BigTuna117

Well, early into last summer the G1W-C dash cam I was using ate another MicroSD card, and then promptly stopped working altogether. All in all, I was rather disappointed because this little booger has had plenty of issues over its short service life. After research I replaced it with an Anker Roav C1. Anker is quickly becoming my favorite accessory store, as their warranty and customer service is unparalleled. I'be bought other things from them, and I was pleased with the features these dash cams come with. You don't have to actually remove the MicroSD card to access video, as the cam has Wi-Fi built in, just open the app and go! Picture quality is pretty great, too, so that's a bonus. Seen from outside Seen from inside

After a year with a malfunctioning 247J, Our good friend Jeff (UnderlyVerbose) assisted me this weekend in swapping in a 242J, we pulled the input shaft and planetary gear from the 247, and to our surprise, we found that this clunky 247 actually had the highly sought after (and hard to find) 6 gear planetary! Score! Before too long, we started assembling the case, with great care. And before too long, this rebuilt case, sporting fresh seals, bearings, and a new chain, was bolted up and ready for a test drive! I have to thank Jeff for his help here. Perhaps I could have done it on my own, but it would have taken a much longer time for me to get all of the instructions together (and the actual courage to crack the case open). I learned alot this weekend. We also came to an interesting revelation regarding my Jeep, too. If you look at my rig and how it behaves, it drives and acts completely differently than your average WJ. My research has found that several major part numbers are actually WG part numbers. It appears that early WJs actually share a number of parts with their European brothers. Mine was likely headed to Canada or elsewhere before a last minute change where it was given the CA emissions package and then sold... in Vermont. The torque curve and acceleration on mine is completely different than others. Though it now storms up the hills and mountains with never before seen ferocity, it is still relatively slow compared to other 4.7L WJs, lifted or otherwise, Only surpassing the 4.0L equipped WJs by a pretty good margin. Hella curious, ain't it?

You are correct, my bad there!

Ladies and Gentlemen, Members of the Jury, I bring you one of our local trails, lost to time, and only remembered by a few old Bullhead City locals. The walnut canyon trail is actually an old service road pioneered back when settlers still were looking for gold in the mountains. It supposedly went from wagon trail to service road, from what I've been told. Time has mostly forgotten this trail, until one of B4W's members set out to run this trail after seeing the "street" laid out in google maps. Little did anyone know, I actually had set up my Tablet to correctly record GPS telemetry, so I bring you this scenic drive. It took us, approximately 7 vehicles, a better part of the day to navigate this as many sections were severely overgrown and had to be cleared to allow the larger vehicles (and a certain white Jeep WJ which was having issues with plastics melting at the time) to pass. We got on the trail around 10AM and hit pavement around 3:30PM. As the screenshot above shows, I have also submitted this trail to AllTrails. one section provides a good spot to get out and admire the hieroglyphics of the natives who once lived here I wouldn't say it's terribly difficult, if you have functioning 4x4, I think you'd be a-ok on this trail. There are several areas which have loose rock or shoal so 4x4 is a definite requirement. There are a few switchback-y areas on this trail with narrow spots, so I don't know for certain if you'd want to bring a trailer on this one, though I've not personally driven with one, so I leave that at your discretion. The entire view as you rise in elevation is very nice. This was a mostly pleasant (there were a few flat tires in the group) drive, wading through brush and overgrowth, and trying to trim to make the trail visible again. I'd recommend doing this in the cooler months. We did this just as it was starting to warm up, and it ended up being a hotter-than-expected day, which plagued me because the ABS bumper covers of the jeep were made especially pliable and prone to... suggestion. A log on the side of the trail caught my rear bumper cover on the passenger side, splitting it in half, leaving half dragging behind the jeep, barely attached. All in all, I thought I'd upload this trail here as well, hopefully to keep it from being lost to time. AllTrails is a great resource, but I much prefer the light-treading ways of our community and I am pleased to provide this track for anyone who wants to attempt it. Cheers! Walnut Canyon.gpx

I reckon this is one for my hit list as well. I've certainly heard of the Dusy, but I've not seen too much footage from the actual trail.

It's been about two years since I last updated this. I hate to say it, but she's sat for the last two years while we deal with electrical gremlins. Recently, it received a new battery, which brought a whole new set of electrical shenanigans. The last 6 months, she has sat, completely dead. No crank, no life from the engine electrical whatsoever. ... Until this weekend, when fiddling with the harness coming off of the starter control module, we got her to crank again. You may remember, I repaired a wire in the starter control module previously, now it seems both of it's partners are compromised as well now. Which leads me to question of these two wires have been the culprit with many of our electrical gremlins all along. I am actively searching for a new complete wiring harness for the engine, which is a fairly simple harness. For now I'll have to repair the two wires and see if there are any breaks or issues further down the lines. In the end, if I cannot find a full harness, I may just end up manufacturing my own harness. But we'll see. You fiddle with those two wires, and it'll crank for a short while. Nothing like dealing with cranky old wiring harnesses.

Hopefully real soon! Now that the jeep runs and does over 35MPH, I just need to get the rest of the drive train and suspension dialed in. Having a full time job really alleviates some of the stresses of trying to fix things that I was having before. I really like the people I work with, too. The mom and pop mentality our shop has is really great, and the people I work for/with greatly encourage the hobbies (such as this one!) that I engage in. What a world of difference it really is!

Indeed! I feel badly that I've only had the opportunity to do 1 run with ORP, and that was 2 years ago now! It was great fun, too. I look forward to the future of this build and the future for wheeling.

Its been a while since I made an update here. The Jeep is doing great after recent radiator replacement. I went with one of the "all aluminum" ones just to delete the plastic tanks. Otherwise, I have finished my previous employment with (insert letter of the alphabet) Mart. With the stores closure, I am now working for a local gun shop as their IT/ online sales. I am very pleased with this as it opens many doors. I can once again get on track with the Jeep, and keep her moving forward. My current NP247 Transfer case barely functions, so I'll be glad to switch that out. I am also looking forward to a winch bumper and long arms. And getting back on the trail. 2017 has been so riddled with issues that I've only been able to hit the dirt once in the last year. Hopefully it'll see more use in 2018!

Happy Birthday!

Thanks friends!

Well, another oddball part for the Jeep! It doesn't look like it, but it's got a few tricks up its sleeve. This thermostat is from Mishimoto. For anyone who has ever seen the price tag on these: Yep, I took one for the team to test it. I had to do a coolant flush anyways, so I figured I'd pick this bugger up, and move the old one to reserve duty. Ultimately, I wasn't terribly impressed with the Jeep's cooling performance as of late. Under load, the needle wallows up past the nominal 210, and anyone whose had one of these rigs knows what things a hot running 4.7l are prone to. I figured, at best, I cool down and stay cooler (This is supposed to be a high flow thermostat?), and at the worst, I have a thermostat with a lifetime warranty. This Thermo also opens at 180 degrees, as compared to stock's 195. It's also supposed to have a higher flow rate, however I suppose time will tell. It looks pretty similar to an OEM Thermostat, though the "cage" on the back containing all of the actual workings is fairly larger, and looks like it probably allows the mechanism to open further than a stock one. As for the coolant, I put Zerex G-05 in it. It's the only non Mopar HOAT that is recommended for this engine. I also put a shot of Lucas Super Coolant in it, as it has corrosion & electrolysis inhibitors. It also claims to make the heat transfer process more efficient, we'll see about that in the hot months. The fact of the matter is, with this engine, anywhere between 190-210 is considered "nominal." If it gets too much further below 190 or 180ish, the PCM will complain that the engine is staying too cold. In my case, this combination leads to a running temperature right about 190, and it moves towards 210 under load. Previously, it ran at about 200 or 210 normally, depending on the air temperature (summer days are like driving in a giant hair dryer) and as high as 220 under load. It doesn't seem like a crazy high number, however anything over 210 can be extremely detrimental to the life of this engine. There's a chance the aluminum heads can warp, or you can even drop a valve seat and chew up a cylinder pretty quickly. Maintaining a good cooling environment is critical to the life of the engine. Otherwise, today she got another new TPS, the 3rd in the last 4 months. I suspect it would be wise to get a mopar sensor in the future. For now I'll keep milking AutoZone's Lifetime warranty.

I also encountered tablet shenanigans when a bad counterfeit battery caused voltages issues where the tablet would just shut off below a certain percentage. Likely a bad cell in the battery. Popped the old battery in and she fired right up!

Well, Tuesday 4/4 a new PS (Power Steering) Gearbox went in. Man, my old one must have been in pretty bad shape, because the Jeep is WAAAAY easier to maneuver. She is in need of alignment, which will come Monday. Otherwise, I can say that we're getting the old bucket back together again. I just need to service my diffs and get the new brake booster in, and she'll be at 100% functionality! Once she's back at 100% we can begin moving forward with improving on that functionality. A transfer case swap for a "true" separated 2wd and 4wd functionalities. Seal testing on the snorkel's flex connections (and possible further sealing, which I may do even if the current seal holds up, just for added insurance). Further lift... 4" seems to be a sweet spot with these, as it allows be to install long arms (likely just front to start) to improve ride quality & capability. I'd love to get the rig onto long arms.

Well, I've spent the last two or so weeks diagnosing an injector circuit malfunction on Cylinder 4. I was finally able to get everything tested, and found the I actually had a bad injector, and that 2 others were on their way out too. Of course, simple replacement is not my style. Time for an upgrade! These little beauties are Bosch (Gen 3 I think) Fuel Injectors. They are pretty similar to the OEM Injectors, except for the 4 Hole (instead of 1 or 2 hole) design. The 4 holes supposedly provide better fuel atomization, for a better burn of the fuel. While I was at it, I replaced spark plugs, which is something I was about 20K overdue for. The plugs were replaced with NGK V-Power plugs. She runs and idles much smoother now.

My lazy Saturday mod. I soldered in a wire after the ball switch so that I could add more lights into the engine bay. The best part? Didn't cost me a dime to do. Just used up extra bits from other projects.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to run Sleeping Princess with the Bullhead 4 Wheelers! No major problems, however the transfer case linkage is a wee bit loose, so I was continually popping out of 4lo. D'oh!

I probably wouldn't want to go too deep, at least yet, haha. My PCM is still in the engine bay. Until I can either figure out how to either relocate it ore seal it without making it get super hot, I still gotta be careful. I mostly added it so that I could move my intake up and outta the dust. This will also allow me to install a prefilter to help save my air filter from having to be cleaned as often.

Thanks!

So, the snorkel installation is done! All and all, it was pretty straightforward. Of course, there was some modification necessary in order to run the plumbing, but, I'll go over that here in a few. Aside from drilling holes and making sure you use the appropriate size hole saw, the installation of the actual snorkel is pretty straightforward. It sits really solid on the fender, and holds the lines fairly well. Next, I had to remove the outer fender (I actually removed it before mounting the snorkel) in order to trim the inner fender and cut the other hole for the intake. Dropping the front outers on a WJ are very straightforward. A 5 minute job. Next I had to determine where to cut. It was really more time consuming fitting everything to make sure I cut in the right place than making the actual cuts. After putting the fender back on, I could fit the 4" to 3" reduction elbow to finish the plumbing. Piece of cake! I was weary of using the Spectre 3" flex tubing, but found that it should be thick enough to actually take any punishment headed it's way. I do need to reposition that clamp, though. I also sealed the ends of the flex tubing with Black RTV Silicone, too. With everything plumbed correctly, it was onto the next challenge- Correctly seating the A-pillar mount. In order to do this, I ended up re-purposing the piece of metal used to cover the stock airbox hole, bent it, got some hardware, and made an adapter to correctly bolt the snorkel to the a-pillar. This also pulls back on the snorkel just enough to keep is from moving. It does stit just a bit more forward than most, but it's seated well and doesn't obscure the view, so I think I can live with it. yes, it is visible from the Driver's seat, but not much. no complaints.

PREPARE FOR SOME ZJ SNORKEL ON WJ ACTION! With all of the people doing this mod, I decided that I could allow myself to spend $130 on an ebay ZJ snorkel to work with. My thoughts on the snorkel are: - It feels very well made. - it should match the lines of the WJ pretty closely. - the a-pillar bracket will likely require modification to be used on the WJ. On a ZJ, this rivets into the A-Pillar between the windshield mount and the door seal. On the WJ, there is a gutter "bracket" that the door seal connects to here. The easiest way to make it work will likely be to connect it to that rather than the actual a-pillar. - The inner duct will not be used, it is too long and fat for the WJ. - The inner fender will require slight modification. I'll probably mount the snorkel on the outer fender, and then unbolt the entire outer fender from the uniframe. Inner fender reinforcement may be necessary. We'll see. - It looks identical to the ARB/Safari ZJ snorkel, minus the ARB/Safari logo. That area is just flat textured plastic like the rest of the snorkel. - It will cover up the ASUS in PEGASUS on one side, I'll have to order an inverted color sticker (white) to go on the snorkel. - All of the hardware appears to be high quality, stainless steel. I am surprised with this, and this was my biggest concern regarding the ebay snorkel. - The outlet hole on the snorkel is 4". My solution to this is a tight 90 degree 4" to 3" reducer elbow. - I'll be using a heavy-duty PVC pipe between the inner and outer fenders. With rocks and gunk hitting it, I'm afraid that aluminum or cheaper plastic parts will tear or shatter.

Happy Birthday!

So, today I finished extending the breathers for the diffs, Transfer case, and Transmission. Although I have no plans to really submerge the jeep, a little piece of mind is worth the $0.69 a foot for tubing. The 545RFE and its variant on the V8 have a dinky little breather which just dangles across the top of the transmission, so moving it up was a must. The transfer case and front diff were both lengthed moderately from the factory, but I extended them up to meet the other two. I relocated the rear diff breather to run to the front, as I had enough breather hose to do so, and the oem hose was stretched and wrecked anyways. Eventually, I'll pair all 4 breathers into a filter kit, such as ARB's Universal Breather filter. Eventually, I'm gonna snorkel the old girl. Not so much because of water, but because the dust factor out here has such an impact on filter life, and many African expedition vehicles are equipped with them for just that reason. By moving your intake up, you supposedly take in less dust, at least that's the hope. And with extended breathers, if I ever do need to so a "moderate submerge" I don't need to worry about the transmission turning into a strawberry milkshake dispenser.

Thank you! Yes the motor mounts were worth the money. Be advised, though they are MUCH firmer that the OEM mounts - a bit more vibes from the engine because of it. I feel like this is a good tradeoff for not wrecking a set of motor mounts once every few years. These'll probably last the life of the dub. If not, well these can have a new bushing pressed into 'em. Although it's a high density rubber bushing that shouldn't show any wear for years to come.

Well, with all the recent hype with these little buggers, I ended up picking one up too! I look forward to seeing how much "cooking" I can pull off with it... you know... for Science!