Poor Boy Fab Shop; that’s me, Skully’s at home DIY projects! In this ever crappy economy most of us see an ever depleting disposable income. (Although I will admit if I did have the money I still like to fab my own stuff, its fun and saves money for the more expensive toys.)
For owners of any 4 wheel Drive the secret is to get as big of a tire as possible with the amount of lift you can afford. For XJ owners it can be a pain to figure out how to get the big tires under your vehicle as most lift kit makers state for XJ’s 4.5″ of lift you can run 32″ tires. Problem I find that not so accurate. I have 4.5″ of lift with 31’s and still rub in the front and rear. The front of an XJ you can cut to yours hearts content to give yourself room. The rear of an XJ is a little more complicated being it is a Unibody and the pinch seam and lower quarter panel gets in the way. Even with minor to major cutting most still do some form of Bump stop (more…)
While most of my fellow Jeepers went to Fall Fling as was mentioned in a previous post by JohnJohn. I was unable to attend, but did not want to stay home and do nothing. So to be one of my last trips of 2008, I hooked up with 3 other guys of the naxja.org board, and made a family wheeling event. We had wives, girlfriend, and kids all raring to go! ………It was also going to be a snow run as 1-3 inches were predicted by noon, it didn’t happen, lying weathermen!
I really wanted to do something I haven’t done before, but two of the guys in the group voted against me and chose Mill Creek / Bill Moore combo. We did decide not to run Red Elephant up, as it can be nasty in wet conditions. So starting Bill Moore from Empire, just after the beginning switchbacks to the top, one of us in the group started to get really sick, and ended up turning around on the trail. (it sounded like altitude sickness.)
…..with three of us remaining we trekked on, but somehow missed our turn to Mill Creek, ending up going backwards on (more…)
I got back from Moab about 4:30 today. Boy I’m tired. I have some video that needs editing and some photos to upload. I should get around to that some time tomorrow.
We’re taking this show on the road next week. Moab, UT for the annual NAXJA Fall Fling. This is the 25th anniversary of the XJ Cherokee. While I don’t own a Cherokee any longer I have had 4 or 5 of them in the past. Thanks to my old buddy Fred, I have been a NAXJA member since almost the beginning.
The Fling was started a few years ago, 99 I think. Some guys from the newly formed Colorado-XJ list were heading out to Moab. This happened around the same time some of our Rocky Mountain sharing Utah buddies where there. This was right around the time NAXJA was getting it’s feet wet. We didn’t call it fall fling then though. <If these details are wrong, please comment and set the story straight>
The event form then on was put together by the Intermountian NAXJA Chapter. Today the event has grown to 125+ XJs. This year the event will giveaway a XJ. I lifted, locked, highly modified rig.
I will posting video from our new Kodak Zi6 HD Camcorder. Kodak has given us a unit to test and will do just that. The Moab dust will be tossed around this new camera. We’ll see how it holds up.
- Take stunning HD videos (720p at 60 fps) - Easy upload to YouTube™ with built-in USB - Record hours of video—up to 32 GB worth - View on any HDTV with the included cables - Edit and share videos with the included software CD - Rechargeable batteries and charger included
This was kinda tricky. The rear safety bar has a mount for the softop on it. The seat belt roller is also sort of in the way. Here is what I did. Post your questions by clicking “Add Comments” at the bottom of this post.
My personal opinion here; I hate tire reviews written a month after they put them on. A review for a specific tire should be written after you done wore them out. So here is mine……….
I am a long time BFG fan. In 10 years I ran two different vehicles and four different sets of BFG’s on them. (1) Set of BFG A/T’s which are great on everything besides mud. (3) Sets of BFG M/Ts which are an all around great tire which I managed to abuse quite regularly and still got 60,000+ miles on each set. They only sucked on the street on snow and ice until I had them siped which kind of helped, but there is no perfect tire for all terrains.
Last year I had an epiphany; “How do I know if there is anything better if I have never tried them?” So I decided to try Interco’s Trxus M/T’s. I read plenty of reviews of satisfied customers who ran them and I thought I will give them a try. I bought a set May ‘07 and it is now September ‘08. They have taken plenty of abuse as I have put 30,000+ miles on my XJ in almost a year and a half and they have also been on eight off-road trails in Colorado since putting them on. (more…)
It was so beautiful up there, the family was in love!
The trail has changed a lot though since I have been up there, which has been about three years.
I guess more of the private property has been closed off and many of the areas and trails are not accessible as they once were. Some of the trail I remember got deeper with ruts and mud holes. Since the trail is mostly spring run off areas it will eventually be rated a 7 instead of a 3, but overall still an easy trail system.
All the times I have been up there in the past I never knew there was a hiking trail to a placed called Champion Mill. I guess they do not advertise it and it is on private property but the owners are nice to let you hike to it as long as you are responsible. I found it on the internet by accident and this made me want to go see it! ….the power of the internet……(more…)
