During my recent hunting trip I ran into a few problems... I got stuck. I came down a fairly steep grade and once I reached bottom I knew it will be a pain to get back up. The ground was covered in big and small loose rocks and under it was sand and shale. During my many attempts my tires just sunk in and I was getting nowhere fast. Thankfully, I had my winch and some memories of my Jeep 101 class with Nena Barlow saying, "If you encounter deep sand or tire spinning, ride the brake a little and engage posi-trac"... or something like that. Those words and some recovery gear got me out of a bad place.
I ended up using my winch but was unable to get to my tree saver, so I did hooked around the steel winch line (bad move).
On my ride back to camp my HOTOIL light came on. I've been in 4-lo for over 3 hours trying to work an escape route and 4-hi making my way back to camp. Tranny fluid got too hot.
Once I returned to camp, I did a mental review and noted my failures.
1. Not enough power/torque. May have escaped faster.
2. No lockers, had to ride the brake. If I had, I may not have needed to use the winch.
3. Should have used a tree saver, now steel winch cable has some fray and sharp areas.
I don't like failure. My jeep had been purpose built for my hunting needs and now I see that I have more mods to do. Hopefully it will not impact my daily driver needs.
I'm thinking that I will save my Magnuson supercharger (or HEMI engine swap) for a 2017 project. This is when my warranty expires. Or, when I destroy the current engine. Instead, I am going to do the following. Chime in all you technical wizards. Don't let me waste money on bad upgrades.
1. Regear from 3.21 to 4.10, 4.56, or 4.88? I'm running 33" tires now. Geoff/Alan/Michael may talk me into 35" sooner than I expect so need to keep this in mind. I also like to cruise around 70mph when on long drives on the interstate. Lastly, I have my trailer full of camping/shooting gear that I pull 20+ times a year. Half of the time I'm driving to higher elevations and those steep climbs suck with my current 3.21 gears.
2. Lockers. Eaton eLocker is what I am leaning towards. Air lockers seem to be good, but the eLocker seems to be better. Although an onboard air system is appealing it may be too pricy.
3. Electronic programmer. The Diablo Sport Tuner seems to have some good functions. Plus, if I do the Magnuson supercharger in 2017, I already have the necessary programmer.
4. Synthetic Winch Line. I found a source for 100ft of 3/8" Technora synthetic line that has an 18,000K breaking strength. $220 delivered. Smittybilt 2809 Universal Aluminum Hawse Fairlead will be around $25.
I am not talented enough to do #1 or #2 by myself. I will need help or a referral to a qualified shop.
I open this to anyone who has the knowledge and talent to budget me out for this project. I would like to start it soon, but can wait until after all Christmas.