With the holidays over, and my main work client not getting back to us about what they want for the year, I've had time to start catching up on maintenance. Changed diff and T-case fluids, cleaned the air filter, added dielectric grease to all the plugs and fuses, and repaired my 3rd brake light. I replaced the drawer slides in my tuffy drawer with stronger ryadon slides.
New vs Old
I have several big trips coming up in the first half of the year including running the Rubicon, a 5-day Baja "expedition" to find a new route to an oasis, and a 9-day, 2000mi (300 dirt) Mexican Hat to Moab, Utah trip coming up. The Rubicon is a grueling rock crawling trail. Baja will subject the Jeep to lots of harsh vibrations and unknown conditions. And the Utah trip will do a lot of both since the route includes several difficult trails including Elephant Hill, Lockhart Basin, Cottonwood Canyon, and Kane Creek, and 7 days without service.
Considering the demanding conditions, I've started going over the Jeep with a fine toothed comb to prepare. I'm making my way through my maintenance list, as well as reinforcing sloppier mods like replacing the spliced fog light wires with soldered deutsch connectors. I think my ball joints and unit bearings will be fine. I'll re-evaluate them after these trips.
I've also made a list of necessary spare parts and started collecting them. I'm trying to use as many free/cheap OEM parts as possible. In keeping with the brinksmanship, "as stock as possible, as modified as necessary" mantra of my built, my idea is to control where the weakest link is in the driveline. I'd rather blow a cheap U-joint or a trail-repairable axle-shaft, then destroy a ring and pinion. So I picked up a set of OEM Dana 44 axle shafts, drive shafts and tie rod with only 2k miles on them. I plan to swap in these newer front axle shafts and drive shafts (while upgrading the driveshaft U-joint for a waterproof JE Reel Ujoint and keeping my current ones as spares.I hear that the rear axle shafts are plenty strong, and my front drive shaft is pretty well protected. So I'm keeping those for the future. But I'll bring an extra rear driveshft and the front axle shafts to Utah and the Rubicon as spares.
With the build in its final stages, I only have a few mods planned for the upcoming trips:
1st up is something I should have done before crossing the Mojave river again: extended breather lines. I relocated my rear diff breather when installing the AEV 3.5 + 1/2" lift in the rear. But I've had a recurring issue with the front diff breather popping off under full flex. So now all the breather lines are getting extended up to windshield height including the T-case and transmission
2nd up, speaking of the T-case, I plan to upgrade the T-case linkage to Advanced Adapters HD linkage. Their linkage eliminates those pesky plastic bushings. I've yet to break one, and I'd like to keep it that way. It seems to be about as much work to upgrade the linkage as it is to replace the bushing. Plus, I've always found the T-case hard to shift even when following the instructions to a T. Hopefully, this will help. I really wish someone sold a synchronized T-case that lets you shift to low-range on the fly like the one in the Mercedes G-class
3rd up is the Mopar Bir Brake Kit. The JKUR brakes were mediocre before adding weight and running 35s. Now, they're barely adequate. The brakes should be improved before I add any more weight. The dealership replaced the rear brakes last service, but I plan to install the Mopar big brake kit on the front, as well as the lower mileage axle shafts, and new water proof axle seals.
4th, after seeing Jake from NMBR's floor storage system, I realized I could further refine my cargo system. Right now, I fold down the 40% rear seat and strap my fridge to the top of it. But I plan to remove the 40% rear seat and turn the dead space and weight of the folded seat into a storage container to hold all my spare fluids and larger tools and spare parts. Right now, these live in an action packer that gets thrown in the footwell. So this should help free up some more space.
Lastly, this might not happen for Utah since I'll be solo, but definitely for Baja, I want to install an easily removable/lightweight roof rack (leaning toward the Maximus 3 mounts and Rhino Rack commercial bars, but also considering the short Pioneer Platform or LabRak's new platform), that doesn't interfere with my Sunrider for Hard top, to mount a Maggiolina or Columbus roof top tent. I've already maximized the use of our interior space, but space is still limited. I'm also growing tired of sleeping on less than flat ground with crazy wind flapping my tent all night. The roof top tent would allow us to get all of our bedding and pillows (the real interior space suckers) out of the cabin, while allowing faster camp set up and a nicer place to sleep. I'm not sure if this will be a benefit or an issue, but our dog would have to sleep in the back seat of the Jeep, which is fine by me. She likes to wake everyone up in the middle of the night by smacking her lips and scratching. I'm just hoping she doesn't bark or whine knowing we're above her. At home she sleeps just outside our bedroom door. So I'm hoping it's a similar situation.
