• NAXJA is having its 18th annual March Membership Drive!!!
    Everyone who joins or renews during March will be entered into a drawing!
    More Information - Join/Renew
  • Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

beater!

Does chaos ORP have enough trails to plan a full weekend trip?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Does chaos ORP have enough trails to plan a full weekend trip?

The park is about 400 acres of land with a few dozen trails. But the trails are almost all simple / unrated trails, setup so you drive to an obstacle area and play around there, then go on to the next area. There is plenty of stuff to do of varying difficulty, from absolute beginner to comp crawler stuff (bus-sized rocks on the side of the mountain). I spent the morning playing on rockpiles with my crawler friends, and the afternoon doing the green trails loop around the outer perimeter. Could do a full day of random trails / exploration and another full day of crawler stuff.
 
Day trip to Cove Campground in Gore VA for Big Dog's Main Jambo. Really loving this setup

2019_09_07_Pennsyltucky_1.jpg


2019_09_07_Pennsyltucky_2.jpg
 
Looking great, Eric! Good to see that one of us is getti g out in the trails!
I've been overwhelmed with work, Carol is going in for surgery on Wednesday (not a major issue, no cause for concern but well wishes to her will not go unappreciated).
Of course preparing for fall yardwork, the tow rig needs repair, fiona needs repair, I have to finish dismantling this 00 and get rid of it, and sell that comanche..
I'll survive, but I've never been so damned busy.
Looking forward to October!
 
Looks great Eric..

How do you like that tent cot? I toss and turn all night, cant see one working for me personally.

Your lookin a lil greyer than the last time we met up.. ;)
 
Looking great, Eric! Good to see that one of us is getti g out in the trails!
I've been overwhelmed with work, Carol is going in for surgery on Wednesday (not a major issue, no cause for concern but well wishes to her will not go unappreciated).
Of course preparing for fall yardwork, the tow rig needs repair, fiona needs repair, I have to finish dismantling this 00 and get rid of it, and sell that comanche..
I'll survive, but I've never been so damned busy.
Looking forward to October!

Hey Rich, please let Carol know she's in our thoughts and prayers here.

When you get caught up i'v got some chores around here your welcome to add to your list. :)
 
Looking great, Eric! Good to see that one of us is getti g out in the trails!
I've been overwhelmed with work, Carol is going in for surgery on Wednesday (not a major issue, no cause for concern but well wishes to her will not go unappreciated).
Of course preparing for fall yardwork, the tow rig needs repair, fiona needs repair, I have to finish dismantling this 00 and get rid of it, and sell that comanche..
I'll survive, but I've never been so damned busy.
Looking forward to October!

Man, I know the feeling about work - been nuts for me lately too. Have things I want to get done on my Rig for October too.

Will keep my fingers crossed that things go smoothly for Carol.

At least if you're busy, you don't have time to get into as much trouble! :D
 
Thanks all for your well wishes she is doing great and everything is ok!
Sorry to Jack your thread Eric, everyone go back to business, nothing to see here! All is well, but thank you for caring!
Rich
 
Happy news is always welcome, glad to hear it went well.
 
I had to remove my rocker rails when I installed the frame stiffeners and long-arm brackets. The rockers got beat pretty hard from the lack of protection over the summer, especially the passenger side where I couldn't see. Time for 2x6 rock slider replacements...

Passenger_Rocker_Front.sized.jpg


Passenger_Rocker_Rear.sized.jpg


Started by cutting the rockers just before the curve upwards. On the bottom I cut just outside the inward seam where the rocker joins the floor pan (I wish I had left more material to form a shelf but I was worried that I would be restricted--false worry as it turned out and I lacked a good weldable edge).

Rocker_Cut.sized.jpg


I decided to make a ledge for the rocker tubing with 2x2x1/8 angle iron. I had to notch it to clear the seat belt anchors. I also cut 1" holes in the vertical side of the angle iron to let me weld to the side of the old rocker / floor pan seam.

Slider_Support_Notched.sized.jpg


Spot welds about every 3/4" apart along the top and bottom edges, and inside the holes. I did not think I would be able to get good seam welds and thought this would let the sheetmetal move without forcing it to crush or rip. Afterwards I packed the welds with 3M automotive seam sealer which dries very strong but flexible, so it provides structural support and movement at the same time.

Slider_Support_Welded.sized.jpg


Slider_Support_Sealed.sized.jpg


The box tubing laid on the angle and pushed up against the sheet metal. I repeated the spot welds and seam sealer for the top edge against the body (three rows of spot welds total), but did full weld along the bottom edge where the tube lays on the angle

Slider_Welded_Top.sized.jpg


Slider_Welded_Bottom.sized.jpg


Painted and reassembled....

Slider_Painted.sized.jpg


We will see how the welds hold up at AOAA
 
I keep busting the Hella 500FF lights on the bar, even when I put them behind it.

Broken_Hella_500FF.sized.jpg


The JCR bumper has cutouts for cube lights but I couldn't ever find anything except floods or spots, which I didn't want. Looking again recently and I found Rigid started making the 504814 cubes which are DOT legit amber fog LEDs. They fit in the bumper cut out pretty well, don't have any forward glare, and put out a nice wide line beam.

Rigid_504814_Glare.sized.jpg


Rigid_504814_Beam_Pattern.sized.jpg


They are tucked into the bumper cavity pretty well, so I don't expect to break them on anything unless I poke something through the hole. Possible!
 
Went to GWNF with some friends from the area. Little bit of rocks, more than a little mud and water. Good time exploring the forest roads.

2019_12_07_GWNF.sized.jpg


All the water killed my alternator, then the PS reservoir cracked and started leaking. I have a few other things that need attention so looks like I am down for extended maintenance for a while.
 
I just recently “rebuilt” my alternator after the same kind of stuff. It’s really easy and the parts are like 20$ on eBay or the like.
 
Yeah I've rebuilt them, not that difficult. Thinking I will take the opportunity to upgrade to a higher output unit. I have the 136amp now, but looking to add a second battery for all the accessories, so may try to find something closer to 200 to up the available load.
 
Lots of maintenance work going on. Replaced the timing chain--the old one wasn't awful but it had stretched enough to rub some pretty deep grooves in the guide--hopefully this helps with heat buildup problems.

Timing_Guide_Worn.sized.jpg


Replaced the Alloy ball joints with new Teraflex adjustables. The lowers were completely shot. These are greasable and you can cinch the lower up if it gets sloppy. Yet to verify that the RCVs will fit but should.

Teraflex_Ball_Joints.sized.jpg


Also rebuilt the driveshafts, fixed a couple of exhaust issues, cleaned the axles, serviced all the fluids, etc.

Also started two new projects. One is a crossover steering / axle makeover project with the Teraflex high-steer knuckles. Just bolted up to take some measurements and think about where all the parts will go for now. I will need to remove / relocate the sway bar links and stabilizer at least. Trying to figure out a path towards getting a trackbar to be the same length as the drag link, not seeing it yet. Will take a while to finish this one.

Teraflex_High_Steer_Knuckle.sized.jpg


Also started working on installing the SFR crossmember with tcase skid. It doesn't quite fit with the 242 so I will have to modify it a bit. Need to get the vehicle back on the ground with weight on wheels for an upcoming wheeling trip, but hope to finish this soon.
 
Back
Top