extremem obstacles.. at most you are a 20 minute walk to the patking area, and I have seen them drag rigs out w/o a front or rear axle in less then 2 hrs. Tellico.. well thats a place where you go prepared for anything. Oakridge.. wells thats another place where camp isnt to far away, but all the same best carry a few other things cause of others breaking

The axle under casper appears to be out of a 78.. I am not sure of that though. I know the arms I have are from a 78 :D Pete can you get me a couple of close ups of how you did your coil buckets? Also did you mount the bottom hoop of the shock to the radias arm, or did you buld a mount?

Routine maintenance is key for any trail rig. I have yet to have a sensor/ routine maintenance item fail on anytrip. Everything that I have broken, has been axle shafts or worse

I know my frame had a galvanized coating on it, and it burns a pretty green color and puts off real white whispy smoke when you burn it, or weld it.

I could get Pong to pass if I removed my windshield bars :eek: all I would need is a set of mud flaps, and a drivers side mirror

I have plenty of front axle horror stories :brows: The same trip to tellico I bent my front d30, destroyed a lockright, and busted a short side shaft :eek: I just went to Paragon in May and busted a yukon alloy short side shaft, watched another guy bust a short side on his rig.. Then watched a dude in a Rubi bust a short side on his front D44 :eek: Made a real nice sound when that let go driving Also the d30 has more mounting points, and there are less instances of ppl bending tubes on them. I am the only person in my club who can say " I bent a d30 housing", but I know of at least 4 other ppl who can say they twisted, or bent a d35 :eek:

I got a question after looking at your setup. How come you just didnt locate the bracket where it would have allowed the coils to sit right? Or was that not possible? I hope that I can get rid of the 2" spacer the PO put on top of some skycrapper coils. Also the way your coils look in those pics is the way mine look right now... To think this guy was auctually trying to get this thing inspected to drive on the road

To me my essential trail items are... Spare tire Companion flange drivesaft, and axle shaft u-joints. Tools to change front axle shaft Hi-lift jack Since my rig is transported on a trailer.. all the other crap is kept in the tow rig, or the trailer. No need to weigh you rig down if it is more then a busted u-joint on the trail. Even then you still might need more support then you have on a off chamber situation. Also most places I wheel my trailer is less then 20-30 minutes from where I am at, so if it is a catastrophic failure, or i need a tool or part, catch a ride out, get my tow rig, or part and be back within a Hour. Exceptions to this are Tellico, and other BLM places

Pete, You will find that your rig handles and flexes a lot better with less gear :brows: Also if you are going to carry as much gear as you do... Try and keep it as low and to the center as possible

That doesnt sound like it would be too hard to weld. Just remember preparation for a weld is just as important as the weld itself. Also the Mj frames are Galvanized metal, and it puts off some really toxic fumes when you weld on it, grind it, or cut it using heat

Well like I said I odered a set of radias arm brackets from wildhorse, and they were only 75 bucks, so that wasnt too bad. For the coil buckets, I am going to use stock f150 ones that came on the radias arms :D The plan is to position the axle where it belongs and the weld the brackets on. Hopefully it will work out great. Cause the only thing I will need to do is cut some of the hookey/ spooky crap off the current axle.

What kinda bender are you using?

Hey Pete... I need a favor.. can you take a pic of your radias arm mounts, as this is what I am going to do with project Casper. I all ready have the axle, radias arms, and I just ordered a set of radias arm brackets from Wildhorses4x4.com Heck the brackets were even on sale If everything works out right, I will have casper road worthy and safe by the weekend :D

I'm here to tell you it is great having everything you can think of.. But it is hard on your suspension

Are you talking about the back side, where the LCA adjuster bolts go through. If so I would get a piece on angle (or similar metal) and reapir it that way

I was to the point where I was able to change a front shaft on my rig in less then 20 minutes from breakage :eek: I make it a point to carry at least one of every bolt size My rig using on the suspension. :brows: You never know what you are going to break or loose when you are making a trail repair :mad: Air tools, and CO2 tanks are great for camp repairs, but On my rig there is just no storage anymore, so that stuff gets left at the tow rig

What size and type of tubing are you using to build your cage?