Not off topic! Welcome from the big EC!

 

Hey guys, I'm from south GA, but will be moving up to the Waukesha/ Pewauke area in February to take a job for 6-8 months. Are any of you close? I know absolutely nothing about WI, so are there any good trails near by? Do any of you do any snow wheeling?

Look forward to wheeling with some of you one day!

 

I'm not too far from that area. No good trails really which sucks

 

In Waupaca county on a bunch of back roads you can find fire lanes. Not sure if it's legal but no one cares, as long as you're respectful. They aren't difficult. Kinda like driving through Adams county with less risk of disappearing.

In defense of Adams county there was mafia ties way back when. And the county is beautiful. Lots of adventure roads.

 

In Waupaca county on a bunch of back roads you can find fire lanes. Not sure if it's legal but no one cares, as long as you're respectful. They aren't difficult. Kinda like driving through Adams county with less risk of disappearing.
In defense of Adams county there was mafia ties way back when. And the county is beautiful. Lots of adventure roads.

 

Let's try and get a meet and greet planned. It'd be fun to meet and go ride some trails.

 

Well, I'm now up in Superior, WI and no longer in Oshkosh. Much closer to wheeling in MN.

 

Anyone in the SE corner able to do ball joints? I'm really not looking forward to paying some outrageous shop price to get these done.

 

I'm sure you can handle it. It's not too bad. You'll just need to pull the wheel and tire, brakes, axle shaft and knuckle. Then you should be able to rent a ball joint press to press the old ones out and new ones in. I'd go ahead and do all four since you'll have it apart. Make sure to go ahead and start soaking all the bolts and nuts with some PB blaster or something a day or two before the tear down to loosen everything up.

Here's a decent write up on it...

http://www.cherokeetech.com/VBull/sh...nt-Replacement

I'll be in the Waukesha area in feb if you wait that long and need a hand.

 

My issue with u joints was everything was rusted solid. I have a 91. My dad weighs 270ish and was on a 1 and 7/8 inch socket wrench with a 3 foot breaker bar. He was jumping on it and it literally did not move. The wrench and bar combo weighed about 20 pounds.

So make sure it's not too rusty or you may end up sending it to a shop anyway. But good luck.

 

I was reading all the writeups and watched the YouTube videos last night. It doesn't look that hard now that i actually watched it being done. I just did wheel bearings in July so everything should come apart pretty nicely still.

When in february are you arriving in this grand ole state? I doubt ill be able to hold off until then..my front end is getting pretty terrible lol. We can link up for some other stuff though if you want. Maybe one day ill finally make the leap and purchase a lift...I just want my front and rear rebuilt before I do that.

 

There ya go. I'm sure you can find everything you need to know on this forum. Lot of good info.

I'll be coming around the first week of Feb. I'm coming up from south GA where it's about 50 degrees lol. I'm going to freeze my tail off. I saw where it was something crazy like -15 last week. Got any cold weather tips for me? Do I need tire chains or snow studs?

Where you located? If you haven't done the ball joints by the time I get there I'll come help out.

That's what you need to do. Throw about a 4 in lift on it with some 33s and go wheel!

 

Chains and studs are illegal here except on emergency vehicles iirc but you won't need them anyways. It gets cold here but that negative 15 stuff is a very very rare event. I believe they said it hasn't been that cold since 1996. This weekend is supposed to be in the mid to high 30s which will feel really nice lol. Make sure to winterize your Jeep. Washer fluid, anti-freeze, lighter oil, battery etc. Be prepared to have it covered with nasty brown frozen slush crap and salt. Our roads get super nasty here in the winter from all the crap that is on them. Plows tear up the roads too so watch out for huge potholes. I-94 is absolutely terrible for potholes in the winter.

I think you said you were going to be by Pewaukee, right? It is really nice there. Upper middle class white people city with next to no crime.

I live in the town of Raymond so I'm about 35 minutes away from Pewaukee so it isn't that far of a commute!

I found a great deal on AlloyUSA ball joints so ill be ordering them soon along with u joints and the steering kit. I procrastinate when it comes to ordering parts so who knows when it will be lol.

 

Great to know! I really didn't want to bother with all that traction stuff anyway. Yea, I was up last spring and the weather was great!

Oh yea 30 min isn't bad at all.

Good choice with alloyusa. I use their axle shafts and they've been great. I did break one a few weeks back and they shipped me a brand new one free of charge.

Have you ever done any snowmobiling up there? I'm thinking about getting one when I get up there.

Also, I'm considering selling the jeep before I head up and just buying another one when I get there to save from trailering it all the way up. Is it difficult to find jeeps that aren't rusted out?

 

I don't have a snowmobile but everyone else around here seems to have them lol. It is all farm land so once the snow falls the fields turn in to playgrounds for the folks with snow mobiles. There's trails all around here and it isn't uncommon to see them driving through my front yard haha. I have snow mobile tracks and ATV tracks in my yard right now.

If your jeep is clean I'd keep it personally. The ones here aren't going to be real pretty lol. So much rust on everything. Few hundred to have it trailed up here would seem to be worth it unless you just want a beater Jeep.

What do you do that's sending you up here?