Case's Build Thread (06 LJ) |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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OK, the noob is back!
The agenda for the last few days: work on the 14 bolt housing and the back of the Jeep. A snail crawls across a turtles back faster than I work, yet I press on. First up, remove the old bracketry that accompanied some archaic form of suspension. Egyptian hieroglyphs speak of a method of suspending a vehicle by means of stacked pieces of steel curved in a specific way. I believe this vehicle utilized just such a suspension. We should all point and laugh...or put it in a museum. Here is what I ended up with: Now I know I'm supposed to button up this differential to protect it from grinding dust. I mean I know this now. I thought this process was gonna take like 15 minutes. Boy was I wrong. I ran the grinder for 2 hours, working in my own slow way. At some point I began to get miffed because despite the frigid weather outside it was quite warm inside. I raised my head from my work to open the garage door only to realize that I happened to be on fire. Apparently the good, thick jacket I was wearing was not actually suitable for withstanding grinding sparks. It was my favorite jacket too Well we all gotta learn somewhere: Being on fire was interesting, but not fun. Fortunately, the fire only worked its way through the jacket, the sweatshirt, and the undershirt I was wearing before I realized my condition. I still had a couple more layers to go. No serious injuries to report. Having survived my first real encounter with grinding, I was ready for more. I needed to clean up the rear end of the Jeep's frame in order to prepare for the installation of the new equipment. I needed to remove the old brackets from the stock suspension links, the coil buckets, a track bar bracket, and the remains of the crossmember i cut off in previous episodes. This took a few hours of sawzalling, cutting disk, and grinding disk to accomplish. I managed to to do this without setting myself on fire or maiming myself with the grinder! Here's what we ended up with: I still have a few minor things to tweak before I am ready to start burning in new brackets. One such thing is actually ordering the materials I'll need. Now, I need to save money, but I also am still paying monthly for this vehicle, so every day that I don't drive is a day l lose money for nothing. While I have wonderful friends who have the talents and equipment to provide me the brackets and trusses I need, I cannot depend upon their goodwill for everything week in and week out.... I still want to keep this a budget build, but in the interest of time vs money, buying premade items won out. Now, I shopped around for the best deal and I found that Blue Torch Fabworks sold one of the cheapest 14 bolt trusses. They also have great reviews from major players in the sport. One of the greatest things is that they are local, being based out of birmingham alabama (formally Dothan). This is the first time I have given the company money, but I have been following them for at least 5 years. (The first time I met Doc, was at work, when he noticed my desktop background which was a BTF 1/4 elliptical yj ) I ordered their 14 bolt truss and other bracketry yesterday. I also ordered a "Do it yourself" 14 bolt diff cover. I reluctantly paid the taxes since I lived in the same state as the company and chose the slowest shipping possible. When I got home from work today I found: This thing is fookin huge. To say I'm pleased by the quality of the construction and the speed of delivery is a huge understatement. Support your local off road shops! I cannot wait to give them more of my meager money! Here is a preview of what it will (partially) look like when it's welded on: That's all for tonight. Once again I must apologize for wasting your time. While I write these posts I envision a legion of devoted followers, but I'm willing to accept a few bored gear heads who wish to laugh at the crappy efforts of a noob trying to do something worthwhile... |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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I'm in the warm, cozy house for now. I'll try and remember to measure this for you tomorrow |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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50Willys
RCRC Club Member RCRC Vice President Joined: 16 February 2004 Location: Trinity, AL Status: Offline Points: 2916 |
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It's looking good and you're making good progress.
I have designated jackets and sweatshirts that I wear when I'm working in the shop, especially when I'm welding and grinding. And yes they all have holes in them from the sparks. |
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Bob S.
'96 Cherokee, 4.0L w/Auto Trans & locked D44s '99 Dodge 2500 CTD Tow Rig |
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83K10
RCRC Club & Business Member Joined: 17 February 2004 Location: Huntsville, AL Status: Offline Points: 3174 |
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If your going to do a lot of this kinda stuff you should get one of these dickies jackets. They hold up very well. http://www.dickies.com/product/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3A%3Afolder_id=2534374302024402&PRODUCT%3A%3Aprd_parent_id=1408474395181237&PRODUCT%3A%3Aprd_id=845524441762634&ADD_CART_ITEM%3A%3AATR_Sku_Size=_ Unfortunately it looks like they got rid of all their clearance ones. They had some in odd sizes and colors for $15.
It looks like your making good progress. If you need anything, give me a shout. |
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cj8lvr
RCRC LLC Member Joined: 10 February 2005 Location: Madison, Madison County Status: Offline Points: 7946 |
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Case, I've got something else I'd like for you to measure when you're out there measurin'....
THE THICKNESS OF THE GRINDER DUST ON THAT SHEET OF PLYWOOD ON THE SAWHORSES! |
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___/| [_\__\],
l___l__L-O|||||O_ _()_)__()_)___()_) Jake White Owner of CartoTracks.com Trail Maps Past RCRC - VP Past Nat'l CJ-8 Scrambler Owners Association President |
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50Willys
RCRC Club Member RCRC Vice President Joined: 16 February 2004 Location: Trinity, AL Status: Offline Points: 2916 |
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I also use this leather welding apron to keep the sparks off http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94128
You can't beat the price. |
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Bob S.
'96 Cherokee, 4.0L w/Auto Trans & locked D44s '99 Dodge 2500 CTD Tow Rig |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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It's nothing compared to the floor trust me. I was going to clean it out today, but it was to nasty out to have the door open. |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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Mike_LaMar
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 25 November 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 709 |
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Loving this build!
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2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, 4" Superlift Suspension, 37" Toyo MTs
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. - Dwight D. Eisenhower |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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Well it was bound to happen. This weekend something horrible
happened. 2 things actually. First, my budget has been pretty tight
with all of the money I have been spending on this. Apparently, as my
patient wife tried to explain to me, when you have a budget and you
spend more money in one part of it, you have to spend less in others.
I didn't really believe her until Saturday morning. I woke up as usual
early to race into the kitchen and make a big bowl of cereal and spend
the rest of the morning watching cartoons. For some reason the cable
tv is out. No problem I says, I'll check on my build thread since I
updated it the night before...no dice, the internet was out too. WTF I
say to myself, I'm not even getting snow or flickers from any of the
cable equipment.
Turns out, you have to pay your bill if you want to get service. This has got to be a recent development or something. Well my wife, was just absolutely ecstatic to get woke up early Saturday morning to my rage at being cut off from my only contact with the outside world. A few hours later, the problem was resolved, but not before all the best cartoons were off anyways. Once again, being in contact with the outside world I convince Jordan to come over to my house to get some welding done. In order to properly line things up, he brought over a piece of my future 4 link setup: Now, this is a thread featuring me, so some kind of carnage has to happen on a regular basis. As usual, I was playing around and something broke. I dropped the johnny joint on the kitchen counter. Don't worry, it's pretty tough...it's ok. However, my wife's cake plate was not: Well, Case, that was dumb, but it was just a cake plate you say. Turns out, this wasn't just any cake plate...it was THE cake plate. This was the cake plate left to my long suffering wife by her late great aunt whom she loved dearly. It is one of Gena's most prized possessions and is a connection with a lost relative whom she misses very much. It was irreplaceable. Needless to say, things at the Dalton household lately have been just plucking ducky... Fortunately, my wife has been married to me long enough to know what always happens around me. She was prepared, and chanting one of the Dalton family mottos: "Man, I should have brought a spare for that", she restored order to her kitchen: After being routed from the kitchen in disgrace, Jordan and I retreated to the shop to weld the 14 bolt tubes to the housing and weld the truss in place: You know, at first I thought I shouldn't post this thread on Pirate4x4 because I will have nothing new or different to add in my build thread. I'm pretty sure I can lay claim to the only Jeep build thread featuring cake plates and the carrying of spares thereof. So there you have it folks, my build is truly one of a kind! It even has something for the ladies. |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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85cruiser
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 21 April 2004 Location: Rogersville, TN Status: Offline Points: 391 |
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Them some purty welds |
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Patrick
2011 Ford F350, XLT, 4X4, Diesel, Crew cab, long bed 74' FJ-40, The "Bruise" 85' FJ-60, slightly modified 87' FJ60, slightly modified |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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update time!
Since this thread has nearly fallen to the 2nd page, I figured I better get my rear in gear and get in the garage. Since I needed tires to set up my suspension, but lacking the funding to afford real tires I found a deal on some bald 42s on craigslist. These tires will be used to setup the suspension and then will be sold later. Here is the obligatory picture: The 37" iroks that i currenly run are on the left. the middle tires are the 38.5" swampers I used to run. The tires on the right are the 42" iroks I picked up. There is quite the significant size difference. With the 14 bolt shave giving me the same clearance as my dana 44s, I should see some serious gains in clearance with these tires equipped. The tire standing up in the rear, is the 42" irok stood up in the approximate location where it will be mounted on the new axle. I should be pretty wide (and therefore more stable.) I also ordered up some brackets from poly performance that will allow me to begin to setup my 4 link. Ironically, these are called the poly performance 4 link brackets. Here is a pic: In order to show some kind of miserable progress I decided to pull the front axle. Here it is dropped, but its pretty heavy so there it stays for now: This axle will be for sale when I get back from King of the Hammers. If anyone reading this thread is interested in a rubicon dana 44 with air locker and chromoly shafts, spares, spacers, locker pump, and etc shout at me! Another thing that got done was welding together the DIY 14 bolt cover. I thought his process would take a few minutes and i'd be good to go. Boy was I wrong. We welded and ground on this thing for hours and hours. Big thanks to Jordan for coming out in the cold and rain and welding everything together. Here is a pic of the finished result: It is not entirely done. I still need to drill some holes for new mounting points. Because my shave wasn't EXTREME, I should be able to drill two new holes through the cover and into the housing to seal the cover. These bolt holes should be into the case itself and not require additional bolts welded inside the case. Once this is done, I will mount it and pour oil into the case and make sure the case or the cover do not leak. Once any leaks are sealed up I will paint it up and it will be done! This is all I got for now. Continue to chuckle at my silly build and its lack of real progress! |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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CJ7OX
RCRC Club Member Joined: 17 February 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1869 |
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Case, you are getting better! This is the first update without carnage of some kind! LOL!
It's looking good, man!
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~Sean
Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But the U.S. ARMED FORCES don't have that problem. -Reagan MOLON LABE 85ish CJ-7/06 CTD |
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Build looks really good Case!! You planning to hit up EJS this year, if so maybe we could do a trail or two together. I love the low and wide stance!! Side hill stability is freaking awesome with wide axles and wide tires.
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Mike_LaMar
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 25 November 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 709 |
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Case, when are you coming out to the Hammers this week? I'll try to link up with you, the back(east) side of the Hammers is the base I'm on right now. Mike |
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2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, 4" Superlift Suspension, 37" Toyo MTs
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. - Dwight D. Eisenhower |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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I probably won't go back to EJS ever again. Getting kicked off trails so sponsored and guided rides really pissed me off. Especially annoying was when we planned to hit the trail before the scheduled rides and were turned away even though we were an hour or more in front of the scheduled ride and were in obviously more capable rigs than the scheduled rides were running. Also, I really wont even be close to having this done by april anyways :P |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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Mike, we'll be out there thursday night for the race on friday. We might stay saturday night or head back out depending on what's going on. I'll be flying into arizona Wednesday night and driving out to the hammers with a friend of jordan's, then driving back to arizona to fly back on sunday. |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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Tex62
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 22 July 2008 Location: Gurley Status: Offline Points: 1254 |
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Case your PMs are full. How much are you looking for out of the dana 44 ?
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Mike
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alabamatoy
Admin Group I dont work here anymore... Joined: 16 February 2004 Location: Signal Mountain Status: Offline Points: 9369 |
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Edited by alabamatoy - 07 February 2010 at 5:56am |
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"If you didnt buy your 1st gen 4Runner new, then YOU are a newbie!!"
BRC Life Member |
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Mike_LaMar
RCRC Club Visitor Joined: 25 November 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 709 |
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Cool, here's my # 256-457-8372 give me a call when you get a chance. I planned on going out Thursday but not sure about Friday. No school on Friday and Depsy had to go out of town for a family emergency. Mike |
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2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, 4" Superlift Suspension, 37" Toyo MTs
"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. - Dwight D. Eisenhower |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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Bring the kids
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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cleaned out my box...shoot me a pm. |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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cj8lvr
RCRC LLC Member Joined: 10 February 2005 Location: Madison, Madison County Status: Offline Points: 7946 |
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Two questions: Where did the cover come from? How is the bottom going to be bolted to the housing, or is it? - I see no bolt holes down there. |
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___/| [_\__\],
l___l__L-O|||||O_ _()_)__()_)___()_) Jake White Owner of CartoTracks.com Trail Maps Past RCRC - VP Past Nat'l CJ-8 Scrambler Owners Association President |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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this is a btf diy weld together kit.
Two bolt holes will be drilled through the cover and into the housing aprox and inch away from the two bottom holes. My 14 bolt will be a 13 bolt when its said and done. |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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I'm back finally.
In case you were wondering if I died somehow while working on my Jeep, I regret to inform you that no, I am indeed alive and well. This intermission was brought to you by my recent trip to the King of the Hammers in Johnson Valley California. I know this is not really related to the build, but this is my thread so you can just deal with it. Jordan and I departed HSV on Wed. night heading for Phoenix. The plan was to hook up with a friend of his with a 4x4 and drive to Johnson Valley about 5 hours outside phoenix on thursday. A couple of other members from this board were already heading out there and were renting an rv. We agreed to meet up with them and split the cost of the rv in exchange for a dry place to sleep. When we first arrived at Johnson Valley we marveled at the size of the town that had sprung up. We wasted no time and headed straight for the vendor's show. I quickly found the ballistic fabrications truck and spent my 401k: Now to find a warm place to sleep! Our instructions were to find the "Rental RV" 50 yards from the Off Road evolution trailer in the vendor's area. No problem right? Well, it turns out there had to be 200 of these rental rvs out there and so many vendor trailers that we couldn't ever find the RV. Arlan was trapped up in the mountains outside cell signal fixing a broken rig so we made dinner in the cold. Lacking even the most basic preps we managed to cook up a fine suppper with a grill, a knife, a ratchet, and a screwdriver: Don't get between me and my dinner, I will find a way to eat. After settling down to spend the night sleeping in the sub 40 degree desert night we finally managed to hook up with Arlan and scramble to the RV. (which happened to be in a cluster of rental rvs that looked identical that we had driven past 4 or 5 times in our search for Arlan) The rest of our crew arrived later that evening and we settled in. The RV was advertised to comfortably sleep 7 adults. There were 6 of us and we found that it actually comfortably slept 3 adults. Just like the pictures of fast food vs what you actually get. As tight as it was, we were warm and dry and therefor it was worth it. The next morning was race day and we set off for the starting line to catch some action: I was so excited, i forgot to take good pictures. I was also tired that I completely forgot to call Mike, which I must apologize for. I realize that you said you probably couldn't make it out there on Friday due to your kids being out of school, but I had your number in my phone and I completely forgot to call you We spent the rest of the day blasting across the desert in a borrowed 1991 ford bronco with busted front hubs, desperately trying to keep ahead of the fast moving racers. We watched the race from the start line, then aftershock, then chocolate thunder, then sledgehammer. Here are some pics: It's hard to see what was going on in the last pic due to all the people in the way, but it was a pretty popular past time for the racers. Any time someone rolled or broke on an obstacle, the next driver would simply driver over him. This lead to many fantastic passes and some pretty good drama too! Here is a pic of "Hammertown": There was an estimated 40,000 people attending this race After the race was over we drove back to Phoenix and attempted to leave via plane on Sunday. Well, as many as you know some snow came in about then. ( I wouldn't know it was sunny and 70 in Arizona ). All flights in or around the south east were grounded. We were stranded. We ended up having to stay an extra day to await the next flight. We actually got to fly into Memphis. Our plane left on time and landed ahead of schedule. I had an awesome seat and life couldn't get any better. Except they canceled our connecting flight to HSV after delaying it an hour. The next flight was supposed to leave until 730pm tomorrow. We wanted to be in HSV today. Delta airlines was sorry for the inconvenience and we were politely invited to go screw ourselves. Jordan and I decided to just rent a car and drive back home. Turns out everyone else had the same idea. NO rentals available from any company anywhere near memphis. We were stuck. Except for: OH YEAH!! We were pimpin in our 16' box van. After spending a few minutes loading up our cargo, we were off: We drove/slid our way back to HSV late this evening and I am officially wupped. If anyone needs to move something in a box van tomorrow afternoon, let me know. I have this bad boy until then! I still don't have any clothes or any of my other luggage. I still don't know if Delta will refund me for the flight they canceled. Time will tell. My money is on lost luggage and no refund. Despite the travel problems, the race was awesome and a welcome vacation from constant work in the garage. I got to see some cool rigs and meet some amazing people. Everyone famous in this sport was there and the race was incredible. I picked up some needed parts for my Jeep at a pretty good price and now I'm ready to start making some progress again. |
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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98TJ
RCRC Club Member RCRC Club Treasurer Joined: 10 May 2005 Location: Maysville, Madison County Status: Offline Points: 8393 |
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Case, cool photos. 40,000 people; man, that event has gotten BIG.
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1998 TJ 4.0 5spd Atlas 36" Swampers RE4.5 ARB's 44/44
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Looks like an absolute blast.
What's it like to wear short sleeve t-shirts?
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scoutman
RCRC Club Visitor Lame Duck Past Pres, Fab Guy & Club Cook Joined: 16 February 2004 Location: Monrovia/HSV Status: Offline Points: 3232 |
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More like, what's it like to not get rain'd on?
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76 Scout II in pieces
96 Jeep XJ 33's 99 Jeep XJ Limited 06 Dodge 3500 W5LZQ |
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cj8lvr
RCRC LLC Member Joined: 10 February 2005 Location: Madison, Madison County Status: Offline Points: 7946 |
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Or snowed on...
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___/| [_\__\],
l___l__L-O|||||O_ _()_)__()_)___()_) Jake White Owner of CartoTracks.com Trail Maps Past RCRC - VP Past Nat'l CJ-8 Scrambler Owners Association President |
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Case
RCRC LLC Member Have you seen my 9/16" socket? Joined: 20 September 2004 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1773 |
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it was definitely hard to get on the plane in phoenix where it was sunny and 70 (all the natives were complaining about how cold it was) and get off in memphis where it was snowing.
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06 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Unlimited all torn apart.
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I lived in Prescott, AZ for a while. It was interesting to leave the house with snow on the ground and 20 degrees and drive a little over an hour to Phoenix and see the folks walking around in shorts and T-shirts.
Case - so how much of the Rubicon drive train that you paid the bucks for is still there? Seems like all this could have been done on a red TJ? Hind sight is great, isn't it? The work does look great!
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