Vanilla Gorrilla blog

[87matchief]

woah glade I sold my RC shackles before I put them on.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

yeah RC is all garbage .

 

[GordoSmasho]

After the hell i went through trying rebuild the front control arms, i cant believe they are still in business.

 

[JeepinSeal]

You've really shown weak links in the rc systems. The only parts I run from rc now are my coil springs. The shocks went out in the first few heavy duty cycles they went through.

 

[Luke95]

yeah RC is all garbage .

Have their long arm and zero complaints.

 

[GordoSmasho]

Have their long arm and zero complaints.

I do appreciate other points of view. However we have alot of evidence contrary to this on the west cost. Their products just do not hold up with the terrain we have over here. This is not an rc review thread. I am simply showing my own personal experience in a chapter specific thread because this chapter has issues with not all but many rc products and their support for their own products. It took six weeks for me to get the parts needed to rebuild just the lower control arms on wilbur. And in the end i ordered bushings from ruffstuff as they no longer make the bushings i needed. They shipped me 4 wrong parts. One of which was a pitman arm instead of a joint rebuild kit that i ordered. Their customer service and knowledge of the own products was horrible. Period

End of soap box.


Heading out to hollister for the toy drive this morning. See yall there.

 

[Mrs. Smasho]

I do appreciate other points of view. However we have alot of evidence contrary to this on the west cost. Their products just do not hold up with the terrain we have over here. This is not an rc review thread. I am simply showing my own personal experience in a chapter specific thread because this chapter has issues with not all but many rc products and their support for their own products. It took six weeks for me to get the parts needed to rebuild just the lower control arms on wilbur. And in the end i ordered bushings from ruffstuff as they no longer make the bushings i needed. They shipped me 4 wrong parts. One of which was a pitman arm instead of a joint rebuild kit that i ordered. Their customer service and knowledge of the own products was horrible. Period

End of soap box.


Heading out to hollister for the toy drive this morning. See yall there.

Bitch ;-D

 

[GordoSmasho]

So Im feeling really lazy and need to get some stuff moving on the gorilla. My immediate goal is to get it to drivable.

This includes
- Adjust break light switch contact
- Swap in a new battery
- Build a new trans mount and crossmember
- reinstall my tcace shifter and boostwerks linkage
- swap in a zj gas tank (my current one has a leak)
- install my hand throttle
- get a new trans shifter boot setup (ive ditched the senter console
- Install some cookie sheets over my exhaust
- get it smogged


Hve a question about my steering box.

I swapped in my agr yj box while i had the motor and trans out. Well my smashoness stripped the front top bolt hole. It has some room on the backside for a nut. I was thinking of helicoil and backing it up with a nut. What do you guys think.

 

[sneakyjap96]

I'd just back it up with a lock nut lol

 

[blondejoncherokee]

Lock nut on the back side should work. Or just tap the holes one thread size bigger

 

[GordoSmasho]

Im going to take a good look at it tomorrow. Probably end up doing what jon suddested and tap it larger.

I orderend new springs today. Got the iro 3.5" with the extra leaf for capacity. We will see how it ends up. I have no lift shackle boxes ready to go in and im ordering boostwerks shackles and a trackbar kit as soon as some cash frees up. Ill have quite a few things to sell here real soon.

Have to repair my rear shock hoop mounts and order new shocks and the rear will be done.


Further down my list is possibly getting a full case locker for the 8.8. This spool thing sucks. I need it to be a bit more friendly on the street. Ill have some picks up soon i promise.

 

[GordoSmasho]

Been ordering a lot of stuff. Got new leafs from iro. The 3.5" with the aal for more capacity. New tcase linkage kit from boostwerks. New headliner. Three new boots for the shifter. One from hurst. One for the tunnel and one for the console. Installed my thumb throttle. Ive been sealing up the floor to fix some rust spots and adding heat/deadning material over the entire floor and doors. Ill be doin the ceiling when the headliner comes out. Bunch of new leds for rocklights. Picked up a zj gas tank. New carpet kit is on order. I got it with the extra mass backing. Ordering boostwerks shackles next week.

Finally have a new trans crossmember.
Made it out of 1/4" x 6" c channel
Took about 4 hours total. I love my plasma cutter

Fridge cameo

Tcase is not clocked and is like a 1/4" below the framerails.

This is not a perminant one. Ill be doing a full belly pan when i 3link the front and swap in the tons and d300. But it will be fine till then. The final belly pan will have recessed hardware.

Anyways. Back to work

 

[fewloosebolts]

Dang dude, you've been busy

 

[Johnnie Walker]

For the hand throttle.. did you purchase a kit or DIY?

 

[blondejoncherokee]

I love that crossmember

 

[BigKintheXJ]

Crossmember looks sick!
With the zj tank are there any mods that need to be done to the guage system or will it automatically compensate for the increased capacity? 20gal stock to 23gal zj yeah? I've been thinking about the same swap.
You've used the asphalt backed aluminum tape for sound/heat shielding before, is that what you're doing in the roof?

 

[GordoSmasho]

For the hand throttle.. did you purchase a kit or DIY?

I used the re kit. I bought the kit lik 5 years ago so im not sure its the same now. But its just an old school bike gear lever. Im not super stoked on it. Doesnt really mount the my hurst shifter very well. I may move it somewhere else in the center area and put a good sized handle to mount it to. I also dont like that it relies on the throttle body spring to return. Its not very smooth. Doesnt feel solid. It works. And i can hold a high idle at any rpm by tightening the adjuster screw on top to hold position.

 

[GordoSmasho]

Crossmember looks sick!
With the zj tank are there any mods that need to be done to the guage system or will it automatically compensate for the increased capacity? 20gal stock to 23gal zj yeah? I've been thinking about the same swap.
You've used the asphalt backed aluminum tape for sound/heat shielding before, is that what you're doing in the roof?

So i havent done it myself yet but i have been told and read its an easy plug and play swap. There are no mods needed to the sender. The height in the tank from the pump flange to the floor is the same as the xj tank. So you just get a bit more full than you would with the stock tank.



This is the kit i used for the larger areas
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00URUIKAK/
Works really well. Its heavy stuff. For the smaller areas im using this stuff i bought from home depot
http://m.homedepot.com/p/USEAL-USA-...l-Self-Adhesive-Repair-Tape-8872AF6/202086180
I belive its the stuff your talking about. My opinion is that the application success is all in the prep. The area needs to be very clean. I also use a heat gun to warm and dry the surface. And used a degreaser paint prep i picked up on the paint department at hd as well. The tape works very well if these steps are taken. The kit from amazon takes far less time than the tape though. And worth the small extra cost imo.

It has a huge effect on the doors. Btw.

 

[GordoSmasho]

Gorrilla is under the knife again. I decided to pull everything out if the back end for some much needed repair and upgrade. So i pulled the rear end on friday.

Then got back to it today and pulled the skid. And cut out the old shackle relocators and stock shackle boxes.

Then pulled the tank and the shocks and shock hoop.

Found some pretty good damage from the shock hoop.

This is the factory rear sway bar mouny locations. The shock hoop i have mounts there and ties into the rear seatbelt bolts as well st the top of the hoop. So the seatbelt mounts started pulling through as well as what you see here. I dont have time this goround to do a new shock mount so ill have to repair this. Im going to be plating the inside and bottom of the frame around the mounting area and spread that load a bit. As well as weld in some upper supports off the factory shock crossmember. I have outer frame plating planned for the future so ill bring my bottom plating to the outer edge and weld it up.

I have a lot planned and not much time to do it so this should move quickly.

 

[Skipper51]

Taking it on just in time to be ready for the season opener in Reno.