Preparing for an off road adventure
The excitement of a big off road trip like our annual XJ List Fall Crawl begins well before the event. The planning and preparation are a big part of the adventure.
This year my Jeep was pretty much ready to go. I just had a seal to fix in the transfer case. I would have dug into tan exhaust leak and put longer studs in the rear axle flange but I spent my time on other things.
Jenny’s Jeep got a lot of attention this year. Her Maxxis Buckshots were looking more like racing slicks than mudders so she went shopping for new tires. The time constraint of the event limited her choices as did her budget. She ended up choosing Dick Cepek tires from Tire Rack.
She decided to takes this time to upgrade in size as well. Moving up to 33” tires meant some modification as well.
Trimming the fenders was the first order of business. In the rear she first removed the stock flares and then used a hammer to fold over the flange. The front flares had already been removed and the fenders trimmed but more material need to be removed to clear the 33” tires.
Next, the bump stops need to be extended. A search for hockey pucks at a local store proved futile as hockey is not a common sport in Tennessee. So as a temporary measure, she made spacers out of wood. She cut a piece of 2×4 pine and shaped it to fit inside the spring. Then with the spring fully extended, slipped the block between the coil windings and worked it to the bottom. This will keep the suspension 1.5 inches further away on full compression.
One maintenance item was replacing a worn axle shaft U joint. See the article on swapping axle shafts for how this was done. Another minor maintenance item was tightening up a loose nut in the steering section and installing a new cotter key.
A quick test drive on the trails on my farm showed the advantages of the larger tires right away and the deep lugs got excellent traction in the muddy creek crossings.