Project Downward Spiral

[Lowrange2]

I suppose.

 

[5spd_xj]

115" really. wow... How's progress coming, anyway? Any new pictures?

 

[RCman]

115" really. wow... How's progress coming, anyway? Any new pictures?

Haha Progress? Not anytime soon. Ice storm Thursday night dumped 7/8"+ of ice on everything. It is like something out of a movie... nuts. I don't expect power back for at least a week.

I'm only typing this as I'm down at my father's shop emailing a paper.

This was my road:

Second phone pole closest to my house:

Third phone pole closest to my house:

This is what the road looks like right now:

I'll post more later. I'm headed back to continue with the chainsaw.

 

[BaronVonRoot]

aww bummer man, now i remember why i moved to the southwest!

 

[5spd_xj]

We got the same storm here too, but not as bad... Still a ton of trees down and power out, But we were in a lucky-er area, got power back yesterday. Good luck with getting everything back together out there, and hurry up because I want to see this thread continuing!

 

[RCman]

We got the same storm here too, but not as bad... Still a ton of trees down and power out, But we were in a lucky-er area, got power back yesterday. Good luck with getting everything back together out there, and hurry up because I want to see this thread continuing!

Just got back... now I got five more days and I'll be home for break. As much as I don't want to be here it'll be nice to have power for a little bit. Honestly though I'd probably rather still be outside with the chainsaw.
I want to see the Jeep continue progress too, but it is kinda hard on limited generator power. That and the road/yard needs to get picked up first.
Talking with a friend of mine that works for the power company, he says that they are estimating power back to Main St. on Tuesday. He expects us to be without power until at least a week past that. Heck, thats two days before Christmas.

 

[beakie]

thats awsome... flashback.

'98 we got one up here, no power for 17 days. course we heated with wood, cooked with propane, life was good.

stay safe with the saw out there, hope everything gets cleaned up and straightened out for you and yours there soon.

 

[RCman]

thats awsome... flashback.

'98 we got one up here, no power for 17 days. course we heated with wood, cooked with propane, life was good.

stay safe with the saw out there, hope everything gets cleaned up and straightened out for you and yours there soon.

Funny you mention that! We were talking about that this afternoon. Our place in VT was just missed by that storm.

Unfortunately I'll be down here till Thursday evening. When I do get back it'll be much more sawing, lugging, and picking up to do.
We were fortunate not to have any damage to the house, cars, or anyone. In all of it though, it is almost relaxing cutting up and cleaning up. Our neighbors have a few holes in the roof from a 19" or so tree that came down. We helped them out a bunch today before I had to go, I don't think they are so relaxed.

Thanks for the hope!

 

[asp]

dang, that storm looks like it sucks. we barely got anything out in amherst. one of my girlfriend's room mates is from holden and they're in the same boat as you. not really that far away.... i was at home in grafton and it wasn't bad at all. crazy what 20 miles or so will do.

 

[RCman]

dang, that storm looks like it sucks. we barely got anything out in amherst. one of my girlfriend's room mates is from holden and they're in the same boat as you. not really that far away.... i was at home in grafton and it wasn't bad at all. crazy what 20 miles or so will do.

Ya... storm and the property sucks, but nothing anyone can do about it but enjoy what is left.

More pictures: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?p=244167627

 

[5spd_xj]

glad you're looking at it in with a bright perspective, that's half the battle!

 

[RCman]

glad you're looking at it in with a bright perspective, that's half the battle!

Got to try. It makes life more enjoyable.

 

[RCman]

Yet another minor setback...

So I was going to gear my axles over this long weekend due to Christmas.
Got all setup other than when I went to attach the rear 5.38s to the spool. The ring gear bolts bottomed out before they were tight. They bottom out with 0.110" left before they make contact with flange. Called Dave @ Northridge4x4 and got a hold of him (surprised for X-Mas eve). Apparently this is a common problem with spools.
Here is the bolt dimension rundown:

My Current Bolts: 1.125"
Dave's other bolts: 0.92"
Bolt Difference: .205"

This should leave me with 0.095" before contact.
I've got to give him a call back on Monday and he'll send some on there way. I guess I'll order that inner pinion slinger I need for the front HPD60 as well.

So now I find something else to do for the long weekend.

 

[nhrocker]

So now I find something else to do for the long weekend.

Too bad I'm not closer. I'd "volunteer" my rig to help keep you busy... :laugh3:

I keep pushing off my projects, and I even have most of the parts... I've got a fuel cell and all the goodies ready and waiting, parts for shackle mount relocation brackets all prepped ready to weld, new heater controls ready to swap, sway bar mounts to make, etc. Between either needing it for bad roads (pretty much all the time since the ice storm), not having the money to do much, changing the designs, or not being able to work with no garage I've made no progress.

 

[RCman]

Too bad I'm not closer. I'd "volunteer" my rig to help keep you busy... :laugh3:

I've got enough work with just one. I couldn't imagine two! :laugh:

I've got a fuel cell and all the goodies ready and waiting

I'll take those...

... not having the money to do much, changing the designs...

I know those two very well. :banghead:


I've got to make a few calls on Monday and get some more parts and my link tubing on its way.

 

[nhrocker]

I've got a fuel cell and all the goodies ready and waiting

I'll take those...

Haha, yeah sure...

Actually just talked to a friend today about borrowing his garage sometime this week so I can at least get it "temporarily" in there. My stock tank acquired a leak at some point, and I had been wanting to go fuel cell anyway, so I picked up all the parts last summer. 25 gallon alum. cell, NAPA self priming pump, Fram stock style fuel filter, and soft lines/hose clamps to hook it up. For now I'll just bolt it down in the back end. Eventually I'll be cutting out the rear floor and adding bracing/framework to support a flat skid, new shock mounts, and allow me to drop the cell through the floor. We'll see how long that takes to get to...

 

[RCman]

Since I can't gear the axles until the new ring gear bolts get here... I moved back the the suspension. With all this talk about 4-link numbers in other threads on another forum it made me go back to tweak the numbers.
This leaves my link lengths at 38.5" for the lowers and 29.75" for the uppers. That is longer by about 5" each over revision 1.

This will force me to make an x-member for the lower links. The uppers will still mount to the unibody rail as before, just in a new location. Not much I can do more with those, they pretty much have to go there. The plan is to bend up a pair of sections of 1.75" 0.120wall DOM and weld in supports between the two.
Anyway... here are the numbers:

Any opinions? :eyes:

 

[5spd_xj]

hehe i like how the light blue = "mess with these cells", real tech talk-like

I'm curious...how do you go about calculating your vehicle's CoG height?

sorry i'm not able to offer any opinion as to how your #s look...

 

[RCman]

hehe i like how the light blue = "mess with these cells", real tech talk-like

Haha... I'm not the one that wrote the code in excel, and the few people that did work on it did a great job... so I'm not gonna complain about word choice.

I'm curious...how do you go about calculating your vehicle's CoG height?

That is more of a half-educated guess. I've got it writen down somewhere, but if I remember right it was related the to height of the bell housing to the ground.

sorry i'm not able to offer any opinion as to how your #s look...

No worries, I'm taking a quick dinner break before I finish figuring out how much more rear floor needs to disappear to work with that now needed rear crossmember.

 

[MoparManiac]

Dude...I need pics BAD!

I'm constantly on this thread waiting for pics.

Don't forget, break-in run in 20 days