Ok so shanda does not know wether she's staying or not. And if any one has a 1/2 drill bit. can you bring it. I've got one that's to small. So how many are coming so I can grab some sodas got Mike, Russ, Alan, Chris, Scott, Matt, Avis (iffy), any more?

I have a 5/8 drill bit and halogen work light stand if anyone wants to stop by my house and get them. I can't make it to the build party though.

Since I drink diet I will bring my own. I have an 1/2 drill bit.

Do you need a the drill bit to be 1/2" long or 1/2" wide?

1/2 inch wide. If scouts got it cool then.

I'll have the tap and die set for tonight

I am bring one too. Mine is SAE

What about even more cameras! http://www.woot.com/

medium speed 1st run on the new suspension (who am I kidding, first real anything that involved "moving at any type of speed" since Colorado...)

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Nice video. What your average speed? It is hard to tell how fast you are going from the video.

defibvt wrote:Nice video. What your average speed? It is hard to tell how fast you are going from the video.

In that video clip it was about 35 - 40 mph on the straights. Later in the day we were cruising at 65 - 68 pretty regularly in open desert and the graded road headed out. Andrew and Joe had to keep reminding me it was "testing" and a "shake down run" so don't break it, plus there were a ton of quads out and we were trying to not kill anyone. LOL

Jan 30, 2012

What an incredible weekend. I am overwhelmed with the friendship and support of those around me. It’s crunch time. KOH is less than a week away. I’m pretty sure I’m being a jerk due to stress right now, yet folks just smile and keep wrenching. You guys are incredible friends. Thank you all so very very much. You don’t know what it means to me.

Friday night: It’s an “All Hands on Deck” wrenching party at Geoff’s house. We started about 4:30 PM and wrenched all night until about 8 AM. We had a crew that peaked at 9 people up until about midnight and there were still 4 standing come 7 AM. The incredible crew was comprised of Geoff, Mike, Paul, Bob, Chris, Jimmy, Scott, Matt, Russ, and me. HUGE thank you to Shanda for letting us invade the house to Geoff’s neighbors who didn’t call the cops!

It already looked like a buggy, but when Mike put the race numbers on... well, she bacame a race car.




Everyone worked on different parts of the jeep. The coordinated effort was awesome.




Russ was crushed by the belly plate... karma sucks, huh.




We even had some sexy your tool models showcasing their wares...




Mat cleaned up all the wiring from the last session.




After recovering, Russ kept working on the front drive shaft and making the u bolts fit.

When not modeling tools, Mike always found a way to make sparks fly...




Jimmy and Scott making the firewall secure:




The Beard came out after work (and brought it's host body Bob along with it). He mainly just walked around with a hammer and kept the riff raff out. (and and fixed a lot of stuff too!)




Paul busted out the lower ball joint. The hair helped add horsepower.







By the time morning arrived, we had this!





I am missing a ton of little things, but here is the bulk of what we knocked out on Friday night:

Mounted aluminum door skins
Mounted aluminum firewall
Ground bolt head on the torque converter for clearance
Mounted the seats
Mounted all cameras and DVR setup
Cleaned up and finalized all wiring
Lower ball joint on driver side replaced
Filler neck and fuel cell mounted and finalized
Breather line mounted around fuel tank to race specs
Race numbers and misc graphics applied
Removable steering wheel installed
Front drive shaft installed
Front race number plate cut and installed
Bead locks tightened and checked for pressure
Transmission cooler mounted and wired
CO2 tank mount fabbed and installed
Brake lines cabled and tucked away along frame
Side and rear view mirror backers fabbed and installed
Rear line locks mounted and secured
Spare tire strap mounting points installed
Window nets mounted and installed
Front bumper fabbed and installed
Break down old beadlock and mount spare on rim

After a baseball game with Ivan on Saturday morning, I went back to Geoff's and we headed out to Table Mesa for the first shake down run. Since the vehicle hasn't driven since July and has a new Transmission, we started with little things: does it shift, does it have 2 hi, 4 hi, and 4 low, etc.. then headed out to Lower Terminator for a test. When we stopped at the trailhead and got out, it was puking brake fluid and tranny fluid. When we got underneath, it was discovered that the front drive shaft was dinging the tranmission pan when it would flex and created a gap. We decided to take it back to the trailer and to the shop for repair...

... on the way down the hill to the River, my brakes went out. Completely out. Not soft pedal, but NO pedal. Free swinging, baby. Good times. We got it to stop, parked it, and I started walking back to the rig and trailer. Geoff saw the Mud (Daniel) out wheelin', called him, and he sent help to pick me up. I spent the rest of Saturday night figuring out issues. Goeff fixe the tranny pan, I used the trac bar to move the axle more under the jeep and clearance the drive shaft, plus found out why I had no brakes... the c-clip on the pedal that connects the cable to the master cylinder is gone, so the cable came off the pedal. Easy fix. I also spend 30 minutes really bleeding the brake lines and we have good firm pedal now. All in all, found out what was busted and then got ready for a bigger shakedown on Sunday with Andrew and some of the Undertakers.


Us getting ready:




and all the stupid catus I saw walking back to the trailer with a busted rig... LOL

Sunday was a whole new ball game, but it started out kinda funny... A phone call from Joe Daro at Absolute Offroad:

Joe: Hey Alan, just wanted to see how testing was going and how the tranmission is working.
Alan: It's great job, I was worried when you said it would shift hard... it shifts like butter. Super smooth.
*** deafening silience***
Joe: What do you mean it shifts like butter? It should shift hard the way we set it up. How is your kick down cable adjusted?
Alan: Is that the cable that's still in the floorboard?
Joe: Do not drive the Jeep. I am on my way.


Joe then drove the hour out to Florence Junction. Talk about above and beyond the call of duty. HUGE thank you and bonus points to Joe. Matt Hinnit installed the cable for me, then Joe adjusted and was my co-driver all day helping and tweaking the Jeep and helping me with AIST. We spend the day doing medium speed "go fast" to check the Radflo suspension, the new fuel cell, and all the mods done to the Jeep over the last 6 months. Andrew in the #4493 car was also testing. All in all, a great day of testing. We have a long list of button up items to do, but we have a race car now! We topped out at around 65 mph since there were so many people out this weekend, but can't wait to dial it in more on the lake bed.






(I did discover where they grow buggies out in the desert...)






Here are some pics courtesy of Don Lawrance from the big fall on Axle Alley. I busted the centering pin on the front drive shaft, but other than that, no significant damage or "oh crap" moments. Testing was a success.









I will post more testing video later this week.

See you on the lake bed!

Items remaining for this week before Friday departure (the final punch list). I know some of this will have to be done on the lakebed, but tech inspection is Saturday morning at 9 AM, so that's the primary target.

Complete roof
Fire ext mounts
Fluid catches
Exhaust tube
Finish tool cage, paint black, and mount
additional door bolts (for door skins)
fill neck spill plate
Parker pumper installed
parker pumper switch mounted
aluminum plate on center console
shave front Atlas knob (hits rock light switch)
"Oh Crap!" handle and GPS mount fabbed and installed
Install Walbro pickups in fuel cell
Remove foam from the fuel cell
clean fuel filter screen
75w-90 gear oil in the front diff
re-wire kill switch (it was working, LR cleaned up wires and i think they put something back to the battery)
front drive shaft removed and taken to PHX rack and Axle
Front drive shaft re-installed
tighten everyting and mark with yellow pen
clock PS pump to gravity feeds it better on waterfalls
put flanges back in front axles (both)
c-clip on brake pedal
ARB solenoid replaced (front lockers)
change harness mounts to long and angled on a straight plane
additional hose clamps on filler neck
flip driver front brake bad to unbind brake line
re-drill center camera mount hole forward a little bit
mount quart container
seat bead and air up spare tire
fix suck down winch (broken cable line)
Possible limiting strap for front axle

MIKE:
Roof graphic
small(er) black HigherGround4x4.com for bottom of windshielf frame
Trailer graphics
Adjust video camera after reviewing footage
Helmet graphics
Labels on switches


Guys, I sent many of you a PM, but if you can coordinate with Geoff, I have to be out of town for work all week and cannot help. Please connect with him, even if you only have an hour or two to spare, we could sure use the help.

I appreiate it everyone.

Alan

hmmmmmmm evidently I need a new front yoke for my transfer case too... ya think? anyone have some JB Weld?

i do heading that way

Camera test video of crawling up to the fall on Axle Alley.

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alanzona wrote:Camera test video of crawling up to the fall on Axle Alley.

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I remember the last time you drove that section. It looks like it's working good. Now go kick some azzzzzz!