Vanilla Gorrilla blog

[GordoSmasho]

Yeah. I always do.

 

[AlphaQup]

I am interested to see what you end up doing to the shackle boxes. I pulled my leaves on Friday to swap some leaves from side to side to correct the jeep sitting low on the passenger side. It helped. But I found that the passenger side relocation box was bent forward and up along with the stock shackle box.


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[twinhauler]

Summer time prep, keep it coming. I need to freshin up my leaf bushing, been 2 seasons. Get gorilla back on the road buddy!

 

[blondejoncherokee]

I know the feeling. Ive only recently been able to take a break from the nonstop onslaught of wrenching and welding on the rigs for months on end. It will feel good once your main rig is drivable!

 

[#S194]

I know the feeling. Ive only recently been able to take a break from the nonstop onslaught of wrenching and welding on the rigs for months on end. It will feel good once your main rig is drivable?

I know the feeling. My junk was down for five months due to winter upgrades, now its all about working out the minor bugs before wheeling season.

 

[GordoSmasho]

Yeah. This is actually my rehab. I have been so burned out at work. I absolutely love working my my jeep. Welding and fabing gives me great joy. Im pretty confident ill get everything done with plenty of time.

This is my check list. This will hopefully all get done before reno. I have everything needed on the list so its just a matter of getting in done.

- gas tank zj
- Rear Shock hoop and frame mount rebuild
- iro leaves
- HDO No lift relocators
- boostwerks comp shackles
- sye & rear shaft install
- front driveshaft length check
- traction bar (might wait till after reno)
- front chromos
- steering box bolt helicoil 7/16-14
- brake caliper mount helicoil 8mm1.25
- diff fluid change
- cb install
- tires change and balance(picked up some mtrks from twinhauler)
- ebrake bracket relocate
- exhaust hanger rebuld
Priority 2 (not nessesary but hopefully still get done)
- tail light box swap
- sound tape driver door, roof, rear hatch
- Headliner
- heater core flush clr
- Heat Shield over muffler

 

[blondejoncherokee]

I would leave the traction bar for dead last for Pre Reno work since its not needed to drive just a nice bonus.

 

[GordoSmasho]

Yeah. I think i might want to get one run on the new leafs as well to make sure they settle a bit. I have the optional addaleaf for more capacity if needed. Ill wait to see how they do and then adjust. Ill just take it off the list for now.

Oh i also have to mount my new fridge. And build a shelf for oscar to ride on.

 

[GordoSmasho]

Alrighty so. Over the last few weeks iv done

Frame cracks repair and plating
Shock hoop beef up
Service diffs
Zj tank
No lift relocators
Boostwerks comp shackles
Iro 3.5" leafs
Hand throttle
New front carpet
New floor mats
Floor and door sound deadening
Adjust door strikes so the doors seal now
Three new shifter boots
Sye installation
New rear drive shaft
New battery
Chromo shafts d30
Helicoil 1 brake caliper bolt
Helicoil 1 steering box bolt
Installed fridge
Installed cb overhead
Installed roof rack
And prepacked everything for the trail next weekend
Here are some pics

Oscar approves of his riding place.

This week i will be getting a few new exhaust hangers in and mtkevlars installed. Also i tested out my smittybuilt air pump. It is phenominal. I spent more time moving from tire to tire than inflating when i got there. Super stocked to get a vacation.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Hand throttle a kit, or DIY?

 

[GordoSmasho]

I bought it a while ago. It was an RE kit. It doesnt really fit the hurst stick very well. So im looking to change it and do a diy in the future.

 

[blondejoncherokee]

I bought it a while ago. It was an RE kit. It doesnt really fit the hurst stick very well. So im looking to change it and do a diy in the future.

I was going to sat the thumb throttle is legit man. I dig that. With a manual trans , I feel the thumb throttle is a game changer...especially when you dual up the cases...

 

[GordoSmasho]

Reno will be my first experience wheeling with a stick so i wanted to give myself a fighting chance with the hand throttle.

 

[twinhauler]

Good work buddy. Reno fest is almost here. You have been busy! Your dog looks happy

 

[Jes]

I was going to sat the thumb throttle is legit man. I dig that. With a manual trans , I feel the thumb throttle is a game changer...especially when you dual up the cases...

Disagree completely.

 

[GordoSmasho]

Disagree completely.

Care to elaborate?

 

[Jes]

Care to elaborate?

You will never need to use the gas, brake, and clutch all at the same time. It'll be either gas and clutch or brake and clutch, gas and brake pretty much never. When you have low gears the clutch is basically an on/off switch and is generally only used when changing gears. On an easy trail like the Rubicon that is how the clutch will be used.
If you're using the clutch to creep and go really slow you'll be using it off idle, no reason for giving it more gas. In fact, the clutch is designed to slip but not at higher rpms, as long as you can't smell it you're not abusing it.
The only thing the hand throttle is good for is if you have an alternator driven on board welder. You can set the rpm to how hot you want to weld.
Grand scheme of things is when wheeling with a manual transmission you will generally only use one pedal and that's the gas pedal. Press it to go faster, let off to go slower, you'll very rarely have to left foot brake.

One word of warning. Never EVER push in the clutch and let the rig coast while in low range.


Edit: What crawl ratio did you end up with?
And I'm laughing at those bent shackles, I had some Rubicon Express ones that looked similar.

 

[GordoSmasho]

Im still about 50:1. I havent double cased yet. And probably wont. Ill be running a d300 with 4:1 in it. That should get me where i want to go. In the low 90s

 

[Jeep450r]

I agree with Jes. Even starting from a stop on a super steep hill, I just let the clutch out until it's grabbing enough to keep me from rolling back, and then I'm off the brake and onto the gas pedal. And that's with stock tcase gears too. After a little practice, I'd doubt you'll ever need to use all 3 pedals at once. The thumb throttle would just complicate things IMO

 

[blondejoncherokee]

I was thinking 3 pedal situations on steep climbs and being able to set a rpm limit and have it hold higher rpms for winch , air compressor . They probably make more sense on a carburated rig . My old manual trans scout 2 loved to die on most inclines ( i did not know how to rebuild and tune carbs at the time, that came later with the wills...) and I always wanted a thumb throttle because of that since I saw some old dude in a old willys running a thumb throttle on slick rock and it was badass. That was 15 years ago and now I wheel fuel injected autos because of that old carbonated manual tranny setup (helped that it had a granny low though).

Im also thinking if you arent geared low enough setting it higher for steep climbs might be
A nice thing to have.

I have a buddy thats going to install one just so he can set rpm limits in low range at 2500 so he doesnt burn up his teralow 4:1.