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- Today
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Join us for a short trail ride and big time fun with your Offroad Passport friends at our annual Holiday Party! We bring the burgers & dogs for a potluck lunch, plus there's the infamous cut-throat white elephant gift game, and the delicious cookie contest! Note that we have a new location (near Lake Pleasant) and that the trail is rated moderate this year. The short route is doable by a stock high-clearance 4wd rig such as a Wrangler or Tacoma. Save the date! Sign-up link & full details coming soon. -
Ain't that the truth!! 🤣
- Yesterday
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Jeep Wrangler JK DIY Tailgate Table (with blueprints)
Sampson replied to theksmith's topic in Jeep Specific
Hello K1KRS, Edit: LOL as soon as I posted this... i went to page one.....and I am an IT guy... lol So sorry but again, ty so much for this build, Top Notch!!! First off, Nice job on this forum! Very well done! Well worth the money! I had a question in reference to this build. I know this is an older thread and I apologize if I am seeming dumb here. I have read the thread and just must be blind. I have downloaded the plans as well but I can't seem to find the material list. I would like to know what the black material is that you are using for the backdrop and self? If you have a link that would be great as well. No worries if not. Thank you so much in advance for your help here! -
Sampson joined the community
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Excellent tip! The old ones, when I left them attached, didn't hit and with leaf springs my droop isn't all that droopy. There's more room than the picture indicates but I have to admit it wasn't something I thought of so I will check it out. This is part of the joys of running old iron but trying to make new stuff work with it.
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a while back i changed one end of my trackbar from a Synergy DDB that kept wearing out too fast, to a custom Johnny Joint end. i needed a 12* offset stud on the joint which no-one seemed to sell, so i had to make one by cutting, bending and re-welding a joint with a straight stud. @ob1jeeper saw my post and let me know that welding on that forged joint wasn't ideal because it would likely cause the forged steel to become brittle and then this rather important joint could fail completely. the correct weld-ready Johnny Joint to fit a track bar bracket was readily available. and after a little searching, i found a stud with the correct 7/8-14 LH threads in regular mild steel. i've had those 2 parts sitting on my workbench for months... today i finally got around to die grinding the end of the new stud to mate to the joint at the required 12* angle and welding it up: here's the final part with the Johny Joint assembled: thankfully my previous custom end based on the forged part had not yet failed. regardless, i'm much more confident in this one knowing everything is made of mild steel that was intended to be welded. thanks for looking out for me Steve!
- Last week
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@WILL E - looks like a great solution with the the heim! when you get a chance to flex test, you might want to make sure the Apex's shaft doesn't end up hitting the u-bolt plate on full droop.
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Okay, a month later. After overthinking this, which is a core competency of mine. I finally got the APEX installed. The problem I ran into was (A) it wasn't made for my jeep so (B) the studs for the sway bar mounts were too long and when attached to my sway bar would hit the frame. I spend a lot of time looking for a wider sway bar. However, there isn't much info out there about how wide different sway bars are. I also came up with an over complicated use of tie rod ends but didn't end up implementing it because (A) the holes were too small and (B) I came up with a better idea. This is the old link. I grabbed the heim joint and came up with this idea The cap bolt attaches to the sway bar. The length of the heim joint pretty much puts the link back in line where the old one was. So overall it worked out okay. I didn't get to test drive it today but I don't see any issues with clearance. This is going to be a nice upgrade, sometimes I wouldn't bother reattaching the sway bar, now it's just a turn of the knob and I am good to go.
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Please sign me up. -
Thanks for the info.
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At least on the iPhone you're better off using the Garmin SmartPhone Link app instead of Garmin Drive app (that's also an iPhone app). The former supports Drive model devices among others. It's what I used with my DriveAssist 51 until it died. Basically it adds Google Maps style traffic and rerouting. FWIW, with the Montana 700i, you use the Garmin Explore App which provides data sync, phone maps, and phone based inReach messaging, but no traffic support.
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another little change with the SwayLoc... after the heims on the links loosened up a bit, then when the links would twist the heim bodies would smack the end of their travel and make a "TONK!" sound. it wasn't horrible, but still annoyed me. i found that JKS Part #2035 works well as complete replacement links to get rid of the heims and did eliminate that particular noise. there's still a small clunk that i think is coming from the latch mechanism itself - but i have an idea for how to fix that as well, so stay tuned! the new JKS links:
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cmcarthur joined the community
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i swapped my 1st gen Synergy front trackbar & sector-shaft brace for their new version. the new one can work with my PSC big-bore steering box (with the additional purchase of a $40 nut and a $100 bearing block!). this one also mounts the sector-shaft brace portion differently so it doesn't stick out away from the frame as much - which means i can better center the SwayLoc without it hitting this bracket. new one on left: i was also able to trim a little metal from it to give the SwayLoc arm even more clearance. this almost turned into an all-day project as i cross-threaded one of the steering box bolts while trying to put everything back together! there's no way to get a tap in there to fix it without completely removing the steering box, which would have been a giant PITA. fortunately i found a workaround to not remove the box. i was able to use a die to clean up the bolt threads, start it correctly, tighten just a little bit at a time, then remove and clean up with the die and insert a little further over and over again till it had fixed the box's threads. these giant tap & die sets from Harbor Freight have saved the day for me several times! here's the new brace installed. i don't have the sector-shaft part in yet because i'm still waiting for Synergy to send me that additional nut and bearing block. you can see i also swapped the lowest bolt for an allen head and flipped it so only the head sticks out - again for clearance with the SwayLoc arm. after all this i was only able to slide the SwayLoc towards the passenger side just over 3/8". however, it appears that was enough to stop the driver side tire from rubbing the arm at full lock - which was the goal!
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This sounds good. Sign me up! -
Clean install Kris……as usual.
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messin around in the desert the other morning.
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I came up to the rim this weekend on Young highway just east of the Valentine fire and then just north of it on the 260 coming back down this afternoon. It’s smoky up there but very chill. Seems like they are letting it slow burn “fire dependent ecosystems” that haven’t had any action in years. -
A couple of recent favorites from the Gala
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Looks good Kris... ;)
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we've rented travel trailers several times now from RVshare to tow with Freya. fortunately they all included a Curt Echo bluetooth inline brake controller. however, i decided it was time to go ahead and permanently mount our own controller. i selected the Redarc Tow-Pro Liberty because everything is hidden except a small control knob. it also has excellent reviews and Redarc has a great reputation. besides the controller itself, i really just needed the TPH-004 harness for plug-n-play wiring since our WK2 came with the tow package. the plastic "brain" box can be oriented in any direction, which makes that part easier than traditional controllers. i zip-tied it to a metal bracket that the OEM OBD-II port is attached to. the factory female plug that the control harness mates with is well hidden in the dash above the parking brake. some nice person on the internet made the photo below, otherwise i'd still be looking for it! i elected to also purchase the universal bezel because i thought it would make the install look more factory than having just a knob. Redarc also offers dedicated bezels to match 2 different Toyota OEM switch panels. i had to take apart the knee-panel trim area to install the control knob. mainly just to ensure that i wasn't going to drill into anything important. note that if you have the airbag behind that panel, DO NOT PRY on the trim directly in front of it or you will damage the panel. i found the PDF instructions below which show how to remove the whole knee panel correctly. i also found this thread on JeepGarage forum with some helpful photos. WK2_Knee_blocker_airbag_removal.pdf the universal bezel comes with a template for marking where to drill 2 holes. be sure you drill the upper one before you do the large one. next was the nerve-wracking point of no-return, drilling the main 1" hole. this had to go through the trim panel as well as a plastic support structure behind it. after you fish the Tow-Pro RJ-45 cable out through the hole and plug it into the control knob, the bezel/module just snaps in place. i'm happy with how it came out. it's easy to reach but not intrusive looking. there's a RGB LED behind the knob that provides status and error info via various colors and blinking patterns. it doesn't light up unless a trailer is attached - unless you press it and then it just gives one blue pulse if everything is hooked up correctly. when a trailer is attached, pressing the knob manually actives the trailer brakes. the only setting is turning the knob to dial in the braking force from 0 to 10. i noticed the well-known Tekonsha company is also now making a hidden-except-for-the-knob controller too. theirs has a bluetooth connection that lets you store multiple profiles in case you frequently switch between different size/weight trailers. it competes more with the Redarc Tow Pro Elite as it offers proportional and timed braking modes. i went with the Redarc Liberty because their knob is less chunky looking than Tekonsha's and i didn't see the need for any extra complexity with our scenario.
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Thanks for the heads up. Right now, neither fire will impact this trip. There are no closure orders for the Labor Fire (Sitegraves). The Valentine Fire (Tonto) has a road closure associated with it south of the Rim which will also not impact us. - Earlier
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Should I consider a NGP Antenna(gmrs)
Mick Bowers replied to Grand_Seltzer's topic in Communications & Other Electronics
I have the same midland 275 and antenna. I got a good mag mount and put it on the roof. It does real well. I expect its due to the big metal ground plain as you mentioned. It still makes it into the garage and thru the car wash no problem. The coax fits through thru/under the back hatch fine. The roof rack protects it from branches. -
Just a heads up, there's currently 2 fires in the area you're looking at. One is 75% contained and the other is 50% contained, as of today. So you may encounter some new burn areas along FR 300. -
Bulldog Sept 24th Sun 'after summer shakeout run'
WILL E replied to WILL E's topic in Trip & Event Planning/Sign-up
Hey! I had a great time today. Maybe a bit warm but we made it work with the shade. Thanks for helping get the Subaru thru the trail. He did a great job. And I am still full from the food, ice cream sandwiches and brownies! -
Bulldog Sept 24th Sun 'after summer shakeout run'
MADDOG replied to WILL E's topic in Trip & Event Planning/Sign-up
That was a fun run, guys! I'm already looking forward to the next one and I'll see ya there. Michael
