The Lone Ranger – Kage’s ’94 X-Cab Leaf SAS and Bed Bob

[Josh40601]

Yea i am only running .120 wall. Oh man, that is what is causing the groan? I thought it was the metal being too thin that it was "giving".

I'll have to record what mine sounds like. It will blow your mind. It's bad. Like REAL bad.

Why do you have to buy new shafts?

 

[RangerSVT]

You can use the same carrier you have now, and just go with the thick gears, or you can get a detroit instead of buying a carrier and a lunchbox (since they will be about the same price anyways)...He has 32 spline shafts now, and he's going to 35 spline shafts...
SVT

 

[Kage]

Yea i am only running .120 wall. Oh man, that is what is causing the groan? I thought it was the metal being too thin that it was "giving".

I'll have to record what mine sounds like. It will blow your mind. It's bad. Like REAL bad.

I'm running .250 wall on my steering junk (.120" on the trac bar). As the heims get dirt in them, they tend to make noise.

...Why do you have to buy new shafts?

I've got 32 spline shafts in this 60. My only locker options are an ARB for ~$1k or a lunch box powertrax for ~$550. I need to do some more research on the powertrax, but I know in their Jeep Dana 30 they tended to suck (rounding the teeth off the locker, major failures, etc). So I'm a littlle leery of dumping money on one of those.

Also, since the Diff is offset some to the passenger side, there aren't any junk yard 35 spline options for one of the side (the Passenger If I remember right). So I'd need to get new shafts from Complete off Road or someone like that. 30 or 35 spline shafts run about $150 a side, but if I'm going throught the effort, there's no reason not to go 35 spline.

You can use the same carrier you have now, and just go with the thick gears, or you can get a detroit instead of buying a carrier and a lunchbox (since they will be about the same price anyways)....

I could use the same carrier, but I'd like to ditch the LSD at some point. The LSD was making unhappy sounds the last time out, and I'd imagine it hasn't gotten any better with time. You are right, this is an option I shouldn't rule out (It really appeals to my cheap side).

For carrier swapping a Detriot runs about $615 (A Yukon is a little less at $580). Its a bit cheaper to go with an open carrier ($45 -$25) and a Spartan lunch box locker ($333). No matter how you slice it, its a good hunk of change.

I had though about going spool again. I did have one in the back of my Cherokee, and it was a love hate relationship. I loved it offroad, but on road I didn't care for it one bit (especially any time I had to do some tight turns) as it killed tires in the rear pretty quick. I'd imagine with the extra weight on my junk that running a spool would definetly not be ideal for my applicatoin.

Edit: I just noticed that the powertrax is actually for the LSD carrier, that options is looking more promising... Off to do more research!

Edit 2: I had my head on wrong, the Powertrax is a decent unit, the crappy unit I was thinking of was detroits lunch box locker. Those things liked to die if you looked at them funny...

 

[Josh40601]

sounds like you need a 14 bolt

 

[Kage]

sounds like you need a 14 bolt

That option isn't off the table at this time. I do dig the clarance and brakes on the 60 over the 14 bolt though. It just depends on if I can get the money to work out on the right deal.

It looks like Thick 4.88's for the rear run about $315-350 (Plus install parts). If I were to throw in a lunch box, I'm still at $900 ish bucks which is about the same territory as going 35 spline

Going 14 Bolt would cost me about the same at this point unless I found a deal on one with a locker in it allready. ($150 for a 14 bolt, $500 for a locker, $300 for disc brakes).

Man I need a cheaper hobby

 

[Josh40601]

Not to mention I have 3 14 bolt carriers. 2 stock, 1 CUCV (4.56 and Detroit) unit with pinion

Am i tempting you yet?

 

[RangerSVT]

I was thinking you were getting another carrier because of the carrier break, I forgot you had the LSD...The detroit locker is great, the lunchbox detroit sucks, ain't figured that one out yet
SVT

 

[86 slo-vo]

weld that shit for now, throw a locker in later.

 

[Kage]

I was thinking you were getting another carrier because of the carrier break, I forgot you had the LSD...The detroit locker is great, the lunchbox detroit sucks, ain't figured that one out yet
SVT

Both reasons I suppose. LSD limits me on locker selection (from what I can tell, need to make some phone calls If I get serious about going that way).

I don't know how the big D messed up their lunch box so bad either. Of the folks that I wheel with, there has been a 100% failure rate of their lunch boxes. And none of them failed under hard core use either FWIW.

weld that shit for now, throw a locker in later.

The thought has crossed my mind more than once. I just hated the spool on the street, so I definetly won't go that route before our trip out west.

Its only money right?

 

[Kage]

Trip to Washita MX 7-30-11​

This past weekend, I wandered out to Washita MX for the trucks second off-road outing. Overall, the truck performed very well, though there’s a few things that need to be changed up. I’ll get to those later.​

We covered about 11 miles of trails (red dotted line):

Just a small group of people for this trip which consisted of a ’78 Bronco, YJ, and what is left of a CJ:

There are a few play areas scattered throughout the park, we stopped at one of them to get a couple of poser shots:​

Not too long after these photos, the rear yoke on the Bronco decided to let go, so I followed him out of the park to make sure he’d get out on FWD. After airing him up, I headed back to join up with the rest of the group.​

On the way back up, we took B-10 up to Bald Knob which was a blast. Somehow, I’d not mange to find this trail on previous outings. Near the top we came across this F-150. I’m guessing it managed to get there by means of wreckless abandonment with the assistance of throttle and gravity.:​

Somewhere during the climb, I noticed my steering sucked (wasn’t getting the full turning ability). I found out why when I got to the top of the knob, guess I should have gotten around to putting on some sort of anti kick back device..

Oh, that’s ugly!

So I got to use my winch for the first "Real" time to get everything back in place. I’m very happy that the snatch block I ordered showed up right before this trip:​

All Better:

We took it easy on the way out of the park, but somehow I still managed to cave in my Drivers door and pop off my door handle:​

We played around on the washout that’s on the main trail as we were leaving:​

Not too long after I took those photos, the sky opened up on us and gave us a good soaker. It was nice to be able to just roll up the windows as the Jeep guys got soaked. ​

Over all, the truck again performed very well, though there are a few things I need to take care of, such as:​

• Need to replace the front springs. They were already sagging when I put them on, so bending one just helps the motivational factor some
  
• Need to get the anti kickback device in place in the front. I though that the limit straps would be enough, apparently not.
  
• Replace one of the front Bump Stops that got torn off during the axle relocation
  
• The rear fenders need to be trimmed a smidge more. Thankfully, I didn’t get into them nearly as bad as the first trip out.
  
• Drivers side Door handle needs to be replaced (it was loose anyway, why the hell did Ford rived the damn thing in????)
  
• Electric Fan needs to be installed (probably do that after our trip). The mechanical fan just doesn’t move enough air at Low speed/Low RMP situations (climbing in double low). And yes, the truck has a new fan clutch and fan on it, so the mechanical stuff is working correctly, there’s just not enough volume there.
  
• That Damn LSD needs to die a fiery death. Every time I was being denied, I could look back and watch one of my rear tires not doing squat. So something is going to get changed when we get back, and I’ll most likely regear at the same time as well.

　
There are some more nit picky type things, but for the most part the truck is close to being where I want it. Some things will be addressed pretty quickly (if the heat wave ever breaks), and some things will need to be put off until after our little road trip.​

Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely happy with how the truck works as it sits. It nice to be able to let it craw up things as I’m dragging rocks/tress along the side of the cage. Heck, even the steering has enough oomph that I’m not really thinking about getting hydro assist anymore (a cooler for sure though). So if I were to never ‘fix’ the truck, I’d be happy rocking it as is for several more years.​

On a related note note, the Removable Track Bar worked awesomely. It comes out easily, and has completely eliminated my death sway issue. Life is good cruising down the highway now.​

I’m stoked about our upcoming trip out west, and just as eager for the next time I get to go out and do some more ‘local’ wheeling!​

Link to the rest of the photos​

 

[Bray D]

very nice. I'd like to make it over to washita sometime. Looks like a fun park.

Does your engine run hot? I don't have any cooling issues at any speed, at any ambient temp. I'm a proponent of mech. fans, but if its not sufficient I guess you need to look into other options.

Where/when is your trip out west?

 

[wahlstrom1]

I was wondering about the cooling issue too... I never had one with my ranger, even with the fiberglass hood holding heat in, and being 40* (100*F) outside and crawling all day it never got overly hot. Time for a waterpump maybe?

 

[4.0B2]

thought the exo was to protect the body??? lol

 

[Kage]

very nice. I'd like to make it over to washita sometime. Looks like a fun park.

Let me know when you're in the area, and I'll make it down that way.

...Does your engine run hot? I don't have any cooling issues at any speed, at any ambient temp. I'm a proponent of mech. fans, but if its not sufficient I guess you need to look into other options.

I don't have a mechanical gauge on it so its hard to say what its truely running. But going by the electric gauge, it never runs hot, though it will run a bit warmer if I let it sit and idle for bit (never past the "AL" in Normal). Whith it being so hot this past weekend, it wasn't unusual to see the needled creeping up to, or just past the "L". Probably would have helped if I turned off the A/C every now and then

More to the point, if when it starts to warm up, I can get it to cool off in one of two ways:
1) Drive a bit faster than I had been (not much, just a couple of MPH faster, going from 2-3 mph to 5-6 mph is enough)

2) stop and rev the motor up some (1500-1800 rpms, not so fast as to let the fan clutch slip).

In normal driving (even stop and go traffic) the thing never heats up, so It really seems like it might be a air volume issue.

I agree on point that the mechanical fan should be enough to keep it all cool, and I would rather run an mechanical fan over an electric fan. It just doesn't seem to be working out for me.

...Where/when is your trip out west?

The end destination is Glacier Nat'l Park in MT. We'll be heading there via Yellow Stone on the way there, and the Bad Lands ND on the way back. Heading out on 9/2 and coming back sometime around the 12-13th.

It won't be quite as much of a 'wheeling' vacation as in years past, but it should be fun!

 

[Bray D]

I was wondering about the cooling issue too... I never had one with my ranger, even with the fiberglass hood holding heat in, and being 40* (100*F) outside and crawling all day it never got overly hot. Time for a waterpump maybe?

The last trip I went on was blazin hot. Heat index of 110+*F. Double low all day long without any overheating issues.

I also don't have any inner fenders, and I'm sure that helps with allowing the engine to breathe. Who knows.