Project Florida Crawler 2

Wow. I want to know how you put the words "Florida" and "rock crawler" together. Where in da bangem are you? I just left Duval after 4.5 long years of government servitude.
 
thesteveyo said:
Wow. I want to know how you put the words "Florida" and "rock crawler" together. Where in da bangem are you? I just left Duval after 4.5 long years of government servitude.
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lol, theres a few old large rock quaries in Ocala, where the jeep will be doing most of its wheeling.

im in atlantic beach, mayport area.
 
ok, so had what i would call a "not good" day of wheeling saturday.

started off in the early AM on a 2.5 hour drive to an offroad park in ocala. about 45 minutes in i start feeling the jeep jerking around and a loud roaring noise. turns out its the bearings on the driver side front. pulled over into a gas station and tore it down. i found the bearing in pieces and obvious signs of water. so i guess some water had gotten in the last wheeling trip and i didn't catch it. ended up tearing it down and replacing the inner/outer bearings and races along with some fresh grease. all in all the detour cost me about 2 hours because of the running around to get the parts and the actual work. oh well, fixed it and was on my way again.


so i finally get to the park, air down and start wheeling. i arrive at the first obstacle of the day and as i start to climb it i notice the driver side hub is not locking in. i tossed everything together in a hurry so i figured i just put the cap on wrong. haven't really messed with these yukon hubs much. so, instead of backing down and fixing it (dumb) i still try the obstacle. well i get to the top ledge and the jeep won't just bump over like it usually does. mainly because the driverside tire is the side that has the most area to grab for traction at the top. and the passenger side isn't doing much to pull over. so i decide to hit it a little harder and just bounce the thing over. as i hit it the jeep bounces up pretty hard and i stay in it to try to get it over. as it comes back down under throttle i hear a loud snap and my forward motion stops......yay.

i knew what it was exactly when i heard the noise. and i can't exactly say i didn't know i was going to happen eventually, i just didn't think it would happen on the first obstacle of the day on the 40's. lol


anyways, broke the dana300 rear output shaft. also managed to break the 1310 CV. shit, day over


so, spent the rest of the day as a passenger and squeezed onto a buddies trailer to get a ride home.



got it back to the shop, and today i found a really good deal on the AA HD rear output. so, in my attempt to polish a turd i will be upgrading it. i will be keeping the 1310 yoke though, so hopefully the driveshaft becomes the fuse. and i also decided that i will start saving to get an atlas4 at some point in the distant future.

anyways, here it sits while i start pulling out the cases and fix it. hopefully by the weekend it will be driving again.
 
ok, got the cases out to repair and to also inspect and make sure everything else was holding up inside.


also, the HD output showed up. there really is no comparison in the strength difference just based on visual appearance.


luckily, all the bearings and gears were still in great condition in both cases, so just installed the new rear output and tossed it all back together with some new seals.

also, gave it a paint job. for those not familiar with my last build i had issues breaking AX15s in different ways. so the last one i rebuilt and tossed in i decided to paint it the most obnoxious color i had in the paint cabinet. as kind of a "punishment" to the transmission. well that color happened to be a metallic gold. the trans ended up holding together and now even lives on in my new XJ...


so, to follow trend...the cases got the same treatment. obnoxious gold it is! don't judge me...




anyways, the jeep is back to drivable and I've been putting some miles on it. i have a big event to go to next weekend so I'm doing some random finish work I've been neglecting.
 
went to an event in Ocala called Jeeptoberfest. pretty much a big show with a bunch of vendors and 3 obstacle courses (mild, intermediate, extreme)

the first day i just hung out at our shops booth and didn't do any wheeling, with the expectation that i would be wheeling after the show in some local rock quarrys. well the show ended and i decided to let my wife drive the jeep through the intermediate course (small hills, concrete obstacles, and a small rock garden)
i kept it in double low in second gear and she was doing pretty well until i got out and let her drive solo down a concrete hill, i told her to just keep it in gear and let the gearing do most of the work and not be on the brakes to hard. unfortunatly being that she was in double low the jeep (which in second gear has a top speed of 6 mph at 5000rpm) the jeep pretty much immediately mechanically over-rev'd and exploded the clutch sending her down the hill faster than planned. luckily it wasn't a very long hill and there wasn't anything to hit. so she made it down safely. but, i now had an immobile jeep.

so we ran to the parts store picked up a clutch and changed it out in the parking lot that night and drove it back to the hotel around midnight (pretty good time for whats involved in removing a transmission in my jeep)


anyways, i came back the next day to the event and ran the extreme course. ended up being a pretty intense course with most of the people who tried it either breaking or having to be craned out of it. I somehow managed to make it through unassisted . which as far as i know, i was the only full body (non buggy/non wrangler) rig to make it through. which i considered a good accomplishment for the build.

a coworker was filming so hopefully ill have that video up soon.
 
sweet. That course looks gnarly
 
Nice build. I live about a half hr from Ocala but was outta town during Jeeptoberfest so I didnt get to check it out. Was it worth the trip? What shop do u work at n Jville? Hit me up sometime i would love to crawl around Ocala with somebody not in a rig i have to pay for when it breaks. Ive actually never been to hardrock we usually travel to Birmingham area to wheel with friends. I hear its decent.
 
jbain08 said:
Very Cool, glad you were able to get it fixed and be able to run the course.
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me too, it took a little convincing though since i was about ready to just toss it up on a trailer and take it home.

dukie564 said:
sweet. That course looks gnarly
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its definitely fun to run when everything goes right, but there were so many others who tried it over the two days that probably don't feel the same way. lol

grchjeep said:
Nice build. I live about a half hr from Ocala but was outta town during Jeeptoberfest so I didnt get to check it out. Was it worth the trip? What shop do u work at n Jville? Hit me up sometime i would love to crawl around Ocala with somebody not in a rig i have to pay for when it breaks. Ive actually never been to hardrock we usually travel to Birmingham area to wheel with friends. I hear its decent.
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for me its worth the trip. its 2.5 hours from my house to the market and its pretty close to the ocala wheeling spots.

i work at happytrails4x4. and will do man, were going down to wildwood in mid november so a coworker can do the obstacle course race they are having. and I'm considering stopping off in ocala on the way back if i bring my jeep down.
 
no wheeling this weekend, but went to a show n shine on the beach
 
Looking badass man. I made it out to Jacksonville.. Be here until June. Currently living in the university park area!
Let me know if you want a ride a long. I'd love the check this beast out and some trails. Just picked up a 91 mj 5 speed out here
 
got a few more pictures from the jeeptoberfest show, and 1 from a show n shine put on by a local jeep club last weekend.
 
also, i got an invite to join a group that does off road adventures. basically the same concept as the Ultimate Adventure. Pretty much a No trailers allowed, live out of your rig for a week, and drive from place to place to wheel, all while having the destinations kept a secret.


so, now the prep begins. the trip is at the end of February so hopefully that will be enough time to get everything together.

Things i need to come up with
-a spare 40" tire and wheel
-a working winch
-a full list of tools do fix as much as possible on the jeep. (trying to avoid bringing what i don't need in order to maximize space)
-spare driveshafts
-spare d60 yoke (already have a spare 14b yoke)
-mayyyyyyyybe some beadlocks, if not ill atleast weld in some rock rings to help protect the wheels
-random spare motor and electronic parts
-space saving camping gear
-build a skid plate for the Tcase
-spare 14b shafts
-and some other things I'm sure ill think of and add as i go along


all while making sure i can fit everything in an easily acceptable manner.
 
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