The heep is almost complete...

[Deadman 94 xj]

I got the bumper all done this weekend. The end caps were a pain to line up but I think they ended up pretty good. They bolt to the main section in 4 places then to the Jeep in 2. They should hold up really well when coming off of ledges and stuff. I know everyone likes pics so here's a few:







I wanted to add more clearance for when I step up in tire size. Believe it or not, the 33's would rub where they were. I just did relief cuts instead of removing anything. This way I don't fawk up the pinch seam.





I cut a little too far on some lines, as you can probably see. I put about fifty coats of paint down and I will be running flares for a long time so it's ok

[Deadman 94 xj]

Here's a pick of my flare hack job. They're just flares though lol. These should hold up much better than the BWs.

[limegreentj]

damn...thats one sexy matcheen

[96greenxjjeep]

very nice, what tires you gunna be running this year

[SirFuego]

I like the rear bumper, Tom. I'm digging the superwinch and synthetic. My favorite thing about the synthetic conversion on my superwinch was not having a ginormous fairlead sticking off my bumper.

[Deadman 94 xj]

Thanks!

Ben, I'm going for 35"KM2s or 36"Trxus. I'm hoping to have something by the first BDS event. With that comes upgraded shafts for the D30 though, and that's almost impossible at this point.

Jared, I can't wait to try out the synthetic. The cable I had was a mess! Did you go with 3/8 or 5/16?

Also, how did you mount your rope to the spool? It uses a set screw so I had to cut the little eye off of the rope and feed it through. It should work but I'm open to suggestions.

[96greenxjjeep]

very nice id like to get some km2s buy when your a college student its kinda impossible haha

[cityslicker]

Thanks!


Jared, I can't wait to try out the synthetic. The cable I had was a mess! Did you go with 3/8 or 5/16?

if you want to try that synthetic you prob shouldn't make your rig so capable.
or you could use it to pull my xj out the mud I guess...

looks real good man..

[trailblaze]

nice .. whats the bracket thing on the rear axle, towards the center?? are you going to run coils and arms back there??

[Deadman 94 xj]

nice .. whats the bracket thing on the rear axle, towards the center?? are you going to run coils and arms back there??

It's for the traction bar that I still have to put together. I need to figure out a belly skid that I'll mount the front of the bar to. That one won't be for a while.

[Deadman 94 xj]

Some more hardcore tech for you guys... (it's really for me)

I picked up a soundbar for the jeep so that I could get rid of the shitty 6x9 boxes in the cargo area, seen in a few pics above.

It was pretty ugly so I decided to refurbish it.



I used a black stretchy fabric and a nylon net material. I used some 3M spray adhesive for the first layer. That stuff kicks ass. I'd recommend it for your saggy headliner.






I think it turned out pretty good. Now I just have to hook it up and rock on.

[96greenxjjeep]

very nice

[Deadman 94 xj]

My shocks are shot! All four. I knew they were bad but I didn't think they were all bad.



I got the rear Edelbrock back from being rebuilt. I picked these up from their recent 70% off sale. Time will tell how long they hold up. I think the remotes were more trouble than they're worth, I don't do high speed stuff.
I wanted to see what these shocks were all about. They have a different valving system than a standard offroad shock. They're supposed to be soft on bumps and firm on the smooth stuff/street and reduce body roll. Not the ideal setup for desert racing but I think it would be more than ideal for the rocks and trails around here.





I went with Bilstein 5125s for the front. They're the same shock as the 5150 but without the reservoir. 255/70 valving.



Obviously the ride is much better than before but I can't say it met my expectations. I could have gone with a stiffer valving up front but 7100s are way out of my price range at this point. The rears are great. The body roll is 10x better than before. I have 4.5" up and 6.5" down on all four corners. I didn't go with too much down travel because unsprung weight becomes useless at a certain point.

The real test will be off road.


(If anyone wants to know how to measure for shocks, take a static measurement and call somebody that knows what they're talking about)


-On a side note, I painted the gas tank skid BLACK again. I'm not sure WTF I was thinking on that one lol. You could see the damn skid coming a mile away.

[tjblair]

Looks good man, I can't wait to get you stuck this summer
But seriously we are gona have a blast this year the trails are coming along awsome, there is tons of new really chalenging and technical stuff.

[96greenxjjeep]

awesome

[Deadman 94 xj]

Looks good man, I can't wait to get you stuck this summer
But seriously we are gona have a blast this year the trails are coming along awsome, there is tons of new really chalenging and technical stuff.

Thanks. You know what really sucks? My wedding is JUNE 6th!!!
You guys really need to change that date!

[tjblair]

You got to talk to rob about that one. What's the problem anyway? You meant you can't talk her into an offroading hunnymoon?

[Deadman 94 xj]

You got to talk to rob about that one. What's the problem anyway? You meant you can't talk her into an offroading hunnymoon?

Ha! I can't even get her to come on a regular trip, and she owns a jeep! I'm going to miss that one. I'm hoping to get a group together sometime in late june so I can get my butt up there.

[tjblair]

Cool if you do I'll be there, but you can't count me as one of your ten. Sorry

[Deadman 94 xj]

awesome

Thanks Ben.

[96greenxjjeep]

my school is planning a trip to the badlands in june if you wanna go with us then

[Deadman 94 xj]

Got new meats!!!

[cityslicker]

looks nice man, not too high at all... what are those tires?

[limegreentj]

look like either krawlers or bfg km2...my guess is the bfg km2 since its driven on the road

[Deadman 94 xj]

Thanks. Yeah, they're the BFG km2. Steve helped me haul them home from National Wheel & Tire in WV (Thanks again dude!). The lugs look a lot thicker than the pictures I've seen of them. I can't imagine what Krawlers would look like.

35-12.50-15

There's a rumor going around that BFG has stopped production on the 35's. A few people have called BFG and were told that they were going to stop production until Sept. 09 ,but that was short lived and they are being produced again.

I called and talked to two reps from NTW and both said they wouldn't have anything until September. I called a third time and got a different rep on the phone that told me they had 8 in stock but this would be it for a while.

I also called www.4wd.com and they told me that they would be out for 6 months, the same with www.tirerack.com. It seems odd that these big name retailers would have their info mixed up, unless they either don't know that they're being produced or BFG is full of sheet.