thecodemonk

Harbor freight was having a sale and we were perusing the winches when, upon seeing the ZXR 12k winch, my wife said to me "that's a really good deal on a winch, we should get it". So we did. I wasn't sure how to modify the bumper to do it so I took it into my usual place, Hazzard Fabworx and they knocked out the install (which included moving some trans lines and the power steering cooler) and bumper modifications the same day and I think it looks stellar! The control box is mounted under the hood near the fuse box on the passenger side and I'll wire it up to some in-cab controls another day.

I remember looking at the Aerolatch stuff when I first got the LS to go in but ended up staying with the stock setup for now. Are you still using the stock hood latch system too? or is that completely replaced by the aerolatch setup for you?

That looks amazing!

100% this. MCM had an episode that talks about that too...way easier if you have a whole vehicle to work with and see where everything was and goes and can more easily identify what's going on where, even in a case where you're going from one vehicle to a different one.

At 10:1 CR I’d probably want to stick with 92 octane to be safe from knock. These questions are probably better asked on something like ls1tech forums than here if you’re looking for a lot of people with experience on the engine side specifically.

I’m really excited about these!

Welcome! As you'd expect, we all love our trucks here and are happy to answer any questions you may think of on them. :)

My family ditched cable back when I was 9 or so...just did a lot of rentals at blockbuster or other local video stores. When the internet came about, it was natural to just move to that...subscribing only to channels we actually cared about. When I bought my house, I made the conscious decision to not have a TV in the main living room area, but instead invest in a more comfortable movie room for when we want to watch movies. I find my attention gravitating towards movement on a screen if it's left on so I prefer my screen time to be more intentional. Right now we have the following subscriptions: - Youtube Premium (I watch a lot of youtube during the day or have it going as background sometimes and I loathe ads) - Crunchyroll (My wife and I are both lightweight anime nerds) - Disney+ (toddler stuff, star wars, marvel) - Netflix (Included with our cell phone plan...we watch only an occasional show on here...in the middle of re-watching New Girl now) We used to have hulu, funimation and hidive and have had a few others here and there but we usually just subscribe for a specific thing and if we aren't using the service, we just cancel. I buy more shows to own but don't keep monthly stuff around unless I'm actively watching something on it and using it.

Rear locker installed (no pics...it's a detroit, nothing that hasn't been documented by others a million different ways). Also, got the spacers in for the beadlocks and had them mounted and balanced...the wheels I went with are the Dirty Life aluminum beadlocks and they're somehow lighter than the steel wheels I had, even with the extra metal. They're not as expensive as a lot of the other big name beadlock companies and by the time I figured in labor for welding, the price is about the same as weld-on beadlocks. I think they look pretty good and they perform great! It's January so that means it's time for Snow Bash!! Rented a truck and borrowed a friend's trailer and hit the road! The trailer is like the Cadillac of trailers...electric/hydraulic tilt deck, winch, deck lights...tows smooth and wide enough for even the wide axles and wheels on the MJ with room to spare! After a foggy drive over, and a restful night in the hotel, it was time to hit the trail...and boy were there a lot of people! After airing down, it was time to hit the trail...we all naturally split into several smaller groups (because 46 jeeps is way too many to all hit the same trails at the same time). The snow was slick and deep, but it was a lot of fun to drive! Eventually, one of the jeeps had a bit of trouble going a hill and I gave them a small tug out. Every obstacle had bypasses but I didn't build my jeep to take bypasses... The whole day was beautiful and you can probably tell how happy I am from this picture...everything was finally working how I'd dreamed! Our gladiator trail guide always made sure to let me know where the fun side was... ...and of course I followed! We caught up with someone who had broken off from the group and gotten buried up above their steering. They tried winching a bit but kept sinking lower. One jeep wasn't enough to pull them out but we got him out with two! Once everyone was good to go again, we motored along...the snow getting deep enough to fill my front rims... There were lots of fun areas to play and some tires to give us some extra challenges... The views on the mountain were spectacular! We eventually came up to the main play area and had some fun trying different approaches to things and letting the jeeps flex a bit. Then we all got back and ended the day with some tasty dinner at the banquet. (No I didn't win anything in the raffle but the money goes to a great club that maintains these trails). The whole trip was fantastic...the jeep continues to perform well and in places I thought I would get stuck, I didn't. Good tires, lockers on front and rear...I'm still finding out where the limits are on this build! All in all, I'll always say...it's well worth it if you aren't too far away...hit up snow bash by the Big Sky Four Wheelers club. Amazing trails, great people, and a wonderful experience every year. On a final note...after driving the rear auto-locker on the street for a while, I don't get the big downside everyone talks about. It's pretty quiet (no banging or sudden locking or unlocking) and it doesn't even really require any significant change in driving behavior. I suspect most of the horror stories are from those who either have the lockers installed too tight or something where it doesn't lock/unlock easily and smoothly with the throttle.

Spent my money on beadlocks and a rear locker this year instead... >.<

Looking good!

Topped up the diff fluid yesterday with a hand pump for the big jug of diff fluid I had...man a hand pump really makes the job way less messy. I'm not sure why I've never done it before! I swung by the "you pull it" junkyards in town and none of them had full float axles on their chevy trucks...I'm not sure why but all the 8 lug trucks were semi-float. Grr. So I went over to Spaldings (where things cost a bit more, but they have a good inventory system and they pull parts for you) and found that they pull all the truck axles off the truck almost immediately so all the axles were in the back...went back to the counter and showed them what I was looking for and they went to the back and grabbed a handful off of one of the axles they were pulling apart for shafts and such and just gave them to me. Score! One slightly rusty nut installed and torqued down and now I'm almost ready for this weekend's snow bash up in Montana! Just two more upgrades to get installed on thursday (assuming FedEx shows up with my parts today).

Figured I'd document the recent struggles with Rocky...man this truck fights me on everything it seems...even with the new parts! Was getting ready to install a rear locker and one of the axle flange bolts seized and the head snapped off. The upside is that the rest of them came off easily and the axle slid right out...the downside is that I'd have to either replace the hub or drill/tap the frozen bolt out. Unfortunately, one of the diff cover bolts did the same. Grr. The upside is the diff cover isn't leaking so the rest of the RTV and bolts are holding it on just fine. I went with the "new hub" route and unlike what I'm used to from smaller axles, the hubs don't come with the bearings pre-assembled and installed and there doesn't seem to be anyone who sells them that way. So I got all the parts together and for the life of me, I couldn't get the outer bearing race to seat straight. No matter what, one side would sink in... So I'd back it out and drive it back out from the other side...again...and again... I kept trying and trying and eventually, one time when pressing it back out (not pressed all the way in), the whole thing let go with a LOUD bang. The result was a destroyed bearing... A marred hub... ...and $200 down the drain. In the end, rather than risk destroying another expensive hub, I found a local shop who would seat the bearings on a fresh set of parts for me for an hour's work on a saturday. With that in hand, everything else reassembled easily enough. (I'm still missing that last bolt...no parts shops have it so I'm figuring I'll try and get it from the junkyard tomorrow since it's late now) I checked the diff fluid and despite a bunch leaking out earlier, it still showed full...I know some needs to drain out to the hub to help lubricate the bearings more than what I smeared onto them when I installed them to the axle so I tipped up the axle and am letting it drain to that side overnight and will top off the center section in the morning.

I've heard the TDI is a fun little torque machine but pretty disappointing for almost anything else (especially for the weight of it). You looking for power to spin the wheels for mud? or daily driving? If just for rock crawling, deep gearing will get you just about everything you need even from the stock gears (got a friend with a nissan who does just fine with 40s on a little NA 4 banger but his top speed is 45mph) For others who have done the diesel route...some reason my brain thinks @krustyballer16 had a diesel comanche...4BT? LS is more work and money than anyone claims it is...lots of people start it and then give up partway through. However, the upside is there's very little fab needed, just a lot of work and money to make it fit and make everything work well (if you have strong fabrication skills, you can save some money here in trade for a lot of time designing parts). @Limeyjeeper has probably the cleanest install of anyone I've seen for a LS. There's a great LS XJ/MJ group on facebook that has a lot of people who have done it and have extra info as well...some options I've never seen mentioned elsewhere even for mounting the engine lower and fitting a truck intake.