Putting out a feeler for a early july trip to run a hammer trail. I've never been and an Am interested in trying out the jeep on one. Any interest? Thoughts? Am I over my head? :dance::rofl:
I broke my front passenger-side shaft the first time I did Sledgehammer. I was thankfully in a group lead by Blaine so I had a lot of great help getting the rig through the remaining part of the trail. In fact my WF avitar shows my rig right after that happened, you can see the winch line which is attached to Blaine's Jeep. It was towing me through the touger parts so the driver's side shaft wouldn't break too since I was in 3wd at that point. I can't recommend doing any of the hammer trails with stock axle shafts. F/r lockers are certainly required too.
I was the same way about JV, until I met Blaine. My group ran Big Bear and other local areas and we stayed away from JV. Then Blaine talked us in to going on a rookie run to JV. It was one of the best trips I ever had, he got all of us up the trails without any breakage. Then we were hooked and started upgrading our rigs to tackle harder trails.
Of course there are no guarantees in off-roading anything can happen at anytime on any trail. It pays to go with someone who know the trails and the lines to take. Just keep in mind that not only are the trails hard but, so is the environment. The heat, the cold and the winds are extreme at times which adds to the difficulty.
Don't get me wrong, I have chromo's front and rear. It's the stock driveshafts I still have. I've been waiting to upgrade them until I do my lift and kit. Then I will get the correct lengths and joints that will handle the pressure. I look at joints as a maintence items, grease and replace as needed.
Driveshafts are fine. I run 40" tires and 1310 joints. If you have a 44 LP, consider carrying a spare front complete and always have access to a spare rear driveshaft.
I've raced sticks for most of my life at both the drags and road racing. I love them. So I bought my first jeep with one. It only took one time in the rocks for me to decide that I wanted an auto. I do the jeeping to relax and I can't afford to spend like I could when I was working. My next jeep was an auto. I'm not building a hard core race rig. But the principles apply. Build it so it gets you home. Stick or auto.
I've never wheeled a auto in the rocks, but I think for a manual, the gearing is much more important. I started with 3.70's, 2.72 transfer case on 33's. And here's where the money comes in that Blaine talks about. I bought rubicon axles with lockers and 4.11's, 4.3 atlas transfer case(the best thing I ever did, and if I had it to do over again, I might have gone with the 5.0 ratio). I'm now on 35's(someday on 37's), and had Stan regear to 4.88's, just to get my crawl speed lower, because sometimes you can't go slow enough, especially in a stick. I bring all this up because I think it was Gunner who said if it makes you wheel better, it is fair game. Just food for thought. Jeepers are good people. Mark.
I think you hit on the big point Mark, you really need the lower gearing with the manual. When I was considering the auto swap, the biggest thing that held me back was that I was either going to have to use a 32 rh 3 speed tranny as opposed to the aw4 4 speed or lose my ruby t case. It had me stopped. After seeing how many we're getting by with the standard TC and running an auto I gave in. At this point I am very content and I don't think I will go to a Tera low or atlas unless I do some JV trails or something extreme and feel I need to go lower. I don't plan on changing anything except going to 5.13 or 5.38s. As far as TC gearing, I guess I need to see some real low ones in action becaus, I don't see where 10 to 1 is needed, that's real low....i could see maybe 5 to 1.
One of the things I've always done is try to look at all forms of motorsports to get ideas. One of the things that the Yota's use is a double box for some seriously slow wheel speed. I watch how the tires grip the surfaces with out slipping when someone with a more normal gearing sometimes spin. I don't think I need what they have but one of my wants is a rubicrawler. That will give me a 1, 2.72, 4.0, and 10.88 box ratios plus I can have 2.72 in 2 WD.
The most common mistake I see folks with autos make is trying to be heroes when they get moving. They get the rig going and as soon as it gets on the line and headed the right way, they punch the throttle, break traction and slide off the line.
I've had my friends step out of their rigs after several tries and got in and showed them how to give it just enough throttle to get it moving and then keep it there to hold the tires right at the limit of adhesion without slipping.
With your short wheelbase, you will find yourself in situations where you will roll it before you can spool up your ground speed fast enough to drive out of it.
Watch this one of me coming down the north side of Jackhammer. The left rear comes up catching me by surprise and all I did was give it a bit of throttle to get back under it, catch it with the brakes when it touched down and then continue down the trail.
Thanks. As we all know, neither video or pics ever do justice to what really happened and I seriously got closer to wetting myself than anytime ever before or since and I've run that trail many times. All the folks that were behind me took the bypass wash to the right side rather than follow me down after that. :rofl:
The low low gears would only be for climbing really tricky stuff, and for saving my back. For down hills I would use 4 or 2.72. Kind of like turning off the front locker when you don't need it.
You have infinitely low gearing with the torque converter. It is far better if you learn to drive the tricky stuff rather than depend on your equipment to do it for you.
When you get to JV, you will find very few spots on most of the trails where you would turn your front locker off. On Sledge in particular, there isn't one inch of trail between the first V notch and the mail box which is about 3/8ths of a mile where you would even consider it.
Hey Blaine, I would like to know about your driveshafts issues. Whether getting banged up on the rocks or something else? And for what it's worth, I learn something new everytime I go wheeling. I was backing off a small waterfall and hit the brakes a little to hard and the front end got way to light. Had I used the brakes with a little more finesse, which is what I'll do next time, everything would of been good. It turned out good anyhow, but lesson learned.
Hey Blaine, I would like to know about your driveshafts issues. Whether getting banged up on the rocks or something else? And for what it's worth, I learn something new everytime I go wheeling. I was backing off a small waterfall and hit the brakes a little to hard and the front end got way to light. Had I used the brakes with a little more finesse, which is what I'll do next time, everything would of been good. It turned out good anyhow, but lesson learned.
My front driveshaft issues are my own creation for the most part. I have a High Pinion front axle which was built with a bit more offset to the passenger side than I would like and I have longish travel shocks and springs up front. That lets the left side droop further than normal and when the right side is stuffed all the way, the driveshaft contacts the side of the auto transmission. When it does that under load, it bows the tube and knocks it out of balance.
I had to learn the hard way to the tune of 3 fronts before I had a custom shaft built with the slip spline up at the top so the small section is where the pan is. That shaft cost 600 bucks to get built.
The rear shaft is a 1310 CV and if I bind up a rear tire in a crack or similar it will blow the H bar to smithereens in an instant. I've done that 3 times, none on purpose. I do carry a rear spare complete with all the hardware to install it so it is usually a short time trail repair.
One of the big problems I have is coming off a big rock and the tire slips coming down and BAM the rear bumper hits and sends a shock thru the jeep. That really hurts my back. I am looking at ways to control the decent and to eliminate or reduce my overhang. And heck I have spent tons of money on stupid stuff over the years. That's how you get smarter. You learn from your mistakes.
One of the big problems I have is coming off a big rock and the tire slips coming down and BAM the rear bumper hits and sends a shock thru the jeep. That really hurts my back.
Sometime before the month is over I'll be posting a review/installation of a pair of suspension seats from PRC Seats you will probably want to install then. It uses a system of web strapping and elastic parachute cording to suspend you to eliminate, or at least greatly reduce, the shocks and jolts associated with hardcore offroading. And a better offroad oriented seat will hold you in more securely so your back isn't beat/sore/dead tired at the end of the day, the main reason I decided to install a better seat. All serious competitive rigs are running some form of suspension seat. Nope, no shock absorbers are used for this type of suspension seat.
See how the rig in the pictures has the rear tires sticking out past the bumper. I'm thinking that is a way to go for me. I am so torn between the Savvy TJ kit and something that is designed for my needs.
Here again I have a problem. I have a 60 inch chest and a big butt. I don't fit in a seat with bolsters. I sit up on the sides and the back wings are about 10 inches to close together. Maybe if I was still 220 I might fit but at 280 I just don't.
The seats I'll be installing are PRP's Daily Driver which while it has a slightly higher bolster, is not a deep bolster seat like you are probably thinking of. High bolster seats are too hard to get in and out of for non all-day sitting in the seat type of use. Not to mention they make a 2" wider seat version for the more manly types. I will be installing the wider version on the passenger side since I never know who will be riding with me.
I like how you moved the bumper up. Mine is a solid chunk of steel. I bet it is 120 lbs. Im thinking if I replace it with a Savvy and make sure it's tucked up tight and then a Genright swing away tub mount tire carrier. I am going to loose close to 100 pounds on the rear and pick up some clearance. I think the Savvy bumper is about 10 and the Genright is 25 so 90 and some extra height ought to help. Maybe a Savvy gas tank skid too.
So I looked and saw a bunch of flat belly, longer travel jeeps. Some on Coil overs and some on short arms and coils. Hard to tell a lot about the running gear but I can see the terrain and it looks like fun. But maybe i'm not ready yet. Heck I would need an LJ just to carry spares.:rofl:
JV is a tricky place especially when some foolio like me is posting pics to mess with you.
Look at this one which looks pretty intense for a normal rig. What you aren't seeing is why he has to take that line which is due to his extra width and the longer wheelbase putting his tires in spots that a normal wheelbase rig won't have to deal with.
Here is what a normal rig looks like going through the same spot. :rofl:
Are pictures 1 & 5 in the first group of pics taken in the same place? It looked like the first jeep was on its side but them I saw the other jeep at a front angle and it looks more like the line....I know we all tend to think we are more over than we really are, but that looks close to being over....
No, 1 is the end of Sunbonnet and 5 is 1/3 of the way into Outer Limits.
This is the early part of Sledge and this pic was taken while the vehicle was in motion and I'll tell you right now that riding with Sergey is not for the faint of heart.
If you are afeared of leaning your rig over, you won't be after a few trips out there.
Those pics make me realize I should definitely should upgrade to 35x12.50s with some wider offset wheels for a little more stability. Got the suspension travel though,
Wish it wasn't so expensive to go flat belly on JKs.
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