Hunt's Debadged RME TJ

Bart · Apr 5, 2010

Poly carb is the bomb. You'll love it.

Hunt · Apr 12, 2010

Just a couple of quick updates:

I added a couple of quick release fire extinguishers. The rules for the rock crawl comps requires that the driver and passenger must be able to reach an extinguisher while fully belted in. The old mounts where on the floor in front of the seats. These mounts give me back some leg room and are kind of cool. I need to pick up a third bottle to put on the rear passenger side.

A few shots of the plastic skid.

I started cleaning up the wiring under the hood. There was a lot of individual wire runs going all over the place and I am trying to do a single run of wire loom with multiple wires in it. I didn’t add any NEW loom under the hood just cleaned up/reran/organized and reused the old stuff. You can see from the picture I pulled out a lot of extra junk. I also reran the intercool and heater coolant lines in that blue high temp rubber hose. If you look back at some my older post of the engine bay you will see it is looking cleaner under there. It still has a bit of a ways to go.

I got a little upset and cut off the front tow points. I know I will get some grief over it but I would get hung up on them all the time. I will get a picture of how abused they had become. You couldn’t even get a shackle through one any more. I have enough tube work and other points up there that I should be ok. I am going to look real hard at it and figure out where else I could put them. There where nice as tie down points too when I would double up axle and frame when doing long trips. We will see what happens.

Hunt · Apr 25, 2010

I ordered some mirrors for the jeep. Kartek makes a very similar product out of stainless steel but wants an arm and a leg for them. These should make keeping an eye on the guys behind me while trail riding a little easier. Hopefully I can aim them to see the rear tires when fully strapped in during comps too.

http://www.liquidironindustries.com/product.php?productid=17608&cat=261&page=1

I have been pushing the jeep more and more toward a buggy like state. If I want to have any chance at the Ultimate Adventure next year I figured I had better start now with proofing its road worthiness. Mirrors are a start to bring it closer to DOT compliance.

The bump stops have always been to long. They are 4” and the Jeep pretty much rides them all the time. So I was going to sell them and switch to 2” versions but I found out that Fox makes spacer kits for them. It’s essentially a piece of DOM tubing that is machined to go under the valve stack. It keeps the shaft from extending out the full 4” turning it into a 2” bump. For $23 including shipping I am switching to 2” bumps. It should improve the ride quality immensely.

Hunt · Apr 29, 2010

Today is my birthday and I felt like exercising some retail therapy. Being stuck in a hotel for the last 3 weeks is not helping my constant need to tinker with stuff. I’ve been looking around for some cool little widget for the Jeep.

I thought about making go faster, crawl better, stop better and finally I decided on something a little less conventional. How about making it a little safer???

The thought of having this thing burn to the ground while I stand by helplessly absolutely terrifies me. So today I ordered a fire suppression system from DJ Safety. It’s a AFFF foam type system #911102 that I hope to never have to use.

http://www.djsafety.com/FireSystems.html

It should be waiting for me when I get back to the states. They have a pretty darn good Pirate4x4 special running right now. You can check out their You Tube videos as well.

LT. · Apr 30, 2010

Happy Birthday! Looks like you are really turning the Jeep into a perfect, go anywhere, do anything, vehicle.

LT.

Hunt · May 5, 2010

I've been playing with Bend Tech while on a business trip. I'm trying to recreate a few parts just to help the learning curve along. Being away form the Jeep I don't have any actual measurments but it looks pretty close.

oldschoolyj · May 6, 2010

Love the Jeep
I have been following the build since Greg started it.

I have followed suite with a LCG 3" and now I need to do something with the bottoming out problem. I see you went with the air bumps. Any regrets? Would air shocks or spring over coils been a better route? I just don't want to spend the money twice.

Thanks for the great thread.

Hunt · May 6, 2010

Thanks for reading.

I feel exactly the same way about spending money twice. The problem I run into is keeping in mind what I want verses what I really need.

The coil springs work. There is no doubt about it. They are inexpensive, maintenance feel and RELIABLE.

The nitrogen bumps are where its at. I made the mistake of getting to long of bumps but with a kit they are easy and cheap to shorten the stroke on. My thinking was that if I did decide to go with coilovers that I would need them anyway. With an air shock you don't need air bumps.

Coilovers and Air Shocks can be tuned and you can have some great improvements with them. BUT it comes down to a cost:benefit ratio. For me the cost of the parts is not worth it right now. I think if I am going to go through the effort and expense then I am going to focus that on a buggy project. This Jeep works. There is no reason to mess with it. Right now I want to spend the time behind the wheel and not the torch. There are a few things like lights, maybe put the air conditioning back in it, etc that I am going to focus on.

Take a look at your budget and time line. The LCG kit with the standard coil and shocks will get you on the trails for less. The only capability that I feel like I have given up is some of the high speed offroad characteristics. Lets face it we all would like to be KOH racers but how often would we really do that kind of stuff.

The other problem I have found is that I have built myself out of challenging trails. There simply are not that many difficult trails in my area. Things that would be a blast to attempt on 35s and a 6 cylinder are a breeze with sticky 40s and a supercharged V8. You get done with a trail and look back at it saying "That's it?". While your buddies are coming down form their adrenaline rush. Some thing to keep in mind.

In the end K.I.S.S is what everyone needs to do. I admittedly am the worst. I simply don't want to hear it. I want the biggest, baddest, most bling thing out there. But I refuse to let my hobbies put me in the poor house and, as difficult as it may be, I have to step back from it everything and say "NO".

The one caveat I have to all this rambling is that somethings are just to much fun not to do. They break all the rules of K.I.S.S, cost:benefit, and logic. But damn are they a riot. (I.E. putting a supercharger on a V8 Jeep)

oldschoolyj · May 10, 2010

Once again thanks for the great information.

Hunt · Jun 21, 2010

I competed in the 2nd round of the RCrocs at Rausch Creek this weekend. I made it into the shootout but ended up sixth because my fuel pump quit on my in the middle of the third course. Here are a few pictures and I will post some more as friends send them around.

Hunt · Jun 21, 2010

More pics on the last post of page 14

Lifelong Jeeper · Jun 21, 2010

Let's see some close ups of the aftermath. Did you suffer any major failure, or just some sheet metal.

I love your rig and too have been watching since it's inception.

Greg · Jun 21, 2010

Sounds like you were doing well with the competition, sucks about the fuel pump! It would have been fun to see where you placed without the fuel issue!

Hunt · Jun 22, 2010

Lifelong Jeeper said:
Let's see some close ups of the aftermath. Did you suffer any major failure, or just some sheet metal.

I love your rig and too have been watching since it's inception.

Thanks for reading

There was a lot of rock rash but no major damage. No tubes are bent or even tweaked. The hood got dented but that was it. I will Scotch Brite the tubes, hit them up with some paint and it will be hard to tell anything happened.

I found out my fuel pump has a 14 month manufacturer’s warranty so I’ve got a new one coming for the cost of shipping!

I felt really good at the comp. I scored a 1 on the first course and finished it with 22 seconds left. It was really exciting. The comps are fun because I gets me out of my comfort zone and really challenges me. There where some things in the comp that when we first walked the courses I was thinking “there is no way in hell”. The weather was ridiculously hot and the tires were like Velcro. The jeep walked up things I never would have imaged going up. Its all about trying new things, pushing the limits and finding out where these things can really go.

Hunt · Jun 22, 2010

Here is a little onboard video from the third course. Caution it has a little harsh language in it. My spotter and I need to work on being a little more family friendly. Like most movies, it gets exciting at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DF7ovNz7FZw

[YOUTUBE]DF7ovNz7FZw[/YOUTUBE]

Greg · Jun 22, 2010

:freak: Great vid! That looked like quite a ride Clayton! So did you use the stinger there at the end? Any chance of a video from outside?

Hunt · Jun 22, 2010

The stinger is what kept me from doing an endo.

I'm still looking for good video. A very cool random guy in the crowd sent me this, It's all I've got but more is sure to come up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huawPOYcVHs

[youtube]huawPOYcVHs[/youtube]

waynehartwig · Jun 22, 2010

Yup, I think the rear end is getting a little light.....

:lmao:

Coool vid and pics!!!

Hunt · Jul 1, 2010

My biggest complaint about the jeep has been the steering. The tractor ram is just not cutting it. It does an ok job on the trails but if you get in the slightest jam, on the sticky rocks or concert it flat out does not steer. Today I hope to have started to remedy that by ordering a PSC 2.5” single ended 8” stroke ram.

I’ll have to modify the attachment point to work with the heims.

Not really that big of a deal. Right now the tractor ram has clevises on the ends. The clevises have gotten oblong/wallowed out. At higher speeds its gets a little hard to handle. The heims on the PSC ram should tighten up the steering considerably.

SAMI · Jul 1, 2010

That video in post #215 was awesome. It's wild to not see what the suspension is doing, when you got to see the wild terrain in the beginning.. You know it's flexed out and all of the place.. I'd definately have been on the throttle to keep from going over forward down that face.. The shadow was classic.. I watched that section 10 times..

Hunt's Debadged RME TJ

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