More than one crack - significant length to'm too. Good you caught them.
More than one crack - significant length to'm too. Good you caught them.
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James Orofino
1970 CJ5
1958 Willys Wagon
Jim (September 14th, 2023)
Finished the frame repair....nothing too spiffy....I recognize I missed an opportunity to go with a shackle reversal, but I ended up just putting the spring hangers back the way they were. I really think a nicely done SR is the way to go, but just wasn't in the cards for me to do now. The paint came out a bit drippy but no big deal, cleans up easy enough...
In preparation for a big wheeling trip next week, also working on a few additional things....got the axle back under the jeep, and all new hardware for the shackle and spring hangers etc. When I originally did the shackles, I think I just used whatever hardware was included, and in some cases, I wasn't particular about bolt shoulder length etc, so this time, I really made sure to get bolts with just the right shoulder length and then cut the threaded section down to work etc:
tied the front hoop of the roll-bar into the dash/A-pillar:
checked the alignment/toe-in a bit more formally than I did this summer when doing the TRE flip...my eyeball job had a bit too much toe and maybe was leading to a bit of shimmy or minor death wobble when hitting potholes at speed.
Next up was getting the reverse lights functioning yet again....the mechanical switch mounted on the transmission always seems to have issues - this time it was smashed to pieces from what I think was just a lot of flex when wheeling and smashing it into the bottom of the tunnel cover....so this time, I just skipped the mechanical switch and put a switch in the cab. I'll have to turn them on and off manually, but at least they will work when needed:
And finally, had to find and set-up the water jug and carrier - I originally designed this to carry an extra gas can when I only had the 10gal tank, but now its occasionally used for water. Haven't used it since my first rubicon trip in 2019. Most trips there is water along the way and I find it easier to just carry a filtering device, but there won't be any water of any kind along the upcoming HITR trip. Last year, when it was just me in the jeep, I squeezed a few gallons in the passenger footwell, but with Jen potentially along this year, space will be a bit tighter. We are planning on close to 8 gal of water in the 2 jugs, plus another gallon in our water bottles to start.
So the last thing that needs addressed, after reconnecting all the brake lines, including those at the MC, the brakes are not functioning right. So back at that tomorrow and hopefully get it all good...don't like pushing things to the last minute, and brakes are kind of a big deal.
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James Orofino
1970 CJ5
1958 Willys Wagon
JGRubicon (October 8th, 2023)