Eris

[Scoobienorth]

Well got it to work tonight and put it on the hoist. I a bit worried as it was driving real bad. Felt like a loader going down the highway a bit. So I grabbed my tools, and new springs/shocks and bumpstops just in case. Tried cutting the tailpipe back by the muffler but I just couldn’t. Either I cut it just before the hanger and left it unsupported and pointing at the breaker lines, or left the hanger and it pointed straight at the floor. So I cut it after all the kinks, but pointed away from the gas tank and high enough you can’t see how trashed it is. I blew the welds on the muffler Seam and the pipe exit on it. So it all needs replaced.

[Scoobienorth]

I also noticed the shock had a large amount of damage from the muffler fiasco and it was blown before this happened, and finding nothing else really wrong under the Jeep(connected to the driving issue but we’ll come back to this in a moment) I unbolted the rear shocks(the one with damage was seized up) and sway bar, grabbed the forklift and flexed the Jeep out to pop the springs. Put in the new rough country rears, new rancho rs5000 shocks and bolted the sway bar back up. In the mess of this I also found my trailer wiring smashed and ripped apart. So I cut that back for now, it’s kinda janky and I didn’t have time to mess with it too much, but it’s better now. I’ll need to revisit the wiring in the rear when it’s not full of dried mud and 35 degrees in the shop. Driving home it drives awesome. The rear is a little higher than the front with the 2” spacers. And instead of the rear being moving around, now it’s making the front work. I think these will work good. I just need to get the fronts in. But with quick disconnects and not changing shocks it should be easy.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

How do you think the RC springs will hold up? Everyone on the internet trashes them, but I'm assuming they're made at the same big spring factory in China as almost all the other ones.

[Scoobienorth]

My wj rc springs did fine.i like the softer rate they use as i keep my stuff fairly light. It was the shocks that were trash. And somewhat the design of things. I don’t care if they say 1/2” or whatever. New is better than 20 year old stock stuff, and they are the spring rate I’m after and long enough to not chase down the trail. Most of the better springs were too short or too stiff. Rock Krawler has an ideal set of springs I think but they are triple the price and 6-8 weeks away, but these I’ve had months before installing so maybe that wasn’t a big factor.

[Scoobienorth]

My other debate on the rc springs is that in all reality I’ll swap them out before I wear them out anyways. My stuff always seems to be in a constant state of evolution. Reality in 5 years I could be stretching the wheelbase, or swapping jk diffs in or larger tires and need some lift or whatever and need to swap them out anyways.

[Scoobienorth]

[ attachment=0]IMG_7863.jpeg[/attachment] well went and tackled the front springs. Man it rides really nice now. I had shocks unbolted to get springs in. Only have 1/2” drop left past full shock extension. Got about 32” of flex with out any front tire compression. Fairly decent. I put my front bumpstop spacers in, I forgot to drill and tap the rear. Good thing though as I had to use the longer rear ones up front. The rear is fairly close without them. I might add the shorter rear ones in. One flex pic is with the short bumpstop in and the second is with the longer one on and you can kinda see the extra squish in it. I need longer sway bar and adjustable front track bar and I bracket for the rear. But it drives way better

[Scoobienorth]

Not much of an update, but I busted a running board, knocked the paint off a couple fenders. And got really stuck. I need my front locker in. It’s weird. It’s flexy and gets around good but once it is pointed up hill and steep the front end kinda unloads and the rear and digs and sinks. It’s kinda hard climbing stuff like I’m used to. Buddies yj with 2 lockers and 31’s does a lot better. Really want a antirock sway bar up front as well. I don’t like it unhooked and it won’t flex hooked up.

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Definitely needs a front locker. Are you going to order that new style Lock Right locker?

[Scoobienorth]

Definitely needs a front locker. Are you going to order that new style Lock Right locker?

I’ve had the torq locker since February right before I got really sick. Went straight into overhauls at work while I was recovering and it’s been a battle with my health to get much done. Should be late Sept when I put it in

[Scoobienorth]

Found some straight up muskeg yesterday.

[Scoobienorth]

Well the front is locked with the torq locker. No pics. Kinda thrashed it, made a few screw up and it fought me a bit but it’s in and seems to work. It clicks in town, you can feel it in the steering in 2wd bit more so in 4wd. Solid traction and seems to drive reasonably smooth in my really short evaluation loop behind the work shop with the hoist I use. I put the dust shield on out one bolt hole so the brakes would go on. Had to get a buddy to help me figure that out. My carrier was really really tight. Took a ratchet strap and 2 pry bars to get it out, and being by myself you can imagine how that came out when it did. Yeah it hit the floor about 2-3 feet in front of where it came out. Seems to be ok. But it was my ride home, so I put it back together and I’ll keep an eye on it and the bearings but I don’t think I hurt it

[Scott Cee AKA 2drx4]

Carrier is probably fine, as long as it didn't land on a bearing.

So, would you say it's smoother than the other lunchbox lockers? Considerably?

[Scoobienorth]

Carrier is probably fine, as long as it didn't land on a bearing.

So, would you say it's smoother than the other lunchbox lockers? Considerably?

It might have landed on a bearing. But seemed ok

It seemed smoother when it was on Jack stand and I was testing it. Driving it out of the shop on the dusty concrete floor it barked a front tire in 2wd but it got smoother as I used it. It’s going to take some miles to see for sure, the only bit I run was loose gravel and silty soil so it’s hard to tell.

[Scoobienorth]

Now that my steps are tore up, been looking into sliders, wanted to make my own but I’m lacking time and there’s other stuff I’ll have to make. For the price these seem hard to beat. They mount similar to lots of other ones with similar materials. Any issues you guys see with these smittybilt xrc sliders for the tj

https://a.co/d/7Vll5P3

[Scoobienorth]

Test run for the locker. Left the sway bar on to make it really work. My daughter ran it through and basketball sized rocks on the beach and she found it harder to steer but I ran some tight stuff and it does really well. It’s pretty seemless and predictable so far. But it’s early on. Definitely helped the rig a lot though.