[doogie]

Well this is a big update in the spending department but a very small update in the actual progression of the build. I can sling on a lift without much thought but I'm not much of a mechanic and I really hate to mess with nagging stuff anyway. So I dropped it off at my mechanics and said fix it! I was going to wait till after the holidays because I really just needed to button up a rear main seal leak and tailshaft seal leak. Then this weekend my radiator puked out quite a bit of coolant, enough to splash on the axle u-joint which proceeded to sling it everywhere while I was driving. So drop it off last night. He went over it this moring breaking down what will cost me what. Basically he's installing my new Ebay exhaust manifold, fixing the rear main seal, fixing the tail shaft seal, installing a new coolant temp sending unit, putting in a new radiator......and.....wait for it........$1,000 later I have a ZJ with no issues except the a/c dang the ms's ain't going to be happy about this one.

[XJ_Renegade]

Yeww...$1,000 on repairs makes me sick. But ya got to do what ya got to do.

[BigMikeWJ]

ouch!...Whats wrong with your exhaust manifold?

[Bama_WJ]

Originally Posted by BigMikeWJ

ouch!...Whats wrong with your exhaust manifold?

Probably cracked if I had to guess.

[doogie]

Originally Posted by WJ_Renegade

Yeww...$1,000 on repairs makes me sick. But ya got to do what ya got to do.

Did me to but now I can finally park it in my driveway instead of the dirt patch beside it and it’s not going to mark it’s territory.

Originally Posted by BigMikeWJ

ouch!...Whats wrong with your exhaust manifold?

Originally Posted by Bama_WJ

Probably cracked if I had to guess.

Yep cracked. Hopefully the Ebay manifold will be as good as some of the guys on here say they are and it will last a long time.

[doogie]

Got to go wheeling anytime it snows. So I went out to the Hurricane Creek trail it's close to the Max Patch area near Harmons Den. I suppose it's really just an unmaintained Forest Service road but it's about the closet thing to a trail I have near to me. Some parts would be a challenge for anything long but for the most part it's an easy little trail. The snow adds a little bit of a challenge since it's pretty narrow and alot of the trail slopes to the edge where 90 pecent of the time there is a 50-100ft straight drop. It was cold and I was to lazy to unbolt the sway bar but this is the first trip since my lift, actually first trip in this Jeep period. So I was pretty darn happy. Like I said, nothing crazy just a fun outing.

Came in from the Bear Wallow side, here is close to the start of the trail:


Random trial pose:

This little spot right here doesn't look like much but there are rocks under that snow and like I said they angle pretty steeply toward the edge and so you are sliding toward the drop off the entire time. This was a seriously slow crawl over this thing to keep the rear from sliding off the edge of the rock and scaring the bejesus out of you. And this is not a tilted shot.


Just some radom poses and scenery along the way:





Then me crawling up out of the last creek crossing, especially liked this shot:

[PaLftr]

that's one sexy jeep.

Nice pics!

[Mike97ZJ]

Great snow pics!

It's funny that you've gotten more snow in NC than we've gotten in RI.

[doogie]

Originally Posted by PaLftr

that's one sexy jeep.
Nice pics!

Much appreciated!

Originally Posted by Mike97ZJ

Great snow pics!

It's funny that you've gotten more snow in NC than we've gotten in RI.

It’s global warming . However this trail starts out at around 6,000 ft. By the time I got to the end of it back down around 2,500-3,000 ft there was no snow. I live about 20 minutes away and am at roughly the same lower elevation and had little more that flurries there either.

[seekrtruth]

Nice ZJ bro...Still loved the TJ though.lol Let's hit hurricane soon!

[doogie]

Originally Posted by seekrtruth

Nice ZJ bro...Still loved the TJ though.lol Let's hit hurricane soon!

Thanks man. We'll definately hit Hurricane soon.

Well as for updates not a ton has gone on lately:

#1 - Ordered Kevin's Roof Tire Carrier on Thanksgiving day. It's still not here, called week before last and it was supposed to be here last week and it's still not shipped. I know there is alot of love here for Kevin but on this order I ain't impressed. I know he had to make some but it's been a month.

#2- Some of you may have read my (Click Here) topic about my tranny giving me issues. It kept blowing fuses and locking me into limp mode. It turned out to be a bolt had rubbed through a wire shorting everything out. Click on the above link for pics of the fuse and wire harness. I'm sure some of you might want to put a zip tie on it to prevent it from happening to you.

#3 - Well as most of you on the east coast know it dumped the snow here Friday and Saturday. So I went out to the store (just an excuse to get out and drive in the snow) and on the way back home some punk kid come drifting around the corner in his moms 86 Subaru wagon and had no chance of stopping and getting back in his lane. Basically I just had to come to a stop and kick back and watch him slide toward me. I guess I was lucky, he dinged a few fins on the trans cooler but no leaks and poped that chunk out of the bumper. Kid gave me $300 to not call the cops. I hope nothing pops up that I didn't notice after impact.


Wreck

[rugermack]

Money towards a after market bumper ?

[doogie]

Originally Posted by rugermack

Money towards a after market bumper ?

I thought about that but the cheapest one I can find is the CSL Offroad prerunner that's $535. I just can't bring myself to put that into a bumper. I think I'm going to build something simple out of 1x1 tubing and skin it with sheet. I already have some 2x3 that I can use for frame attachments.

[PaLftr]

$300? Sounds like a good deal to me lol

[zjzach]

i wish some kid would hit my jeep and give me 300 bucks. glad to see you didn't take too much damage though.