ExWrench's Oddball Mods + Sneaky Stretch

[ExWrench]

07-02-2017, 11:53 PM

Hey All,

In response to Photobucket's extortion attempt

, I just finished fixing all of my pics in this thread

(almost 500 photos)

I can't do anything where people quoted me, but please let me know if any of my pics are fooked or missing.

Thank you.

Have a safe and happy Independence Day 2017!

---

07-05-2017, 05:51 AM
<Uncle Sams Misguided Child>

I wondered why I got a quote notification from 2014. LOL

 

[ExWrench]

05-12-2018, 10:02 PM

Hey All,

My Jeep was due for some love, and it's getting a shitload of my spare time over the next month or so.

Rear Bumper - chit I dun changed:

I added an air chuck in my rear license plate well, because reaching up under the Jeep to hook up a hose was annoying.
Once it gets a bit dirty, I expect it to become invisible-ish enough that most people won't notice it.

A 1/4" NPT bulkhead passes through to a spot I hollowed out on the back side, where 3/8" nylon air brake tubing takes over.

Here's approximately what I shaved off the rear bumper to reduce its tendency to drag outer corners on departure.

. . . and on the driver's side, I cut 2" off my Hi-Lift storage well - that thing loved to scrape / drag :nono:

​

- my fawkup , feexed nao :D​

​

Time to void the warranty on the fender flares:

I need more room in the wheel wells, specifically this much in the rear.

The Sharpie line on the trailing edge would need cutting away to clear the new tires also, but this was just a study cut, not a done deal.


Here's where I cut 'em back to. I wanted to keep a bit of vertical lip so the fenders wouldn't be all flippity floppity in the wind.

Instead of cutting away the interference on the trailing edge, I clamped a handful of scrap steel to it . . .

. . . hit it with the heat gun, and bent the offending areas out of the way.
The little duck-tails are purely for function, but they look . . . :cwm13: . . . OK, whatever - I'm calling it done.

Also in that ^^^ photo: jumbo mil-spec T&B zip tie is "structural" , POS xmas-tree rivets replaced with 8mm removable rivets, more heat gun massaging and fookery applied to rear inner fenders, and rear inner fenders cut back while still protruding past body sheet metal all around.

Next up: front fender flat(ish)ification. I think I came up with some new "tech" there :rockon:

 

[ExWrench]

05-12-2018, 10:35 PM

I didn't tape off my flare cuts - Sharpie guided me out back, and the fronts I just scribed with a combination square.

Did all my "real" cuts with a big-ass pair of sheet metal snips, and made a fookload of relief cuts with compound aviation snips.

My fingers were wrecked by the end of all that cutting - next time, I might just buy MCEs


Here's most of the shitpile generated by the front fender hackery. On the second front, I made all the relief cuts first with a cutting wheel.

Drilled a 3/4" hole with a step drill and popped in Maxxima 3-LED amber clearance / marker lights.

So . . . here's my "new tech"
Surely someone's done something similar, but I came up with this out of thin air, so I'm taking credit for this win.
The cut-back fenders are plenty solid most places, but the front edge and whole top were tied to nothing.
I drilled a 5/16" hole into the sub structure that would accept one of the 8mm plastic removable-center expansion rivets.

. . . then reassembled and drilled up through the flare so I could tack down the flippy flare - and it worked

I still need to rework the inner fenders up front, but am taking a break from that right now.

Here's why all the fender fookery, and why I'm taking a break from it: 5 new Nitto 37x12.50R17 Trail Grapplers.

The Nitto 35s were worn from 34.5" new down to 33.7" currently (40% tread remaining).
So, the new 37s (36.5") are adding 2.8" of diameter and adding 1.4" of ground clearance :rockon:

 

[ExWrench]

05-12-2018, 10:59 PM

I typed out what I'm doing in my K5 dreaming thread, so I'll just quote that instead of typing it all again.

Here's what I am doing to my Jeep (for better or worse):

ExWrench said:
<snip>

Since you bumped this (thanks), I'll let y'all in on my short-term solution to wheeling something new and different.

Instead of taking on a huge new vehicle project, I'm taking on a much smaller vehicle project: my Jeep.

• install air chuck in rear license plate well
• shave rear bumper and Hi-Lift mount for clearance / un-dragassification
• replace rear springs (same TF 2.5, new) and all 4 factory bump stops
• shorter shocks out back (11.8" --> 11" travel, still Bilstein 5125s)
• raise rear TB at frame side (so I don't fuck up another shock :cwm13: )
• longer shocks out front (9.75" -->11" travel, still Bilstein 5125s)
• longer brake lines out front (26" Teraflex, + TF anchors)
• 5 new 37x12.50R17 Nitto Trail Grapplers replacing worn 35s
• break down 5 TR beadlocks on 35s and build up on 37s (120# each)
• leave the rear stretch (4") as-is
• make the flat-ish fenders I'll need from stock fenders
• do some custom artistic hackery shit with the inner fenders
• hack 'n' tack spare tire swing to move spare 1" to the left
• keep tire swing link and latch happy while moving shit (actually a PITA)
• add a Spal fan to cool the Viair OBA compressor under hood
• get all that ^^^ shit done in 5 weekends or less :rockon:

I've got the rear bumper done, tires ordered, and fenders cut; but the rest of it = game on!
EDIT: I'm not looking forward to changing 5 tires on beadlocks - my back hurts already just thinking about it :nono:
<snip>

New rear shocks are a bit shorter (didn't need the extra travel, wanted a bit shorter compressed length for safety).

That middle shock had contacted the rear track bar under "real world" conditions that I had not anticipated nor simulated.

Fortunately, I had enough room to move the frame side of the rear TB up with little effort or drama.

This random handful of shit allowed me to verify that there's enough room to mount a little Spal 30103011 5.2" Paddle Blade Puller Fan under the hood to blow 313 CFM of air across the Viair compressor when it's in use.

Usually when we air up, the whole engine compartment is heat soaked, and I've reached thermal shutdown on the compressor before :nono:
Since waiting for shit to cool off sucks, I'm opting for a solution that blows :D


Annnd . . . let's end this update on a down note

It looks like my front long-side axle tube is no longer as firmly attached to the pumpkin as it once was:

I haven't had time to investigate yet - hoping for a slow leak and nothing that needs major work before my next trip :th_pray:

---

05-13-2018, 08:14 AM

<snout>


Nice work on those fenders.
I totally agree... sore hands + plastic bits and dust every where + picking molten globs of fender out of my hair = next time I'll just get the MCEs. Now I need to trim up my pinch seam.

---

05-13-2018, 10:00 AM

<gt1guy>

You're going to have to break out your big boy cutters if you're going to turn the Jeep into a K5.

Seriously, damn good work.

---

05-13-2018, 08:57 PM

snout said:

Nice work on those fenders.​

Grassy ass, ah me go!

snout said:

I totally agree... sore hands + plastic bits and dust every where + picking molten globs of fender out of my hair = next time I'll just get the MCEs.​

Sure, we both say that now, but time will fade memories of the suckage and history could easily repeat itself

gt1guy said:

You're going to have to break out your big boy cutters if you're going to turn the Jeep into a K5.:thefinger:

Seriously, damn good work.​

Are you finished with your budget boost and sport cage (or whatever ) project yet?

---

05-15-2018, 11:12 AM

<gt1guy>

ExWrench said:

Are you finished with your budget boost and sport cage (or whatever ) project yet? ​

Ya-but.............................I got nothin.

 

[ExWrench]

05-19-2018, 11:19 PM

The bead breaker I rebuilt was not up to busting the load range E TGs after a few years on these rims --> trail fix in the driveway? - check!

There was a a bit of beadlock fastener drama, but the 37s are mounted.


So . . . Front Inner Fender Fawkery, Oddball Style


This photo illustrates the stock extent of the front inner fenders - dat cheet's gotta' move ASAP.

Reworking the inner fender with a heat gun SUCKED, but I got it done.
Mid-process, they kinda' look like hammered dog shit from the back side

The first one had a lot of development steps / test bends, so I'll show you the second one . . .


Here's what I started with, and needed to accomplish: get that whole lip to change direction at the yellow line and meet up with the flares.

Cleaned it well on both sides and went to town with the heat gun. A lot of softening & flattening factory bends, then adding new bends . . . a few . . . inches . . . at . a . . . time. Not too difficult, but hot and tedious work - this second one took me between a half hour and an hour (and I already knew what I was trying to accomplish).

It may not look much better, but it's actually getting close at this point.

The circled area needs to be heated and laid out flat toward the front of the wheel arch, and the red line needs trimming off.

That (along with more heating, stretching, molding, pinching, quenching with water, and repeating) allowed me to tie the 2 edges together.

Once the rivets were in place, another round of heat gun tune-up ensued: smoothing out the inner fenders, optimizing angles, and finally saying "fuck it - good enough"

Inner fenders have non-stock restraint from a fender washer and nylock nut (blue arrow) and a zip tie looped through the steel fender (yellow arrow).


Chopped off the factory marker light harness and spliced on a 2-wire polarized bullet connector (breakaway to save wiring if fender takes flight).

Aaaaannnnnnnnnnddd . . . here's where I got to today:

That 3-LED marker light is a BEAST - it'll scorch your eyes if you stare at it


To accommodate 37s, I still need to cut and shift the spare tire swing 3/4" to the left, but that ain't happenin' this weekend.

If I'm smart (here's hoping), I'll ignore the Jeep tomorrow and take my wife to the early showing of Deadpool 2.

---

05-21-2018, 08:57 AM

<gt1guy>

Came out great.

That looked like a tedious, head scratching experience.

---

05-21-2018, 01:34 PM

<LeonJk>

Awesome build and thread. Makes you take your time and stare down every little detail! :D

Any chance you have pictures of how you mounted the seats w/ the stock belts?

---

05-21-2018, 07:02 PM

gt1guy said:

Came out great.

That looked like a tedious, head scratching experience.​

Thanks Kevin!

I was damned tempted to just fix it with a credit card (buy MCEs) but I had to see what could be done with the stock parts first.
I'm stoked that I could mate the two flanges and make it factory-ish appearing.
It seemed :cwm13: possible-ish :dunno: going into it, but I was like a kid at fookin' Christmas when it actually worked out .


Truth be told, I was expecting to get shit close and then have to stitch it with zip ties like a hack repair on an ATV fender - but I'll take luck any day.
It was tedious but fun (in a struggling, almost pissed-off kind of way ) since it was a no-pressure deal.
If I converted the factory flares into post-consumer canine nutrition, I was fixin' to fix the mu'fugger with a Visa card and some MCEs.

- I'm kinda' bummed I didn't fail ​​

LeonJk said:

Awesome build and thread. Makes you take your time and stare down every little detail! :grin2:

Any chance you have pictures of how you mounted the seats w/ the stock belts?​

Thanks LeonJk

I like to try oddball stuff when I see a unique way to solve a problem, and I try to call out here what did and didn't work - if I take the time to make a mistake and learn from it, hopefully others won't have to invest time mapping the same mine field

To mount the Mastercraft Baja RS seats, I just used Mastercraft mounting kits (MCS-624405 and MCS-624406) - no actual fab. required.
Ordered the Mastercraft seats and brackets through Poly Performance - good product and good vendor in my experience.

I's been over half a decade, so I dug through old photos to "remember" installing the seats. I did need to stack a few fender washers to get the seat to clear / slide over my Tuffy gun drawers, and I had to open up the angle of one of the Mastercraft brackets a bit (pics attached):

 

[ExWrench]

06-02-2018, 02:58 AM

Getting a New Grip on Ever-Changing Needs . . .

I bought a B&M 46200 shift lever, and am really happy with it. Regaining an NVH isolator is an awesomely noticeable change

I didn't take a side-by-side photo, but it turns out that the B&M stick positions the handle ball in the same location as my shortened, bent and tapped stock shift lever - so I'll be the first to tell you that they got it right. The routing of the shifter stick up to the ball is great (way better than stock or my modified stock stick): it makes the shifter movement feel horizontal instead of ~stuck onto an weird inclined plane. Having driven for a few years with a shifter with zero flex or isolation, I'm happy with how tight and connected the B&M shift handle is while still providing good NVH isolation (waaay better than the stock, ponderous, disconnected shifter that I never loved).

So, totally happy with what I bought, but I had to do some modifications to make it work with the 1" body lift. My outer shift boot has been "serviceable" ever since I installed a Redline Goods leather shift boot and reassembled with machine screws, so I disassembled to figure out how to keep this new shifter stick from hitting.

The area that I filed down on the left looked about like the unmodified right side beforehand. That was my only interference spot - good to go now.
I have a B&M 45195 shifter incoming, which by reducing the travel of the shifter stick will further lessen the close proximity.


Finally tapped a pool cue ball I've been saving for the right time - now was that time, this is ~perfect!

OK, was going to do a big update but I'm falling asleep, so I'll try to catch all that up tomorrow.

 

[ExWrench]

06-02-2018, 07:32 AM

Hangin' Out in a Parking Lot, Just Forkin' Around . . .

I had everything done enough to check clearances, so last Friday after work I forked my Jeep up pretty good.

Front sway bar was disconnected for all testing (magic button are gooder than no magic button :D ).

In the rear, I was able to compress fully to the hard stop point . . .

. . . but in the front I could hit the bump stop bumper but not mash it down fully:

Looks like I won't be tearing out the front inner fenders at full compression - bitchin' :D

Out back (as expected) I'm using every last bit of wheel well at the trailing edge, and most of it just forward of that:

Reaaalllly just clears:

Like, just clears:

Like, really, just clears:

I may go back over the rears with a heat gun (but probably not ).

It surprised me a tiny bit when I couldn't hit the hard stops up front, so I grabbed a second forklift to force the issue:

. . . still the same. It makes sense, since the rear is leveraged a bit (and perhaps a bit under-sprung) but more significantly because I have no rear sway bar (because no room).

A rear sway bar would help force the front to articulate more fully. With my high rear roll center, I don't really "miss" the sway bar, but it would have at least one specific off-road advantage.

The photos above have the new shorter rear shocks but not the longer front shocks, so there will be another 1.25" of droop travel soon.
All the lost rear travel was unsprung, and all the gained front travel will be sprung, so my new shocks are a better match.

"37" + reality = 36.5:

Speedo's dead-nuts-on now, so I'm confident in this effective diameter estimation.
I'd be curious to know what the effective diameter of a 37" KM2 is - 35.5? :dunno:

 

[ExWrench]

06-02-2018, 08:10 AM

Still more modifications to fit 37s . . . ugh . . .

Pulled the tire swing off the rear bumper, sawed 3 big speed holes in the gas can holster, and cut off the spare tire bracketry.

Cut a strip of steel to span the two disjointed halves of the tire swing.

Tacked the strip on, and started piling on clamps until the bitch got in line:

Threw the tacked tire swing into the spare, just to triple-check my math before burning everything in:

Shifted the shovel holder over to match the profile of the 37.

Dove into my scrap pile, looking for the volunteer to be my new gusset to span all those joints:

The scrap at the top left won this race, and was selected for "greatness".

Trimmed a few edges, drilled a few speed holes, and it's ready to go:

Made a couple pieces to span all the joints on the back side as well (no room for gussets):

Threw some hot glue at the new bling bits:

. . . and ran over it with a grinder to smoovatize e'ry thang:

Needed a cushioned clamp for a wire guide, had exactly one in my mystery shit hardware drawer - I'll take luck any day.

Replacing 4 well-worn DeStaCo rubber snubbers that have served me well at the tire swing-tailgate plate interface.
Also, I took a small syringe and sucked it full of anti-seize grease . . . ~90% less messy than the brush on small fasteners - win!

EDIT: to clarify, I'm referring to the in-can brush in the silver jizz, not the unrelated end brush that ended up in that photo.


Sacrificed a 12" x 24" x 1/8" UHMW sheet to the random hack fab gods, and made a replacement for the worn-out factory spare wheel anti-rub-rash thingamawhoozits.

. . . and a couple abrasion-resistant rub strips for the DeStaCo snubbers, and a few fawked-up looking UHMW scraps

---

06-02-2018, 09:13 AM

gt1guy

Awesome work man! And it appears your trimming skill are on their A game.

---

06-02-2018, 04:13 PM

JJS2

very entertaining thread

ExWrench - I read your build thread from start-to-end, today. I am in awe of your design and fabrication skills, as well as appreciating your
humor and perseverance. Thanks for putting forth the effort to document your thinking and work.

If a guy had to be at home feeling ill, this was the best use of the day that I could think of - er - that is, the best use of the day of which I
could imagine. :D

Great rig! Beautiful work!

js

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06-02-2018, 07:27 PM

gt1guy said:

Awesome work man! And it appears your trimming skill are on their A game.​

Thank you Sir!

It's no . . . :cwm13: . . . "buggy smuggling" project like yours but this little re-do has kept me busy & I'm diggin' my "new" Heep :rockon:

I often attribute to good luck that which may be the result of exhaustive forethought, but I'll take it either way, and it makes me really happy when oddball custom ideas end up working out well

JJS2 said:

ExWrench - I read your build thread from start-to-end, today. I am in awe of your design and fabrication skills, as well as appreciating your humor and perseverance.
Thanks for putting forth the effort to document your thinking and work.

If a guy had to be at home feeling ill, this was the best use of the day that I could think of - er - that is, the best use of the day of which I could imagine. :D

Great rig! Beautiful work!

js

​

Wow, thanks!

It's awesome to hear that some of my tech. and/or bullshit are appreciated :D

. . . and thank you for not ending that sentence in a preposition

 

[ExWrench]

06-04-2018, 10:30 PM

OK, too tired to start installing the B&M shifter tonight (fawkin' stoked about that upgrade :rockon: ) so I'll try to catch this donkey show up

Boring shit that's worth doing anyway:

All 4 factory bump stop bumpers got renewed. ̶W̶O̶O̶H̶O̶O̶ . . . meh . . .

They hadn't failed completely yet, but they were fixin' to, soon.
To me, over 68K miles with some wheeling thrown in = good enough performance to replace with same, no need to "upgrade".








Aannnd . . . slightly less "meh" (hopefully) :


I reaaaally dig it when the gods of saved hardware smile upon my ̶j̶u̶n̶k̶y̶a̶r̶d̶ ̶a̶r̶t̶ garage engineering projects

Saved the 2 leftover spacers (of course) from recent replacement of the rear shocks.

I was going to cut one to position tailgate end of the tire swing link vertically, but opted for a stack of washers (because field-adjustable).

I eyeballed those 2 spacers, and they looked the same length as the gap between the two 1/2"-20 jam nuts on my link setup after I had it adjusted exactly where i needed it.

. . . I'll be damned - they're within 1/6 of a turn of needing to be filed down ( = good enough to call miraculous good fortune).

Maybe I'm easily amused, but having 2 pieces of ~"badass garbage" work perfectly w/o modification on something for which they were not intended really makes me happy.

Reused the scrap of spiral wrap that covered the 1/2-20 threaded rod previously (because cheapass):

Tire swing free end now lives ~1/2" further rearward than before, and here's a good close-up of my vertical support system in action:

Shovel clearance (after wrapping it around new bigger tire) to sheet metal and glass was definitely a consideration:

Had to drill that zip tie hole at the last minute and touch-up in place, but 3rd brake light wiring is worry-free now.
Door closed fully. Notice snubbers hit on UHMW now.

Door open fully. Wiring is hap-hap-happy.

JKO said:

Dood! Enough with the tire carrier already! What else ya' got?​

OK, OK . . . jeebus, y'all are demanding . . .

< SPOILER ALERT! Ending = "droopier than old man balls" . . . >

My brake lines were maxed out by my current shocks (and I knew this).

Pay attention to the angle between the sway bar and end link.


Here we are with the shock removed and the suspension droop limited by the top of the LCA hitting on the axle-side LCA bracket.

And, here we are with the new shock installed, and the suspension droop limited by the top of the LCA hitting on the axle-side LCA bracket.

Confession: I lied to you all earlier (please accept my sincere apology).

In my forkin' around post, I said there would be another 1.25" of droop travel. This was wrong.

My old shocks were not using the last inch of compression travel, so they went ~8" from bump to droop.
My new shocks are not using the last 0.18" of compression nor 0.5" of droop, so they go 10.5" from bump to droop.

Bump height has not changed.

I just picked up 2.5" of droop travel and wheel travel!

Ending = "droopier than old man balls"

---

06-06-2018, 10:44 AM

gt1guy

Any worries of the sway bar heading off in the wrong direction after full droop? It looks like a straight line with the end link.

What job does the golf ball have?

Damn fine engineering you have going on there.

---

06-06-2018, 08:39 PM

gt1guy said:
Any worries of the sway bar heading off in the wrong direction after full droop? It looks like a straight line with the end link.

What job does the golf ball have?

Damn fine engineering you have going on there.

​

The sway bar end links don't quite go all the way straight and I couldn't force 'em to invert, so I think I just dodged that bullet.

I was actually surprised when the LCAs volunteered to be a droop travel limit before the shocks did, but it was a pleasant surprise.

My shocks are a bit longer than my springs, but max. droop travel is a bit shorter than the shocks. I'll take luck - yep, yup, yuuup.

Adding front spring retainer clips, but otherwise plan = fuknrunnit & let inconvenience tell me I need limit straps or longer end links.


Scooby Doo and The Mystery of the Goofy Gawddam Golf Ball:

That slam latch was disassembled and put together backwards to use in a manner that neither God nor the manufacturer intended (huge surprise, right? ).

Because of that, the "L" that forms a lever (red horizontal tab thingy in pic above) is pointing the "wrong" way, so a drilled golf ball & scrap of paracord make a toggle upon which to pull to disengage the tire swing & tailgate hold-open thingamachingus. It may look redneck / ghetto / hack / hillbilly / whatever, but it works perfectly and it cost less than a buck (I didn't buy the golf ball).

Function over form. :rockon: Side benefit: custom modification with ~zero resale value if some asshole steals my Jeep :D

Here's a pic that kinda' shows the fawked up hooked-finger reach-around you would have to do if not for the goofy golf ball toggle:

​

That was with a 35, and the ~Bat Cave is even more hidden nowadays (because of the tires you're ridiculing in the 37s thread ).

 

[ExWrench]

06-10-2018, 08:54 PM

A few random details, and then something that really blows . . .

My rear suspension rode low in its travel, and I was using the bump stops more than I thought I should.
However, the spring rate seemed "perfect-ish", and 2 other springs I'd tried just didn't feel as good.
I was happy enough with the rear springs that, once they started to sag a bit, I replaced them with identical new ones.
So, I swapped out my 1/2" Teraflex spring guide spacers for some 1" ones to pick the ass end up half an inch.

I picked up another 1/8" of lift in the back when I hacked up some UHMW scraps to make pads for the lower spring perches.

I wasn't bullshitting you when I said the B&M shift lever positioned the ball right around where mine did:

If anyone was interested but didn't understand the explanation earlier, here's where I'm using a zip tie to restrain the front inner fender.

OK, so . . . this is not one of my biggest fans:

I bought a little 5.3" SPAL fan to try to keep my OBA compressor happy when airing up.
First, I mocked up one idea I had just in case it would work out:

. . . aaaannnnd - :nono: that didn't work
When I got the fan high enough to clear everything with the hood closed, the angle and airflow were for shit.
Oh well, at least I tried the "easy" option. The difficult route ended up much cooler in every way.


So, with a hood mount off the table, the plan was to mount the fan beside the OBA compressor.
After considering a couple wild options, I settled on a bracket mounted to the compressor mounting plate.
Digging through my scrap pile, I came across the L-shaped bracket left over from replacing my garage door opener last year.
I didn't use the new L-bracket because I had already ridiculously dialed in the door link assembly using the old bracket.

So, that left this little chunk of oddly-shaped mild steel up for grabs:

I had only drilled one non-stock hole in it at this point. Many more holes coming soon, because that thing blocks airflow too much.

Random shit in the garage to the rescue again (my mockup sessions are very informal):

And that allowed me to mark a line so I knew where to bend.

I'd love to show you a photo of my press brake, but I don't have one.
This bending apparatus is a piece of shallow u-channel, a steel scrap, and a clamp.

Got more than 15 pics, so I'll break this here and pick it up for the OBA fan wrap-up in a post to follow immediately-ish :D

 

[ExWrench]

06-10-2018, 09:31 PM

So, pile-o-scraps bender made the flat bracket into this:

Solid starting point geometry-wise, but too discouraging to the 313 CFM of air trying to cruise through.


Easy enough fix, you know the drill . . .

Holes have big-ass chamfers on both sides to help 'em invite the air to maintain course and speed. Also added 2 mounting bolt holes in the bottom tab.


And a little softening with a stripping wheel on a 4-1/2" angle grinder to smooth all edges and make the bracket aerodynam-ish

Blue paint of course, and recessed the pins from the connector and made 'em into a two-prong plug for use with female spade terminals.

The connector that came on the SPAL fan is an OEM connector for . . . :dunno: something I don't own



Here's a detail of how the fan bracket mounts to the compressor mounting plate.

Extra length of mounting tab with unneeded factory hole was cut off (bolt would've hit brake line underneath).

This gives you an idea of the vertical placement with respect to the OBA compressor (currently a Viair 400C).

And here's an aerial view showing you where it's moving air from and to.

RESULTS: FAAAHHHRRRKIN' OSSUM! The fan absolutely kicks ass.

Today, from compressor off at zero PSI, I aired up 4 37s from 8 - 30 PSI in 17 minutes.

EDIT - NOTE: filled to 30 PSI hot, tires were 26.5 - 27 PSI cold the next morning (just as expected).
30 PSI was for easy early-morning math, I usually air up to 31.5 hot to arrive at 28 cold.​​

I think cooling the compressor shaved a minute or 2 off each tire, and I know I got nowhere near the thermal protection shutoff on the compressor (no horrific time-suck = a time-saver any day).

This project was horribly frustrating mid-project, but the payoff made it all worthwhile. Fawk yeah!

Unless some weird problem arises that I've not anticipated, I'm calling the OBA fan project a slam-dunk, kick-ass win! :D

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06-11-2018, 09:25 AM

geberhard

BAD ass recycling and the fan mount looks billet great!!

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06-11-2018, 11:36 AM

mille657

This build is awesome from start to now! You've given me several ideas for my Jeep that I plan on accomplishing in the near future. Thanks for
sharing so much information

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06-11-2018, 08:54 PM

geberhard said:

BAD ass recycling and the fan mount looks billet great!!​

Thanks Gui!

It makes my day to find a volunteer in my scrap pile with "unrecognized potential" - makes me feel like an arteest

.

If I could sling bullshit as well as I can a 4-1/2" angle grinder, I'd skip the paint and sell shit like that to hipsters as "repurposed", "upcylced", "industrial", or maybe even "steampunk" art for ~$300, instead of bolting it on my Jeep as a ~$10 bracket that I have . . . :dunno: . . . too many hours into

mille657 said:

This build is awesome from start to now! You've given me several ideas for my Jeep that I plan on accomplishing in the near future. Thanks for sharing so much information​

Thanks mille657!

Glad you found some inspiration. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

I'm running out of bullshit to type about in this thread, so help is always appreciated :D

---

06-12-2018, 05:34 AM

j3ff3ry_j33p




The fan and bracket have renewed my optimism - at least fir today - due to the ingenuity, Ex.
Extremely interesting , useful and typically brilliant.

That is how this Jeep thing is supposed to be done.

I’m being serious. I just think that last update about the fan is the tits, bud.

[USER][/USER] , ftw!


:jeep:

---

06-12-2018, 01:28 PM

j3ff3ry_j33p said:
​

The fan and bracket have renewed my optimism - at least fir today - due to the ingenuity, Ex.
Extremely interesting , useful and typically brilliant.

That is how this Jeep thing is supposed to be done.

I’m being serious. I just think that last update about the fan is the tits, bud.

, ftw!


:jeep:

​

Thanks j3ff3ry!

I've been meaning to do the OBA fan for awhile now, and an upcoming trip lit the fire under my ass.

I was bummed when the hang-from-hood solution didn't work out, but now I'm happy it didn't - I wouldn't change a thing about this setup :D

Considering how I like to second-guess my work and redo shit when I find room for improvement, "don't fuck with it" is a great project status

---

06-12-2018, 01:55 PM

Texas_Jester

too cool, nice job, the whole thread is awesome, but that's the tits right there! :)

---

06-12-2018, 07:23 PM

Texas_Jester said:

too cool, nice job, the whole thread is awesome, but that's the tits right there! :|​

Thanks Texas_Jester!

For a modification that seriously blows, I'm pretty happy with it

 

[ExWrench]

05-12-2019, 12:29 AM

*cough* Wow - 11 months' worth of dust on my thread

Between a bit of scheduled house work and a few unscheduled emergencies, my garage saw near-zero fab. for 8.5 months :suicide:

All that bullshit is over and I can catch up on life, so let's dial the wayback machine to a (pre-goat rodeo) time known as last summer

My oddball fender fookery worked great (please excuse the poser shot) - tires stuffed nicely and didn't rub:

For my B&M shifter + shift lever, I played around with a handful (no pun intended) of shift handle options.
Here's most of them:

I burned through ~20 bucks in hardware and little time to try a bunch of options.
Good learning experience, dirt-cheap prototyping, would do it all again.
It was also a Jeep project I could do while effectively garage-less.


By far, the most fun to drive with is 2nd from left above, giving me this Rat Fink - esque monster:

Only problem with that = it made reaching the HVAC controls a potentially unsafe shit show, so . . . fawk that one.

The winner of the eclectic handle contest was this one (the one with a knob in the lineup photo above):

Offset to the right to center the knob where it "should" be, and back a bit so I don't punch the dash while shifting.

WHEW!

I've been lagging on posting that ^^^ little bit of stuff for literally over half a year.
I'd bet nobody else was pissed about it, but I was (a little )

There's more, but I want to keep that all in 1 (15 image max. ) post, so this one's a mini-post, more or less.

let's use up that 15-image quota: :rockon:

OK, with that done - on to some "subtle-ification" . . .

 

[ExWrench]

05-12-2019, 01:26 AM

Still not Fast, but now Less Furious

I've never been completely happy with the exhaust, so the wild-hair-up-ass genie finally gave me a shove.

To make room for a resonator (and because it's a bit thrashed) this 2.5 gallon Viair tank had to go:

You can also see where the exhaust ran right up to the rear track bar, then shot out at the least-shitty angle I could find.


Fun fact: if you land on an air tank and smash the bejeezus out of its mounting bracket, disassembly may be a pain in the 'taint.

I was this >< close to cutting shit apart wildly to pull that damned tank (I was so pissed )


OK, tank drama over, clear palette with the exception of the track bar cock-blocking my dreams of an over-axle exhaust:

So . . . Teraflex TB coming out, Metalcloak TB going in:

The Metalcloak TB only gained me ~1.5 inches, but that was enough to let the magic happen

With my new gold bling in place (will get painted next time I pull it out), I could start building my exhalation super highway:

Don't have a TIG, and didn't have the right gas mix (used 75/25), so I did lap joints instead of butt joints. Pipe stretcher is a handy tool :rockon:
No worries about strength, but I coulda' made it purrrdy w/ TIG.
Oh well, fuck it - it's a Jeep exhaust, not a show car anything.


First mockup (and I drove it a couple days this way):

Holy crap - what a difference - at least 3dB reduction all around, and no more reverb down low nor raspy chit when I wind it out (often ).
Oh, also in the photo above: the guard for my air tank drain began life as a "military grade" aluminum toe cap in a Timberland safety shoe.


Finished it up this weekend. Welded on that straight hanger rod, and welded the tailpipe and 90 to the (Vibrant 1141) resonator.

Bent another 1/2" SS hanger rod and welded it to a gusset on the Synergy shock mount bar.

The hanger rod already on the recycled tailpipe, I captured in a cut-off and drilled-out piece from a leftover swaybar end link.

The bastardized end link is welded to a scrap bracket w/ anti-rotate tab welded on. Bolts to a single factory crossmember hole.
It's not very flexible compared to the (3) factory-style rubber isolators on my exhaust, but I don't anticipate it cracking or failing.


Most importantly: stuff the driver's side, and you won't smack the exhaust

It's not factory ninja-stealthy, but appreciably quieter and better sounding than a week ago.

Everything about the exhaust that pissed me off before, is gone - WIN!

 

[gt1guy]

Doing good..................................only a year left to catch up on...................................

Fun isn't it?

 

[ExWrench]

05-12-2019, 04:07 PM

snout

I dont want to crap up your thread with needless commentary, but a couple questions on your exhaust:

- Saw you mentioned you used MIG to burn the muffler and tube together. What kind of wire do you use?

- How did you connect your muffler / tube up to the existing exhaust? Clamp(s)?

---

05-12-2019, 05:27 PM

snout said:

I dont want to crap up your thread with needless commentary, but a couple questions on your exhaust:

- Saw you mentioned you used MIG to burn the muffler and tube together. What kind of wire do you use?

- How did you connect your muffler / tube up to the existing exhaust? Clamp(s)?
​

Dood, no worries - if it's on-topic or tech-related/ educational, crap away! :rockon:

I have a little 2lb spool of .030" ER308L wire just for hacktastically hot-gluing my exhaust system

I bought it when I grafted a 50-Series Flowmaster in place of an MBRP loudasfawk fart can.

Clamps will not keep shit from rotating so the asymmetrical Flowmaster had to be hot glued to preserve clocking.

Reused the MBRP piping (good stuff) which has a clamped joint on the uphill run over the stock axle location.


I rerouted things near the apex of that "over-axle" hump and ended with a straight piece of 2.5" 304SS tube.

Needed to run close and parallel under that crossmember, then dive away from the body to make room for the resonator can.
That's also the longest I can make that section and still be able to remove it without disassembling non-exhaust stuff.


That butt joint (the only one) just got a straight stainless band clamp.

It's in a location where failure can't really cause harm. Also, I clocked the clamp up out of the way on final assembly.

From there back, it's a purchased mandrel 90, the Vibrant resonator, and a section of the MBRP exhaust's tailpipe I'd cut off when I did my rear stretch.

I had enough mandrel bends to make whatever tailpipe I would need:

. . . but accommodating something that was born for exactly that job seemed like the perfect ending.
I still have the MBRP exhaust system from end-to-end, I've just changed ~85% between the ends.
Also, using that tailpipe helps justify hanging onto a lot of the weird shit I save from project leftovers.


Hoarder?

Nope, not today

Today, genius

---

05-13-2019, 08:59 AM

geberhard

bAd ass update! definitely gave me some inspiration to deal with my exhaust so planning on some mods now. How is the sound after the mod? I dig the shifter linkage
setup!

---

05-13-2019, 08:38 PM

geberhard said:

bAd ass update! definitely gave me some inspiration to deal with my exhaust so planning on some mods now.
​

Thanks Gui! I've been wanting to do this for a few years now.
It was horribly frustrating to do working on the ground, but worth it (especially now that I'm done).

geberhard said:

How is the sound after the mod?​

W a a a y better! :word:

I didn't measure, but I believe it dropped off a solid 3+ decibels all around.
And that's not the best part - sound quality is much improved.

2 major annoyances that the resonator killed:

1) At lower RPM on deceleration or when lugging it, the exhaust had some reverb.


Wait - make that: REVURRRURRURRURURRRB

Related annoyance: heavy deceleration had too much . . .

. . . how you say . . .



"wharble-blurblurwharblur-blur-blar-blawwww"

. . . for my taste :nono:​



2) When winding out all "3.8L of fury" (shifting above 5000 RPM),
the exhaust note had a ragged, raging, shitty sound component.​

I think this exhaust note characteristic can best be described as a 3-way mixture of:

• Riced-out Honda screaming through a ginormous chromed coffee can exhaust
• Air ripping like you just kicked open the tank drain on a large air compressor
• Cats fucking

If I were 16 again, I might find the extra rasp entertaining :dunno:
. . . but I can't believe that noise could ever be considered "desirable".


All drone is gone, startup at 5am is guilt-free, and I can floor it without sounding like I'm trying to start shit.

Honestly, even just killing the "cats fucking" noise would've made it worth it

 

[ExWrench]

Doing good..................................only a year left to catch up on...................................

Fun isn't it?

Fuck you, Kevin!




EDIT: yes, this blows goats
You're an animal for rebuilding your monster of a thread.

 

[ExWrench]

06-13-2019, 01:46 AM

Fixin' ta' show ya' groovy new chit the likes of which y'all never dun seed befor (mebbe fer' a reason)

OK, this post will start out pretty normal and end up with something I haven't seen done, but would believe it has.
Chronological, but the "oddward" trend is fortunate . . .
. . . because my next post will have one-off chit I b'leeve I dun inventioneered


So my ass needed firming up . . .
I really loved how the Jeep drove with my last rear spring / spacer combo., but it was using the bump stops too damned much.
So, Teraflex 1854100 coils and 1" TF coil guide spacers coming out, Synergy 8064-20 coils and 1/2" TF coil guide spacers going in:

I've gotten used to the difference in feel, and the chassis is definitely better balanced spring-wise now.


Random: keeping my junk covered
This is the piece of 1/8" UHMW PE that keeps the sun off my synthetic winch rope. The dirty tab faces forward and slips under the top edge of the bumper.

The two "tan lines" in the photo above are from zip ties that secure that plastic flap to the top tie bar.

Say "no" to crack . . . eventually
Just above my thumb is a minor crack in my hard top.

The faint silver lines around it are where I used a silver Sharpie to remind me to fix it soon.
That was a few years ago


Picked, scuffed, sanded, cleaned, degreased, crack opened and filled with epoxy, and epoxy over inside and outside surfaces --> clamped & left dafook alone.
Light, almost dusty tack coat of SEM urethane bumper coater applied.

Followed up with a few semi-wet to wet coats, feathering out to blend into the surrounding areas.
No "after" photo because I did a decent job so the photo doesn't show anything. Boring is good.


Holy crap, has it been 4 years already? Time to paint de roof . . . again
Clear coat bought me an extra year, but the clear was completely shithoused.
The white underneath was OK but borderline. Old on right, (obviously):

Prep. was easy - mask, spray Windex, clean aggressively with red Scotch Brite, wipe with microfiber towel, done!


This time around, I went with gloss white Rustoleum enamel, brushed on. Didn't add hardener or thinner, but really happy with the results.

That same old deck of cards was still my best tooling to mask the gasket.

Yeah, but none of that is all that weird.
You said this was gonna' get weird.
I wanna' see weird.
Dance, monkey!​

OK, fair enough. Let's start our descent into oddball stuff but let's ease into it - you can thank me later.
Here's something I'd never seen but it made a shitload of sense so I bet someone else has done it.

Paint a tad gnarfed? Maybe I'll just . . . tape over it
I found that years of Northern California rock dust had helped the taillights rub a gnarly witness line into the paint.

Decided to put down a layer of UHMW tape that I have rolls of in 3/4", 1", and 2" widths. 3/4" was the winner here:

Soon after, I pulled the LF fender flare to pull the steering shaft so I could de-click the slip splines with some open gear lube (nasty stuff, but it works great).
Upon ripping off the fender flare, I was greeted by this cheery scene:

I figured what I'd done out back was a good solution so: copy idea, --> paste:

That's the last of the "normal-ish" updates, so . . . fuggit, let's get weird.

Truly one-off mods are up next. Will post up soon-ish (when I have time).

 

[ExWrench]

06-13-2019, 03:49 AM

Because of my 4" rear stretch and fenders cut to clear 37s, the rear tires throw mud and rocks right at my rear corners. Boo.

Finally had time to pursue it, and 1/8" UHMW was again my material of choice.
Abrasion resistant and slippery, formable but rigid, not too spendy - I'm sold!
So I slapped a piece down and laid out a "not to exceed" outline with masking tape.

Cardboard template cut out, time to refine the shape with a Sharpie.

Finalized the cardboard template, traced onto UHMW with Sharpie, cut out w/ scrolling blade in cordless jigsaw.
Refined profile of 1st piece, inverted over material (for mirror image), scribed outline of 2nd piece, then cut out.

Ends of notches were drilled first to get clean end radii, then entire profiles were cut with jigsaw.
1/8" sheet UHMW wants to curl toward 1 side more than another - I put the side predisposed toward concavity "up".


Quick check to make sure my fastener holes will land in solid real estate on both parts:

I had zero interest in removing the tire swing and/or back bumper to drill this one hole:

So, I pieced together this Rube Goldberg contraption and went "full dental jacket" for 1 hole:

Had these extra bolts left over from a different "F.U. tweekers" project, and I liked 'em for this also:

5/16-18 x 3/4" stainless, #14 spanner drive, low profile button head.
Outer bolt is threaded into tapped hole in boxed bumper area, inner bolt drops into drilled hole with a nylock on the back side.


Leading edge of guard is zip tied to the tub for 3-point mounting and so it won't go a-flappin' in the breeze.
EDIT: also, the horizontal separation between the the bolts & zip tie allow for flex between body & frame.
The leading edge should just miss the tire, or have inconsequential amount of rub.

With a little persuasion and massaging, the tendency to curl upward was encouraged, to improve coverage and visual flow:

So, can the front be improved? Sure!:

This would be great as a splash guard, but also as a tree / rock magnet, wind resistance source, and fender ripper-offer.
So . . . no.


Well, what can I huck together out of 1/8" UHMW sheet?

Well . . . how about . . . THIS:

Two each 3/8" SS pin-center torx clamping the front UHMW guards between fender washers and the steel filler sheet atop the sliders.
Besides being a brutal 1/8" thick edge of shin-wrecking badness, they could look a bit more finished. So . . . bend the edge down.

By the way, I cut these pieces out oriented to curl downward, and I built on that tendency with flange vise grips:

After a bit more fiddle-fawking around, they look about like this:

So, "sorry" if I got you hoping for a donkey show via the hype in my last post -
This may not be "two-headed goat man" weird, but I thought it was pretty unique.
Next week I get to go test it, so we'll see if this new oddball crap does what it should.

 

[ExWrench]

06-13-2019, 05:37 AM

thedirtman

You should take some time and properly set up your rear shock mounting locations so you can take advantage of the whole shock, not just 75% of it. I like all the little tweaks vs just buying and bolting stuff on.

---

06-13-2019, 07:59 AM

thedirtman said:

You should take some time and properly set up your rear shock mounting locations so you can take advantage of the whole shock, not just 75% of it.​

I agree completely, I believe I have a solid plan for it, and time has been the only thing lacking.

Beginning last July, I had 9 months of house issues that deprived me of the garage. Between no garage and spending almost every weekend working on house stuff, the Jeep didn't get much attention.
(but enough of my little pity party, let's talk Jeep shit )

So, I definitely can't decrease rear bump stop height with my current setup:

.

Last year I changed out the rear shocks to a slightly shorter compressed length (the clean one):

The only droop I gave up was what I call "bullshit droop" (because unsprung) so no regrets about the shorter shocks. With the shorter dampers, I was making room to relocate the rear lower shock mounts rearward a couple inches to get them more vertical without moving them down any, hoping to leave about 1/4" of chrome showing when stuffed.

Ever since I did the rear stretch, I've been wanting to set the rear shocks more vertical to increase the effective damping rate. Now with the shorter rear shocks (installed for almost a year now ) I can finally do it. Unless life throws another time-sucking shitstorm at me like it did last summer, fall and winter, I should get it done this year (fingers crossed).

thedirtman said:

I like all the little tweaks vs just buying and bolting stuff on.​

Me too (obviously ) and thank you!

 

[ExWrench]

08-30-2019, 02:08 AM

So I'm lagging "a bit", but we have updates! (meh?)

The UHMW splash guards did some good, though you might not know it from this photo:

Our favorite technical trails were still blocked by 6-10' of snow, so we blasted a bunch of logging roads and trails that had snowy sections in the 4' and under category.
EDIT: that was early this summer in mid-late June - the snow is usually mostly gone by then.
Lots of snow busting, lots of water, a decent amount of mud, and almost no dust :rockon: .
No great snow wheeling pics to share because we were solo-vehicle most days (except some quality time one day with my brother-in-law and his wife getting their money's worth out of a rented 4Runner ).


It appeared my wife & I were the first ones through a few FS roads this year, like when we came upon this snapped green roadblock:

We came from the other side in that photo, but I had to bypass the blockage to be able to winch it out of the way. I assure you, the bypass was a "tread lightly" deal, and we didn't tear up the ground or lower the self-esteem of the rare blue-spotted tree dolphin, the semi-migratory taintless shitweasel, or the noble three-peckered jackalope (or whatever other sensitive wildlife you can dream up ).


Anywho, from the "business end" of the clusterfook, it was time to get to work:

Drag chain around fallen tree, tree strap and snatch block to redirect the pull, and . . . Jeep moves forward :nono: (because the e-brake blows goats). Since the e-brake on my JK is almost as lame as the e-brake on yours ( ), my wife climbed in and stood on the service brake. Then, no problem.


Obstructo-snagglydick log successfully sidelined:

And . . . the road is open for summer 2019:

Then, literally a half-mile later (right after I jinxed things by joking about it) we came to a toll booth:

This one was a bone-dry deadfall that was another 20+ feet long on the big end and locked into a half-dozen standing trees. Out came the trusty Sven Saw + 15 minutes' worth of elbow grease.

My wife wanted to take a turn after I was half-way through the thing. I was totally cool with that :thankyou:

I don't mind hard work at all. I could stand in the shade and watch it all day long

Fortunately, those were the only 2 trees we had to address. It's satisfying to pitch in on trail maintenance, but vacation needs play time, too.


OK, gotta' get some sleep. That'll have to do for now. Enjoy! (or not )

---

08-30-2019, 05:06 AM

j3ff3ry_j33p

nice pictures,dude!
Such a fantastic looking setting = gotta admit to being jealous 'cause I love the woods & trees ( particularly evergreens) ...I'm glad you had a good time.

question: this was some time earlier in this year or are these images recent?
I ask because idk if there's snow still present ?
I'll bet the air is clean as heck ,there.
thnks for sharing, bud

---

08-30-2019, 08:29 PM

j3ff3ry_j33p said:

nice pictures,dude!
Such a fantastic looking setting = gotta admit to being jealous 'cause I love the woods & trees ( particularly evergreens) ...I'm glad you had a good time.

question: this was some time earlier in this year or are these images recent?
I ask because idk if there's snow still present ?
I'll bet the air is clean as heck ,there.
thnks for sharing, bud​

Thanks j3ff3ry!

You've expressed your love of the woods, and I bet you'd dig that area.
High sierra, evergreens, and healthy doses of quartz, granite, and other rocks I should know the names of.

The area we couldn't reach due to snow is in this random YooToob vid I'd never seen before tonight:


Re: when - that was earlier this summer (mid-late June). I'll clarify with an edit above.
Air was absolutely pristine . . . unless you got downwind of wildfire smoke.

 

[ExWrench]

08-31-2019, 01:24 AM

OK, time to finish yesterday's update . . .

Average dirt, minor damage, and a majorly annoying serpentine belt

I had cut back the rear inner fenders just outside the sheet metal, and this photo illustrates the "fallout":

They don't keep dirt off the body inside the fenders, but they do keep roost and rocks from chipping paint.
Anything that keeps me from having to touch up paint or chase rust damage is a solid benefit in my book.
I may eventually ditch the inner fenders and bedline that area, but it's low-priority due to minimal gains.


At the end of the week, this was the custom wrap with which nature "pimped my ride":

The front splash guards did some good but . . . less than I'm hoping to accomplish.
Most of that glop bypassed the trailing edge of the fender above the new guards.
I have an idea for revision 2.0, just need some garage time to see if it'll work.

Gained a lot of protection out back, probably as much as I can without making a target for grabby rocks or trees.
Wider rear fenders would bring the greatest gain, but again I run up against the "damage magnet conundrum".
This is a pretty good indicator of what the rear tires contribute to the slop accumulation forward of their position:

So, dirt is unavoidable, but damage only *usually* is . . .

After getting near-totally stuck in deep snow, I got moving in reverse --> stuck.
Forward run --> stuck in ~same spot, need more momentum.
Reverse run --> stuck, but some progress.
Forward run --> stuck, but a a bit of progress.
Reverse run --> momentum carrying, don't lose the magic . . . gonna make it --> and BANG! Insta-stop.

Almost testing the rev limiter in reverse to escape snow, the ass end went wild and I tagged a tree
From inside the cab, it was LOUD, and we thought I'd finally done significant damage.

It was a great relief to see that the damage wasn't enough to slow up our vacation - woohoo!

This is the "asshole that hit my car":

Cleaned up, it's not pretty but it still holds gas OK:

All my steel parts are still straight and the UHMW pieces will straighten out on their own, so the gas can took the only real damage.
It's not something I feel like pounding out, and not bad enough to replace the can, so I'll just paint it and leave it a bit shitty looking.

How many times can you lose a belt in a week?

Actually, quite a few :nono:

I don't have any good photos of it, but we lost the serpentine belt while fording deep-ish water multiple times.
Semi-ironic, since the belt, tensioner and idlers were brang fahhhrkin' noo veddy veddy recently.

I read up on my new problem, and the solution appears to be flanged idler pulleys.
They make a kit (developed when 3.8L minvans were chucking belts in heavy rain) but it uses a serp. belt ribbed on both sides.
Don't want an uncommon belt, and can't find a flanged smooth idler pulley with the dimensions I need, so I'm gonna' fake it.
Found an idler pulley w/ the diameter I need (mower deck belt idler) but the flanges are too tall to fit on the belt tensioner.
Almost ashamed to admit this, but . . . .
I plan to put the new pulley in the idler location (right of the thermostat), then run the engine & shave the flanges down with a file.
A bit hacktacular, but it'll work.

Well, my bullshit is now up to date. More soon, but good for now.
Hope you enjoyed the purdy peetchurs and could tolerate the words

---

08-31-2019, 06:33 AM

j3ff3ry_j33p

ExWrench said:
Thanks j3ff3ry!

You've expressed your love of the woods, and I bet you'd dig that area.
High sierra, evergreens, and healthy doses of quartz, granite, and other rocks I should know the names of.

The area we couldn't reach due to snow is in this random YooToob vid I'd never seen before tonight:


Re: when - that was earlier this summer (mid-late June). I'll clarify with an edit above.
Air was absolutely pristine . . . unless you got downwind of wildfire smoke.​

thats so beautiful it almost brought a year to my eye. Whoever I went with would have to forcibly drag me away. Even if I ran out of fuel, I'd probably just find some hollowed-out monster fir trunk , throw me some boughs in it , set a few flatfall traps & tell them to go on w/out me.

I am VERY accustomed to how pix/vids never relay the actual angles or steepness to our eyes like the real deal does ; those pix / vids DO look steep, so can only imagine.

I'm in the wrong part of our great country :nono:
great stuff,man . (sorry to clutter, but had to respond. :wink_animate: )

---

09-17-2019, 04:54 PM

Banshee

ExWrench said:

I plan to put the new pulley in the idler location (right of the thermostat), then run the engine & shave the flanges down with a file.
A bit hacktacular, but it'll work.​

Law of Practicality: If it works, it's right!
:D

---

 

[ExWrench]

10-12-2019, 11:47 PM

BIG NEW UPGRADES . . . but first, this ;-)

Banshee said:
Law of Practicality: If it works, it's right!

:D

Fortunately, the aforementioned hackfookery did not need to occur - the pulley flange OD just missed the tensioner:

However, there's a minor rub on ribbing on the side of the pulley:

Partly because of that and partly because I don't like the bearing in that pulley, I bailed on that project for awhile.

The other reason I postponed that project is that my wife and I went to the Jeep dealership and looked at the new JT truck . . .





















. . . and . . .









. . . we did not buy one

However, that field trip cost me 30+ hours recently because I decided to upgrade my Jeep (starting in the next post).

But first, to keep the timeline straight,

I installed the 4th (and I believe final) CB in this Jeep. I'd tried 2 different small-ish CBs on the cage overhead and didn't like the space invasion.
The first and least intrusive CB this Jeep had was a Cobra 75 but I didn't like the handset, so I tried the Uniden CMX760 - love it!
All controls are on the mic, but the display, controls, and handset shape on the CMX760 don't piss me off like they did on the Cobra.

Little bit of custom fiddling: needed a bracket to mount the "brain box", and a scrap from my old garage door opener motor contained it:




I chose that donor because it let me start with burly zinc plated sheet steel that already had a sharp 90.



After a bit of grinder lovin' and a few minor tweaks here and there, it fit the JK like a glove.




Pic is from before I smoothed the bracket but it shows how the CB box clips into the plastic bracket my bracket holds.



This wiring needed to do a 180, and a zip tie helps it come out where I needed it.




Nothing super exciting, but here's the finished product. So far, the Uniden CMX760 is the best CB I've had in this JK.



Still using my home-fab bracket and Motorola mic clip (no complaints there).


Simple instructions at the point of use:
Years ago, I wrote everything I needed to know on top of my ElCheapo SWR meter:



Fawk digging out the instructions, and fawk remembering it - simpul are gooder than not sumpul

 

[ExWrench]

10-13-2019, 10:02 AM

Late-bloomer camera whore . . .

I've been toying with the idea of adding a backup camera and a breakover camera to this bucket for years, my main snag being no good place for a monitor. Didn\'t want to change out the stereo that\'s working fine, didn\'t want a multi-hundred (or thousand) dollar head unit because Murphy\'s Law (+ cheapass ), so I kicked that can down the road . . .\n\nMy better half and I went to the Jeep dealer to eyeball the JT pickup and . . . mu\'fugger\'s like 2 blocks long :nono: - for 60 grand, they can kiss half my ass. Note: offer a 2-door regular or extra cab version w/ < JLU wheelbase w/ Rubicon mechanicals for 40 grand and I\'d buy one ASAP. But I digress - the point of this \"blah blah blah\" before the peetchurs is that the dealership field trip didn\'t cost me 60 grand but it did cost me 30 hours.\n\nI thought it was stupid & gimmicky that the JT has a breakover camera while the JL does not. The first thing that popped into my head was, \"that would be so easy to add to the JL --> --> that would be so easy to add to my JK\".\n\nWhile viewing the too-long Jeeptruckthing, I decided to re-visit and prioritize my camera project (which pretty much means it\'s going to happen). Threw a few hours of research into currently available components (Google, Amazon, etc.) and decent shit\'s gotten pretty affordable compared to 5 years back. Specifically, I found a decent small monitor for 22 bucks - OK, GAME ON!

BACKUP CAMERA MOUNTING:

Played with multiple mounting locations and settled on the center of the spare tire. Off-center would\'ve constantly triggered my OCD, blocking the 3rd brake light didn't appeal to me, and below the spare was too low IMO. Since I haven\'t used the bike rack much, I decided to sacrifice my bike rack receiver to the camera cause.

One of the extra bits from the Yakima kit was sacrificed as material for the rear camera mount. First cut was the angle cut to set camera vertical angle.

Note: I ground and filed that angle afterward, this was just the rough cut - give me some credit :D

Next up, I cut out the bottom for mockup / assembly ease, and to keep from trapping water in the blind receiver pocket, then welded a SS washer on the end.

So, that gave me the location and angle I needed, with a camera + wiring that need life-proofing.

Note: this is the camera I used front+rear: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07NRN4QSX/

Cut a scrap from an old bracket from a TV wall mount (1 cut, all other geometry as-is):

This should keep me from smashing the camera while wrestling the spare tire around.

When the spare is on, the camera\'s well protected - no worries there.

Extra drilled / countersunk hole in side of receiver allows Csunk 1/4-20 SS screw to reach the nut tacked in the new camera mount stinger.

I took the delicate camera cable out through a piece of 3/8\" nylon air brake tubing because anything that\'s easy to destroy makes me nervous.\n\nSeparate post about camera wiring highlights to follow, front camera mounting details are up next.\n\nStay tuned . . . or not

 

[ExWrench]

10-13-2019, 11:16 AM

WAIT - DID YOU SAY 30 HOURS? WTF???

WAIT - DID YOU SAY 30 HOURS? WTF???

OK, I think that needs explaining. This project took a buttload of my spare time, but it was worth it (much easier to say now that it's done :cwm13: ). The time sucks were mocking up and weighing multiple options, prototyping and fabbing the mounting solutions, and trying to go super-sano on the wiring. Much time could've been saved if I'd started from a kit, duplicated what someone else did . . . or half-assed the wiring .

I purchased a $22 monitor, an $11 cam, a $14 cam, and a $38 cam. Then I mocked up, connected, and tested 4 rear locations and 6 front locations. After that, I purchased 1 more $38 camera and set to fabbin'.

If anyone has any questions about anything, call it out - I probably already have a photo explaining it in the 90+% of in-process pics not posted. This thread is pic-heavy as-is so, as always, I try to just share the crap I haven't seen elsewhere (maybe for a good reason :dunno: ).

Blah, blah blah . . . I'm here for the pics - dance, monkey!
​

Okay, jeez - gimme a sec. . . .

Front Camera Mounting


Testing multiple camera locations used the most temporary means possible.
After trying 4 on-center and 2 off-center front locations, this was the winner:



At vehicle centerline, directly below the Mopar hood lock chassis.
If not for the hood lock, I would've gone at top of center grille slot.

Picked location via masking tape, determined angle via scrap of aluminum flashing and a zip tie.




No idea what this scrap of stainless was from, but now feelin' totally justified in saving it:



Used the 3M tape pad from the camera to draw footprint. Could've had a clean bracket with no extra holes if I used the piece in the center, but decided to go from 1 end because less work and material left to re-do if I goofed the first time around.

Those 2 coutersunk holes are unneeded, but only violate the laws of vanity, so - good to go!



After a bit more shaping, I hid the stainless behind a coat of etch primer and urethane bumper coater.



Here it is in final mockup (just need to rivet the lock box back on). Crescent wrench is being misused as a clamp.



That blue patch is where I cut a piece from a cutting board sheet I was throwing away.
2 zip ties later, and it protects where the 2nd horn wants to rub through and ventilate my AC.
Meant to fog it with satin black urethane but forgot - will camouflage that spot eventually.

I recently purchased a set of mini magnetic zip tie anchors - those little bastards are strong!



There's 1 under the lock box and 1 on the side to route the camera cable. Once it meets the bundle above, it's zip tied and routed along with that gray romex-looking bit that's the headlight harness.

Once it picks up a bit of dirt, it should be almost unnoticeable:



. . . and maybe useless until cleaned

If anyone knows of a good camera washer setup, I'd be interested to know about it.

 

[ExWrench]

10-13-2019, 01:22 PM

Camera Wiring and Monitor


To control 2 cameras from 1 switch just took a bit of jumpering.



The red is keyed 12V+ to both center posts of this DPDT ON-OFF-ON switch.
The green, fed by both throws on one pole, is power out to the monitor.
White and black on the other pole send power to front or rear camera.
EDIT: to clarify, I did this so the monitor would only get signal from 1 camera at a time.
No fiddling w/ monitor controls to select inputs - it's all controlled by 1 DPDT switch.


Stub harness off the DPDT switch had to be long enough to allow the WeatherPack connector to fit in the only space left behind the SPOD switch panel. The grey connector is the SPOD harness, the 2-wire SAE plug is where I sent the SPOD power through a keyed relay, and not pictured are the light for the AutoMeter vacuum gage and the vacuum line running to that gage. That area's brim-full now, it's genuinely time to stop adding shit there




Digging through my miscellaneous wiring crap, I came across a small bag of placard labels including "FORWARD" and "REVERSE" (was like $.25 at a surplus store so I picked one up because 25 cents and neat). Minor trimming with flush-cutting dykes, and now I have $.25 into camera switch labeling.




Wiring armor: the rear camera cable runs through 3/8 nylon air brake tubing that's wedged in the receiver side hole and held by 2 zip ties at the other end. From there, it's spiral-wrapped as it makes a lazy "S" up to the point it dives into the 3rd brake light's moving harness section between door and tire swingarm. As it leaves that run, it's spiral-wrapped on its way to pop through a drilled 1/2" plastic body plug filled with black Permatex RTV.



Both camera harnesses are wrapped end-to-end with split braided loom (and sometimes spiral wrap or air brake tubing).



That's 1/8" split braided loom.
For 2 entire 9-foot runs.
That absolutely sucked to do.
Twice.

A short piece of 3/8" tubing made it easy to thread the harness through for routing and kept the loom from snagging or peeling back.



The little hole to the right of the dash now has 2 nylon tube penetrations: 1/4" tube with a single wire for rock lights, and 3/8" tube with the front camera harness.



Overkill, and a tad hokey in appearance, but I don't expect to damage those sections of wiring.



Drilled a hole in the foreground to cinch the tubes with a zip tie, and one of those little magnet chinguses now lives a bit further back.

This may also look hokey, but color coding both sides of the WeatherPack connector took out all the guesswork come assembly time.



Took this photo before flush-cutting my zip tie tails: 3 zip ties = strain relief where a connection will be buried behind the rear quarter panel carpet.



Overkill for sure, but one less thing to consider checking if the rear camera craps out.


OK, I hit the 10 pic. limit - should be able to wrap this up in 1 more post.

 

[ExWrench]

10-13-2019, 01:49 PM

Camera System Wrap-Up and Results


The mount that came with the monitor was pure shit, but I was able to bastardize something that would work:



I bent up an unused stainless tab that came with a u-bolt and captured it with part of the monitor mount.
That just slides over the stud created by nut+bolt through a stainless cushion clamp around cage dash bar.
Also in that photo, drilled and sliced the dash to pass the monitor harness through to dash underside.
Both cameras have a 1-button remote to adjust, so I stuck those on the back side of the monitor. All monitor and camera controls are in 1 area.

The 2 remote wires drop through the dash just ahead of the dash bar via 1/2" hole with adapted bushing.



In the foreground is dash bushing 1.0 - it popped out due to grip range less than dash plastic thickness.

This is the only "ugly" area of the entire camera system cabling.



Bit of a clusterfuck, but I'll show it to you anyway
If all goes well, I'll never see this view again.


Annnd . . . Payoff, Beeshes!


Jumbo black hole out back is now 100% visible from the driver's seat. Full overlap with side-view mirrors



Camera lines (somewhat adjustable) fall at 2, 5, and 8 feet. Fargin' win :rockon:

In-cab spotting is looking like a real possibility:



Those lines fall at 1, 4, and 7 feet.

Just got it done yesterday, and only drove it once today (to a mini-mall, actually ).

Anywho . . . I'm glad to be done, and that's what I dun done.

Hope ya' dig it. :D

Or not

---

10-13-2019, 10:04 PM

Banshee

Lookin good!

How visible is that screen in sunlight, though? You may need to fab a shade for it.

---

10-14-2019, 08:44 AM

gt1guy

Awesome job. Very nice and clean.

Interested to hear how much you use it offroad. I gave a little thought to slapping a set of cameras in mine for a minute, but decided against it.

---

10-14-2019, 09:12 PM

Banshee said:
Lookin good!

How visible is that screen in sunlight, though? You may need to fab a shade for it.
​

Thanks Banshee!

We're on the same page worry-wise, but I'm waiting to see how much shade it actually needs.
As I was installing everything, I brainstormed a few material and mounting options for a visor.

The monitor does have a chintzy little (~3/8") visor snapped on - cute but not very substantial.
For 22 bucks, I'm OK with having to make the mounting and shading solutions.
Immediate plans include not doing shit to the camera system for at least a week (because burnout ).

gt1guy said:
Awesome job. Very nice and clean.

Interested to hear how much you use it offroad. I gave a little thought to slapping a set of cameras in mine for a minute, but decided against it.​

Thanks Kevin!
I know you know what a time-suck even little custom shit can be :suicide:


The front camera was a "just because" addition . . .
- just because the block-long Jeeptruckthing had one and I could "save 60 grand" on one :D .
It's useless for driving at any real speed, but looks promising for crawling :dunno: - dunno yet.
Looking forward to cresting a steep rise and not getting out to see if there's a drop-off on the far side.


The rear camera has been nagging at me for too long, especially since I moved up to 37s.
You can hide a full-size car (remember those?) or small truck in the dead spot behind the 37" spare out back.
I took a few pics tonight to illustrate why I love the addition of the rear cam.


I can see down the side well enough in the right side-view mirror + fisheye . . .




. . . and the left side-view mirror + fisheye are also plenty helpful.




But the rear-view mirror catches exactly jack shit within the first 40 feet :cwm13:



(except, of course, the spare tire and wiper motor )


However, the rear camera fills in ALL the blanks



In my opinion, the rear camera already paid off all 30 hours of fiddlefuckery - I'm calling it a win! :rockon:

---

10-15-2019, 08:44 AM #200

gt1guy


When I blew off the thought of installing cameras, I had never actually had a vehicle with one. So I guess that was a racist decision on my part.
Couple months ago I bought a new DD Tacoma that has one. Pretty neat, but on the Tacoma it only works in reverse. I can see how one that could be left on would
come in handy.
I still can't believe that the most stripped down model of the 2dr Tacoma has a back up camera. The only option I picked was to remove the two little jump seats and
seat belts in the rear........that saved me $250. The key is just a key, no door lock buttons.............but it has a rear camera. :dunno:

 

[ExWrench]

02-23-2022, xx:xx PM

I have to post an update to the flanged pulley fookery, but have a few random info. scraps to share first.


Early this year, I swapped out my new-ish rear stock bump stops for a pair of SumoSprings SSR-401-47



Reason = ride height and rear spring rate were about perfect but I was bottoming out more than I liked.
These did the trick. I was leery of the price but am happy with the purchase as long as they last a few years.


My old battery, a Die Hard Platinum, was a winner - got 8 years out of it.



The Die Hard Platinum is discontinued, so new AGM is a North Star. Hope it's as good as its predecessor.



Didn't want to add the plastic 3/4" spacer under the battery, so I flipped the hold-down bock backwards and we're good to go.


Tore the fenders off to swap out the plug wires, so I took this photo to show the marker light wiring:



The trough the wires lay in is perfect - no pinch points, no need to restrain the wires.


Took the opportunity during that project to replace this hacktackular P/S reservoir vent line:



When I drilled out the nipple on the reservoir & tapped for that tube fitting, I adapted to the existing hose using random crap on hand (e.g., temporary-ish).
It's worked fine, but I've had the parts to unfuck this band-aid for . . . many, many years now


Replacing the eclectic scraps collection is a couple push-lock 90s and a few feet of nylon air brake tubing:



. . . the end of which, I dropped a few inches into an existing hole in the upper coil bucket.



This gets the drain outside the frame rails so a puking reservoir can't put oil on hot exhaust.

 

[ExWrench]

02-22-2020, xx:xx PM

The P/S reservoir vent line is only restrained in 1 spot . . . twice (green arrow below)



Drilled a hole & used 2 zip ties to immobilize that push-lock 90 - no fear of the drain leg hopping out of the hole in the coil bucket.

The blue arrow points to a Gates 38012 flanged flat idler pulley - perfect replacement for the stock idler in that location. Commercially available, no drama, good bearing . . .

. . . and on that subject, the red arrow is pointing to a Raisman (~chineseco) universal replacement for a Toro 109-4076.

It's almost perfect :cwm13:

Flange OD clears the tensioner, pulley OD and width match stock, minor clearancing required on one side - not a problem.

Needed a washer added so the factory bearing shield could be used, still not a problem.



Installed this idler finally, and it made more noise than I liked but I ran it a few days to see if it would be OK.

After a few days, my initial fear about this idler was confirmed:



That bearing is a piece of shit :nono: That's after maybe 200 miles.

The problem isn't that this pulley is for a mower deck belt - the bearing would be equally shitty in that application.
With a decent bearing, this idler would be a winner for the JK crowd and the Toro/Exmark mower.

Just getting the belt number in this thread for easy reference - Dayco 5060885 / 6PK2250.



It's a non-stock length needed for the PSC power steering pump pulley. Stock length would be a 5060825, 6PK2285.


SO . . . here's what I need:



If anyone knows of a 2.75" x 1" flanged flat idler pulley with a 17mm bearing ID (and a non-dogshit bearing), call it out and you're officially my fookin' hero :rockon:
In metric, that would be a 70mm x 26mm flanged flat idler pulley with (all the same shit ).

I ordered a "Rotary # 12300 Idler Pulley for Exmark # 109-4076" off Amazon, but expect it will just be a rebranded version of the previous craptacular idler.

Any pulley gurus (or folks with stronger google-fu than mine) reading this? :dunno: :th_pray:

 

[ExWrench]

03-14-2020, 08:00 AM

gt1guy

Did you ever find a suitable pulley?

---

03-14-2020 02:30 PM

gt1guy said:
Did you ever find a suitable pulley?​

Yeah . . . but kinda' "nah" . . . well, but . . . "yeah, kinda' " :dunno:

I got another "brand" of the exact same pulley off Amazon & the bearing is better (luck of the draw).
Pulley comes w/ pressed in standoff spacer that must be pressed out - I used my vise & the crap pictured.




Old tensioner + scrap of grenaded belt sander belt = purr-fesh-o-nall pulley clearancing machine.



Plan is to install this pulley & hopefully not have it growl like the first.
If it seems good to go, will run it see how it holds up, monitoring temp. & noise.
5 minutes to swap with hand tools so acceptable risk of non-catastrophic failure.


On the subject of parts with a life span, I actually used up a CB antenna:cwm13:



Totally happy w/ the USA-made Firestik 3' Firefly, which lasted 6+ years while almost constantly flexed / tied down. Replacing with same.



Antenna comes with vinyl end cap to cover the adjuster & seal it, but I add a saddle for a paracord hold-down.





At top of photo is the new antenna + end cap, below is what all I add to customize:



2 narrow rings of double-wall 3:1 heat shrink covered with sleeve of 2:1 single-wall tube makes my non-slip saddle to corral the hold-down cord.
After SWR calibration, 1 more layer of 2:1 shrink tube to seal it all up & keep branches from snagging the end cap.


I only use 3:1 shrink tubing w/ sealant for the 2 little rings, so they won't move on the antenna.
Everything else gets 2:1 tube w/o glue inside because glue makes disassembly . . . destructive.





New antenna modification 80% complete, just needs SWR calibration, push on end cap, & add final layer of shrink tube.




All that dicking around gives me this:



EDIT: to clarify, the final layer of heat shrink tubing is not installed in these photos

Make a bird's-head knot in a loop of paracord, slip over end of antenna, pull snug . . .




. . . and slip other end of paracord loop over shovel to hold antenna below roof line for driving in low-clearance parking structures.



Trying to get everything "perfect" to sell the Jeep in the near future, so I'm glad this failed now when I had time to overdo it again.
I can now say with confidence the antenna's good for another 6+ years

 

[ExWrench]

03-15-2020, 07:21 AM

j3ff3ry_j33p

bloody-cool efforts & ideas, per usual from you ,sir!

I felt it worth mentioning the coincidental "same-time-fail" of my Diehard Platinum for 3.8l .
Granted , it sits in garage between monthly trailrides but last 2 times I went to turn mine over for it's weekly , there's not been enough juice to crank her. I thought I'd left the 12vconnector for the gmsr adapter plug in a 12v port was my drain / cause Had that disco'ed for past week, yet , when I went out ystrdy, it was again too low to crank.

Either I didn't charge it up enough or I gonna have to replace my last Diehard Platinum, too.
and

---

03-15-2020, 9:49 AM

gt1guy

Now you're going to sell the Jeep?

---

03-15-2020, xx:xx PM

j3ff3ry_j33p said:
bloody-cool efforts & ideas, per usual from you ,sir!

I felt it worth mentioning the coincidental "same-time-fail" of my Diehard Platinum for 3.8l .
Granted , it sits in garage between monthly trailrides but last 2 times I went to turn mine over for it's weekly , there's not been enough juice to crank her. I thought I'd left the 12vconnector for the gmsr adapter plug in a 12v port was my drain / cause Had that disco'ed for past week, yet , when I went out ystrdy, it was again too low to crank.

Either I didn't charge it up enough or I gonna have to replace my last Diehard Platinum, too.
and

Thanks j3ff3ry!

If your 3.8 w/ old battery is stored in the garage, how about putting it on a Battery Tender?
They work great w/o cooking the battery. You might get another year or so out of it. :dunno:

gt1guy said:
Now you're going to sell the Jeep?​

I'm seriously torn about it, but I believe I'll be selling it this year.
If I do, I hope someone appreciates the screaming deal they'll be getting :suicide:

But wait, it gets worse: before that, I plan to sell our '71 2WD F250 w/ 428CJ & built C6 :drama:

Rough plan = :

• Sell '71 F250 & probably break even on it
• Sell 2010 JKR (for over $30K less than I have into it )
• Buy new JTR, which would be a huge compromise as both truck & wheeler
• Hopefully not regret selling stuff I could never buy for anywhere near the same money :dunno:

If we had more room for vehicle storage, there's no way in Hell I would sell either of them. The Jeep, I've built like I was keeping it forever. If I'd paid shops to do the shit I've done to it, I'd probably have $60K into it. Premium parts & 100s if not 1000s of hours of custom mods. The truck, we drove all over N. California & looked at 10 others before buying. Each vehicle is precious to me far in excess of its market value.

But the reality is: our F250 is in storage offsite so it's like we don't have a truck at all. The Jeep . . . it's a crying shame to sell it, but I'm hoping to sell it to someone deserving to take the sting out of that. I really, really need regular access to a pickup, so replacing those two vehicles with a JTR is tempting.



I figure a JTR should be almost a foot shorter than these 2 parked end-to-end

A Gladiator Rubicon will never be a 3/4 ton, never be smog-exempt, never have a 428CJ, never be a 100" wheelbase Jeep . . . there are lots of losses involved, so this weighs heavily on me. However, I believe I've identified all the compromises and am willing to accept them.

In a few years, we hope to move and have a bit of land. In that situation, I would barn-store the F250 & the JK. Unfortunately, we're not there yet, so hard decisions must be made. Therefore, detailed above are the mistakes I'm seriously considering

[/First World Problems]

---

2020-03-16, .5:43 AM

Guruman

ExWrench said:
...we hope to move and have a bit of land...​

man, I'd go ahead and look into that now. Rates are really low and with the right lender you might be able to have it all now, buy the land and keep the Jeep and the truck.

We fell in love with an incredible 6800 sq foot designer built place on 25 acres with a 15 acre private lake last summer. It took us three months to work the deal and make everything line up, but I was amazed that the lender could make it happen.

I know there are likely other factors, but let me be the voice that says "Why compromise?"

---

03-18-2020, 08:04 AM

gt1guy

Well, you have to do what's best for you. Sounds like you could move in with Guruman.................he's got lots of room.