BigDaveZJ
10-30-2008, 07:00 PM
Well the wheeling season is pretty much over in Colorado, so that means its on to getting the rigs ready for next season. Both ZJ's will get some work done this winter, nothing too major, but both will see some definite improvements. Not all plans have been finalized yet, but here's what's been finalized.
My 8.8 is going to be getting some work. When I originally swapped it in over 4 years ago I went pretty cheap with it. Stuck with 3.73's, mini spool, and a Crane cover. Finally this Spring I regeared to 4.56's which was an amazing difference, but as my Jeep moves in a slightly different direction, the current setup of the 8.8 just wasn't going to cut it anymore, and there's some maintenence items I've been neglecting like the wheel seals that really don't even seal anything anymore. With brand new gears and bearings in there, I need to make sure I'm taking care of them.
So when I put in the new wheel seals, I'm going to address some other issues too.
The mini spool is getting yanked. After seeing how well the Aussie has done in Trixy, we're putting one in mine as well. It's already sitting on the shop anxiously awaiting to go in the rig. Bill over at Aussie Locker (http://www.offroadlockers.com) and Pam were a bit sneaky, and Pam got me the locker for my birthday a couple weeks ago. Really looking forward to the improved driving characteristics of the Aussie over the mini spool, and seeing what Pam's has done on the trail, I know I'm not sacrificing anything there.
The Crane cover is getting yanked too. At some point I thought it would be a good idea to use a flap disk and a grinder to get the RTV off the cover, and well, now it doesn't seal for crap. So between my awesome wheel seals and the leaky cover, it's tough to keep gear oil in the diff for very long. So Dirk aka Cue-Ball from www.4x4oil.com (http://www.4x4oil.com) set me up with a Ruff Stuff Specialties 8.8 cover, with the countersunk bolts and the drain plug. Really looking forward to this cover after seeing the D30 cover that Dirk donated to GSW this year. I was VERY impressed and am looking forward to having such a nice item on the rig. And if I got the diff cover from Dirk, you know I had to get some Amsoil too! Got some 75-140 Severe Duty on the way to help keep everything nice and smooth in the backend. And with new wheels seals and a good seal on my diff cover, I don't have to worry about that liquid gold leaking all over my garage floor!
Also a chance that I'll be using a LubeLocker gasket with all of this. Seems like a great idea to me, but for some reason or another the idea hasn't really taken off like I thought it should have, so we'll see there.
Hoping to get this all done before Thanksgiving, so maybe it'll give you guys some ideas to pass on to family and/or the wimmen folk for gift ideas since all of these items are VERY reasonably priced!
Again, big thanks to Bill at www.offroadlockers.com (http://www.offroadlockers.com) and Dirk at www.4x4oil.com (http://www.4x4oil.com) for helping us out on this one!
My 8.8 is going to be getting some work. When I originally swapped it in over 4 years ago I went pretty cheap with it. Stuck with 3.73's, mini spool, and a Crane cover. Finally this Spring I regeared to 4.56's which was an amazing difference, but as my Jeep moves in a slightly different direction, the current setup of the 8.8 just wasn't going to cut it anymore, and there's some maintenence items I've been neglecting like the wheel seals that really don't even seal anything anymore. With brand new gears and bearings in there, I need to make sure I'm taking care of them.
So when I put in the new wheel seals, I'm going to address some other issues too.
The mini spool is getting yanked. After seeing how well the Aussie has done in Trixy, we're putting one in mine as well. It's already sitting on the shop anxiously awaiting to go in the rig. Bill over at Aussie Locker (http://www.offroadlockers.com) and Pam were a bit sneaky, and Pam got me the locker for my birthday a couple weeks ago. Really looking forward to the improved driving characteristics of the Aussie over the mini spool, and seeing what Pam's has done on the trail, I know I'm not sacrificing anything there.
The Crane cover is getting yanked too. At some point I thought it would be a good idea to use a flap disk and a grinder to get the RTV off the cover, and well, now it doesn't seal for crap. So between my awesome wheel seals and the leaky cover, it's tough to keep gear oil in the diff for very long. So Dirk aka Cue-Ball from www.4x4oil.com (http://www.4x4oil.com) set me up with a Ruff Stuff Specialties 8.8 cover, with the countersunk bolts and the drain plug. Really looking forward to this cover after seeing the D30 cover that Dirk donated to GSW this year. I was VERY impressed and am looking forward to having such a nice item on the rig. And if I got the diff cover from Dirk, you know I had to get some Amsoil too! Got some 75-140 Severe Duty on the way to help keep everything nice and smooth in the backend. And with new wheels seals and a good seal on my diff cover, I don't have to worry about that liquid gold leaking all over my garage floor!
Also a chance that I'll be using a LubeLocker gasket with all of this. Seems like a great idea to me, but for some reason or another the idea hasn't really taken off like I thought it should have, so we'll see there.
Hoping to get this all done before Thanksgiving, so maybe it'll give you guys some ideas to pass on to family and/or the wimmen folk for gift ideas since all of these items are VERY reasonably priced!
Again, big thanks to Bill at www.offroadlockers.com (http://www.offroadlockers.com) and Dirk at www.4x4oil.com (http://www.4x4oil.com) for helping us out on this one!