ob1jeeper

You've been a pretty busy beaver Ryan... ;) Looking good...

SOLD

Handy list for sure Kris... Well done & Thanks for the reminder to do the same for my own traveling tool bag... ;)

Ladybug & I are in... M-home and 1 Jeep. Looking forward to it... ;)

I failed to add in my comment above, that the KPI angle (KPIA) is typically set in production vehicles (independent suspensions AND "live" (or solid) axles, such that the scrub radius is as close to zero as practical. When larger tires are installed in our solid frt axle in attempts to improve off-road capability, the result is, higher scrub radius due to the deeper offsets, Since the kingpin angle hasn't changed, the scrub radius is increased making the vehicle more sensitive to road crown, and just as importantly, creates a higher probability for axle tramp, commonly know as the feared "Death Wobble". KPIA can be adjusted to a minor degree, on the typical "live" frt axles such as is in your JK, using offset balljoint cams. You may be able to adjust the KPA enough to balance out the road crown using some offset cams, and trying to offset the KPIA, side-to-side sufficiently enough to get a more stable "less drift/pulling to one side" vehicle while retaining your larger tires & wheels. With that said, as the tires grow larger and scrub radius grows along with it, it becomes more difficult to obtain sufficiently low enough scrub radius, with out modification to what is commonly referred to as the axles "C" brackets that have the ball joints in them, as well as modifying the knuckle to obtain a better KPIA, and lower scrub radius. To that end, most of the "custom axle builders" take that into account, and by pairing custom "C" brackets and knuckles, to set the KPIA's to obtain a lower scrub radius and more closely match the intended tire/wheel combinations. I will see if I can find some better information with some schematics that might explain this better than I am doing at the moment...

I'm going to throw out a possible for your consideration. Kingpin inclination angle... IE, the kingpin is no longer pointing to the center of the tire contact patch, thereby causing the vehicle to be more sensitive to road camber...

IF you are in the mood to remove the skid again, I'd suggest removing the patch piece you installed, then put/hold the skid in place (maybe with a jack?), and see just how much more you are able to remove from the skid in that area, without making it fit tight against the tank, to get back the clearance you once had. Then you could replace your patch with one that still clears your D-shaft joint. As for the lack of weld penetration, I'm of the opinion that these welds are not critical to the integrity of the skid, so I would not be afraid to place a half dozen (or so) 1/2-1 inch welds, which should suffice to keep the patch in place, as opposed to trying to completely weld it in place. Should you choose to remove it for re-do's, I'd recommend adding a few (half dozen?) holes in the lower portion of the plate, to allow any loose gravel/sand/etc. to escape, so that it doesn't get lodged and cause abrasion of the tank by becoming lodged between the two. Just my $.02...

Woody, From your description of the failure, there is almost no way the welds failed as a result of the splash-down.. IMHO, and experience, the axle welds failed long before the dunk into the water. The only way a dip in cool/cold water could create catastrophic failure would be for the welds to have been crystalized by sudden quenching of cold water while still VERY fresh from the welding and the weld joints still at VERY NEAR metal fusing/(melting) temperatures.

This is one of THE slickest mounts for extra fuel storage that I've ever seen... Well done... ;)

There is an entire science dedicated to the study of corregated road surfaces. The bulk of my career was focussed on vehicle durability, and determining how to accelerate the damaging inputs in a shortened time-frame, that would match (as close as practical) the damage that a customers vehicle would see over it's "service life", so that durability/reliability could be assessed as quickly as practical. I learned that wavelength of the washboard is primarily determined by the "spring rate" of the vehicles using the road. Larger vehicles (think dump trucks, etc.) have a lower frequency suspension than the typical passenger vehicle, thus on roads primarily used by trucks, will have a longer wavelength washboard, than a road which is primarily used by passenger sized vehicles. I also learned that amplitude of the correlations are directly linked to the material being used as a base. The largest action/mechanical reason for initiating washboard on unpaved roads used by "wheel driven" vehicles (as opposed to trailers as shown in the attached video where the wheel is being towed over the surface) is because a driven wheel slips/spins slightly with each rotation, as it is used to push the vehicle forward. When this occurs, it displaces a slight amount of material that forms the initial "bump", which over time devolves into washboard. This is most easily seen and demonstrated where the most severe washboard is located... If you pay attention the next time you are on a gravel road that is washboarded, you will note that the larger levels are found on a hill or in a curve. Let's talk about the hill first; The uphill lane will have significantly worse (higher amplitude) corrugations/washboard than the downhill lane. SO... If you see me climbing a grade on a non-paved surface... Driving up the grade, in the "wrong lane", you will know what I do this... It's less damaging to the vehicle. A similar material displacement action takes place in a curve, where the tire slips slightly sideways moving material such that the worst washboard in the curve, will be on the outside of the curve. FWIW: washboard surfaces are some of THE most "accelerated damaging" surfaces most vehicles are driven on. To make this worse... Washboards damaging forces are nearly doubled or more when the tires remain at or near "recommended pavement use" tire pressures. We all know from experience how much smoother the car feels when tires are "aired down"... and you can bet the vehicle knows this too. Finally, on the way home from our recent trip took to NM, driving on US64 from Shiprock, NM -to- AZ, we came across a several mile section of PAVED road surface that was washboarded. 🤯 This was a first for me... I had never before seen a paved road surface, whose sub-base had deformed sufficiently to allow the asphalt surface to become washboarded. It appears to be a real-world example of washboard formation without the initial surface disruption caused by tire slip, as shown in the above shared video. I thought it was pretty cool to witness... Especially for a road surface geek 😇 .

Hello from Chaco Canyon....

Kris, The odor you are experiencing from the black water tank is typically evidence of a "gas leak" either at the fluid tube, or the vent tube connection, as opposed to a liquid leak. A liquid leakage is rarely not noticeable. I've experienced both... More often than I'd have hoped for, but have come to the conclusion is one of the "lesser desired joys" of RV ownership. :( On a less fragrant note, are you using any type of black tank treatment? They DO help minimize the odors... Some better than others. The red dyed stuff from Walmart (I'll have to go check, but I think it's a Walmart brand??) seems to do a decent job, but nearly all of them help... After each dump (luckily we have a dump station @ our home), I do a flush by filling approximately 1/3 tank, then dumping again, followed by adding about a gallon of water, and a fresh dose of tank treatment, in preparation for storage, and the next outing. Tips about the black water tank - from my experience: 1- Dump immediately after a drive of sufficient distance to ensure the break down of the solids, and NEVER let them sit with solid waste long enough to "cake up" on the bottom, as they can be difficult to clean if that occurs. 2- IF you suspect it's not getting broken up by movement, adding a 5 lb bag of ice cubes and driving around for enough time to allow the cubes to help break up the solids is helpful... 3- Keeping the dump valves lubricated is important as well. Both for smooth ease of operation, (which can prolong the life of the valve seals), and to help with breaking down the contents and helping with odors. Most of the odor helpers do some of that, but I like to ad a spoonful of liquid laundry detergent for this purpose to the one gallon I add before putting into storage. Hopefully you will find these tips help your situation as well... 🤞

We have ALL been guilty of this... LOL...

FWIW: Judging from the level of rust in the crack zones, it's obvious it has been cracked for some extended period, and the cracks did not occur on this single event. ;)

A couple of thoughts regarding shimmy (properly termed as Axle Tramp for solid axle Jeeps, etc.) But it is mostly known as the dreaded "death wobble". FWIW: "axle Tramp" is common to ALL "live-steered" vehicles... IE: any vehicle with a solid front (steered) axle). Yes... Even Class 8 Trucks (Semi's), school busses, etc. etc. To overcome this tendency, there are a number of things that are done during the design/development process to minimize it. Below is a list of some of the "bigger" things to consider, that are used during the design and development phase to control this aspect of the use of a live steered (solid) front axle... 1- Alignment (Caster, Camber, Toe) 2- Kingpin inclination angle set to have the point at which if extended to the road surface, as close as practical to the center of the tire contact patch. 3- Built-in hysteresis, normally a mechanical device (friction or hydraulic) device added to help control this natural tendency. ie: (steering dampers) 4- Front suspension pivots and bushings with compliance tuned to avoid the wrong frequencies for that product. 5- The intentional mis-matching of the compliance frequency rate ( "tuning" ) of all of the heavy equipment of the vehicle's mounts, (aka: drivetrain) to ensure the frequencies of the mounts do not match the harmonic that is naturally present with "shimmy". 6- The intentional tuning of tire hysteresis to help dampen this phenomenon... ITEM # 2 & 6 is THE most common rule broken, when installing g larger tires (width AND diameter) because those items BOTH push the center of the tire contact patch outside of the kingpin's intersect with the road surface. The Large tires RARELY have similar hysteresis dampening qualities of the OEM size & construction. Finally, the addition of wheels with more offset, further break the rule of kingpin inclination meeting the center of the tire contact patch, increasing the odds for axle tramp/shimmy/D-wobble to occur. I said all this to help your understand what is supposed to be, and to point out that ITEM #3 is THE LARGEST TOOL (and simplest one) the aftermarket has to help mask/reduce the sins caused by undoing the things designed/developed into the product, in attempts to reduce tramp during design development, listed in item 2... Once final item to consider... Most "larger" after market tires used have a load range higher than the vehicle actually needs or was designed for, as most folks want a "tougher" tire for trail riding. For those tires, I recommend trying lower pressures than you would use for standard tires, as this helps lower their compliance frequency.. (AKA: makes them "less bouncy") hopefully far enough to get "out of tune" with the axle tramp frequency created by the added tire mass... Finally, I have NOT spoken to nor addressed wornout parts, or loose fasteners, as those items should be self-explanatory.... Hope this helps you as you work through this issue...

Happy Holidays to all ORP members...

We regret that family matters trump the date, so we are not able to make it to this years holiday party. Please give our best to all who are able to attend, and post up some pics please... 😇

If you want to dance to the Pipers song, you must pay "tribute"... 🤑

Wishing all ORP friends a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving Day. We have Much to be thankful for...

For sale is a one owner 2006 TJ-U ( unlimited) $17,500 obo . Bought new in Mesa, AZ Selling for a friend who upgraded to a new 2025 JL. 4.0L, Auto, 127,300 miles - Clear title - emissions ready - Aftermarket insulated Hardtop - Winch - HD Tire carrier with antenna & cable for comms. - HD bumpers Frt & Rr. - Tubular Rock rails - aluminum 15" wheels (5) - wide flares - Weather-beater floor mats (frt & Rr) - 3" lift New items since June 2025 - all with approximately 600 miles since replaced. - ECU (computer) - Radiator, water pump, T-stat, T-stat housing & hoses - Engine C/shaft seals - Fuel pump, gas cap, and Evap pump - HEVAC vacuum mode door motors Rebuilt in July 2025 - Trans rebuilt by Randy's Transmission - Mesa Good condition - ZERO fluid leaks. Everything works as it should

The reason for my initial question about bolt size, grade, torque, etc. are: 1- Torque is Not the end-all, but is used to secure sufficient clamp loading to keep these types of parts from moving. 2- It's obvious from the elongation of the hole, that the clamp load ("squeeze pressure") created by the original fastener was not sufficient to keep the parts firmly clamped/squeezed together to keep the parts secured, from moving against each other, incrementally as it had been initially installed. IF the clamp load had been properly set for this location, it would have not allowed this movement. I recommend that you ensure it is torqued to between 150 & 160 ft-lbs, and check it after a few rides to ensure it is holding that torque. FWIW: a 14 mm fastener is essentially the same diameter and clamp load carrying capacity of the 9/16...

What specific Bolt & Nut (size, grade, thread) did you use, and at what torque value was it tightened?

I nearly broke a rib laughing... 🤣 😂 🤣 GOOD one indeed... 👌 👍

Happy Belated Big AL... 🥳🎂