Comanche County

I agree! Why yes, yes it is sir. I love em but, only for off road. For highway driving I'd prefer radials. They have 7 plys on the tread and 4 ply sidewalls and super huge sidewall lugs. They're fairly stiff, I can run them with 0 psi. Usually when I wheel, I run 5-8 psi and they barely bulge. These are 35x12.5x16s, I think the same tire on 15" wheels would be better for a Jeep. They're freaking heavy too, each tire and wheel weighs 112 lbs.

XJs are good for hauling people because they have a back seat...but since its so small the passengers mostly just sit on the other's nerves, the backcargo area is good for hauling light weight bulky objects and really nothing of any weight. Strangely, I don't remember a Metric Ton XJ. They're great and I love em, but get them off camber and they twist like that horrible "Snork the Elephant" costume in the Banana Splits show.

Heed the fire gods, appease them and weld thy Jeep, burn thyself, be happy and drive!

Besides turning wrenches, bar brawls, and chasing questionable female acquaintances, I actually spend my quieter moments with the likes of Dylan (Thomas that is), Hardy, Sassoon, Rilke, Larkin, Wilde, Whitman, Frost and many others as well as the Galeleans. Tonight on the anniversary of 9/11 I'm visiting the local hippie coffee house to lay some reality on the flower children at their bi-weekly poetry event. I've written probably hundreds, war type mostly...here's one I'll open with. I often go read my stuff, but I never share (publish) in a public forum. But I feel compelled tonight and I hope to set the tone before the "occupy-anti-socials-socialists-anarchists rejects with dread locks and million dollar trust funds" take the stage. God Bless Freedom and those who sacrificed and kept it for us. Comments welcome. Jay Be Bold, Be Brief, Be Gone V4 In the summer of 2006, when the sun would break over the water tower on my morning runs at Camp Fallujah, she would pass me, with shimmering red hair alternating its bounce off the back of each shoulder blade. Again one day she passed me, sort of bruising my infantryman’s pride, so not to be outrun, I tried to catch her, but the 90° degree 6:00 a.m. heat was getting the best of me, and at her pace, with my forced breathing giving me away, she coolly glanced back and casually picked up the pace. I couldn’t let her beat me and managed to hang on, I got close enough to see, the sweat soaking dark red loose strands of her pony tail. And realizing I was serious, she gave another quick look, and a little clever grin, she kicked it up again, we approached the HQ where I hoped she’d stop, but I was spent and crossed my own imaginary finish line, …doubled over, …hands on my knees. I lifted my head just in time, to see that red hair, in a taunting glide around the corner, never slowing down. After the New Year, I transferred to Camp Ramadi, they call it Ramudi, There’s no paved roads, no drainage, it’s the FOB that time forgot, little sun for staff here in winter, nothing to do except work, no time to run, and anyway, the mud is everywhere so I wade to my shift every day and kick mud off my boots at the entrance to the TOC, clicking the days away. And each morning I pass a memorial poster, left in the hall by the previous unit. Three killed back in December, a mustached Captain, a giant of a Soldier, and a female Marine with a big friendly smile. Only a few people smile here, so I make sure to smile back at her every morning. In March, the roads began to dry, there was pavement underneath the inches of packed mud, not really dry enough to run, but I want to go for it anyway, tired of pushing digits, tired of TOC life and no action, tired of not having the road. So one early evening, I slam my laptop Sneak off to my room, lace up my shoes and I’m off… loving the freedom and breeze I create, even if the road is greased in mud. I pass Trooper Gate without dropping, and continue by the MWR, around the motor pool, collecting strange looks as I occasionally almost wipe out. I make it to the south end of Camp the sun is falling around the water tower, glowing the hills of 5-Kilo and our bastioned lined perimeter In bright hues of orange and red. I slip hard, almost go down and stop… …doubled over …hands on my knees the sun is casting its colors of…crimson… …bouncing off her shoulders, … I remember that grin …taunting me to keep up, and how …she glided…away. I sprint back, straight through the Camp releasing months of idle energy straining to keep my balance, cutting through the softball field, mud splattering up my back. I weave through the chow hall parking lot and the line outside the PX, I dart past the TOC security guard, And go down the hall, straight to the poster, stopping, huffing for air…examining her dimples, her eyes, how she challenges the camera. I lean close and see loose tufts of red hair escaping her Marine cover. I had always looked at the smile… I never noticed, the name at the bottom, Marine Major Megan McClung, KIA 06 DEC 06. I stagger out Apologizing for the mess and slosh back to my room. Exausted, crashing on my cot, and my thoughts drift off into dreams, …of training, …of running hard, …of catching up …to her one day. In Memoriam, Major Megan Malia McClung, Killed in Action on the 6th of December, 2006 in Ramadi, in the Al Anbar Provine of Iraq. She was an avid runner, tri-athlete, and organizer of the Marine Corps Marathon Forward in Iraq. I never met Maj McClung, but the poster still hung after we took over Camp Ramadi in January 2007. She was beautiful in the picture. As we were changing over with the departing unit, it was clear that she was indeed the type of personality that electrified a room. If we all leave memories like hers, our lives will have been a success. “Be Bold, Be Brief, Be Gone” is inscribed on her grave marker at Arlington National Cemetery which can be viewed online at: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/mmmcclung.htm. A video Tribute to Megan can be viewed at: http://hotair.com/archives/2006/12/14/video-rip-maj-megan-mcclung/.

Decided it was time for a bit of overdue TLC. I took the carpet out and down to the local truck stop and used their high pressure washer to clean the carpet. Also removed the tool box to make room for a factory roll bar. My ARB compressor was in the tool box so that'll have to go under the hood. I also removed the interior cage, tired of banging my head and knee on it. I also found a NOS factory radio at a Goodwill, paid about 10 bucks for it and now I've got it wired up with an Aux input to run an Ipod. Its all going back in now, here's a bunch of pics. What spawned the whole operation,,,,I finally got tired of looking at this crack on the dash! The passenger side floor pan was factory perfect, no rust at all. The drivers side had a bit of surface rust due to a leaky windshield gasket. That'll get replaced soon. Spent my birthday out in the rain at the JY pulling a nice dash, which I promptly stained with my greasy butt scratchers. I was completely soaked all dang day long. Also picked up a new drivers side mirror, a new power steering pump as well as some extra renix sensors. Painted the roll bar. My old cage is out, free to anyone who comes and picks it up. Not actually sure if its NOS, but it looks brand new, no dust on the inside at all. Could have just bought an aftermarket radio but I wanted to tinker with this and do it for my self. Plus, I wanted a radio that says "Jeep" on it. The two pins to add the aux input to. I used a 1/4" inch stereo jack (radio shack p/n 274-0246) and some pin connectors off a D-Sub connector (p/n 26-1429). The positives for left and right go to the pins and the negative is shared and can go to the ground tab on the back of the radio. I set it up in the house and tested it with my amp and subs (installed a line convertor also) and made sure everything was working. The stereo jack is just a switch, two of the "closed" pins aren't needed. When the jack is inserted, the radio will pick up the signal automatically. I used these pin connectors, they slid snugly on top of the radio pins. TP371 and TP471. Putting everything back in.... I also removed my buckets and the console and mounted an MJ bench so I can haul both kiddos around. I actually like the bench a lot better, at 6'2" it gives me some much needed leg room. The MJ is actually comfortable now. Some shots of the roll bar mounted and tool box off, I like it a lot better. New Tailgate "Jeep" stickers and a "4 Wheel Drive" homage to Old Man Willys.

:clapping:

Nice pics, looks you guys had a great time. What a country we have.

86K is good though.

That would be a dream come true, as long as I get to tinker with her Jeeps every now and then.

Can we add a map function to the site that plots member's locations on a common map? I think it would be neat to see how the club is spread across the country and the globe. It should let a member opt out of it though if they don't want to be on it. You know, to keep us from stealing our trucks from each other. :D BTW, I'll be sad to see this set up go, I like it, but change is inevitable. Its like when a long time girlfriend finally breaks up with me, they always do and I know its going to come one day...its as if after the one week mark they all have the same epiphany, "you love your Jeeps more than you love me!" and I always calmly respond, "Why yes Honey, yes I do". I actually had one reach the two week mark once before she changed. I liked her and was really trying not to talk about Jeeps all the time, but I just couldn't stop myself.

I think Backdraft has this on his and there's a member that's from Amarillo, TX IIRC that has done the same thing.

Weird, D44 with only 4 leaf packs. I'm guessing its not a Metric Ton but was ordered with the tow package? Didn't see a hitch on it though. Did it have any Metric ton or Big Ton badges?

If you don't plan on hauling a lot of weight you can remove the overload spring also.

Had something like this happen on an F250 that kept popping the hydraulic line off of the slave cylinder. The clip that held the line to the slave was a bad design, and would pop off every other week or so resulting in zero pedal travel. When it happens the fluid in the master has no where to go. Air compresses, liquids don't and will result in a rock hard pedal. Check and ensure its connected to the slave properly and that there are no shipping plugs or debris of any kind on/in the slave cylinder. There is something preventing fluid flow.

haha, nice. :cheers:

No, Jim's arms are way too huge. Seriously, he can pull engines without a hoist. I'm afraid his awesomeness and "CDI" factor (Chicks Dig It factor) will scare people away. He's way too awesome.

Little do people know that the kids show "Bob the Builder" was actually based on our very own Ben...because he can build anything. "Can he build it, YES HE CAN". Some network suit decided to change the name to "Bob" instead of "Ben" and focus on non-automotive related builds for the show, which I believe is a disservice to our youth. Every kid in America should be looking up to Ben and strive to emulate his "building" abilities.

My MJ got me a divorce but that's really not a big deal.

Whew, close one, talk about having the Mrs. owe you one if that deal went down.

Whoa! A slant nose Willys, three ultra cool CJ5s (love the old school Warn winch on the first), and a GPW! Sweet! Oh yeah, nice MJ too. I like the wheels on it. They kinda look like chrome Silverstars.

Just a thought, there's room for adjustment in the TPS. Have you moved it around any to see if there's a difference? Notice the TPS mounting holes on a radius. Do you have the proper shaped washers as well?

Good point MountainMan. Here's a link: http://gojeep.willyshotrod.com/HowtoAlignment.htm I'd take Marcus' word on any Jeep topic any day. Its in the very last paragraph on the page. He says there's a 10 mm difference in spacing due to the road crown to allow the Jeep to steer straight. If you take a left hand drive Jeep to a right hand drive country, you'd be constantly correcting to the opposite side to keep it straight down the road. 10 mm is quite a bit.

I got in a wreck on I-5 in Tacoma, WA a long time ago because I was running old school General Grabbers on my XJ. A Suburban slammed on the brakes in front of me (its always raining there) and I just slid right in to the back of it. The rubber on those was terribly hard. The new generation Grabbers are much, much better. Remington Mud Kings are cheap and fairly common also, had a set of those one time....they stink on any surface.

I was at the local yard today and found an 89' XJ Laredo with a perfect chrome grille, mirrors, both bumpers, door handles too. No dents at all. I'll pull it if someone wants something.

:agree: