theksmith

Welcome! As long as you follow our Pet Policy (i assume those are the rules you read already), then no other info needed. See you there!

Welcome to the site, looking forward to meeting you both! ...our Jeeps do play nice with others!

FYI - there are no more Motorhome or Travel Trailer tickets available (due to limited parking space). There's still room for more tent campers as of now - better sign up soon if you're considering coming though!

Our trailer has a black water flush/rinse connection. The plumbing that it routes through includes the common "vacuum breaker" style check valve to prevent accidentally back-flowing from the black tank into the hose and water supply. Apparently these are known to be rather delicate and not last long. Reviews for the brass versions aren't really any better than the all plastic ones. My question is, why is this vacuum breaker style used in this application instead of a simple spring based one-way check valve? Thanks!

there's an outlet in that central gazebo thing too

Important announcement Due to anticipated smaller group size this year, we only have the WEST loop (it is the biggest of the 3 loops though). I did go ahead and add on Thursday night to the reservation - so anyone is welcome to come up a day early (anytime after 2pm on Thursday) though the Gala officially still starts on Friday. I do encourage anyone with a large RV to arrive on Thursday if possible to be sure you can find a good spot to park.

after you add your ticket choice (to the cart) , you should have a cart icon up in the header of the site where you can click and then get a checkout button (or click here) and then the next screen should have a credit card pay option. just let me know which part you're getting stuck on (and if you're on a phone/tablet or desktop computer). sorry - we don't have 2026 Gala specific shirts this year! :(

update on the cooling upgrades... to re-cap, Gadget's coolant temp and overall performance up a long steep grade was typically acceptable when it was under 100* ambient. over that and she would get warmer than i'd like, or i'd have to turn off the A/C and back waaaaay off the gas. the new Mishimoto performance v2 radiator seems like it shaved off 3 or 4 degrees. next i removed the Rugged Ridge perforated grille insert and custom vertical strip daytime running lights that i've had for a long time. that change seemed to get me another 3 or 4 degrees cooler. the old look: i really didn't like the way it looked without any insert: so i tried adding a more "open" mesh insert from Custom Car Grills: of course more open to air flow means more open looking, so i don't like it as much as the old insert in terms of just appearance. however... i did several test runs up the I-17 to Sunset Point while it was 109* to 111* in Phoenix and around 104* in Black Canyon City. i wrote out a little script for what speeds and RPM's to hold at various points along the climb, trying to drive it consistently each time. i recorded the engine coolant temps at those points and having the new mesh installed was NOT noticeably worse than having the OEM grille completely open, so the new mesh gets to stay! current results - with ambient temp in black canyon city around 104* - then when i crest the hill just before Sunset Point, i'm now only down to about 60 MPH and the coolant temp will hit a max of 250* for less than 5 seconds before starting to drop. this is with the A/C on the whole time. previously to get the same temp results, i had to turn the A/C off just a bit before the top and would be down to 50 MPH or less as well (due to having to back off the RPMs a lot more). so the new radiator and the improved airflow did make a big difference. i still had to really watch my RPM's carefully on that climb to get these results. i'd love to be able to set the cruise-control to 75 and just let her run up the hill like she did when she was stock... but considering her increased weight and poor aerodynamics, i don't think that is a realistic goal anymore.

if the Jeep engineers had left enough space for those around most of the bolt heads then they would have never invented combination wrenches!

i put this together to see what wrenches i could get away with eliminating from my rig's emergency tool roll (for weight/bulk savings)... so if you carry only the green "close enough sizes" shown above, and only the most common "core mechanic" sizes, you can carry 16 wrenches instead of 25 and be covered for most field repairs. link to a similar prebuilt set... thoughts? find any errors? of course if you have an import rig you only need metric wrenches, but many middle-aged American rigs are a mix of metric and SAE. does anyone know - are the latest JL's and JT's 100% metric yet?

I'm so looking forward to this event up in the cool pines! Phoenix set a record high for yesterday of 115* and a record low of 94*!

The 17th annual Dirt Gala will be at the Cinders again! Come spend the weekend camping with us at the O'Leary group site near Sunset Crater in your tent, trailer, or RV. Saturday morning we'll do an optional moderate trail ride into the Cinders OHV area, have lunch, then return to camp. You could also just hang out at camp, go into Flagstaff and play tourist, or explore on your own! Chock full of friends, family, games, prizes, laughter and dirt – there’s fun for everyone! So grab the whole family and join us. Don't be that person hearing about all the awesome stuff you missed for the next whole year! Sign up now! Note: This event is open to everyone! You do NOT need to be a club member to attend. LOCATION The O'Leary Group Site near Sunset Crater & The Cinders OHV area, just outside Flagstaff, AZ. Click here for directions... We only have the WEST loop this year (the larger one on the left as you come in). This is a semi-primitive group campsite with paved access, vault toilets, charcoal grills, tables, and a central shelter. Note that there are NO hookups, however the shelter does have a spigot and an 120v outlet for temporary use (blenders, etc.). Individual spots are NOT reserved within the group area and space is limited. If you have a Travel Trailer or RV, we recommend you get there by 4pm to secure a big enough spot! SIGN-UPS / TICKETS Reply to this thread to sign-up, then click here to visit our online store and purchase your virtual tickets with a credit card or Paypal. We'll mark you as "paid" once you checkout and then you're all good to show up! A camping ticket (Tent, Trailer, or Motorhome) includes admission for you and your immediate family! UPDATE (as of 8/18): There are no more Motorhome or Travel Trailer tickets available (due to limited parking space). There's still room for more tent campers for now though! If you are NOT camping, then please purchase one "Attending but not camping (1 Adult)" ticket for each adult. Children are free! No ticket sales at the event, please purchase online ahead of time. Tickets are non-refundable since the venue has been booked. Note: This is ORP's annual fundraising event, and the camping reimbursements are an important source of revenue for the club/website. Thank you all in advance! ITINERARY Thursday (9/10) Optional: Early crew arrive anytime after 2 PM. I encourage anyone with a large RV to arrive on Thursday if possible to be sure you can find a good spot to park. Friday (9/11) Rest of the folks arrive anytime on Friday! Setup your campsite, meet & greet people as they arrive! Dinner (self-prepared). Campfire social time, visit with old friends and get to know the new folks! Saturday (9/12) Optional: Line up rigs at 9:30 AM for the 4x4 moderate rated Cinders OHV area trail ride (around 4 hours). Must have a 4-low transfer case option & suitable tow points. Please bring a trail lunch, and plenty of water! Late afternoon: The game(s)! These are for 2 person teams, so partner up! Annual salsa & dip contest after the games (see below). Dinner time (self-prepared), then head over to the common area for... 50/50 raffle drawing, awarding prizes, and ORP announcements. More campfire social time! Sunday (9/13) Breakfast (self-prepared) Leisurely break camp, bid friends adieu & head home! Everyone must to be out of the group site by 11 AM. CONTESTS Annual Salsa & Dip Contest: Enter your homemade salsa or chip/veggie dip! Keep on ice until Saturday evening. Offroad Passport supplies the chips, but you're welcome to bring more. Everyone come hungry! Enjoy the chips, salsas and dips and VOTE for the winners! Salsa and dip contestants will compete for 1 prize this year. However, you can enter as many salsas/dips as you want! 50/50 Raffle: Back by popular demand is a 50/50 raffle! Tickets on sale Saturday afternoon/evening. 1 winning ticket drawn Saturday evening. The winner gets 50% of the ticket sales! (the Club keeps the other half). $5 per ticket, or $20 for five tickets (bring cash) IMPORTANT NOTES This is a family-friendly event! Alcohol at camp is OK but please be responsible and respectful. ABSOLUTELY NO DRINKING & DRIVING! Click here to read ORP's Pet Policy... Please print, sign, and bring a copy of the participation agreement with you. Click here for that form... Be sure to bring everything you need for meals including stoves/dishes/etc. HOW YOU CAN HELP! Bring your corn-hole or other lawn games to play at camp. ORP swag (hats, shirts, etc.) will be on display and available for purchase at special Gala discount prices! (bring cash). Please bring 1 or 2 bundles of firewood for the community campfire ATTENDING NOTE: Sign-ups are a little different this year, please see above for details! @theksmith -- PAID: 1 Travel Trailer & Vehicle @Bradywgn71 -- PAID: 1 Motorhome & Vehicle @Curly -- PAID: 1 Travel Trailer & Vehicle @4WLNRN -- 1 Tent & Vehicle @shellback91 -- PAID: 1 Tent & Vehicle @Lecia Smith -- PAID: 1 Travel Trailer & Vehicle @4x4tographer & @Yodamom -- PAID: 1 Motorhome & Vehicle @mynr1 -- 1 Overland Trailer & Vehicle @ob1jeeper & @Ladybug -- PAID: 1 Motorhome & Vehicle @Adventure F150 -- PAID: 1 Tent & Vehicle @Jeep XO -- PAID: 1 Tent & Vehicle @gearhead -- PAID: 1 Attending not camping @atm000 -- PAID: 1 Tent & 2 Vehicles @SonoranWanderer -- PAID: 1 Overland Trailer & Vehicle @Angela Holladay -- 1 PAID: Tent & 2 Vehicles @OnPointOffroad -- PAID: 1 Motorhome & Vehicle Bill & RaKell -- 1 Travel Trailer & Vehicle @mikemann57 -- PAID: 1 Tent & Vehicle @TylerTrv57 -- PAID: 1 Tent & Vehicle

did my 195,000 mile oil change last week!

$10/month currently to be "paused" which gives you low-speed data still (enough to send/receive text messages, stream music, *usually* have a wifi phone call). note it used to be $5/month - they can pretty much do what they want with pricing. you have to activate it back to normal service at least once every 12 months. paused service only works in-motion up to 10 MPH now (recent change). active service works up to like 90 MPH. $55/month for an active "Roam" 100GB/month plan. that's plenty of data typically for one person for a month, even if you're working and having zoom calls most days on it. if you have 2 or more people and they are both streaming videos constantly, you may need more. there are 300GB/month and unlimited plans available. you *used to* be able to purchase additional blocks of data if you needed to go over your allotment, but my understanding now is you have to just switch to a higher plan for the billing period to get more. the date you first activate service becomes your billing cycle start/end date from then on. when you resume from "pause", you are immediately charged a pro-rated amount for the rest of your cycle (i.e. if there are 10 days left before your end date then you only pay for those 10 days but you only get a pro-rated amount of data too). the resume service is almost immediate (within minutes). then if you are still active when your start/end date rolls around, you'll get charged the full $55 for the upcoming 30 days. you can select to "pause" anytime and it doesn't actually pause service till your billing start/end date hits since you've already paid for that period. the Mini has the router and WiFI access point all built-into the dish, you just plug in a single DC power cable to it and you're up and running within a few minutes. it is currently $200 direct from Starlink, or $50 more from Home Depot, Best Buy, etc.. the hardware price keeps going down till a new generation comes out costing more and then it starts to slide down in price over time again. service is great, if you have a clear view of the sky. if you have obstructions (trees, etc.) it can drop out for a second here and there which is not really noticeable just surfing the net but will cause a Zoom call or video stream to pause sometimes. the download speeds are excellent and even upload data rates are good. the ping times can be a little slow compared to high-speed land connections, so if you are playing multi-person action video games you could notice some lag. Starlink keeps changing the terms and costs, so @SonoranWanderer or @4x4tographer might can tell you if i've gotten any of the details wrong!

i don't really understand how KPI is different than wheel camber on a common ball-joint based solid axle like the JK D44? is it a combination of camber and wheel offset? i did notice that on the few places where the road actually slopes to the left, Gadget will run straight rather than start pulling left - so it seems like the pull is always towards the right.

well scratch my previous statement - i decided to go ahead and put in a Mishimoto "V2 Performance" radiator and see if it lets Gadget stay a little cooler getting up those long grades! Brady wanted to earn some extra summer spending money, so we paid him to install it this morning for me - hooray for child labor! this expensive new hunk of aluminum supposedly features an "18-percent increase in core volume, fin area, and external tube area" and a "13-percent increase in coolant capacity". hopefully it makes a very noticeable difference in how much heat the cooling system can actually shed. and here's an unrelated photo of Gadget being Gadget...

was back at on Friday, this time working on Gadget's booty side... when i originally installed Evo Rockstar skids ("high clearance" shock/sway bar mounts), i customized the location to be lower than they were designed for so i wouldn't over compress the shocks... i recently had to add more bump-stop spacers to get the pinion to clear my new Clayton fuel tank skid - causing me to have a wasted bit of up-travel. but that meant i was able to raise the Rockstar skids/mounts up to where they were meant to be, giving me back the shock travel in the form of more droop. this also gave me an inch more clearance under the mounts. before: after: i also replaced the bushings in the rear lower control arms (frame side) while i was back there. Teraflex started shipping their newer Alpine bushings instead of the traditional Clevite rubber bushings that were there before. finally, after all that was buttoned up (and i had a much needed shower) - i took a little stroll in the desert to make sure everything was still copasetic.

Gadget has pulled to the right for a long time, thus I can't attribute it to any particular mod. I've had other bigger handling issues till recently and so I hadn't been too worried about it - but now I'd like to solve it. What I mean is if I let go of the steering wheel while driving down a street or the freeway, she immediately starts drifting to the right. The steering wheel turns to the right as it happens. It's a much more aggressive movement than I would expect from just the crown of the road and none of our other vehicles have this issue on the exact same stretches of road. Alignment: My camber isn't horrible (and is fairly close to equal). Caster is about as far as I can go (without creating major driveline vibes even at lower speeds when the hubs are locked). I have cross caster at -0.6* which I was expecting would offset the road's natural crown. Thrust is ever so slightly negative too. I reduced the toe just a tiny bit after getting the following readout, which made no detectible difference. Brake/bearing drag: I free-spun each tire and don't feel any more drag at a particular wheel. I also checked the temperature at the center of each wheel/hub after a bit of freeway driving and they are all within a few degrees of each other. Therefore, I don't think I have anything dragging causing the pull. Sway bar tension: I noticed the front and rear sway bars had a little bit of tension on them from the adjustable links not being set just right. I adjusted a link on each bar till they both sit perfectly neutral with the Jeep parked level. This fix made no detectable difference in handling either. Tire rotation: Also makes no difference. What am I missing? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

fudge me it's hot out! finally added some 3/4" front coil spacers to reduce the rake i got when i installed new rear coils back in January. i had been waiting to see how those coils would settle out, and i was avoiding the project because it's a lot of work for a minor aesthetic choice. i still have around 1" of rake depending on how full the gas tank is, but it looks much more level to me now. i also replaced the front Metalcloak Duro Spring bump-stops. i'd changed out the rear ones a while back but hadn't gotten to the front till now. IMO, those are a good value at under $100 for all 4... they work much better than the soft factory bumps on our heavy rigs - and i've been getting several years out of a set. final maintenance item today was to replace the extremely old stem bushings in my front Falcon Shocks while i had everything apart.

fixed it!

Gadget was getting too hot this weekend, especially on the climb up out of Camp Verde on the 260 - had to turn off the A/C and slow to a crawl. then i noticed she was getting a little warm very erratically the rest of the trip - i.e. not directly related to engine load. i figured air in the system or fan working inconsistently. after i got home and she cooled down completely, i saw the coolant expansion tank was full. so, i pressure tested the radiator cap and sure enough it wouldn't hold its rated pressure. i topped off the radiator and put on a new cap. then i ran up the 17 to Sunset Point yesterday afternoon and she was back to normal. normal for Gadget in the summer is still not as good as i'd like it to be. she does great the rest of the year. but, i have to back off a ton on long climbs when the weather gets to be near a 100* out. i'll be down to 50 mph or less by the time i get to the top of that climb to Sunset Point in order to keep the cooling system under 235*. fortunately that's with the A/C still ON the whole time. now that isn't at all horrible for a really heavy JKU with the 3.6L, but i think my next attempt to improve it will be a Mishimoto extra capacity radiator - but not till this Mopar one dies probably.

had a nice time camping on the Mogollon Rim and running Pyeatt Draw with ORP members this weekend! my camp. view from the hammock. snacks! Gadget playing around (photo credit @Scott and Kim Miller). that's a good boy Cooper, as long as you keep your extremely dirty ass off me (photo from @kaspily).