Well its been a bit. After an august camping trip in 100+ heat, climbing two 9000ft passes, she struggled with 2 people, 2 dogs and all our gear. had to stop 5 or 6 times climbing the grades to cool down when she hit 230. Gave it a pressure wash to clean the mud and i think i did some electrical damage to the transmission or TPS as its been temperamental shifting. sometimes it shifts just fine, other times i have to pull the tcu fuse and shift manually. Next i need to check the ohms on the solenoids and recheck the TPS voltages. Did a fluid change, and ill be doing another fluid change shortly. I noticed the tranny cooler lines were leaking as well, so ill have to research those. Yesterday i replaced the entire exhaust system. on that last camping trip, there was was much exhaust making it into the cab, that the dogs were puking. I swapped on a HO header and downpipe, and a dynomax 2.5" system. The HO header surely flows much better and only takes a bit of grinder love on the ear of the renix intake. While i had the intake off, i change the driver side motor mount to an ironmanfab mount. Ive gotta drop the fuel tank, and replace the tank vents, add a tranny temp guage, change the PS pressure hose, and swap the passenger side motor mount. Saving up for some 4.56 gears.
welp, i was installing a temp gauge on the AW4, and it snapped off the sending unit adapter in the tranny. it gave me no warning, never got really tight, and then just spun off. Hopefully a bolt extractor will get it out since its just brass.
well its been a hot minute. the XJ has been down with some odd transmission issues, i could not figure it out, eventually replaced and calibrated the TPS and that fixed it. It appears the brand new one I put in a couple years ago went bad. I also picked up some 4.88's, a powertrax no slip for the rear, and a trutrac for the front. They will go in around christmas time. Hopefully that perks this tired old thing up. I am keeping my eye open for a wrecked yukon or tahoe to get an LS donor, but im a cheapass and refuse to pay over $1k
update time. Gears/ lockers getting installed and should have them back this weekend. While i am at it, also doing ball joints, every single u-joint, new SOLID diff covers. Great people, jut call them. they are owned by SPYNTECH now. installing the AAl's to the rear, installing new bilsteins all the way around, and getting the THOR intake put on.
Got the axles back. Painted, and SOLID covers installed. tonight ill get the 8.25 bolted back in, and then work on the ball joints and get the front installed this weekend.
Axles installed. hurrily plopped in both so i could move it out of the ice. Still need to dial in the front pinion angle and Caster. minor drivetrain vibes, attributing to rear pinion angle. Needs to come down 4 degrees. Ordering some shims for a temporary fix. 4.88's and 31's gives you a quick take off, but a top end cruising of 70mph comes out to about 2900 rpm's. Need to get some low speed miles on the diffs for a couple tanks of gas, then change the oil again. As expected, the front trutrac is great in the snow. the rear powertrax is a bit choppier than a spartan, but it will work for the time being. Waiting or a local tire sale to snag some 33's
Powertrax is junk, doesnt even work in my driveway, and in loose gravel i jsut do one wheel burnouts and have ot pretty much put it in 4wd just to turn around. Ordered 29 spline shafts and a trutrac. Also ordered 33x10.5x15 Kenda R/T's
33x10.5x15 Kenda Klever R/T's on. Major difference in drivability and traction. At 27 psi they measure out to 32.5" with weight of the vehicle And 9" tread width on a 8" rim.
Got out a little in the snow with a friend and their XJ. rear locker definitely doesn't work one bit. Front trutrac works as expected. if you lift a tire, just 2 foot the brake and gas, and it hooks right up. dropped the 33x10.5's down to 12PSI to get the tread a little elongated. definitely could have dropped down to 8 or 10 without bead issues. The kenda's have an offset bead rim to help with that, but the snow wasnt deep enough to warrant going lower. Ill probably keep them at 15 for trail riding in order to keep some steering ability on gravel roads.
Had a good time on the mountain this weekend. Photos just never do anything justice. PS. Powertrax lockers are junk. You never know when they will work. But those Detroit trutracs.....Phenominal. front end digs got me through lots of stuff. i did rip off the factory t-case skid on a rock, ordered a Rustys skid for now, and the wife gave me permission to buy the TNT customs long arm Kit! 10,000ft broncos on 40's have fun to i am more than impressed with these Kenda's, 10 PSI front, 8PSI Rear, no de-beading and no rim slip. Airing down for a night run
It's good to see someone actually wheeling the Kenda RTs - thank you for sharing! I've been considering them as they come in a 35x10.5r17 and I want to stay tall/skinny.
It's good to see someone actually wheeling the Kenda RTs - thank you for sharing! I've been considering them as they come in a 35x10.5r17 and I want to stay tall/skinny.
I'm pretty dang impressed with them. especially for the price. I may run these for a couple years, and then jump up to the 35x17's. I just love the 10.5 footprint. with such a tall and thick sidewall, you can really air down without worry.
I was considering the 33x10.50 kendas since I’ve run this size for years on smaller lighter rigs and it’s a great performing size. Cool to see some real feedback. I ended up going with the 33x10.50 maxis razr due to more experience with Maxxis and more info etc. but loving the them. I noticed the Kanda’s in that size like the razr is closer to a true 33. Look to be a great choice. Cool pics and rig.
