Voyage Jeep

She’s so high above me, she’s so lovely!

Finally the last steps in installing a 2″ OME Heavy Duty Lift kit are finished.  Well kind of.

About 3 weeks ago my friend JT and I began installing new springs, spacers and shocks on the Jeep.  It was a fairly simple process actually and considering we did all the work on the ground without a lift I think we did pretty good.  Totaly install time was about 8 hours of work and 2 hours of dicking around trying to fix the work we did.

Here you can see the stock ride measured off the front bumper.

Here it is off the rear bumper:

All you really need to do to install one of these kits is take off the old shocks and spring and put new ones in. Easy right? Wrong!

Here I am making sparker where I had to cutt off the old front shocks. The nuts for the shocks were seized and rusted on and we stripped the bolts trying to take them out. Solution. Grind:

Here are the old springs and shocks next to the new ones. Notice the difference in height of the springs. You can see where I cut the rods of the old shocks off. The new ones went on much easier. Don’t ask me why the bushing for one new shock is yellow and the other one is black. Near as I could tell there was no difference between them and I’m not changing them now if there is.

Here’s the front axle totally naked:

Here’s me using spring compressors to get the new springs ready to install. Let me tell you that spring compressors are the scariest tool ever in automotive history. Its like holding a loaded shotgun to your face and hoping everything works out for the best.

Here is the first new spring going in. It wasn’t that bad actually and most of the front end was a breeze.

The back end on the other hand was a pain in the ass. We broke a total of 3 shock bolts in the frame. I managed to drill and tap out 2 of them. The third one I saved for the mechanic to do when he did the alignment.

Here I am fighting with the back shocks. You can see the drills laying around in the second picture, that was our drill/tap setup.

Now let me tell you about this little bracket:

This bracket moves your rear trackbar to make your rear tires centered under the vehicle after lifting it. Everyone says you need to use a right angle drill to install it properly. Knowing all of these people can’t be right I try using a normal drill. Wrong again! You totally need a right angle drill to drill the top bolt. It just isn’t feasible with a normal drill, its too high and there isn’t enough clearance. Save yourself the aggravation and just get a right angle drill, even a cheap one is better than the 2 hours I fought with this.

After it is all said and done here is my finished ride height:

I’m sure it will come down a little once the springs settle down. Until then I needed a little more work done. So off to Gunseth’s 4×4 Performance I go. There he informed me that I had two blown U-Joints and wheel bearings as well as steering stabalizer that wasn’t stabalizing at all and just along for the ride. Along with needing an alignment this would explain the horrible death wobble I was getting whenever I hit a bump. To top it off my front brake rotors and pads were worn completely through on the back side. Being I never use my brakes for anything (including stoping) I never really noticed a problem.

So I had Steve install new and working parts all around as well as fix up that annoying broken shock bolt I mentioned earlier. It all looks really good and the ride is everyting I ever wanted my jeep to be and more.

Here’s that new steering stabalizer, also you can see the JKS Quicker Disconnects I installed last year as well as the new shock and springs. Those JKS Disconnects are GREAT! I went through 2 sets (4 links total) of OEM (Mopar) swaybar connectors before I said enough is enough. Both sets of OEM ones broke in the exact some spot on the ball joint. These things don’t have a ball joint and use a heim joint instead. They are also about twice as thick as the stock ones, as well as being adjustable.

Here’s a nice overall shot of the rig with lift and everything:

Here’s an old image about 2 days after I bought it:

And here is a closing money shot:

So I’ve been busy.  I spent about 12 days in England touring the countryside.  I’ll post picks sooner or later.

 In the mean time any jeep owner prior to I think 2004 will know my next frustration.  UV decay of the black plastic trim on the fender flares and steps.  It turns black plastic into a grey chalky mess that looks aweful.

So I spent some time with a can of trim paint and I must say that it has been holding up quite well for the past three weeks.  And now the black is back to factory-ish original look.

That looks much better than it used to be.  The new bolt heads you see there are what happens when you strip out the mounting bolts for your side steps.  I kind of like them, they look more rugged that way.

Also this just arrived in the mail today:

So expect a full write up of that in the weeks to come.  2″ OME Heavy Duty Lift Kit and a new Hi-Lift Jack.  All this and I still haven’t spent my Economy Stimulus Check yet. 

So I just finished watching “Into the Wild”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758758/
http://www.intothewild.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Wild

Wow…. just wow.  I don’t know how I never heard of this story before or managed to come across the book.  But it was just a great film.  A simple story of a traveler making his way to Alaska and learning what life really means.

It reminds me of my own journey into life.  I’m forced to reflect upon it and what it means to me and how it will affect those around me.  There are quite a few similarities between the movie and my brother’s life as well.  In fact Christopher McCandless and my brother have more than superficial traits in common.  There have been many times I have thought about stepping outside of society and leaving things behind.  My brother is the only one I know who has ever come close, and given the option I’m sure he would live in a bus in the Alaskan wilderness.  His current situation isn’t too far off as it is.

Cleaning up in bathrooms, streams, showers under irrigation sprinklers…. all things I am no stranger to for sure.  Would I do it all again given the opportunity?  In a heartbeat.

I’ve been laying in wait lately for a couple of reasons.  One of them being extremely busy with the normal day job I eventually intend to leave.  But the main reason is much more mundane.  There is a release of new WordPress software coming out that this Blog is based on.  It offers a ton of new features that I had to either impliment by hand, write in myself or patch manually.  So instead of filling up tons of data of a stuff I may have to re-do I’m waiting it out until the new version comes out.  Should be in the next couple of weeks I bet.

 Other than that I’d say plans are still on track for the most part.  The first week of May looks like about 9 days in England also.  With luck a quick jaunt into France for some Pelforth.  I will bring back all that I can carry.

So a lot of people keep asking me if I’m quitting paintball.

 The answer is a resonding “No”.  I have no intentions of stopping any time soon.  So long as my back, legs, knees, and any other part of me holds out I’ll keep playing.  In fact if this year’s schedule is any indication I’ll be playing as much as ever and traveling all over the world to do so.  I’ll be spending a week in May in the UK to play in my first international event outside of Birmingham.

Here is my schedule of events for this season: Read the rest of this entry »