Project White Noise

[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

Looks good dude!

Finish off the rest of your jeep with the flat black paint.

[BigClay]

Thanks Elliott!

Yeah, the rest of the jeep will be flat black just like the hood and roof, just got to find the time.

[it usually runs fine]

Where did you mount your straps? Im also thinking of running one in the middle to keep front end from unloading.

[BigClay]

The straps are on the same bolt that attaches the shocks to the axle, and then on the body side it is mounted where ever there was a good place to keep the straps straight. I have thought about a center strap, but no plans to install on right now.

[BigClay]

Besides wheeling this weekend, this little thing followed me home on Friday

[BigClay]

A pic of the Tahoe hooked up to the trailer.



The Tahoe did pretty good towing the jeep around town. I wonder how it will do going up the mountains to Harlan?

[BigClay]

Question: How many of you tow with just straps? How many of you tow with just chains? Combinations?

[SirFuego]

I do two straps criss crossed to each axle. I also loosely connect my winch line to the trailer as a last resort -- there is no tension on it.

[BigClay]

Winch line is a good trick I never thought about.

[Sudz]

you have good taste in trailers

i use my winch line to cancel out the bounce

[BigClay]

nice trailer!

[19onebadzj96]

you have good taste in trailers

i use my winch line to cancel out the bounce

I heard that was bad to tow it with your winch like that, could hurt the gears in the winch? Correct me if I am wrong. Either way, looks good!

[BigClay]

Well I am heading to GSSE on Thursday, so I have been tieing up the last loose ends on the jeep recently. So this evening a neighbor stops by my house to show me his new-to-him mustang GT. It is white and has a cobra hood on it, Hurst shifter, small programmer, and he is very proud of it.

He wants to show me how the exhaust sounds so he cranks it up. What he doesn't realize is he left it in gear, so he is just barely in the car with his left foot on the outside and his right foot on the clutch to start it. Since he thinks it is in neutral he begins to step out of the car, as he does, the car lunges forward. Not so bad huh? Well it wouldn't have been if he hadn't parked directly in front of my jeep (less than 12" between the noses of the two cars when he pulled up). So he basically drives directly under the ARB bumper, with my d-rings slicing directly into his hood. The only thing that stopped his car was when he hit my tires (under the jeep). Luckily for me, he didn't smash my tie rod, just a little tweak that probably would have happened this weekend anyway. The GT was not so lucky, the d-ring tab on the ARB sliced his hood about a foot long, the fiberglass just splintering. His front bumper was smashed against my front tires.

I just had to laugh, because it is just my luck someone hits my jeep in my driveway two days before a big trip

[delawhere]

I'm going to need to see some pics because that sounds way to funny

[BigClay]

I felt too bad for him to take any photos haha

[downtowncb]

That's awesome. HAHA

I had a genius friend pull a similar stunt back in high school. He put a remote start on his manual Integra without hooking it up to the NSS. He was showing his new car off to a girl he was trying to hit on. It was parked in his garage and when he remote started it, it drove through the front of his garage and about 6 inches out the other side before stopping. This was 3 days after he bought the damn thing. 4 days later he wrapped it around a power pole.

[delawhere]

I'm going to need to see some pics because that sounds way to funny

[BigClay]

Went to URE yesterday. We had a great day up until about 4pm.

We started on Daniel, and had a great time. The we talked Kodak, and had a blast on all the trails.

A couple shots first thing of the group





A couple from Poser Rock









Then the "excitement" happened



We were going down the trail, I had the windows up and the A/C on, and we heard some pops. We just thought it was the Aussie in the front ratcheting like all lunch box lockers do. Well it wasn't. That sound was my wheel studs snapping. All but two snapped off and the two remaining ones were bent and just barely holding the wheel on.

Apparently my lug nuts had worked them selves loose and the pressure from the 2.5" backspacing wheels combined with some good wheeling and a locked front end were just too much for the studs.

We jacked up the front and surveyed the damage. A long story short 95GrandZJ drove all the way to the Advance Auto in Albemarle and got me five studs and four lug nuts. Brought them back and we were able to use four studs and four lugs to get the wheel back on and get the jeep back to the trailer.

All in all we got back to the trailer around 6:30pm.

On to some more pics.









Then here is the fix to get off the trail

[BigClay]

Sure glad I bought that trailer!

[UTChavok]

Sure glad I bought that trailer!

Yeah I've been wheeling once with a trailer and its awesome. I feel so much more comfortable knowing I have a way back. Ive been to that advance everytime Ive been to Uwharrie too...

[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

First off, your ZJ is sexxxxy. It looks like it's working the way it was intended. As for the wheel studs, that's happened to me. Except I was turning onto I-40 from High Point Rd. in the middle of rush hour, so yeah... that sucked. Good luck getting the kinks worked out.

[zjeepin]

so do you have spare lugs and studs in your rig yet?

i had a similar event as well.. i just happened to have enough spare studs to get back home except I was at mtn city with no trailer.

always check your lug nuts, mine back off occasionally still. I don't always tighten them after every trip but I do a visual inspection after almost every day of wheeling, its a good habit to get in..

glad you got out for a day and that one could have been so much worse!

[BigClay]

Thanks guys! As soon as I hoped out of the rig and saw the missing lugs and studs I was like "boy am I glad it happened right now and not going 40 or 50 mph down a busy street!

I am now going to throw extra lugs and wheel studs in my tool bag just in case this happens again. I am also going to tighten the lugs before every trip.

[BigClay]

A couple more pictures and vids

http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...t=MOV02800.mp4

http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...MOV02846-1.mp4

http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...t=MOV02817.mp4

http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...t=MOV02806.mp4

And here is what the underside of the jeep looked like after a couple hard hits.

[SirFuego]

Well, I guess that's one advantage to living in the rusty north. Lug nuts almost never back off up here!!

Glad you got everything patched back up without any major issues. I find it funny that both of us "survived" Harlan relatively unscathed, then broke on our next trip out on easier terrain.