gogmorgo

Mine doesn’t melt out in any sort hurry so I usually try to shovel it out so I don’t need a jackhammer to bust out the glacier if I ever want to use the bed.

Some people really hate square wheelwells. My guess is the original bedsides were a casualty to the excessive salting that happens in Ontario and when presented with a blank slate to repair them, someone took the opportunity to do whatever the heck they wanted.

Interestingly I saw this video come up last night. It basically provides evidence to the contrary of my last post, so I figured I’d share. Dynamically the Amarok is a very different vehicle from the Comanche, with IFS and modern traction and stability control, and different weight distribution. They also chose to do the test on mud tires, probably because they confirmed they did the worst everywhere in a previous test and were hoping for the most dramatic results, and I wonder how the test would turn out with tires that had a modicum of traction somewhere. But they did show slightly reduced braking performance with the added weight, which makes sense. They also show pretty clearly how big a difference 4x4 makes. But it would have been nice if they’d compared 4x4 loaded vs unloaded instead of just dropping in the 4x4 loaded run at the end for fun.

16” wheel? Looks like a colour variation on a KJ five-spoke. That or someone painted in the “shadows”. http://colorado4wheel.com/images/jeepwheels/kjwheels.html

I just picked up a set of Nokians in 265/70r16. The 75 is closer to a true 31x10.5, but they come with much higher load ratings than I thought would be good for a <4000lb vehicle. 119 or 123 vs the 70’s 112. The idea is the higher load rating will be less compliant and won’t grip ice as well. I personally have mixed feelings about adding ballast. It will for sure add traction on ice to get a 2wd moving on flat level ground, but the extra weight also means it requires more traction for things like stopping and turning or climbing hills. It also affects floatation in deeper snow. I’ve also found that by the time I’ve added enough weight to make a noticeable difference in traction, it really affects the balance of the vehicle and makes it harder to reign in oversteer. I also had one situation where with the ballast in my MJ I got stuck in some old crusty deep snow, and a couple guys pushing didn’t do much, neither did a 2wd truck (duh). So we piled all my ballast into the 2wd truck, and tried again, and I popped right out, except the driver of the 2wd was trying to pull in neutral...

I see an ‘87 with 277 fillups. I used to plug in every fill, but got out of the habit. My long bed is sitting at 49 fills and an average 14.5mpg, and the shortbed has 19.4 over 14 fills. My ZJ is on there too, but I’m too lazy to look it up.

Kinda been obsessing over this song for the last couple days. I already pre-ordered the album when they announced it, although I’ll be getting the CD, not the cassette... https://deathbyrockandroll.com/products/the-pretty-reckless-death-by-rock-and-roll-cassette/

An 8.25 out of a 4-banger KJ will be 4.10-geared and if 2003+, should have disc brakes as well. I see the full range of lockers and limited slip diffs available for it at 4wheelparts, although part of getting a junkyard axle instead of regearing the one you already have is avoiding setting up the gears. You’ll still want to measure backlash before and after a full carrier replacement and possibly adjust the carrier shims, so at that point you’re really only saving money on the gearset.

33% reduction means a 33% increase in torque to the wheels. 33% of six is two more cylinders. One more thing that hasn’t been mentionned, is that if you go too low with a manual, then first gear stops being useful unless you really need the torque for a hill start or a heavy load. Not that there’s anything wrong with turning a five-speed transmission into a granny gear four-speed without overdrive, but it’s something else to consider. I know when I went to to the 31s the loss of off-the-line torque was more than negligeable, but the other effect of the taller effective ratio was that I could get all the way across an intersection before I needed to shift out of first, and to me that’s an improvement. It’s also a thing that sports car manufacturers have been known to do. If the engine makes enough torque, you can make your 0-60 times better if 1st is tall enough you don’t need to shift before you hit 60.

My plan for my mj has also been 4.10 and 33’s. To match the same ratio as the factory 3.07 and ~29” tires on 33’s you would only need 3.73 gears, which is roughly the same as running 31’s on 3.55 gears, as I’m doing in my manual ZJ. If you need deeper gears offroad, that’s what low-range is for. If I was towing regularly with it I can see wanting more gear, but it’s fine as a daily. It’ll run out of traction before it runs out of torque to climb hills, and a 3000rpm clutch dump launch and WOT acceleration still scares passengers who weren’t expecting it (it hooks hard and then goes) and I have no issues comfortably keeping the revs between 1000 and 2500 rpm under normal driving. It’ll still pull most hills on the highway in cruise in 5th gear without losing speed, and I live in the Rockies, so there’s lots of them and they’re not always gentle. Keeping the revs down at highway speed also goes a long way for comfort on long drives. But that all said, if you think you ever might go beyond 33’s, going with deeper gears will have you ready for that, and won’t be unmanageable in the interim, and you’ll only need to pay to regear once. It’ll also be helpful if you’re hauling around lots of extra weight in the form of armour or camping gear.

Dec 9th. Lions Winter Ale, Granville Island Brewing, somewhere around Wankouver. Vanilla and chocolaty flavour primarily, a little bit caramel, and very sweet. The chocolate is definitely added flavour, not from the malt, which makes it seem a bit artificial, but other than that it’s not bad. A little bit like drinking something that came out of a box of chocolates.

It’s worth looking into. Those KJ Icons look sharp, and the 16” opens up a lot of tire size options, especially if you’re looking for oversized winters.

Just goes to show how rumours and misinformation can spread. However it’s something I’ve seen about GL5 oils not just in a Jeep context. It was common knowledge on the Lada forums 20+ years ago. This is the first I heard about friction modifiers causing issues however. The concern is usually corrosion on the synchros from the extra sulphur additives. Deteriorating synchros definitely lead to degrading shift properties. I’m pretty sure the 10w30 was better than whatever it was a drained out of the ZJ when I got it, but I don’t remember anything about what came out of it. When I did the clutch in my mj last winter it definitely did worse with the engine oil in the AX5 than it did with whatever was in it before. It was bad enough I drained it for the royal purple a week later.

The TSB isn’t in snap-on’s service data, if it exists. I suppose there’s a chance they missed it, but they’re pretty thorough, and it’s not in AllData or a couple other places I checked that I’ve had temporary access to, although I admittedly haven’t talked to a dealer about it. But I find it odd that no one on the internet has been able to find it either. It made me think there wasn’t an actual TSB, just something that someone figured out worked and started recommending. Maybe it was at a dealer, maybe it wasn’t. But it seems like it worked out okay for me.

And day the 8th. Ol’ Beautiful Okami Kasu, from Calgary, AB. Its a Japanese style lager, a rice brew that includes some that was used in sake production. It adds a refreshing finish to it.

I haven’t found an official source regarding the engine oil thing beyond it being reported by people who worked at the dealers. The only TSB I was able to dig up about rough shifting just claims it’s normal for the first few shifts on a cold day to be rough and says to do nothing about it. I put Redline MT90 in my ZJ’s ax15 a couple months back based on recommendations here, changing out the synthetic 10w30 I put in it a couple years ago. Just wanted to try the Redline, but I haven’t noticed a difference in shifting. But in my MJ’s ax5 there was a very noticeable difference running Royal Purple Synchromax compared to engine oil. I’ve also had excellent results with the RP in other brass-synchro transmissions, and I think I’ll be switching to it in the AX15 as well when it comes time to change it again.

The proximity of the heat to the cold air does increase its temperature somewhat. Not a lot, but a little. Minuit did a small study on it. The a/c will still work great with no heater valve, but it works just a bit better with the coolant flow shut off and less heat going into the cab.

Here’s one for you guys in the rust belt. https://www.theinductor.com/induction-heater-tool-news/induction-innovations-launches-venom Its a little on the spendy side, but incredibly useful, seen above being used on a 200,000-mile Subaru axle nut that wouldn’t budge with my crappy little impact wrench. But it doesn’t cost that much more than a decent oxyacetylene torch setup , and you don’t need to worry about gas. It’s a little slower to heat things than a torch, but it’ll still get bolts red hot, and doesn’t run the risk of setting adjacent rubber and plastic or greasy things on fire, or wasting an aluminum part, because it’s so much more precise an application of heat.

Tonight’s beer is another one of those trendy overhopped IPAs. Electric Unicorn, Phillips Brewing and Malting co, out of Victoria. I’ve had this one before and it’s not as awful as the can makes it look, there’s still some flavour to be had under the hops, but again it’s not my type.

I mistakenly said they came from a KJ rubicon, but it’s a KJ Renegade, specifically 2002-04. They’re colour matched to the paint, so there’s green and khaki ones too. The XJ was also available in ‘01 and ‘02 with a near identical Icon wheel which is what I was looking for when I found the KJ wheels. I’ve found references to the XJ wheels having either the standard XJ offset and the KJ offset so I don’t know if they’re the same or not, but it’s only a 1/4” in the difference. The 2005-06 Renegades had different wheels, similar to the Icon, but without the raised bit in the centre of the spoke. I definitely prefer the look of the earlier ones.

Could be a vacuum leak, stopping the heater valve from opening correctly. A couple years back while I was moving I drove a parts xj 1000 miles out here, and it wasn’t making heat which was less than optimal as it was -45 most of the trip. I had air flow out of all vents unless I really got on the throttle when it would switch up to defrost, just no heat. About 2/3 into the trip the alternator died, and while changing it I had the battery out, and noticed the line down to the vacuum reservoir in the bumper was broken. I put it back together with some heat-shrink tubing, and had excellent heat the rest of the trip. Alternatively you could swap it out with a ball valve, and connect the other two lines together. Open it when you want heat, shut it off when you need your a/c to be optimal.

Nearly forgot to post the 5th, Buena Vista brown ale, by Alley Kat in Edmonton. It’s good, a somewhat generic brown, but I’m putting that down to it being one of the older craft brewers semi-locally to me, so it’s one of the old but gold recipes. But beer number 6 is quite excellent. Péché Mortel, an imperial coffee stout by Brasserie Dieu du Ciel out of St-Jérôme, Quebec. Literally translated that’s Mortal Sin. The handful of beers I’ve had that made their way out here from the breweries in Quebec have always impressed me, and this one continues the trend. The bottle warns to drink it in moderation and it’s a fair warning. It’s not as heavy as a lot of imperial stouts tend to be, so it’s easy to drink quickly, but it still has the full flavour of an imperial stout to it, with a bitter coffee overtone that balances out the sweetness. It’s delicious. Probably dangerous if I had more than one the one bottle. My favourite so far from this advent calendar, and that’s including the porter I contributed that I haven’t got to yet.

And done. I’m always nervous about changing things. But I’m happy with the KJ wheels. The KJ wheels have roughly 1/4” less offset than the MJ wheels that were on it, but it’s not super noticeable. I figure it’ll just mean less road grime on the sides of the Jeep. Initial impressions, well we just had a couple warm/dry weeks so there’s not much ice around to be had. Dry handling is a little squidgier, but I expected that. The studs are no louder than the Grabbers were, only really noticeable when turning sharp at low speeds, say making a right from a stop sign. At highway speeds they’re probably even quieter, not exactly a huge surprise either. I’m not 100% on the white lettres for the simple fact the two blocks are not very well opposed on the tire, but they still pop pretty nicely. I’ll call it better than bland black sidewalls. Dimensionally they’re basically the same. I think the shorter sidewall with the 16” wheel makes them look slightly smaller overall, but it’s just an illusion. I’d need a tape measure to tell them apart.

Well I wasn’t patient enough to try out the black lettres first. Oh well. They’re just gonna look awesome. I’ll get them on the Jeep once the paint is dry.

I had to take almost a month off work this spring after pulling something in my back in a bad lift. Don’t put 3-ton floor jacks in tiny little hatchbacks and expect to take them back out again safely. It was a bit odd because I felt the tweak a bit when it happened, but then it was almost a week later I was bent over a workbench doing something not very intensive, and then when I tried to straight back up again, my back just kinda said “no”, and seized stiff. The doctor wasn’t super helpful, just kinda said “these things happen, you’ll get over it”, pretty much told me to walk it off, but after the first week with no improvement he prescribed physio, “stretching and strengthening” and the physiotherapist I got was amazing. She explained what my back was doing. Basically you injure it slightly and it goes into a kind of “protection” mode to immobilize it until the injury heals. Then you have to stretch it out and teach it what safe movements are again. She gave me a bunch of exercises to do, roughly half an hour or so every morning. I might still have the link to the program she set up for me if you want me to pass it along. It was pretty interesting at first, because there’s some movements that were pretty new to me, and difficult to do as a result, but it was very helpful. I did it every day for a month, before cutting back to every few days, and now every so often if I’ve been having issues. Back issues suck. Hopefully you figure something out that works for you.