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.

@Pete M Ooh, it was on my mind to mention the freezing thing and I forgot by the end. Thanks for the reminder! Added! @fiatslug87 Heck yeah! Green paint counts right?

Write-up posted...let me know if I've missed anything or if I should add a FAQ or something.

<<Reserved in case I missed something>>

How does it compare to a more traditional On-Board-Air (OBA) setup that uses a compressor pump? Since a CO2 tank can be used in place of a traditional on-board air (OBA) setup, it seems fair to compare them as there are pros and cons to both setups. For fairness, since there are two main setups for traditional OBA, I’ll list pros and cons for each separately. Pump only (sometimes has a TINY buffer tank) Pump and tank (big enough to be measured in gallons) - Example of an electric compressor: (ARB Dual Compressor) - Example of a mechanical compressor: (Jeep AC Compressor) - Example of an air tank: (2.5 Gallon ViAir tank) CO2 tank Vs Pump and tank: Pro: Requires no electrical wiring or power. Pro: Requires no real added plumbing to work. Pro: Quieter than any air pump since it has no moving parts. Pro: No duty cycle (no having to rest the pump every so often), regardless of how much PSI your regulator is set to. It can just go and go and go until the tank is empty. Pro: Does not generate any heat (in fact the opposite, it gets cold as expanding gasses drop in temperature) Pro: Fills up tires FAST (only limited on how much flow your regulator and hoses will allow and how much CO2 you have in your tank). Pro compared to hard-mounted pumps: Can easily be moved close to the work as it fully self contained. Pro compared to a mechanical pump: more flexibility in mounting if you don’t have room in your engine bay or don’t want to give up your existing AC pump Con: Requires added monitoring to remember how much CO2 you have left before running out. Con: You CAN run out of CO2. A pump is taking air from around you so you're VERY unlikely to run out of air (in which case, breathing might be more of a concern). Con: (Arguable) more maintenance…ongoing expense and time to fill up the tank (it’s about $20 to fill a 10# tank for me, which lasts about 4-5 runs on 37s) arguable because I’ve had many inexpensive electric pumps burn out after a year or so even when I was on 33s…big tires is just too much for them to run continuously. Pumps also need occasional addition of oil to keep those moving parts lubricated. Con: More expensive startup cost to buy the tank and regulators…either as a kit or DIY. Con: Depending on your regulator components and if run continuously for too long, the components can freeze up (Thanks Pete!) CO2 tank Vs Pump Only All of the above applies with the addition of the following: Pro: Can run even higher powered air tools as it has plenty of consistent PSI and capacity (most pumps will struggle to maintain even 90 PSI continuously without a buffer tank) Con vs Electric Pump: Tanks are going to be heavier and larger than small standalone electric pumps. Con: The tank takes up more space than almost all pumps. So...all of that listed out, an air compressor may be the right fit for you and it may be worth the extra work to never have to pay to fill up the tank or you may live in an area where you can give up your AC pump or have room to mount a second one. But hopefully this writeup gives you the tools to decide if CO2 might be easier or at the very least, a useful backup.

First, let's establish some basics... What is a CO2 tank? These are metal tanks resembling scuba tanks but contain mostly liquid carbon-dioxide (CO2) with some empty space at the top for it to expand into a gas. (WARNING: do NOT use a scuba tank for liquid CO2. Use bottles certified for CO2, which can have an internal pressure of 860+ PSI.) For an idea of general appearance and size...common tank sizes and dimensions are shown here: (stolen from google but hosted here so links don't break) Is CO2 really that useful? I think so and find it much more convenient than a traditional OBA pump setup. CO2 can be used anywhere that I would use pressurized air. Common examples include: - Adding air to tires - Running air-powered tools (such as an air-powered impact) - Locking or unlocking air-powered lockers (such as ARB lockers) - Blowing up my kid's inflatable pool - Blowing dust off the ground with an air nozzle. - Giving my hair a wind-swept look Why use CO2? Why not just use a tank filled with air? Liquid CO2 is also very compact for how much gas/air you can get out of it. An example of this is that 2lbs of liquid CO2 can expand to about 20 cubic feet of volume when converted to a gas (the natural state it wants to be almost anywhere on earth). That's much more air than the tank would otherwise hold if it were only gas. To put it into a more practical measurement, you can get an idea of how many tires you can fill up with different tank capacities using this chart: (each tank capacity is measured in lbs of CO2…so PT05 is 5 lbs, PT10 is 10 lbs, etc) Source: https://powertank.com/pages/tire-air-up-chart Where can I even get CO2? Liquid CO2 is much more common than many realize. It's used in welding (usually in a two tank setup alongside another inert gas like argon) and is available at almost any welding supply store. It's also used for some HVAC technician tools and for carbonating beverages. Anyone participating in any of those kinds of activities will likely want CO2 and will have a way to get it. It's also pretty cheap...the welding shop will swap or fill up my existing 10lbs bottle for $20. How do I use CO2? One of the most important thing to keep in mind is how much pressure you need. Since CO2 tanks can put out over 800PSI (in 70 degree weather...a little less in colder climates), you'll need something to regulate that down in almost any situation (ARB lockers like between 100-150 PSI, air impact wrenches like between 90-100 PSI, etc). Options for regulators are as varied as you'd imagine (with more features/convenience costing more). - Full kits, like the ones produced by PowerTank or Smittybilt, include regulators that have a gauge or two and some adjustment. - For DIY setups, you can go one of two ways...static regulators (cheaper and simpler) and adjustable regulators (more flexible and more money). For many, a DIY regulator set to 150 PSI or so is perfect and is a very inexpensive way to go. Attach it to the bottle with an air-chuck attached to the other end and you're good to go. These are also usually available at those same welding shops (you can find them on amazon too but I trust my local shops to give me quality items and stand by them more than I trust amazon sellers). You can spend some more money and get gauges and an adjustable regulator if you want to be able to visually tune the amount of pressure you're giving (as well as the pressure in the bottle). You can even go all out and setup a whole piping setup with different pressures going to different things...a bit more PSI your air chuck to fill up tires, less to your air lockers, etc. I went with a dual gauge adjustable regulator setup...one gauge reads the bottle pressure, one reads the output pressure. As a note, bottle pressure is largely useless until the bottle is almost completely empty. I just like gauges. Source: How much PSI do you have in a full CO2 tank? | Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum Note: As you can see in the picture, it's kindof important for the bottle to be upright when you use it. You can store it in just about any orientation, but before you crack the valve, make sure it's upright. Ok, but why would use a CO2 tank? The short answer is: Speed and Flexibility. Speed: CO2 tanks, as mentioned above, can put out a lot of continuous air and a lot of PSI. That means I can run my tools longer than most OBA setups and fill much larger tires faster without having to wait for a pump to refill a tank. Flexibility: My air source is not tied to my rig and is pretty easy to carry (especially my 5lbs and 10lbs bottles). That means I can drag it to where the air is needed and I can mount or store the bottle anywhere on the rig (especially important to me since I don't have much room in my engine bay for a compressor). Backyard inflatable pool? Don't need to drag the shop compressor or jeep into the backyard. Just a bottle of CO2 and the hose. Fellow Jeeper a 30 feet away from my rig? I don't have to drag a long line or move my jeep. I don't even have to bring a pump and hook it up to their battery. I just bring the bottle to them. Trailer tire or tow rig low? I don't even have to start my jeep, just bring out the bottle. Now that we have the basics covered, the next post will talk about the pros/cons of a CO2 tank vs other common OBA setups.

EDIT: the more I think about it, you’re right…a write up might be good. I’ll put one together after the holidays of what I did and useful resources for sizing and such. ———— CO2 is used for two bottle setups for mig welding so it’s not uncommon to find a place that can fill it. I’ll see if I can dig up the receipt and get the part number of the regulator I ended up with, but I just fill up or swap out at the local welding supply shop. Just asked them for an adjustable psi, high flow regulator (since welding is generally lower psi) and they recommended one they had in stock used by hvac guys so I bought it. I just assembled a diy 5# tank while I waited for my 10# smittybuilt to come back from being recertified. If you use a size they have, you don’t have to wait for a fill, you can just buy the first tank from them and swap your empty tanks for full tanks after that, usually for no added charge. (My local welding shop only carries 5# and 20# sizes so the 10# tank requires me to wait while they fill it or be sent away to be recertified it every five years.)

I still have one. Tons of room In my mouth for them but the rest of my molars had gotten bad when I was post college and had no dental insurance and got to the point that it was better and cheaper to just remove everything behind the first molar on each side. The one I still have came in late after that and seems to be happy hanging out by itself.

80s-90s boxy is still my favorite style

Was -12F a couple of days ago here in eastern WA. Up to a nice balmy 16 this morning though.

Attached the JCR Lightbar brackets today (needed longer screws for the drip rails), and…the 52” Lightbar I won doesn’t fit on them…by a lot. Then I reread the JCR description…50” Lightbar. Doh! At least the light bar was free to me. Need to find someone who has a 50” and wants to trade for a 52”. …or look for different light bar mounts and sell the JCR ones.