Exxon Valdez Jeep

looks like a pita, uh, I mean GOOD TIME!!!!! I need to rotate the knuckles on the D60 under my XJ but I have been putting it off and putting it off just beacause all my bracketry is done and set already, but the pinion angle is way off.

pretty sure some 37s would look good under there now with the 44. :brows:

Are those the welded on or cast radius arm mounts? You cutting the width down or is it narrow to start with? IDK much about those era D44s, I kinda skipped that step when my bastard D30/44 didnt pan out!

isnt it nice buying a whole truck and knowing all you really need is the front axle housing! :D

Yeah, I wasnt going anywhere without that thing! I paid to have it it shipped on a semi. came out right under $1k and that was worth it to me considering gas, plane ticket back, and a whole nother trip. I was envious of its easy ride out here. and here it is with Matt's jeep, he moved out here awhile back.

I'll just have to run it as many times as possible this summer then to know what I am doing!

as long as I can afford rent! :D I'm going for a permanent change. :thumbsup: We're hitting up the Rubicon in August with NAXJA, and then of course Moonrocks, and some other local trails here pretty soon.

oh nevermind. I just realized thats the D30 with the busted ring gear, not the 8.8, it all makes more since now! carry on! :doh:

you still running that D30 Ected? Issues with it? I think I am going to want a selectable up front come winter. I just have the factory 8.8 LS in the rear for now. :wavey:

dang I have an XJ D44 I would trade for that 8.8 Ected locker, but its in Texas. :(

long story cross country trip report so last week, I rolled my MJ out of the garage in a drivable state at 10pm. 10am I had all my stuff loaded in the back and set out from central Texas to northern CA. The furthest I had driven the MJ before this was 30 miles, and I had just swapped everything except for the motor. I really had no idea what to expect. The bed was full of all my stuff, it was sitting about 1" from the bumpstops it was so loaded down! :eek: I pointed the truck north and it promptly overheated in exactly 30 miles. great. :( It was 105* out and the truck was pretty loaded down so I pulled into Advance Auto parts. There I swapped out everything that had to do with the coolin system. Radiator, radiator cap, water pump, fan clutch, and I tossed the thermostat ( :no: ) and put some Redline Water Wetter in, I love that stuff, swapped it all out in the parking lot. After that, it was managable. Still ran 230ish going down the highway but it was redlining. As soon as the sun set it dropped to 210 and stayed there. Got to the NM border at 5 am and I pulled into a rest area and slept for 3 hours. When I woke up, there was a giant pool of oil under the MJ. Some was out of the bellhousing area and some was blowing through the airbox. I topped it off and headed towards Flagstaff AZ. I stopped for gas ever 150 miles or so just so I could keep an eye on the oil and added as needed. The other issue was 2nd through 5th gear synchros were shot! I was double clutching and rev matching every gear as best I could and still having issues shifting. I had bought a used AX15 for $100 so you get what you pay for :doh: With the 4.10s and 33s, it cruised down I40 at 2200 RPM at 65 mph, just about perfect for me. I rolled into Flagstaff at about 4pm. Went into "downtown" and promptly got the truck stuck in 3rd in the middle of an intersection. Stalled it and had to rediculously rev the motor and crawl out of there in 3rd gear, that sucked! Managed to start shifting gears again and stopped for a bite to eat. It rained while we sat inside a brewery and ate and we we came out the weather was just perfect. Google Maps said Las Vegas was 4 hours North so we took off again! Somewhere around Flagstaff, my oil leak issues decided to fix themselves! IDK what happened, but I wouldnt add oil the remainder of the trip :dunno: :clapping: we pulled into Vegas about 9pm and we grabbed an awesome room at the Eastside Cannery Casino for $59 . Slept till 9 in the morning and then took off for Lake Tahoe CA, about another 8-9 hour drive across nothing but elevation change, up and down, and desolate desert. I didnt want to break down hthere for anything! Thankfully, the truck just kept going, we ran through a few showers that kept the temps down and the highway was smooth sailing. We got to Carson City a little after 7pm. I filled the truck up and then we headed uphill for the final stretch. 3000 more feet to climb in just a couple miles. 3rd gear and 3k RPM was all it would do. Shift into 4th and it would just bog down so I stayed in 3rd till we got to the summit. Somehow I had made it! :banana: I wish I had a picture of the truck loaded down, it looked like something from Beverly Hillbillies, all I needed was the rocking chair on top!

here it is 1700 miles later!

thanks :cheers: I have LII stiffeners up front. Nothing in the middle yet but I want some. I stole some bumpstops from my junker MJ that look extended but I'm not sure. The rear I set up with the factory bumpstops in mind. The tires kinda grab the flares but Mr. Cuttoff wheel is going to care of that... I got an update uploading, note my new location. the truck drove me here with all my stuff

been awhile since the last update but here we go the MJ pack SOA was just way to tall for 33s in my case. I have an MJ main and overload, the other two are XJ leaves. Sits good now and I have an awesome shackle angle. some corbeaus I picked up pulled the capet to clean it, everything on the floor is dirt, no rust! I love southern trucks :clapping: Did some homemade stud conversions with someleftover RE swaybar brackets. this is just temporary, kinda janky if you ask me. superlong Chevy brakelines that should work good. note: nothing is tightened up on the front end, I realize it is way out of wack and the coils are pointing all sorts of funky ways. It will be fixed! :thumbsup: currie anti rock along with the T&T trackbar and bracket. 1 ton Chevy TREs on the steering, OTK along with the Teraflex swaybar tabs. Beefy :yes: swaybar needs to be flattened out. needs new links bed cage. and back up front these things are really slowing my progress!! but the 107* heat index doesnt help either :doh:

love the color and crazy graphics!

looks badass!!!

:agree: I have there system on both my jeeps, nice piece.

what coilover rates will you be using?

this ride height? just me, but I would want that thing slammed as low as I could get it. Looks cool though, and I know how much work that is in an extremely short amount of time!

all the cool ones are red

dang I need to fix my AC, 100+ today :fs1:

needs more cage work. ;) looks good all cleaned up

I had some of their Somersault yesterday.

Thats cool, I love Moab too, been there 5 times Never been to the Rubicon though, but thats about to change. :D I'll see you around on another trail sometime! :wavey: