Another one bites the dust....

Donkeykong · **Posted:** Fri Jul 09, 2010 12:18 am

Well... after 4 years and over 122K miles I have parted ways with my Liberty. I am still not certain what the actual problem with her was, but overheating was the main symptom.... on the freeway. A radiator flush, new water pump, pressure test, leak-down test, no oil in coolant, coolant in oil... who knows? By The middle of June I was down to $3200 on my payments, but the libby was only worth $4k... running. Rather than keep risking the 100 mile round-trip to work I traded it in.... for a 2008 VW rabbit...black... 5-speed... 2.5L 5 cylinder.

But enough about my new daily driver...

I got a trail rig which is paid in full....

It's a 2000 TJ... 4cyl, 5-speed... 230,000 miles. I got it for a great price as the rear axle was shot. (the seller had a bolt-in replacement in the bed of his truck)... so I had it delivered to my shop in North Ridgeville. Did I mention rust as well? I just ordered 22' of 2 x 4 x 3/16 tube to build myself a new frame and stretch the wheelbase while I am at it... and build the long arm kit :twisted:

I think I will call her "RUBIKONG" :BANANA:

Here are a few details of what has happened within 3 days of the rig arriving in my shop...(well only 2-1/2 hours of work so far... hey I've got 3 kids... what do you expect :roll:

I'm not in a huge rush, but this will get done pretty quick) :
Per sound advice from a buddy.... (he was saying that the spider gears might have been bad and I could have just lincoln locked it and been good to go)... that wasn't the case. The carrier bearings were bad. There was enough slop in the axle to let the ring push over enough to completely disengage from the pinion.

On the good side I have two spare shafts:

Here is the good one ready to go in (after a little housekeeping including new brake lines while I am there....)

waiting for the other axle....

Mark

InCommando · **Posted:** Fri Jul 09, 2010 12:47 am

You wanna build a new frame, extend the wheelbase, long-arm it, and leave the craptastic D35 in it? Interesting choice.

VoodooMann · **Posted:** Fri Jul 09, 2010 4:48 am

Agreed.

sell 35

upgrade

TAHOE · **Posted:** Fri Jul 09, 2010 8:18 am

WOW, that frame is really bad for only being 10 yrs old, but you are in Ohio :jester:

looks like it had been repaired before??? Wished I could find something like that for cheap.

zoomie · **Joined:** Tue Jun 15, 2010 2:12 pm **Posts:** 47

Nice shop, and great job on those pictures!

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:56 am

mmmm
someone else working in sandals?
Thats all I wear in the summer

Good find and since you can do the work at your shop you're good to go!
Buddy has a 2000 as well sitting with the same looking frame, he stopped driving it when he was jacking it up and the frame was bending or so he thought until he inspected it closer :ROTFL:

Its sitting in the field now and he won't sell it :banghead:

Says its going to sit and finish rotting back into the earth :roll:

Donkeykong · **Posted:** Fri Jul 09, 2010 10:16 am

Thanks guys

Yeah, Tommud, I wear sandals as much as I can, although when I'm welding or grinding the boots go on :lol:

As far as your buddies TJ goes, there are regularly frames at davey's jeep (in salem, Oh) for between 400 and 600. I decided against going that route as I would end up spending as much time modifying a stock frame as I would just building one... and at $100.50 in material (plus what I have lying around the shop) I am only out time... if your buddy wants a frame for his rusty TJ he can go the daveys route, or after we are done I will have an idea how much we need to charge to make them thru the shop.

Thanks zoomie, I shoot weddings on the side, so I have some gear to back it up... well.... I shoot weddings to get the gear :oops:

www.markdhumphreys.com and www.flickr.com/photos/mtbtrials if you wanna see more stuff

Tahoe, they're out there. I had been looking for a few months... I hadn't been "seriously" looking until after I moved my liberty and this one popped up on craigslist so I snatched it up. The best way is to set up a RSS feed with your search criteria and when you see something you want... run with it.

Commando and voodo, I am simply starting with what I've got to get my geometry down. I want to get out on the trails and sinking more than I spent on the jeep for D60's, lockers, gears and tires wouldn't go down with my wife, and the budget, so in the future I will end up with stronger axles... I do have a build plan, but I'm trying to go for lots of articulation, good approach angle and keeping the jeep as a whole low. (sheetmetal and plasma cutters do as much as tall springs for making room for uptravel... ) until then I will be wheeling with two rear axle shafts on hand.. I'll probably be keeping them at the camp site, but they will be readily available should I have to replace one on the trail. (just remember that most jeeps aren't built overnight :wink:

)

TAHOE · **Posted:** Fri Jul 09, 2010 10:39 am

Quote:

Tahoe, they're out there. I had been looking for a few months... I hadn't been "seriously" looking until after I moved my liberty and this one popped up on craigslist so I snatched it up. The best way is to set up a RSS feed with your search criteria and when you see something you want... run with it.

Can you shoot me a PM on exactly what that is and how to so it?? Thanks

I'm just shocked at that much rust. Is that a bad moisture/dirt place on the frames?

I remember someone in sandals jumping like a jack rabbit when he dropped a shock.... :goink:

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Jul 09, 2010 1:54 pm

But it never hit me Tahoe and I move pretty quick for an old fat man don't I? :ROTFL:

Mark,
I've been to Daveys several times over the years, been going there since Spot was a pup! :-)r

But my buddy is bull headed he'd rather just have it sit there than repair it.
Off topic but in his field there are 4 Early Broncos, a 78 and a 79 Bronco, 3 CJ 5s and two CJ 7s all ran when parked just needed a little something , worst one is the Wrangler. The 79 bronco needed a left front wheel bearing is all!
Anyways no way will he repair it :banghead:

Donkeykong · **Posted:** Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:50 pm

...does he realize that he could probably get over $10,000 if he sold all of them? Wow.

You guys interested in trying to get together for that skool trail day august 7 & 8? I should have my Tj running by then on a patched stock frame, but my buddy will have his monster jeep running by then.... could be fun :mrgreen:

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Jul 09, 2010 4:01 pm

Might try again and see if anyone is interested . I'll be driving around the back roads of Tanzania at that time, with some roads looking more like the trails at Jeep Skool !!

ryanee182 · **Posted:** Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:00 pm

Quote:

I think I will call her "RUBIKONG" :BANANA:

Like this?

infernicus · **Posted:** Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:17 pm

Donkeykong wrote:

I like this one. I need a "studio" like that

Donkeykong · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 12:08 am

infernicus wrote:

I like this one. I need a "studio" like that

Thanks

That is actually our fab-shop... specalizing in Machine guards and Kitchen Equipment.... on "the other side" is where we do our machine builds... Vertical lathes (15" chucks are the smallest we touch... the one we're working on now has a 23" chuck

...all the way up to 66... if not bigger)

ryanee182 wrote:

Like this?

Noooooooo! LOL.
What is the wire going from the hood to the window for? To move foilage?
Also, why does it look like his front pinion angle is all weird? Is it some kind of special axle where the diff cover goes on the top?

Mark

ryanee182 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 8:08 am

Quote:

Noooooooo! LOL.
What is the wire going from the hood to the window for? To move foilage?
Also, why does it look like his front pinion angle is all weird? Is it some kind of special axle where the diff cover goes on the top?

I was just looking at the hood sticker!

Donkeykong · **Posted:** Tue Jul 13, 2010 9:47 am

ryanee182 wrote:

I was just looking at the hood sticker!

I was Nooooing the hood sticker... however should I make one it would probably be thru pixeldzn and I would match the factory rubi font :mrgreen:

bmrrwolfe · **Joined:** Fri Dec 11, 2009 4:24 pm **Posts:** 132

Man that frame is pretty bad for only being 10 years old, even in OH.
I'm excited to see some updates on this!
You have a shop in North Ridgeville? I'm about 5-10 mins from there in Westlake, small world

Another one bites the dust....

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