Had a key i ordered a while back cut, man its nice to have fob some times.

 

Got me another one! Mountaineer sunk to the frame.

 

got another one, winched him from way back


rebuilt the ball joints on the drag link, new boots and grease. This will hold up till i get the HD steering rods.




last but not least, the steering guard that took me too long to figure out how to mount haha

 

A little testing/proof of concept.

 

Stared at it for 5 minutes before heading to Sandy Hook with the dogs. Wondering what's gonna break next.. maybe I can predict it. Lol.

 

Yesterday I got stuck, but not so bad I couldn't get unstuck. I was going up a narrow, rocky canyon, climbing over boulders and bedrock. My front wheels threw enough cobbles out that they ended up in sand, and my rear end slipped/jumped to the right, which left me with my right rocker panel sitting on a boulder, my left rear tire slipping on bedrock, and both my fronts spinning in sand. I probably could have gotten through. I had my high lift in the back and there were several old pallets dumped near by that I could have used to get traction. Since I was alone with my dad, without another vehicle to assist if I got completely stuck, I decided it was more important go get out than to get through. It took some careful maneuvering, lots of backing and pulling forward and small steering corrections, and about 20 minutes to back out with my dad spotting for me. I scraped everything there is to scrape under the vehicle, tore off a mudflap, dented my tailpipe, smashed one of my rear bumper lights, and I now know what my suspension looks like at full tuck and full droop. Somehow I managed to get out without scratching the paint.

I will be going back to the same area with a buddy and his Jeep today. I'll see what he thinks of the spot where I got stuck and we may give it a go.

 

Replaced the water pump and throttle body heater plate. Re-routed some wires I messed up when I did the intake manifold gasket.

 

Today I went back to the spot where I got stuck. Took my buddy along in his stock Jeep. He got through no problem. I got hung up more than once and had to break out the hi lift at one point, but I got through and up the hill on the other side, although I did spin tires a time or 3 on the climb. My buddy's assessment is that my longer wheel base and open center diff were what got me stuckin the canyon, and it was the weight of my rig and the open center diff that led to my difficulties on the climb.

We spent about 2 1/2 hours driving every trail we could in the area, which included a lot of climbing and descending, and we hit every terrain type our desert has to offer- sand, gravel, cobbles, boulders, bedrock, and playa.

It was a great afternoon.

 

Hi ls1morethanyou, is that an LR3 key fob? I've read on the forums that it's possible to convert over to one of these in lieu of the DII remote key, but haven't been successful with my keyword searches. Can you direct me to a link that walks you through the process, or give me the run-down yourself? My DII key is currently being held together with electrical tape...

Thanks!

 

Finished my winch install. I bought a universal winch mount tray from Harbor Freight. It's fairly heavy, 25 lbs. Made from .25" steel. I meaursed from the middle 23.5" to mount the winch. The ends I cut off I used for my brakets to mount to the frame. I replaced the bolts with 7/16" x 5" grade 8 bolts and locking nuts. Had to team the holes just a little to make them fit. In the tray I made two slotted holes per side so I could have a small amount of adjustment if needed. Fastened the bracket to the tray with four grade 8 bolts 3/8" x 1" again with lock nuts.
[IMG][/IMG]