A Humboldt-Cherokee Blog.

[srmitchell]

No worries man. I know that's not what you meant. I know how badly it can suck!
Good thing is that we are still young.

 

[jimbosz07]

Exactly we got all the time in the world. Just dropped my axle off at Rear End Specialties so later this afternoon my regear will finally be all done. Things are lookin up

But enough about my junk, where's the flex pic?!?!?!?!?!

 

[srmitchell]

Nice man!

How much are they charging?

I'll get em. I just got the new tires on.

 

[jimbosz07]

They charged me $225 and had it back to me later that afternoon. Great guys

Oooo new rubber :clap:

 

[srmitchell]

Wow! 225 with gears or just labor?

Here's a recap.

Got the arms 2 weeks ago. They are beefy as hell.

Ran into some issues with the install. I couldnt use the crush sleeve. Had to cut holes in the floor. This was due to my stiffeners.

Once the crossmember was done, I mounted the arms.
RE arms vs. RC arms.

Install.

It only took me 3 total hours to cut the brackets, and install the arms. (I did it over a span of a night and morning.)
Old angle.

New.

 

[srmitchell]

I still need to install the tcase skid.

Next, I ordered a set of Treadwright AT's. I love the look of them, and they measure a true 32's. I had the 31's before and they were great! (They also save a ton of energy and oil.)

Im not worried about the less aggressive tread, because the MTr's were pretty bad, and diameter has always been the problem, not aggressiveness.
I got the tires in 3 days. (Awesome.)
These things are 2 inches taller than the old MT/r's. (Which is sweet!)

At the tire shop. They charged 85 to do the swap/ balance, and I sold the MT/r's for 350 to a guy on craigslist. He followed me to the place, so I got the money instantly.

And mounted!

 

[american_zero]

Nice! Good looking tires and huge for the size!

 

[jimbosz07]

Nice! Still waitin on that flex pic though... haha

$225 was install only. I brought the parts to them

 

[SeansXJ]

looks nice!

...cut the fenders, bumpstop it and slap some 35s on it.

i know you want the clean look though, its all good!! looks clean thats for sure.

 

[connor0770]

Looking Good man!!! very clean jeep!! are you rubbing at all with the bigger tires?

 

[srmitchell]

Thanks guys. It rides great.

I'll get a flex pic soon. It needs bumpstops.

 

[american_zero]

How does the road noise compare to the old MTR's?

 

[rocknxj]

Three thumbs up!

 

[REVROK]

Lookin' good... love that clean look!

 

[srmitchell]

Thanks guys. I did more work today.

-Went to Big 5 today, and got hockey puck for bumpstop extensions.

Sorry Shark Mark! haha

Installed those underneath the existing RE 2 inch spacer I installed 2 years ago. Took a little while to get the hardware together, but now the stops are well tuned up front.

Flexed. It's drooping well!

In other news, I installed the Rough Country tcase skid.

Ground down the plug welds where it mounts.

Drilled and bolted up. It's beefy as hell and solid!

Good progress for today!
Thanks for reading.

 

[srmitchell]

Redid my cooling system in preparation of sierra fest.

I've always had trouble with the coolant, anytime I turn on A/C, it starts to go past 210, and Im very careful because I have the dreaded 0331 head casting.

So, I went ahead and got a new water pump from work, along with hoses, tstat, and radiator cap.

Even without my discount, it only came to 65 bucks.

And BTW, I am a huge advocate of "fix it before it breaks", because overheating is NOT cool.

I drained all the old nasty coolant (which was more than 4 years old,) and did a full flush with radiator cleaner.

--That is when I ran into major issues. It started to overheat, and my efan wasn't turning on. In addition, my e-fan switch wasn't working.
I checked all connections, and realized that the 12v positive was loose. It sparked, and blew a fuse. I went to work to buy a fuse, installed it, and boom, smoke right near the fuse box. I freaked out, shut it off, and realized that the 12 volt wire to the fan relay had burned out!
20 bucks later, i added 10 guage wire, and a 30 amp fuse to the 12 volt wire. All said and done, the fan sounds faster, and stronger.

After the fan was figured out, I then drained the flush stuff, and flushed it again with water.

Next, I removed the water pump, and tstat, followed by the new ones.

It is now all filled back up, and my god... it barely reaches 205 degrees, which is great!

This was a welcome upgrade.

 

[Ivan]

Sean,

Hopefully you'll have better luck with aftermarket hoses than I did. A while back I replaced both upper and lower rad hoses with aftermarket ones, and the top one just wouldn't fit right around the battery. It was a tight squeeze, particularly around the corner edge of the battery. I put some foam between the battery and the hose to protect it, but after a while a hole had formed in the foam. I knew it was only a matter of time before the hose met the same fate.

At that point, I replaced the hoses with OEM hoses. Much better fit and peace of mind....

...just saying.

BTW... nice work on your rig. Looks like it's been keeping you busy. I've been tackling the little nit-picky stuff on mine I've been putting off. Got the front driver's speaker fixed, the rear door lock acutator replaced. This weekend its replacing the rear hatch plastic hatch panel that I busted a while back, while replacing the latch lock. I've got a replacement panel, but this time while everything is exposed, I'm going to install a safety release wire for the rear hatch incase it ever gets stuck again. It'll be nothing more than some steel cable attached to the lock bar, with a key ring at the end. The wire will poke through a small hole in the hatch panel with the key ring at the end. That way I can open the hatch from the inside....

 

[rocknxj]

Agreed. Overheating is NOT cool. After my third or fourth ill-fated towing adventure with my XJ, I bit the bullet and bought a new tow rig so I won't need to tow with my Cherokee and risk blowing the motor or tranny.

Your Heep is looking great and I look forward to checking it out during SF.

 

[srmitchell]

Well, I had a hell of a time at Sierrafest.

Damage-
Hit both rear flares.
Hit the bumper into the hatch.
Scratched every single wheel.
No more paint on the passenger rock slider
Smacked the rear diff, and front. (Thank god for diff covers, seriously.)

And something awesome?
I bounced off a boulder with the tie rod, enough to send the whole rig backward, with no movement in the jam nuts or anything. DOM ftw!

In other news, one of the joints in the long arms is worn out. And I hit the brackets A LOT.
Good news is that I called RC, they are sending me a new joint for free, and they say they are making a new crossmember that is higher.

I also ordered the outer tubes for my rock sliders from AJ, and i also ordered the vacuum disco conversion kit for the axle that Ed is giving me.
I <3 Mr.Ed. haha
Pics.

 

[srmitchell]

I checked my right control arm... the lower flex joint has 1/4 inch play. NOT GOOD. The whole axle shifts.

Good thing is that the new one comes tomorrow.