1993 Splash in SC

[Curious Hound]

Cut away the passenger side of the bumper that got bent. Now I can start mocking up how I want the new bumper to look. I need to order something big to get some good cardboard for CAD work. (Cardboard Aided Design)

 

[sgtsandman]

Your lights are a little out of adjustment.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Your lights are a little out of adjustment.

They auto adjust as they see fit.

 

[Curious Hound]

Your lights are a little out of adjustment.

You are correct. The passenger side headlight makes a nice bright spot on the road about 10feet in front of the truck.

 

[Robertmangrum.rm]

You are correct. The passenger side headlight makes a nice bright spot on the road about 10feet in front of the truck.

Mr. Eric,
My son Zane was talking last night how muchbfun he had on the Traverse last year. He asked if you were planning another trip. I said I'd find out. I'd like to be able to complete the whole thing this year so will need to schedule some time off. Thinking maybe this spring so it might no be so dusty. You interested? Wouldn't mind having a little time to explore some of the hikes and stuff as well.

 

[Curious Hound]

Mr. Eric,
My son Zane was talking last night how muchbfun he had on the Traverse last year. He asked if you were planning another trip. I said I'd find out. I'd like to be able to complete the whole thing this year so will need to schedule some time off. Thinking maybe this spring so it might no be so dusty. You interested? Wouldn't mind having a little time to explore some of the hikes and stuff as well.

I’m trying to flesh out some events. Probably doing a weekend trip with Project Overlander in April. Cades Cove will probably be early, either late March, if Ranger is ready, or soon after the April trip. There’s more coming. I expect to upload a Curious Hound “Words from the Pack Leader” video tonight.

 

[Robertmangrum.rm]

I’m trying to flesh out some events. Probably doing a weekend trip with Project Overlander in April. Cades Cove will probably be early, either late March, if Ranger is ready, or soon after the April trip. There’s more coming. I expect to upload a Curious Hound “Words from the Pack Leader” video tonight.

I'd need sliders before I'd be ready for Cades Cove haha. But I'll be watching for events. He's been wanting to do some more overlanding type rides. He's been riding on all my trips since that Traverse trip and said that he wished there was more camping instead of just day trips.

 

[Curious Hound]

I didn’t realize there was anything that rough at Cades Cove. I’ll have to check some more videos

 

[Robertmangrum.rm]

I didn’t realize there was anything that rough at Cades Cove. I’ll have to check some more videos

Sorry you said Cades Cove. I was thinking Copperingers Cove. Cades Coves is a paved loop in th Smokey Mountains. Beautiful area. Not much wheeling but if you exit through Parsons Branch. You will come out on the tail of the dragon. Would be an epic ride on the 2 wheeler haha

 

[Curious Hound]

Sorry you said Cades Cove. I was thinking Copperingers Cove. Cades Coves is a paved loop in th Smokey Mountains. Beautiful area. Not much wheeling but if you exit through Parsons Branch. You will come out on the tail of the dragon. Would be an epic ride on the 2 wheeler haha

Parsons Branch and TOD are the primary goals on that trip. Might be some other dirt roads to explore. There is also another paved road with better views that is a companion to TOD. Makes a nice big loop, almost.

 

[Curious Hound]

A while back, I mentioned that my tie rod ends are wearing out. But they are not replaceable from Superlift, who made my Superrunner steering setup. Some of the joints are welded to the tie rods and cross arm. So, I am re-engineering it completely with replaceable parts. This setup will use GM 1-ton tie rod ends and a pair of offset heim joints in the middle. The cross arm and tie rods will be 1.5" / 1/4" wall DOM tubing. When it's finished and I have all the dimensions finalized, I'll make the drawings available publicly. (maybe for a small fee to compensate for my time and testing). I'm almost at the point where I need to buy some parts and materials. I don't have actual dimensions of the tie rod ends and Heim joints yet. There are 2 more pieces I need to measure and draw for the complete setup. Preview below.

 

[Curious Hound]

Got the whole assembly drawn up. Will fine tune dimensions when I actually build it. I'm currently separating the parts out into individual dimensioned drawings now. I've made a bill of materials and a shopping list for Barnes 4x4, to the tune of about $345 before taxes. That doesn't include a handful of nuts and bolts and miscellaneous pieces. I don't remember what the Superlift kit cost when I bought it. It was less. This will be beefier with replacement parts that are easier to find.

Edit; Talked to a friend about the heavy duty steering kit he put on his 2022 Jeep. It cost well over 700 dollars. So I guess this isn't too bad. If I was going to sell this as a kit, I would have to price it at least around $750 to account for construction labor.

 

[Curious Hound]

Well, that's interesting. I installed my new spring spacers today. I think they're the right height. I'll do the alignment this weekend, hopefully. But the camber looks decent by eye now.

But, while I was fiddling around with that, I started looking to see what's loose in my steering g system. It appears that the bronze bushings I used to replace the worn/broken poly bushings in the pivot arm are already worn. There is significant play in the pivot arm.

So, I am considering a redesign of the redesign already in progress. I am thinking about changing the bottom of the pivot arm so it will receive a GM 1 ton tie rod end. And modify the cross arm so it has tie rod ends on both ends.

Or...

I wonder how much it would cost to do a SAS. A Dana 44 from a brand new Jeep would be pretty nice. Electric locker. I wonder what gear ratio they come with.

 

[Curious Hound]

Wow. There is so much Ranger stuff tumbling around in my brain these days. I adjusted the toe this morning and called the alignment good until I drive it some. As I said, the camber looks pretty good right now.

The steering linkage parts are still evolving, though I think I have that ironed out in my head and mostly committed to CAD drawings.

Still don't know what I want the bumper to look like. But since I have to do something about headlights and the structure they mount to, I think I'm going to flesh out the new grill/headlight area. Then I can maybe try to match the bumper to that. If it's going to be a mess, at least it will be a consistent and uniform mess. Anyway. I have 7" round headlights and adjustable brackets on order as well as some cool turn signals and side marker lights. My fog lights will probably move up into that area also instead of being mounted down on the bumper, unless I hide them in cutouts in the bumper. I think I want to keep them higher and more protected from abuse, though.

The KC headlights

The turn signals

 

[Blmpkn]

You say your gonna use the KC's as headlights? Are you getting rid of the stock ones?