The Frog Blog

[rocknxj]

Yes, I have two people with me that can barely tolerate the easy runs. Next time I go alone.

EJS is celebrating their 49th year next week. I'm making it a goal to get here again next year at either the 50th or alone before summer 2016.

Who's in?

 

[blondejoncherokee]

Yes, I have two people with me that can barely tolerate the easy runs. Next time I go alone.

EJS is celebrating their 49th year next week. I'm making it a goal to get here again next year at either the 50th or alone before summer 2016.

Who's in?

I am down for the 5 year whenever that hits.

 

[XJensen]

I am down for the 5 year whenever that hits.

That's 2018. Seems to far away....

 

[twinhauler]

I am down. Moab lets go.

 

[rocknxj]

Ran another few mild but scenic trails in the area and a few hikes in Arches National Park over past couple of days. The diversity of trails here is amazing. I busted a sway bar end link (fixed) and I need longer rear shackles but the jeep is performing well. It's screaming for more aggressive runs tho. Loving the long arm as well. Still getting pops from the steering and that is driving me nuts. Time for a beefy steering box bracket and new TREs.

Moab Brewery has a new 7.2% IPA. Not bad for Utah.a few additional cherokee and a ton more jeeps are rolling into town ahead of EJS. This place is a blast.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Very nice Kelly! Bring me back some dericious Moab brew beer! Haha.

 

[rocknxj]

Busted my RE trac bar on the incredibly beautiful but easy Hey Joe Canyon trail. I rebuilt in at the campground but just enough to get me 740 miles home. I'll be looking for a better trac bar replacement suitable for 6.5" of lift before I do SoC as l Fest on May 2nd.

EJS officially started today and the rigs have been pouring into Moab since Friday. JKs rule the numbers but I've finally seen a few good XJs and some amazing one-off prototypes.

Despite running easy trails, the trip has been good. A week in Moab is never enough and I look forward to my next trip here.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

You have the RE1660HD, correct? What broke on it? The superflex joint? If so, maybe it needed to be adjusted, repaired and it broke before you could do that?
I've never had issues with mine, only 4" lift thought, maybe I should get the tool to adjust the SF joint and check it?
I have a spare one that I plan on running on my MJ, but that will be slightly shorter than my XJ.

 

[831_xj]

You can use a spanner wrench too mang.

Damn Kelly funny it breaks on the easy Shit. Very jealous of your adventure hope to see pics soon!

 

[rocknxj]

Here are a few pics from the Moab trip last week, in no particular order. We ran some mild but scenic trails.

 

[rocknxj]

More pics...

 

[rocknxj]

More pics. Much of these are from the Potash/Schafer trail that runs into Canyonlands National Park.

 

[rocknxj]

More pics...

Canyonlands campground in the heart of downtown Moab.

This is the start of Hey Joe Canyon. My kid wouldn't get much closer to the edge than this.

The trackbar gave out after a week of mild wheeling. I ended up repairing the end with a new snap ring and bought a new coupler from 4Wheel Parts when I got home.

Easter Jeep Safari started two days before we left. Interesting rigs began rolling in around Friday. I believe the rig in front is owned by Jay Leno.

 

[rocknxj]

Here's a few pics from my kid's camera:

 

[Forceful Llama]

Such a beautiful place, can't wait to get back out there even if it's just to camp for a bit. Nice pictures

 

[Skipper51]

Ton of great shots Kelly! Thank you for sharing.

 

[rocknxj]

Back in November 2014, I busted my original leaf springs that came with my 5.5" SA lift and replaced them with RE 1461 5.5" leafs, that measured about an inch longer than the originals. I priced out a few other options but needed to stay within budget so I opted for the RE leafs...regrettably. I've put exactly 2000 miles on those new leafs with mild wheeling, and the bushings are ALREADY %$#& shot. I replaced bushings on my leafs (and control arms) numerous times in the past, so this is nothing new but extremely frustrating.

The longer leafs also threw off my pinion and shock mount angles, so I've been fighting with shackle positions in my relo bracket, and removal of my leaf shims. During Moab, I constantly banged my rear leafs on the relo bracket, causing damage to my 5" shackle.

Constant splaying of my leafs have also caused me to buy new u-bolts and thicker spring plates, due to over torquing and damaging the original crap. I've been experiencing vibes that I've never had, and I'm now thinking of sinking more bucks into longer boomerang shackles to prevent the banging and hopefully fix the pinion angle.

As soon as this season is over (Big Bear Socal Fest in May, local runs in June and July, Sierra Fest in Aug, and back to Moab in Oct), I'm going to retire this POS and buy a Mini.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

probably need to dial in the pinion angle and go from there. Check/replace U joints in the rear DS too. New bushings will help a ton.
Consider getting rid of the relocation brackets and go with a longer boomerang shackle and thats it.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Give RE and whomever you bought your upgrade kit from hell. And get new bushings. It sucks but there are warranties for a reason. I've never had issues with my re HD track bar bushing/joints. And in the past never had issues with re lift parts I have owned. But I know they're not what they used to be.
Also, maybe cut your loss on your re leafs sell and buy better ones?

 

[rocknxj]

I found replacement bushings for 10 bucks each from Crown. The bushings were so new they slid out of the leafs as easy as a Swiss Roll from the package.

I ordered 6" boomerangs but received a refund and a note saying they are on backorder. Nobody has them right now. I've removed my relocation bracket but will reinstall them as well as my shorter shackles in time for SoCal fest.

Ooooh. I applied for a good job in norcal and have a good chance of returning soon. We'll see how this plays out but I'm looking forward to coming back one way or another. That job might mean the end of constant xj upgrades tho ha ha.