I'll speak up for Crunch on this since his new residence isn't very "on-line" friendly (dial up) which has kept him from visiting
much.
The Give-A-Way Jeep is alive and well! After the Moab trip, it did indeed have an unfortunate problem on it's drive home. The number 6 connecting rod shattered. When I got home, there was a phone message from Mike saying that he had to have it towed to Grand Junction CO. and that it was sitting in the tow company's lot.
The next day, Mike and I drove out there and loaded it up on my trailer and brought it to my house. Once we pulled the pan and saw the carnage, we knew drastic measures would have to be taken in order to put the Jeep back on the road. With nearly 200K on the drivetrain, it was time for newer stuff!
Luckilly, another
member (Terry Klap "Terrokee") stepped up to the plate and offered Mike a 30K mile replacement engine and tranny combination! That turned out to be a real blessing indeed! We spent about 3 full days working on that swap.
Mike decided that since the Jeep was gonna be all torn up anyway, he invested in a Tom Woods rear drive shaft and a Curie SYE with the heavy duty shaft. He also got a Tera 2-lo kit to put in since the t-case was gonna be pulled apart. We were really pleased to discover that the internals of the t-case were in excellent shape - but also discovered that the range and mode fork pads were about gone, so those were replaced as well.
Mike has added 35" MTR's and aluminum rims as well. Last I heard, the Jeep - affectionately named "Duke" - is runnin' just fine!
Hope that satisfies your curiosity! :wave1:
