Project Florida Crawler 2

[N20Jeep]

so i ended up selling the MTR's and buying a set of Nitto TG's. first impressions are the sidewall feels much better and the tread blocks on the side are nice. and the tread all around feels much softer, so we will see how it ends up working out on the rocks.

also, the nitto combo ended up weighing 25lbs more per tire than the MTRs.

 

[N20Jeep]

little update on the XJ. shortly after installing the nittos i took the jeep to a local car show and played on a small obstacle course.

 

[N20Jeep]

i then had plans for a trip in mid July to go to Choccolocco ORV park in Jacksonville, AL.

so i did a little shock tuning and changed around some oil levels and pressures. this also made me decide that at some point id like to lower the jeep a little and keep the same up travel. this means i will need to relocate the shock mounts and will have to address the steering and truss clearance to the oil pan in order to achieve more up travel. so it will be a big project .

The trip to alabama was a blast, i went with a group of very capable rigs which made for a pretty good trip with a lot of tough trails. decided to trailer it there since a buddy offered up a spot on his trailer.

 

[N20Jeep]

only real damage i had was that i broke another rear 1310 double cardon joint while on Hells Revenge .

 

[N20Jeep]

also found out when i got back home that i crushed in the front frame rail where the steering box mounts. so i decided to do what i should have originally done, which was sleeve the frame rail so it couldn't crush again.

 

[N20Jeep]

Now it was time for our yearly out of state shop trip. where we close down the shop for a week and go wheel. This years trip was the Harlan, KY. I decided to drive there.

a good 1200 mile round trip.

Ran into a ton of traffic along the way

the jeep did very well driving up there. all the tanks ranged from low 13's to mid 14's in milage. even through the mountain areas. I don't know why, but i enjoy driving it through the more scenic areas than i do while its being towed.

decided to stop about 3-4 hours from harlan the eat dinner and pass out for the night. driving through all the traffic drained me. so i picked a nice welcome center and called it a night. and woke up to a nice clear morning view of the mountains.

then i finished up the drive. finally making it to KY.

shortly after making it to the Camp ground and cabin to wait on the rest of the group to show up

the new cabin on the Putney side is really nice BTW.

and of course , ran some trails

 

[N20Jeep]

 

[N20Jeep]

 

[N20Jeep]

still waiting on more pictures from the other guys.

but the damage tally for the week was
-bent wheel , fixed and kept going
-broken front drive shaft
-broken header panel
-and busted rear window.

 

[akendal4]

Rig is looking great man. What's the final thought I the nittos over the mtrs?

 

[trippled]

:thumbup: looks like a blast! Some good pics on those ledges

 

[N20Jeep]

Rig is looking great man. What's the final thought I the nittos over the mtrs?

after the chocco and harlan trips, i can actually say i really like them. they seem to be holding up Very well in the rocks and flex extremely well at 8-9psi. id buy a set of Nittos again before another set of MTRs

:thumbup: looks like a blast! Some good pics on those ledges

thanks man, the parks are a lot of fun

 

[N20Jeep]

few more pictures i got from Harlan.












decided to add some more tube up front, and ill also be tying that tube in to some runners that will go down to the frame rails and the shock hoops.

 

[N20Jeep]

did some local wheeling with some buddies. no issues, was just a nice trail ride.

 

[N20Jeep]

about 2 weeks ago i went to Jeeptoberfest in Ocala, FL. was a fun show, had a bunch of cool jeeps.

i hopped on the extreme course which hasn't really given me trouble in the past few years I've ran it. but, I went a little to far on a bump i did to clear a rock and ended up in a terrible position. I had to winch out of the hole sideways some, and during this my front driver wheel became jammed up on a rock and broke a spicer joint and stretched the hell out of the inner axle ears. Luckily the outer shaft wasn't damaged.

At that point it became just getting myself off of the course, which resulted in a broken rear 4340 Yukon shaft in the 14bolt....awesome, right?


anyways, i limped it off of the rest of the course and made it back to the booth where i tore both axles down. a buddy brought up a spare stock 14bolt shaft, and i tossed a new Ujoint in the front shaft and the shows maintenance man offered to weld the U joint caps to the bent up ears to bandaid it together. he also welded on a metal plate. So i got it all back together and ended up doing some night wheeling in some old rock quarrys. everything seemed to be working ok, but there was some noise coming from the rear locker. hung out at the show the next day then drove home to start the repair process.

 

[N20Jeep]

got it home and tore the rear axle down. some teeth were broken. so i called yukon and had the parts all warrantied out. good to go.

 

[freerider15]

:laugh:

Man, I bet Yukon loves you by now.

I swapped 4340's in the rear on my 14 bolt...and I didn't have the slightest worry about breaking them on 40" stickies...until you've now broken..what...two of them? :laugh:

Though, I'm sure my rig is a hair lighter, and I don't have to drive mine to and from...not quite as brave as you are

 

[N20Jeep]

:laugh:

Man, I bet Yukon loves you by now.

I swapped 4340's in the rear on my 14 bolt...and I didn't have the slightest worry about breaking them on 40" stickies...until you've now broken..what...two of them? :laugh:

Though, I'm sure my rig is a hair lighter, and I don't have to drive mine to and from...not quite as brave as you are

they've been pretty helpful with getting things taken care of. and i kind of think the Yukon shaft was a manufacturing defect because i didn't think i hit it that hard. but i am pretty heavy so who knows.

but i ordered some new shafts a few weeks ago and they are supposed to ship out monday.

 

[N20Jeep]

new shafts are here and installed. hopefully i won't have any issues inside the axles for a while

 

[N20Jeep]

one of the few complaints i have with my driveshaft is that I break driveshafts too often. mainly the 1310 CV sections. and the only reason i run 1310 CVs is that i fear breaking my transfercase setup.

Now, i love the doubler. but i want the ability to just lay into it when i want and keep on rolling along. and also i want to go ahead and get the TCase portion of my jeep beefed up, so when i finally do go V8 ill have one less thing i need to upgrade.

i went back and forth on a couple options. The Atlas4 and a NP205/crawl box were at the top of the list since i still wanted gearing options.

I ended up deciding on the 205/crawl box, mainly because of the cost difference, but also the fact that NP205s are extremely robust. and i will be pairing that with a Titan Black Box from NWF. so ill still have a decent low/low option and ill have a crawl box that i can just put into single low and not have any concern about breaking the intermediate shaft. i will need to do some more floor work and potentially some crossmember work to make it fit but i think it will still be a solid option for me.

so, i picked up a Ford205 a week ago and just sold my doubler today to someone who I'm sure will love it as much as i did.



Tore the 205 down to inspect everything/ possibly shave the top portion, and to await the new input gear of the Titan box.[/URL[URL=http://s1093.photobucket.com/user/sfrautomotive/media/00xj/Screenshot_20161229-221329_zpsiwanmmzv.png.html]