Lift It!

Well I start back on night call tonight, which means I'm sitting around the house today, and figured I'd update the Jeep blog. 

When most people think of offroading, they think of big trucks, big tires, and big motors, like this:

I'm not really into "mudding".  Mud gets everywhere, and it takes FOREVER to clean off.  We enjoy trailriding and rock crawling more, where the formula includes big flex, finesse, and judicious use of the skinny pedal. Its a much more technical form of driving.

The first series of modifications to the Jeep came in pretty quick succession, and included rock sliders, a lift, and then the winch bumper.  The first thing I put on was the rock sliders.  These are 3/16" thick metal bars that mount to the framerails and protect the rocker panels.  The rocker panels are the thin sections of metal underneath the doors, between the front and rear wheels.  If you hit them on a rock or tree, you risk bending them up into your doors so they wont open.  The rock sliders take the hit so the jeep doesnt.

You can see them in this picture with the step bars sticking out past the doors.  Makes it easier to get into and out of a lifted vehicle as well.  Also, when in tight parking lots and inconsiderate people open their doors into your vehicle, they soon figure out what else rock sliders are good for.

Here is how they mount underneath.  They bolt with 4 bolts to the framerails, and using 6 bolts to mount to the pinch seam.  For those unfamiliar with Jeep Cherokee XJs, they are a unibody construction, which means the body and frame are all one single, continuous unit.  When putting panels together, they often have a lip bent in so they can be welded together.  This is a pinch seam.  By utilizin this for a mount, there is more strength in the mount, better load dispersal, and better resistance to leverage forces that might cause bending.

The next mod was the lift.  This was a Rubicon Express 3.5" superflex lift kit.  It included:

-3.5" leaf springs for the rear

-3.5" lift coils for the front

-4 new gas monotube shocks: taller shocks, better dampening capabilities

-longer stainless steel brakelines: more lift requires longer brakelines, otherwise you can break them when you flex.

-ubolts: never reuse old ubolts.  Ubolts hold the rear axle to the leaf springs

-extended bumpstop:  Bumpstops are what stop your axle and wheels from compressing so far that they hit the body.  When you lift, and have more flex, you need to extend the bump stops to limit wheel travel

-lower control arms:  slightly longer and much stronger than the stamped steel factory arms.  These locate the front axle.

-swaybar quick disconnects: swaybars help to control body roll (or sway) in corners.  They also limit flex.  I simply removed the rear swaybar because it practically does nothing on a leaf-sprung rear end.  On the front the coils have more flex, so the discos allow you to connect them for road driving, and quickly pull to pins to disconnect them for the trail.

-Tcase drop: when you lift, you change the angles of the driveshafts.  This is a band-aid fix to correct those angles

-new stickers:  add 5 hp each when applied to the window glass

Also in the picture is a warn Transfer case skid.  Armoring up is one of the more important aspects of wheeling.  The transfer case is the portion of the drivetrain after the transmission which provides 4-wheel drive.  It has an output that connects to a rear driveshaft to the rear axle, and one to the front axle.  usually they are aluminum, and easily damaged if hit.  The skid protects it from rocks.

My buddy Kirby Kirby helped me install the lift in the parking lot of his apartment complex.







Last thing I added was the front winch bumper from RigidCo.  It is all 3/16" and 1/4" steel, can accomodate large winches, has recovery points, and provides much better protection for the front end.  You can see the new bumper. lift, rails, and 31" tires in this picture.

I drove around on borrowed tires for about 3 weeks.  The Clemson Offroad Club then planned a trip to Tellico, one of the premier offroading destinations on the East Coast, and happens to be located just outside of Murphy, NC, on the TN/NC border.  Sadly, it has since been closed by the forest service, as they felt that 4x4s were causing erosion and damaging the area.  Repeated efforts from numerous 4x4 groups demonstrated this was not the case, but when you have an agenda, it doesn't matter what the evidence is.  99% of offroaders responsibly enjoy the land.  4x4 clubs even sponsored and paid for semi-annual cleanups and trail maintenance events.  Here are some pictures.

This trip was bittersweet.  It was a ton of fun, I love camping.  However my grandfather had been suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer.  Once I left the mountain, I found out that he has passed away that weekend and joined the Lord.  This was October 2005.  It was a sad moment, as he was the patriarch of my Mom's family, and we are all very close.  We had a beautiful funeral, and he was buried in the veteran's cemetary near Black Mountain, NC off I-40.  About 1 month later, I met my beautiful future wife at a football game.


Since then, the suspension has gone under several revisions, but the basic components are essentially the same.  More posts to come in the near future.  Courtney is heading to Shelby, NC this weekend for our first baby shower.  Unfortunately I won't make it because of work (the glamorous life of an intern!).  There should be an update from her this weekend with our goodies!  Hope everyone has a blessed weekend!

Finally a post about Jeeps!

You may have noticed that I have been somewhat absent from this blog.  Working night shifts at the hospital has a way of doing that.  Basically with this first post I want to introduce the other half of the namesake of this blog.  I got into offroading during college.  In fact my first offroad trip was a few weeks before I met Courtney.  We have always loved getting out into the sticks to get a little mud on the tires, but medical school got in the way of that!  We only went out once in 4 years at UNC!  We hope that someday, it will be a way for our family to become close and develop memories as our family grows.  We also hope it teaches the little ones how to solve problems, because when it comes to Jeeps, if it ain't broke, fix it till it is!

The suspect in question is a 1999 Jeep Cherokee XJ Sport 4x4 with a Jeep Inline 6-cylinder 4.0L motor making 190hp at the crank.  I got  it my junior year in high school in December 2001.  I didn't know then that I would become a "wheeler", but this baby was pristine.

Here is the unadultered Jeep back in college, towing my dad's 2005 Correct Craft, which is way too much boat for this little jeep.  The problem isn't pulling it, it's stopping it!

However, about 1 year later, I was picking up my dad's jetski on a rainy July day in 2005, and rear-ended a 1978 Datsun at about 40mph, totaling both cars.  Poor thing looks like it is frowning! Drove it to the repair shop like this! 

My family has somewhat of a history wrecking Jeep Cherokees.  My dad had one in the early 90s that he rear-ended someone with while towing his old Correct Craft ski boat on a rainy day, totaling the car he hit but drove it (and towed the boat) home.  My oldest sister Jennifer inherited that Jeep, and got mixed up and drove the wrong way down a one-way street in Hendersonville, NC in high school, getting in a low speed head on collision - drove it home.  My younger older sister, Heather, had a 1995 Jeep Cherokee. She pulled out in front of an oncoming minivan, and got t-boned at 45 miles an hour in the driver's door.  She was shaken up but walked away.  My dad drove that jeep onto the flatbed trailer.  You can say I have a soft spot for this little jeep.

We got $8500 for it from insurance. The original plan was to take the money and run.  Run straight to a dealer and buy a new (to me) Jeep Cherokee.  I even drove 4 hours to Raleigh, NC from Asheville to look at a late-model Cherokee with cash in hand. Dealer was a jerk and the jeep had issues, so we drove home, and immediately paid $1200 to the insurance company for my totaled Jeep. We spent $4500 repairing it to street legal condition (the most expensive part by far was replacing the two airbags!), and pocketed the remaining $1800 - which my dad used to pay my newly increased insurance premiums!

I got the Jeep back right before starting my Junior year at Clemson, sans bumper as I had some plans for that.

That brings us up to right before I started modifying the old girl.  The plan is to chronicle the transformation from stocker to weekend warrior over the next few weeks, and hopefully be up to date when Tripp arrives!  Here is a teaser of how the jeep currently sits as of 10 minutes ago.

Hope you enjoyed this somewhat lengthy update!  We have our first baby shower this weekend, so there should be a post from Courtney about all our swag.  Maybe there will be some doors so Tripp can come for a ride in the XJ!

Shoes, Shoes, and more Shoes

We have inherited A LOT of shoes....baby shoes that is.  They are the cutest things ever, and I think our son might have more shoes than Kenny and I combined.  I'm pretty sure Tripp is going to be way more stylish than myself and Kenny. 

So what to do with all the shoes?  Why make a shoe box display of course!  Luckily the hubs is super handy and enjoys building things so he cranked this little gem out in an afternoon.  I am pretty sure this is his form of nesting. 

Here are some pictures and details of the build.

Supplies: 1x8x10' red oak, 1/4" piece of 2'x4' birch for the backer, 1/4"x4" poplar in 4' (4)

and 2' (4) length to make the lattice work shelves.

Box frame cut and mitered, mocking up before gluing and brad nailing.

Final side clamped in place with squares while the glue dries and nails are placed.

Cutting notches half way through the poplar so the short and long slides will interlock and form a lattice network for the shelving.

Completed box with the backer board. Just needs final sanding and staining/painting.

Test fitting all the baby shoes we got.  Just a few empty slots left!

Hung on the wall! It actually is level, the camera angle makes it look off.

It looks pretty darn good if I do say so myself.  Kenny has left it up to me to sand and stain/paint.  Any suggestions?



1200 miles and a day in FL

We took a quick trip down to Florida this past weekend to my brother's house.  Well the time spent OUT of a car was quick, the drive was not.   We spent 20 hours in the car and a day in Tampa.  Even with the LONG drive, it was great to have at least one day to see family and some friends. 

We got in about 12:30 am on Saturday morning and after a quick hello hit the hay.  A few hours later we were up and greeted by smiling faces.  Our nephews had been patiently waiting for us to get up... since 6:30 am!..... Let's be real here, they were really waiting for Uncle Kenny to get up and play.  Preggo Aunt Courtney isn't much fun anymore! :-)

After some breakfast we headed off to the boys t-ball game.  They were super excited/nervous to have us there watching.  Both of them did great! After 3 innings and no score keeping the game was done.  (The boys team won for real!)  We eventually made it home for some lunch and packing.  Kenny and I felt like it was Christmas with all the loot we scored! Baby Tripp is definitely one blessed baby.  :-)

Later that afternoon, some of our friends arrived for a cookout.  My brother and sister-in-law were kind enough to host everyone. It was so good to see some of my girlfriends.  Being 10 hours away makes it difficult to see each other often.  These girls are such good friends, we always pick up right where we left off from. 

One major bonus of Gretch and Jason coming to visit was that Kenny and I got to meet little Addison! She is so incredibly precious and it was fun to hold a little one and think that our little guy will be here in a few short weeks. 

Here are some pictures from the night!

Gretchen and Baby Addison!!

Betsy and Me

Gretchen, Me, Addison, and Betsy!

Sweet Arden. 

One of the few moments I got to hold her, and that was only because there was cake sitting in front of me! Ha!

Unfortunately, it was not enough time with my brother and his family.  I always wish we lived closer, or had more vacation time to see them.  Thankfully we will all be reunited in a month for my little brothers graduation from ASU!

Our drive back home seemed longer than the drive down, but we made great time and got home safely.  This drive was my first experience with swollen feet!  About 6 hours into the drive I propped my feet up and discovered distinctive markings on my feet from my sandals AND fat little toes.  Even with them elevated the swelling didn't go down until we were home and I was able to walk around some. 

Kenny would vouch that my feet are not the "most attractive" thing about me, and I just don't like feet in general.  I think they are gross.  So swollen feet are super ugly to me! I was so glad to see the swelling disappear.  I guess I should get used to it, being that it is a part of pregnancy! Cankles here I come!! :-)


I will post some more pictures from the weekend as soon as I get a new cord for our camera!