2005 LJ

Towed the T@B with the Jeep up to Winter Safari in the NC mountains this weekend. Jeep handles the trailer better with the new springs. That was a pleasant surprise. We skipped the trail ride (it was packed, way too many vehicles) and rode mostly forest service roads up to Blowing Rock. It was a cool back way in. Then we went down to Linville and picked up FS464 back to camp. Beautiful. Jeep handles great with the change in springs.
 
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So over this last weekend Joe asked about the 33" mud tires I had out back of the barn in the "pile". We hosted a Leadership retreat on our property for the local high school football team (we have been doing this for about 5 years, we make an obstacle course, bring in leadership speakers, cook on the fire, etc... they sleep in the barn... haha). Anywho... We had them drag the 33's up the hill with some tow straps for the start of the obstacle course.
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So Joe figured out that we have on hand 4 33" mud tires. They are mismatched, 2 maxxis Bighorns with about 30% tread and 2 Cooper STT's with nearly full tread. He and I spent the morning mounting them on the Jeep. With the 3" Nth Degree springs and the Rokmen 1/2 inch BL, they fit and looked great. Like any reasonable jeeper might do, Joe and I headed out to Uwharrie. The wheeling gods blessed us with rain downpours to make things as interesting as possible :) We took a break on Daniel for Joe to participate in the age old traditions of dam building in the rain.
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All in all a great day
 
jscusmcvet said:
We hosted a Leadership retreat on our property for the local high school football team (we have been doing this for about 5 years, we make an obstacle course, bring in leadership speakers, cook on the fire, etc...
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If you're ever looking for someone to be a speaker, hit me up. I worked in outdoor education for a decade and specialized in ropes courses, leadership/character development, and team building.
 
Well that last little trip resulted in a blown front passenger side axle shaft u joint and a seriously bent outer... such is the life of a jeep on the rocks... parts on order...
 
Get full circle clips for the axle u-joints. Most failures seem to occur when the u-joint cap twists, pops the clip, then the cap starts walking out, ultimately failing and taking the ear on the shaft with it. Another little trick is to spot weld the cap to the shaft ears. Weld just enough to keep the cap from rotating, not so strong that you can't knock it off with a chisel if you need a trail fix.
 
Good advice @bob91yj... the fate of the jeep is in question, so I am just putting OEM replacement parts back on. This is part of the dilemma I have faced over and over regarding the jeep. I do not wheel it that often anymore, but it requires the upgrades for durability if I go that route... That and the purchase of the new pop up truck camper has me eyeballing pick ups again. We will see.
 
I want to say 760x was the full circle replacement for the 297x axle joints. They fit stock axles shafts. If you ever upgrade shafts, do NOT change spline count. Then your stock shafts work for spares. Not to mention virtually every D30/D44 shaft failure I have seen has been at the shaft ears rather than at the splines.
 
bob91yj said:
I want to say 760x was the full circle replacement for the 297x axle joints. They fit stock axles shafts. If you ever upgrade shafts, do NOT change spline count. Then your stock shafts work for spares. Not to mention virtually every D30/D44 shaft failure I have seen has been at the shaft ears rather than at the splines.
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You are correct. I am not sure if I bent the ears first or if having to limp it home with one cap missing bent the ears, but in any case turns out that the ear is bent and wallowed into a shape different enough from original that a replacement ujoint would bind up each time I tried installing... In any event, new outer is on the way. The 760x uses c clips as well. But that's what we're going with again this time around.
 
Turns out the ear on the outers was bent. Replaced it and we are back in 4 wheels as of tonight. I am leaning hard towards keeping the jeep and modding my trailer to carry the camper when we need 4wd capability. I have to say that after a week or so of the jeep being down, driving it again is a real pleasure
 
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