I mean some of the group

 

Nice!!

 

Thanks Matt, the pic turned out awesome!!!!

 

Here are a couple of pics of Ole Red after I unloaded him off of the trailer today. Yes, he is still sporting his War Paint from Elbe. Other than a few little glitchy things he really performed well.

 

I thought this would be a pretty cool before and after shot. The first pic is of Ole Red sitting outside the shop just before he went in for the big transformation. The second pic is of Ole Red sitting outside the shop in the same spot right after I unloaded him off of the trailer post Elbe run. I'd say quite a difference.

 

Howdy guys, so I started what I will call Phase II of project Ole Red. I made to Elbe and Ole Red ran very well and I am very happy with him. However, he is still not quite all the way up to my standards. The XRC8000 winch I have quit pull right in the middle of a very critical pull. I was on huge rocks and the winch was pretty much the only thing keeping me going. Luckily, Chris was already up at the top of the hill so he was able to pull me the rest of the way. While I was initially very pissed and ready to sling it in the weeds and pay too much for a newer better known name of winch, I came to my senses and started tearing into it. That was when I realized my winch died on me when I needed it most purely because I had not done proper upkeep maintenance on it so it was all my fault. I did not pay the extra money for a waterproof winch but I expected mine to work and keep on working like it was. Here are the pics I took of the tear down. it's pretty ugly.

 

Here is a picture I took of all of those same gear drive pieces after an hour of hard scrubbing at the solvent tank. I also took that nasty, rusty, dirty motor apart and cleaned it up inside, too. I cleaned up all of the brushes and stators with electrical contact cleaner and sanded them shiney. I also wire brushed as much of the grime and rust out of the inside as I could and then blew it all out with shop air. Then I coated all of the contacts with dielectric grease. It really didn't look all that different when I was done so I didn't bother with pics of it. Just the important parts, contacts and such were cleaned shiney and coated with the dielectric grease. The rest still looked pretty cruddy. I will be putting the motor and gear drive back together today. Then I will clean all of the contacts on the solenoid pack and then give it a whirl. Hopefully I fixed it. I really like this winch when it works like it should. It's fast and pulls really good. It's noisey but that is just a side effect of cheap import winched I think...lol. I will have more later.

 

Well, it appears my efforts with the winch were a little too little or a little too late. The motor was toast and I'm done with these crummy Smittybilt XRC8000 winches. This is the 2nd one I've had and the 2nd one that has died as a result of water intrusion. So, it's time to save my money and spend a little more next time to get a waterproof winch. There are many on the market that claim to be waterproof.

 

sometimes you try and try to save them but they just dont want to live anymore.

 

Hey there guys just figured I would give you all a little update as to what I've been up to with Ole Red since Elbe. Here are a couple of pics to show what has gone on with the case of the POS winch. The first is a pic of Ole Red right after being unloaded from the trailer....note the winch cable wrapped around the bumper because the old POS Smittybilt winch died mid pull never to work again. I couldn't even spool the cable back in. The 2nd pic is the old winch on the floor of my shop where I threw it to after removing it from my jeep. The 3rd pic is of my new Mile Marker winch that I got a smokin deal on from Matt Gilbert.

 

Last night I finally got around to pulling apart the rear axle to figure out why I had gear oil leaking out of both ends after the Elbe trip. I had a pretty idea as to why it was leaking and what I would find once I pulled the shafts out. Man I hate being right sometimes...LOL. As you can clearly see in both pic my axle shafts literally started walking out causing the outer axle bearings and seals to be completely demolished in the process. You can see the lip where the bearings had been pressed to and how far down the axle shaft the bearing had moved because the retainer was not there to prevent it. The 2nd picture you can see me holding a little metal ring that is still in perfect condition. That would be the axle bearing retainer that I should have pressed on "AFTER" pressing on the bearing. In my hurry to get Ole Red together in time for Elbe I tried to press the bearing and the retainer on at the same time and it wasn't going. I was thinking to myself dumbly, what is that stupid little ring even for. I figured the bearing was pressed on and the axle shaft retainer bolts would hold everything together. So I learned a lesson the hard way. Actually my new rear disc brake calipers were the only thing thing that prevented my axles, wheels and all from walking right out of the axle housing. Luckily my rear brakes and the axle shafts themselves are re-usable. I will need to get new bearings and seals and then put it all together the correct way with the bearing retainers, this time, and I will be good to go. More pic of the install process to follow.

 

i wish all i was dealing with was axle issues. instead of having to pull out a brand new engine, again

 

Hey guys, well I finished up the rear axle repairs today. I went down to my local parts counter and got brand new National bearings and new seals. As you can see from the picture I installed the new seals and pressed the bearings and the retainers onto the axle shafts this time. I also removed the old original OEM races out of the axle tubes. That was another short cut I took last time. The one race on the driver's side got pretty chewed up from me driving on it with the bearings crushed at Elbe. I had to do a little fancy file work on the axle shaft retainers as they got a little chewed up from the bearings being wrong, too. I even took it for a short test drive on the road and it seemed to drive just a little bit better. I was so happy with getting that done that I even flexed Ole Red out and took a few poser pics.

 

Next projects will be to install my rear spare tire carrier and to install the 760 knuckle joints and the full circle snap rings on them.

 

...and mud flaps, fender flares and sway bar quick discos. Then there is the issue with the front end. Ole Red still gets really squirally at anything over 40mph. I'd really like to get him to where I can legally and safely drive him on the road. I do have a trailer for the long trips but I don't like my Jeep to be a Trailer Queen.