Maybe it’s just me, but I swear there really are very few things that’ll work on the state of my mental health more then hearing a “clunk” under my Jeep while driving it. Of course, this is especially true if it occurs more than once, if I can determine that it’s the same clunk and if I can’t easily duplicate it standing outside of my Jeep.

Need I say, after I got back home from my trip to Moab, I started to hear an odd clunk coming from the front end of my Jeep. And, as luck would have it, it didn’t happen all the time and it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world to locate. What I did know for sure was that it typically happend when making a turn or maybe sometimes even when I hit a small bump in the road… but as I said before, not all the time.

Well, in the hunt for this stupid cluck, I decided that it would only make sense to go through and tighten every bolt and nut I could think of and grease every joint too. And, that’s when I noticed my Off Road Only U-Turn Steering System’s drag link seemed to move around a bit more than I had rememberd. So, just to make sure this was the culprit, I had my wife hop in the Jeep, turn the steering wheel back and forth and that’s when everything started to make sense. You see, as the wheel was moving, so were the tie rod end ball joints at both the pitman arm and steering knuckle… that is, move up and down and all around - YIKES!!

In all honesty, I have no idea as to why the tie rod ends on my drag link would be toast already as my U-Turn Steering System is still pretty new (well, at least to me anyway) but at least it’s a pretty easy fix and one that won’t cost me too much. The most important thing for me is that I was able to kick the clunk and regain my sanity

Guess I’ve gotta make a trip to the parts store today.

After spending the better part of the week digging out from all the work I neglected while I was in Moab, I finally got around to washing my Jeep yesterday and gave it a thorough once over. With all the tight rocky ravines I had to negotiate through, tall steps I had to climb and steep ledges I had to drop off of, you can bet that I put all of my armor and bumpers thorough some serious bone jarring hardships. More than any thing, I’d have to say that my front RockCrusher differential cover, Kilby gas tank skid plate and LoD Xpedition Bumper Tire Carrier took the brunt of the beatings and with the exception of a few scratches to the paint here and there, they all performed exactly as they should - perfectly. Not even a dent to any of them and certianly no body damage what so ever to the Jeep itself

>>Click Here to See a Few Battle Scar Pics

Unfortunately, the time has finally come to say good bye to the 40th Annual Moab Easter Jeep Safari. Truly, this has been one of the best vacations and wheeling trips I’ve ever had and to be completely honest, I’d have to say that it was because of all the great people I got to meet and hang out with all week long.

I really like to personally thank David, Brian and Kyle Johnson of Northridge4×4 for inviting to all their trail events and for helping me to fix my Jeep. I’d also like to thank Mike Denton, Jr. of Superior Axle & Gear for his generous hospitality and the use of his condo to repair my Jeep and Steve Kramer of Full-Traction Suspension for displaying my Jeep at the show, for all his great help and for dinner the night before. There are actually a bunch of other guys I’d like to thank but don’t know how to spell their names like Oren, Joel, Jay, Kellen and a few others that I unfortuately forgot what their names were. Hopefully, this won’t be the last time I see and/or get to wheel with you guys.

Eddie

Man, am I ever beat! Got up at the crack of dawn this morning, got ready, took my Jeep to get washed and then headed down to the Moab Equestrian Center to help Full-Traction Suspension setup and…. put my Jeep on display. Yup, you heard right, my little Jeep got the privilege of being one of Full-Traction’s show Jeeps.

Although my Jeep was still busted, the show had plenty of manufacturers and vendors selling their goods and I was fortunate enough to pick-up the parts I needed to repair my Jeep from the Six States Booth. To their credit, they could have easily taken advantage of my situation and shafted me but, these guys were totally cool and sold me what I needed at a fair price. Kudos to Six States.

As far as the rest of the show goes, it was pretty cool but small and my family and I checked out the whole thing in about an hour. Maybe the best part about it for me was that I got a chance to talk to a bunch of manufacturers face to face like Lewis from Rock Hard 4×4 Parts, Ron from Alloy USA, Steve from Off Road Only and a whole host of other guys too.

Anyway, I’ve gotta run and get back to working on my Jeep so that I can drive it back home in the morning.

It’s about 1 am and we just got back to our room from a hell of a long day. To start off, I spent the better part of the morning working on my Jeep in the parking lot of Motel 6 getting it ready and making some adjustments for the trail. Unloading the gas out of my jerry cans and adjusting my SwayLOC’s to a tighter setting was easy enough but yanking the coil spacers out of my front end was a little more difficult than I had originally thought especially since I only had a bottle jack to work with. Anyway, I’m glad I decided to do this because come about noon, I got a call from David at Northridge4×4 inviting us to make a run up to the Golden Crack with the guys from Full Traction, Superior Axle, theJeepoutfitter.com and a few neighbors they met at their condos. Most of the rigs consisted of hooked up TJ’s but we did also have an XJ, YJ buggy, a way cool Sammy, Nissan Hard Body and much to my surprise…. a little Libby joining us for the day.

Now I’ll be honest, this was my first time on this trail and the only thing I knew about it was what I had read in books. In a nutshell, this trail was supposed to be real pretty, have lots of slick rock, was rated “difficult”, required lockers front and rear and let me tell you, they weren’t kidding. The scenery and vista points along the Gold Bar Rim Trail are simply out of this world. As far as some of the slick rock faces I had to climb and drop down goes, let me just say that I’m still not sure how my Jeep was able to do it without taking a dump on its side or end over end. More than any other trail I have been on, I found myself pushing the limits of what I thought was possible and, on the very last obstacle of the day…. I was a bit heavy on the gas and ended up blowing my pinion yoke, shredding my U-joint straps, doing some good damage to the U-joint itself and inflicted a host of other miscellaneous damage to my rear end. Oh well, if you aren’t breaking something, you’re not trying hard enough, right? Fortunately for me, it was the last obstacle and I was able to hobble back into town in front wheel drive.

Contrary to what you might think, this break of mine wasn’t the reason we got back in so late. Pulling the rear drive shaft took minutes to do and we should have been able to make it back to town before dark. So, what was it that got us standing around in the cold till midnight…. well, remember that little Libby I mentioned earlier? Much to my surprise, the driver of that thing was able to work it through most of the trail but ultimately grenaded his differental on the exact same obstacle as me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not really complaining about what happend as I had a great time and waiting around allowed me the opportunity to get to know a lot of these guys better. Anyway, I’m going to bed now but you can see more pics of the trip by clicking on the link below:

>>Click Here to See More Pics

Today, the family and I wanted to take a break from all the crowds, traffic jams on the trail and do something a little different. So, we decided to head north just a few minutes out of town and check out Arches National Monument.

While most of our day was spent checking out really cool rock formations like Balancing Rock, hiking through Park Avenue and up to Delicate Arch, we did manage to do a little off-roading too on the only trail in the park that takes you up to Tower Arch and The Eye of the Whale Arch. It’s not a difficult trail but I’m sure it would offer a stock height Jeep a challenge or two. Anyway, there really is so much to see and do in this incredible park and if you’re ever in the area, I would highly recommend you making a stop here.

Whew - what a day!! We just got back from running the Green Day Trail in Area BFE as a part of the Rock3 event sponsored by Superior Axle & Gear, Full-Traction Suspension and Toyo Tires and… I am embarrassed to say that the only thing green about the trail was me. Now, I’ve been wheeling for quite some time now and on trails that I though were thought but this was one of the toughest I’ve personally run to date. Along the way, several guys experienced breaks including a busted radiator hose, broken axle, busted drive shaft and brake line and this was supposed to be the easier of the two trails you could have run for the day (Helldorado being the other). Fortunately, I did come out of it in one piece and I certainly learned a lot on it but one thing I’m gonna have to do for sure before the next run is empty out my gas cans, yank the front coil spacers I have in now and set my SwayLOC links to a tighter setting. And, if I had a place to ditch my roof rack, hard top and doors, I would do that too. All I know is that I really need to get some of the excess weight off the top of my Jeep and bring the center of gravity down a little lower. If I don’t, I’m sure to dump my Jeep on one of the many off camber sections that seem to be so prevalent up here. One thing I can say for sure is that I don’t think I could have done this trail without my new Full-Traction Long Arm kit which by the way performed like a champ!!

On a side note, I would like to thank the owners of Area BFE for providing such a great place to play for all and for free, David Johnson of Northridge4×4 for inviting me to the event and Mike Denton Jr. of Superior Axle & Gear for providing lunch for the day and for the cool T-shirt

>> Click Here to See More Pics of the Trip

It’s Sunday night and we’re finally in Moab, Utah. To make things a little more interesting, my family and I decided to make a detour yesterday, headed east on the I-40 and stayed in Williams, Arizona for the night so that we could make a quick stop over at the Grand Canyon in the morning. Although I had been to Grand Canyon several times before and my wife had actually river rafted through it as a kid, this was the first time for my son and the first time for all of us as a family. And, what can I say, everytime I go there, I am always stupified by the enormous scale of the thing. Certainly, photos do it no justice and even looking at it in person, it can sometimes feels like some kind of movie prop. After this visit, I think we’re going to plan another visit in the near future so that we can hike down into it.

On a side note, I would like to thank Mark Stephens for contacting me by email and letting me know that he saw our Jeep over at the Grand Canyon main overlook. Turns out he’s an avid Jeeper that loves photography as well and if you get a chance, I would encourage you to visit his website: www.markdstephens.com

Well, after 7 days of working on and off, cutting, grinding, drilling, wrenching and a touch of welding, my Jeep is finally sitting on top of its brand new Full Traction Suspension 6″ Long Arm Kit. And, with me needing to head up to Moab for the 40th Annual Easter Jeep Safari tomorrow, I’d have to say that I just finished in the nick of time too.

Hands down, this was by far the most difficult and labor intensive suspension lift I have installed to date but after taking it for a spin, I’d have to say it was worth every penny, blood, sweat and tear. In fact, I don’t know how I tolerated riding on a short arm kit for as long as I did. No joke, beyond the great looks this lift will provide, the Full Traction Long Arm Kit with M4 Shocks will provide your Jeep TJ with a ride that is way superior to stock in comfort and in handling.

Unfortunately, I don’t have enough time to go through and work out any bugs there might be before my trip but I will be sure to bring my tools and make any necessary adjustments along the way. I’m sure that after 1,700 miles and a week of hard wheeling, I should be able to report to you in detail how this lift really performs. Of course, I will also be sure to get working on a complete installation write-up as soon as I get back

Until then,
Eddie

>> Click Here to See More Pics