Nate's crappy 93 XJ

I Lean · Oct 8, 2014

Needs more roundulation. You cut enough of the XJ away, you just replaced it with more squares.

Have fun in StG!

N-Smooth · Oct 8, 2014

That's what I figured. The problem is I like the flat-top of the "stinger" so maybe I'll see if angled uprights make it look better. Curses!

skippy · Oct 9, 2014

xj_nate said:
That's what I figured. The problem is I like the flat-top of the "stinger" so maybe I'll see if angled uprights make it look better. Curses!

Angled uprights will help ALOT and I think you will like it.... You should have one of you buddies lathe you some plugs for those tubes?

N-Smooth · Oct 9, 2014

skippy said:
Angled uprights will help ALOT and I think you will like it.... You should have one of you buddies lathe you some plugs for those tubes?

Yeah, I was out there at midnight last night cause I couldn't sleep cause those uprights bug me. I messed with tape to see if gussets could make it look better but I don't think I'll ever be happy with it. I do like the idea of angled uprights and keeping the flat top piece though.
The only guy I know with lathe access is kind of a dork so I dunno. Haha yeah buddy you should make some caps with cool stuff on them or just have them say "Ryan made this"

TJDukit · Oct 9, 2014

Lathe some caps with AllJeep logos on them.

N-Smooth · Oct 9, 2014

TJDukit said:
Lathe some caps with AllJeep logos on them.

That'd be cool but they don't want to advertise on my dump ride. I asked Ryan for a sticker months ago!

1tonblazer · Oct 10, 2014

Your xj is looking a lot different since I seen it man. I dig it!

N-Smooth · Oct 10, 2014

1tonblazer said:
Your xj is looking a lot different since I seen it man. I dig it!

Thanks Matt!

It's always changing either because I want to make it better or make it more different.

Drove down to StG last night after work. Got in around 11:30, tarped the Jeep and went to bed.

Got up and went to the rental car place to get a cheap car for the wife to drive so I don't have to unhook the trailer at the staging area to let her drive the truck. Found a deal online for an economy car for $10/day. Worth it. Well, her and my friend's wife went in and came out with a new Duramax and a Cummins. Totally economy cars... Oh and they said we could have a half tank for free since diesel was totally unnecessary for us. Cool deal.
Went and ran Sliplock Gulch with the wives and kiddos. Always a good time and the first Sand Hollow experience for the little red TJ. Also my first time wheeling the area with a SWB vehicle. It went better than I thought it would for sure.

Obviously I cut off the "stinger" because I didn't want it to ruin the weekend of pics. I'm glad I did because I'm happy with everything else. I love the old girl.

After Sliplock we took the wives and kids back to the economy cars and they headed to the hotels for naps. Back out on the trail for us and we decide to do The Maze. This is one of my favorite trails of all time, it's the Hell's Revenge of Sand Hollow for me.
Dropping in for the first time ever- one of the best opening obstacles cause it wakes people up!

Todd (the guy that likes cats) getting really close to losing windows but ended up with door handle scrapes and some paint scuffing. It's fun to watch him stress though.

Anyhow, got done with that trail with no major issues. Some bad spotting for the TJ and a slip into a crack/notch made for getting the strap a couple of times but nothing big. Got done with the trail, all went to dinner and back to hotels. In bed by 9, on RME... That's a good day. Plan B and something else tomorrow, can't wait!

N-Smooth · Oct 13, 2014

Day two we went to the Sand Hollow side. Tradition for us means trying out the jump right away.
Hit it slow a few times and it SUCKED. Upped the speed to 30+ and it was amazing. Mike hit it fast first so I will give him credit where it's due.
[video=youtube_share;qxqUVv9Fmho]http://youtu.be/qxqUVv9Fmho[/video]

[video=youtube_share;H7HFu6zcYog]http://youtu.be/H7HFu6zcYog[/video]

We measured it out and it was a little over 35'... Fun!

Then we cruised up and ran Plan B. What an awesome trail!

Cruised down and found some shade after a lot of dunes.

Cruised over to Nasty Half. Always a good time.

That's the only pic I have of that trail. On the way down we always run into Milt's Mile. I did some very poor line-picking but it was funny.

N-Smooth · Oct 13, 2014

Day three we ran Double Sammy. Didn't really get pics besides this one.

After we went on an adventure trying to find Chain Reaction. I think we found the upper part right before it meets up with Double Sammy.

Starting well enough and then bam...

Mike is on his side. Once we got him out of there I did work on it.

Day 4 we only had a few hours so we went to mess around on West Rim. Only got a couple of pics-

The crazy thing is that we did some really rough stuff with 4 Dana 30's, 3 chrysler 8.25's and a Dana44 with no breakage at all. I love trips like this. I did get a TON of new scratches, dents and even some new windshield cracks. I utilized the new tube work in the front and I'm really pleased with it. I did learn that I need some hip bars, even with my high boatsides. I had a couple of rocks try to come in and get me.

N-Smooth · Nov 9, 2014

Went and ran the snakes with Bret, his old scouts and some of his wheeling buddies. Had a great time, tried to go fast a lot and that was fun. While hanging out at Wayne's world I did it once and then let all the scouts take a run at it in my Jeep. They sure seemed to have a good time and did a good job of listening to my spotting. After that I got a ways ahead of the group (I wanna go fast) and went a little high on a line. Grabbed reverse and gunned it (on 2 wheels) but it was already too late. The one rock that hit the cage happened to be where I wrap my whip flag so it cut that.

Good times!

blznnp · Nov 9, 2014

I think letting them drive made their day, or month. Thanks man. Was a good time even with the broken part.

N-Smooth · Nov 9, 2014

Glad to do it. They seemed like good kids and they all did a great job

Lifelong Jeeper · Nov 9, 2014

That's awesome! My brother used to take his scouts down to Moab and they always had a great time. For some, they got bit by the wheelin bug and bought their own Jeeps.

blznnp · Nov 9, 2014

Lifelong Jeeper said:
That's awesome! My brother used to take his scouts down to Moab and they always had a great time. For some, they got bit by the wheelin bug and bought their own Jeeps.

I'm gonna try and to that next summer with them. I would love to build one with them, cheap low budget wheeler to show you don't need a high dollar rig to get out. I have a couple of them that come over and help work on my blazer, much better than having them hanging out late with the wrong crowd

Lifelong Jeeper · Nov 9, 2014

For sure. My nephew had, mierdota here on RME had many friends get deep into drugs while in high school an he attributed his staying out of that scene in large part to his Jeep passion and hanging out with the family.

I love the low buck build idea. You should post a build thread if you can pull it all together.

N-Smooth · Nov 10, 2014

It's true being addicted to wheeling and wrenching/fabbing is better than being addicted to drugs

While I was wheeling with those guys I was thinking I would've loved it if I knew someone that let me drive their Jeep at that age... Then I realized at that age I already had my Trooper and wheeled that thing around and then when I was 18 I bought my first XJ

N-Smooth · Nov 13, 2014

Time for some much needed frontend maintenance on the old girl. Both axle seals were leaking pretty bad and I wanted to check on the diff anyways so I took it apart tonight. Gears and locker look great. The seals aren't in very bad shape at all but oh well they're $6 each and they've been leaking. Picking up the seals tomorrow from 4WP and maybe a lubelocker gasket.

Also found that my tie rod is pretty bent but I'll just throw it on the opposite way and it'll work itself out.

I also picked up balljoints. I'm 99% sure these are the factory 21-year-old balljoints and they've seen a lot of jumps and rallying. Before I put the new ones on I'll make the passenger side knuckle double shear and probably make some inner C gussets. Two weeks from today I'll be heading to Moab but I'm confident.

blznnp · Nov 13, 2014

xj_nate said:
It's true being addicted to wheeling and wrenching/fabbing is better than being addicted to drugs

While I was wheeling with those guys I was thinking I would've loved it if I knew someone that let me drive their Jeep at that age... Then I realized at that age I already had my Trooper and wheeled that thing around and then when I was 18 I bought my first XJ

A couple of them have talked about picking up a beat up truck to fix up and take out but nothing yet. My biggest issue is time to help them build. But then again, with a Cherokee stock they could do a good amount of stuff.

Maintenance is good, I hope I can get my tranny leak fixed with the new drivetrain. I need to get back to Moab soon, last time was not enough wheeling

skippy · Nov 14, 2014

You are supposed to sell your rig before you ever have to do any maintenance

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