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Well after the stupid detour, we made it to Pismo beach. A 3 hour drive turned in to 6.5. What really sucks is the drive along the coast is just amazing and I only got to see about 50 miles of it then had to turn around and see it again. Oh well. Im sitting on the beach right now having a beer with the love of my life so I cant complain. And tomorrow brings on the sand dunes!
Well I made it back. Overall the trip was a success with no real issues. The Jeep passed its first long term test. We didnt get to do everything we wanted to but still got a good chunk done. Ill give a more detailed update after I get some sleep.
Well getting sleep didnt help much. I am still pooped and did not want to go to work today. But I am here. Anyways, I am going to make a separate thread for the road trip and I will link it here after I make the post. Quick run down of the trip. Overall it was 1116 miles. After the first 2 tanks, I stopped logging my gas mileage. I did this because I could not get the tank to fill up all the way each time. Sometimes it would fill up to 1 bar below full and sometimes it would fill up past full. So calculating the mileage after each fill up was not accurate. That left me with using the display as a close guess. Even with all the traffic and the day of duning, it says I averaged 19 mpg overall. Average freeway speed was 75 mph. I would say that is not bad! The Jeep did not give me any issues the whole time. Pretty sure I have a tie rod going out though. After the horrible streets of San Francisco, it starting making a single pop noise when doing a sharp turn and hitting a bump. It wanders a little bit more then normal as well. So I think I am going to park it until I can give it a good look over and replace whatever is needed. I am pretty sure I am just going to do a whole front end and steering rebuild. Those are the few parts I have not replaced yet so I might as well. But it was an overall success! Next trip might just be Moab....
Mine did that and I found my track-bar bolt was loose. I was wondering all over the place. Another time my track-bar mount to the frame came loose it started wandering again once I tightened-er up I painted some pin strips so I could see if it had moved on me at glance.
I went over the entire front end while at Pismo. Track bar was tight at both ends and on the mount. Its only got about 3500 miles on it as well. And its not a stocker. I have a torn boot on one of the steerings tie rod ends and normally if the boot cracks, the tie rod is bad. I have no idea how many miles are on the steering stuff since it was from a donor v8 ZJ. It could be the steering box itself too. If someone shakes the steering wheel, you can watch the pitman arm move from side to side about 1/4" total.
when mine started wandering I nearly replaced everything, Durango steering box, High performance power steering pump, control arm bushings (Were as shot as stock motor mounts get), and Curry-link system. and found out the track bar was 90% of the problem.
I really dont think its the track bar. It is too new and has no slop (its a RE track bar with a drop mount). To top that off, the bolts are not loose. I checked them 2 days ago. The mount on the axle has a hole so tight, you have to thread the bolt in to it (and its a 1/2" bolt). It is not ovaled at all. All the tie rods have who knows how many miles on them and some have cracked boots. So I figure they need to be replaced any way. Might as well go the extra step and do the ball joints while I am down there.
I really dont think its the track bar. It is too new and has no slop (its a RE track bar with a drop mount). To top that off, the bolts are not loose. I checked them 2 days ago. The mount on the axle has a hole so tight, you have to thread the bolt in to it (and its a 1/2" bolt). It is not ovaled at all. All the tie rods have who knows how many miles on them and some have cracked boots. So I figure they need to be replaced any way. Might as well go the extra step and do the ball joints while I am down there.
So what you're trying to say is Cavfab (or similar) steering on the way!!!!
