The Frog Blog

[FlexdXJ]

Everything from new rear seat belts ($400) to SYE, driveshaft, chaps, exhaust, engine mounts, bumpers, protection galore, and little fuzzy dice for the mirror.

Go ahead and ask. I've got it all itemized down to the penny, along with vendor, date, and mileage when installed. I'm sick.

Haha, Rev's Susie has done that for Rev Den's Rig.....since it was brand new and its a 1990! You would be sick if he told you how much they had in it. I was just guessing at 3k for mine. I bet its closer to 4.

 

[Lodi Jim]

" I took advantage of the JCR Offroad Black Friday sale and ordered a Stage 2 rear bumper"
So you decided against a rear tire carrier, where is the home for your spare going to be?
Roof rack for daily driving, and interior for the trail?

 

[rocknxj]

" I took advantage of the JCR Offroad Black Friday sale and ordered a Stage 2 rear bumper"
So you decided against a rear tire carrier, where is the home for your spare going to be?
Roof rack for daily driving, and interior for the trail?

I actually took your advice, Jim. As much as I want to hang my spare on the rear, it will ultimately be a PITA for visibility and general rear hatch access. I'll keep it on the roof rack for now. After I buy a welder, I will figure out a way to mount it on the rear as you have mentioned.

Besides, $225 was hard to pass up for the Stage 2 and it will tie in with the side protection. I'm stoked to finally get rid of the ugly stock bumper.

 

[FlexdXJ]

I actually took your advice, Jim. As much as I want to hang my spare on the rear, it will ultimately be a PITA for visibility and general rear hatch access. I'll keep it on the roof rack for now. After I buy a welder, I will figure out a way to mount it on the rear as you have mentioned.

Besides, $225 was hard to pass up for the Stage 2 and it will tie in with the side protection. I'm stoked to finally get rid of the ugly stock bumper.

I agree about the visibility but it doesn't make getting into the hatch too hard just latch and swing er out and Yeah $225 is a smoking deal compared to What I dropped on my stage 3.

On a side note, I'm going to pick up a 94 starcraft pop-up in about an hour. Its a lite one and there aren't many mountains around here so the jeep will pull it fine.

 

[rocknxj]

I sold two tent trailers and they looked like new when I got rid of them, so I hope yours is is as good a shape as the one's I sold. I have seen some that smelled like a squirrel died in it, so you got to watch out for used trailers.

We have used our current '05 Fleetwood Bayside about 25 times and we love it. Heavy beast, but we enjoy getting out whenever we can. Do you have electric brakes with that? If so, remember the XJs I've seen have a blue wire under the left side kick panel under the dash that is used for electric brakes. Makes the job simple.

 

[srmitchell]

Congrats on the bumper.

Im at the point you're at, after 3 years of building, I just need to maintain my work.

 

[rocknxj]

Im at the point you're at, after 3 years of building, I just need to maintain my work.

2010 has been an exciting year with the XJ build, and I have definately done my part to stimulate the economy. I saw six months of planning, prepping, and pondering what to do with the previous owner's 2" OME lift and 30" BFGs in 2009, and finally started the build-up in January 2010 once I settled on the project. I began with SYE and ending with new rear bumper and a pissed off wife. :sad1:

I added parts to the Frog about every two weeks and have tried to fix a few on-going problems (airbag light, intake, exhaust, etc), but have had tremendous luck with everything else. As mentioned, my plans for 2011 are to improve what I have on a minor budget and to tie up some loose ends. Maybe that will afford me the opportunity to buy a mig welder and more tools.

 

[american_zero]

Have you been able to log any gas mileage improvements with the reworked downpipe? I don't recall any conclusive results.

Will 2011 be the year for your GC? A spacer lift or something like that? :confused1

 

[rocknxj]

Have you been able to log any gas mileage improvements with the reworked downpipe? I don't recall any conclusive results.

Will 2011 be the year for your GC? A spacer lift or something like that? :confused1

Since I sold my Civic (goodbye 35 mpg) I have been driving my XJ 70+ miles a day. Most of those are highway miles, and I cruise at about 65 mph most of the way, keeping my rpms down to about 2200. With wind resistance as it is on a square vehicle with rack and tire mounted on top, I have been getting 14-15 mpg. I will move the spare down to the cargo area in hopes of netting an additional mpg in the coming weeks. I'm sure the little bit of city driving (quick parts runs, store, gym) takes it toll on any highway milage benefits I get.

I still want to improve my downpipe, but I have been too busy with my master bathroom remodel to worry about that. Perhaps I will rework the exhaust in early 2011 and opt for a better flowing system, and will be able to report 16 mpg in contrast.

As for the WK, I'd love a 4" lift and new rims and tires. The problem with that is it would be a huge waste of money and I'd rathe spend the $$ on my Moab trip and/or Jamboree this summer. There are a couple of similar WKs in my parking lot at work and they look very good with a modest lift. I don't know. Maybe I could swing 2" and keep the rims, but go for more aggressive ATs with wheel spacers to kick them out a bit. Affordable, won't affect gearing that much, and a good look.

 

[FlexdXJ]

The camper needs a little paint but the interior is in nice shape, I will get pics when I make it more presentable but I've kinda had a distraction lately so I'm working on that!

 

[rocknxj]

Here's a Thursday afternoon FB update.

Filled up the Frog after three days of commuting to work. Got 15.4 mpg. That's up from the previous three days where I got 14.7 mpg. Biggest difference was a couple less short trips to Home Depot. After this weekend's toy run at PC, I will remove the tire from the rack and see what next week's MPG yields.

Wife said the WK battery died. Actually, she said the "battery on the black car is dead." I know the battery is bad, so that will mean another 140 bucks tomorrow morning. Crap.

That's on top of the 800 bucks I spent today at the tile store. Building a Jeep is pricey, but it pales in comparison to rebuilding the master bath.

Oh yeah, Saturday is the toy run at Prairie City. The rain will be nice to wheel in. Hopefully the area will be opened up. This will be a nice departure from work and rebuilding the bathroom.

Thursday night. Time for some Maker's Mark.

 

[srmitchell]

Hey, I know we talked about it at Sierra Fest, but do you like having the front locker only? I have a lock right up front.

Im removing my rear aussie to make some money to get the rear diff rebuilt. Is the front one a hassle in the snow?

 

[rocknxj]

Hey, I know we talked about it at Sierra Fest, but do you like having the front locker only? I have a lock right up front.

Im removing my rear aussie to make some money to get the rear diff rebuilt. Is the front one a hassle in the snow?

I like the front Spartan locker pretty well. More often than not, it has proven itself on the trail by pulling me up obstacles that others with just a rear locker has had difficulty with. It is what it is, though, and I've learned to take more left turns than tight right turns when finding parking spots lol.

Nothing would beat a front selectable locker, but with the price I paid, I won't argue and I'll run it for a few years. After running some trails next year, I'll make a decision to add a rear selectable locker, change to selectable front locker, or keep what I have (Spartan up front and limited slip in the rear) for my 2012 upgrades.

 

[srmitchell]

Good to know. I have only wheeled hollister with a front locker, I didnt have it at SF.

 

[XJensen]

The only times I have found so far that I would need a rear locker is when climbing an uneven ledge or big rock pile. The front will climb just fine but if the rear gets too much pressure on one side, ie: one side climbs before the other, the front is left light with little traction and the rear is sitting with one leg up.

The trick is the same locked or not, try to get the wheels to climb evenly.

Josh

 

[rocknxj]

Had a good trip to Prairie City today for the 3rd Annual Toy Run. Pics posted in the SC under the same name.

Squashed my new Magnaflow a bit, but no real damage to speak of. I'll probably never get the mud off, however.

Glad I could lend a helping hand. That mud is a beyotch.

I'll let the rain wash off most of the mud.

 

[rocknxj]

Happy Thanksgiving wishes from the FB.

The Frog needs a quick alignment (thanks to the Toy Run last week...) but it will have to wait for another day. I'll be busy this weekend doing tile work in the master bathroom remodel. This bathroom remodel is kicking my butt. I'd rather work on the Jeep than rebuild a bathroom any day.

Give thanks to God for all we have. Enjoy the feast, everyone.

 

[srmitchell]

Happy thanksgiving.

So Im taking your advice, and running a front locker only.

I must say though, my jeep has never performed worse than it did in deep snow. I guess it's these tires! Do those km2's do well?

 

[rocknxj]

KM2's are impressive in everything but that sticky mud around NORCAL. Then again, I've seen that mud clog all types of MTs and reduce them to worthless slicks. Mud sucks.

What did you air down to when playing in the snow?

 

[FlexdXJ]

Happy Thanksgiving Dude!