Planning: Badlands 1/6/13

by **wink** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 12:27 am

Haven't seen a tread yet for the annual New Years Badlands Meet, so here it is. :flex dirty:

If I recall correctly it is usually the first Sunday of the year.

by **HARDTRAILZ** » Sun Dec 23, 2012 8:29 am

I may have family coming from FL that weekend, so I had not posted up. I hope I can make it.

by **Regulator1175** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 1:15 am

I am starting the tear down on my truck tomorrow to replace the front differential and the fan clutch. Fingers crossed it will all go well and I will be driving my own truck for this trip and not riding shotgun in someone else's. Either way, I will be there.

I sent out some texts to AJ, Hatchet, JHam, and Mike (our newest lifted IN member) pointing them in this direction.

by **kickin_up_mud04** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 12:53 pm

If I can get my skids by then I will be there in my truck, if not I will most likely be riding shotgun with Matt in his truck if he gets his fixed and doesn't mind me riding along

by **mshoda79** » Fri Dec 28, 2012 6:13 pm

I'll be there if anyone needs a ride, tug, pull, or push, LOL

by **hotness** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:16 pm

Ill be there

by **Regulator1175** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 7:06 pm

Well so far so good, it looks like the front diff is going to come out fairly easy. So far I have had to remove the fan, shroud, radiator, condensor, ac compressor and the pulley above the compressor. My plan is to take take the diff out towards the front where I now have space after removing the ac compressor. I have 3 of the 4 bolts out of the diff only to find that the 4th is sitting right against the lower control arm and there is no room to remove it. This of course means that the lower control has to come off as well. I expect that I will have the rest torn down, the diffs swapped out and start on reassembly. Fingers crossed that all goes well.

by **hotness** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:12 pm

Good luck Matt. If I could I would be down there helping you. From the looks of it we are going to need every rig we can get.

by **bartonmd** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:51 pm

Looking like I'll be there, and will be trailering, so nobody will break anything.

Mike

by **Regulator1175** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 12:08 am

Here is the update for today. I got the front diff out, opened it up, and everything looked good. Gears were all intact and the wear pattern looked really good. Opened up the spline disconnect again, everything looked ok, but I am sleeving it anyway so I gutted it and put the sleeve in. I reassembled everything hoping that it was just the fork that was tweaked a bit and figured I would try it out and see if everything was functional. If not my last option is to swap out transfer cases. Good thing I have a spare in the garage.

Now for the bad news. I got everything reassembled and ready for fluids. This is were I found out that the fill plug was completely seized. I hit it with the impact, breaker bar, breaker bar with 6ft pipe on it and using heat on the transfer case through all of this, my only outcome was completely rounding out the bolt. I then tried to drill it out in a couple places to see if I could break it while saving the threads. I gave up on this idea after the first hole and it was looking helpless.

I decided that there was only one remaining solution, time to tear it all back down again. After an 8 hour day in the garage I am right back to where I started this morning. I am now ready to raise the engine and remove the front diff and drop the other one in.

Fun Times

by **kickin_up_mud04** » Tue Jan 01, 2013 9:51 pm

I wouldn't call those times fun... Maybe interesting but fun doesn't fit this situation.. But glad we got it all back together and workin.. Your rig is ready to rock and roll at badlands.

by **kickin_up_mud04** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 2:02 am

Anyone have an idea of a time or place were meeting to convoy to badlands

by **wink** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 11:47 am

I'll be meeting everyone in the staging area, bright and early.

by **bartonmd** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 1:11 pm

They open at 9AM, right?

by **bartonmd** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 3:27 pm

My sister (the one that was in CA, who is now living back in Indy, but no longer has her Jeep) is riding along with me.

Mike

by **wink** » Fri Jan 04, 2013 6:47 pm

bartonmd wrote:They open at 9AM, right?

Yes sir.

I'll also have Sandi and her little brother riding with me.

by **hotness** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 1:33 pm

I will be working feverishly today trying to fix my truck in time. Took the garbage out last night and found a huge puddle of tranny fluid under my truck.

by **hotness** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 7:49 pm

Ok wasn't tranny fluid. It was antifreeze. Pin hole leak in my brand new radiator. Mostly my fault. Any ideas on how to stop the leak for tomorrow cuz there is no way I can get and install a new rad by tomorrow.

by **wink** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:30 pm

bubble gum and duct tape :slap:

by **bartonmd** » Sat Jan 05, 2013 9:36 pm

hotness wrote:Ok wasn't tranny fluid. It was antifreeze. Pin hole leak in my brand new radiator. Mostly my fault. Any ideas on how to stop the leak for tomorrow cuz there is no way I can get and install a new rad by tomorrow.

If it's in the plastic end tank, you can use a soldering iron to melt the hole closed. If it's on the aluminum cores, and you can get to it, you can solder it closed.

Mike

Offroad Trailblazers and Envoys