Mikes Offroad
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Those are some nice pictures Frank.
2012 JK-Experience Mega Thread
- Thread starter CarsonCindy
- Start date
daveroberts
New member
Frank you guys would have been about 30 minutes away when you turned onto CO HWY 7. Next time!
GCM 2
New member
End of trip report
Well, I thought I would send out a quick report of before I take off on another trip to another location for work (U.S. based location this time). It was great to be a part of another JKX, although this time as more of a supporting crew member. Most of the driving duties in my rig during the event on the trail were done by Chris (ATX Wheel representative), unless he felt it was out of his comfort zone, and then he let me take damage responsibilities of ATX/EVOJEEP. It was no secret that I began the trip a little under the weather, by the first day of wheeling I had all but lost my voice, by the time we had hit Drummond Island I had been running a decent fever for a few days. Despite feeling like I needed to call off being a part of the event and head out, I had an incredible time just being with everyone, meeting some new friends, seeing old friends and getting to help out where needed. It was awesome to be along for another epic trip with a group of incredible people!
Total JKX 2012 miles covered= 5844 in 11 days
Picking the Jeep up from Off Road Evolution, 30 August 2012
Driver meet up at the first hotel in Terre Haute, a few stickers added, but still clean after driving in the night before in 10+hrs of Tropical Storm Isaac's insane rain.
End of day one's mudfest, it was only going to get more dirty :grayno: Its a no brainer that I loathe MUD!
Mid-week out in the Michigan dunes, ATX Chris volunteered to have no driver duties this day :yup: That was fine with me, I like airtime......and no, absolutely nothing broke.
Last day of wheeling, still a nasty, dirty jeep.....
Last ferry off Drummond Island at 10:10pm Saturday night after the JKX survivor's dinner, beginning the long solo drive towards Arizona. Discount tire and the Montana Support Crew (Jason, RG, and Brad) made the boat with me that night.
Made it home Monday afternoon, immediately started an antibiotic regimen, slept until Tuesday evening according to my wife, then began the task of clean up on Wednesday. Stripped the Jeep, all carpets, grill off, up on jack stands and all wheels pulled. Also took the time to change out; engine oil and front and rear diff fluid.
Four days later, I would say that EVOJEEP is at the 90-95% mark of pre-JKX 2012 cleanliness...Just one or two more creeper roll-under cleaning sessions to go.
I hope that all of you are well and have great memories from the JKX. See you all on the next event, wherever that may be!
Well, I thought I would send out a quick report of before I take off on another trip to another location for work (U.S. based location this time). It was great to be a part of another JKX, although this time as more of a supporting crew member. Most of the driving duties in my rig during the event on the trail were done by Chris (ATX Wheel representative), unless he felt it was out of his comfort zone, and then he let me take damage responsibilities of ATX/EVOJEEP. It was no secret that I began the trip a little under the weather, by the first day of wheeling I had all but lost my voice, by the time we had hit Drummond Island I had been running a decent fever for a few days. Despite feeling like I needed to call off being a part of the event and head out, I had an incredible time just being with everyone, meeting some new friends, seeing old friends and getting to help out where needed. It was awesome to be along for another epic trip with a group of incredible people!
Total JKX 2012 miles covered= 5844 in 11 days
Picking the Jeep up from Off Road Evolution, 30 August 2012
Driver meet up at the first hotel in Terre Haute, a few stickers added, but still clean after driving in the night before in 10+hrs of Tropical Storm Isaac's insane rain.
End of day one's mudfest, it was only going to get more dirty :grayno: Its a no brainer that I loathe MUD!
Mid-week out in the Michigan dunes, ATX Chris volunteered to have no driver duties this day :yup: That was fine with me, I like airtime......and no, absolutely nothing broke.
Last day of wheeling, still a nasty, dirty jeep.....
Last ferry off Drummond Island at 10:10pm Saturday night after the JKX survivor's dinner, beginning the long solo drive towards Arizona. Discount tire and the Montana Support Crew (Jason, RG, and Brad) made the boat with me that night.
Made it home Monday afternoon, immediately started an antibiotic regimen, slept until Tuesday evening according to my wife, then began the task of clean up on Wednesday. Stripped the Jeep, all carpets, grill off, up on jack stands and all wheels pulled. Also took the time to change out; engine oil and front and rear diff fluid.
Four days later, I would say that EVOJEEP is at the 90-95% mark of pre-JKX 2012 cleanliness...Just one or two more creeper roll-under cleaning sessions to go.
I hope that all of you are well and have great memories from the JKX. See you all on the next event, wherever that may be!
Last edited:
GCM 2
New member
It's an old car detailing secret, but I use a low gloss or no gloss foaming tire cleaner/protectant/shiner, armor all or mcguires, etc. I actually spray my frame rails, axles, steering components, wheel wells, basically anything that is black, metal and will be prone to rust. I DO NOT spray any of my coilovers or shocks with it though. The suff will collect dust, and I don't really do it every wash, maybe every other or third wash or so. Since I knew we were going to be in the mud, I pre-coated everything before each event and it helped out when it came time for spraying the mud off. I grew up in Louisiana and did a lot of mud racing and just wheeling in it on weekends, I don't miss it at all. Being out in the southwest/four corners area is a wheelers dream for clean up
Prime8
New member
GCM 2 said:It's an old car detailing secret, but I use a low gloss or no gloss foaming tire cleaner/protectant/shiner, armor all or mcguires, etc. I actually spray my frame rails, axles, steering components, wheel wells, basically anything that is black, metal and will be prone to rust. I DO NOT spray any of my coilovers or shocks with it though. The suff will collect dust, and I don't really do it every wash, maybe every other or third wash or so. Since I knew we were going to be in the mud, I pre-coated everything before each event and it helped out when it came time for spraying the mud off. I grew up in Louisiana and did a lot of mud racing and just wheeling in it on weekends, I don't miss it at all. Being out in the southwest/four corners area is a wheelers dream for clean up
That's pretty sweet! Looks like it works great. Ever heard of coating the underbody with WD40 to prevent rust? A guy up here in Illinois recommended it to prevent winter salt rust cause you can buy a pumper-spray bottle and a gallon jug of it and just spray the whole underbody. Haven't heard anyone else ever mention it though... Maybe some others can speak up here and let me know how to survive my first Illinois salty winter... Flagstaff used cinders, that's what I'm used to...
GetOut
New member
I have used tire shine as Greg said, does wonders on that Drummond Island mud. I read somewhere about the WD40 thing as well but never tried it, also there is one using boiled linseed oil and old gear oil, mixed in a garden weed sprayer. Strange sounding I know but I moved from AZ to MI three years ago and started this treatment in the winters, as well as undercarriage wash twice a week when there is salt down and really have not seen any rust thus far. Additionally, all the bolts still come off with little to no effort.
GetOut
New member
We have a drive through car wash in town that uses hot water, unlimited wash passes run about $30 a month :rock:
I am so sorry for not chiming in sooner, digging myself out of the hole I've found myself in since getting back home has been a chore to say the least. It was a real pleasure to meet and wheel with you all and I'm glad that you all made it home safely. I have really been enjoying the awesome pics you all have been posting up I hope to get some of the ones Andrew took along the way posted up soon. Gotta run for now but, I'll be back soon enough to catch up on things
It's an old car detailing secret, but I use a low gloss or no gloss foaming tire cleaner/protectant/shiner, armor all or mcguires, etc. I actually spray my frame rails, axles, steering components, wheel wells, basically anything that is black, metal and will be prone to rust. I DO NOT spray any of my coilovers or shocks with it though. The suff will collect dust, and I don't really do it every wash, maybe every other or third wash or so. Since I knew we were going to be in the mud, I pre-coated everything before each event and it helped out when it came time for spraying the mud off. I grew up in Louisiana and did a lot of mud racing and just wheeling in it on weekends, I don't miss it at all. Being out in the southwest/four corners area is a wheelers dream for clean up
What is your secret to cleaning the engine bay? Any thoughts?
GCM 2
New member
epiccosmo said:
The easiest way..... starts at the beginning of ownership with a new vehicle
I spray my engine bay off at probably every other washing or after every off road event. No electronics get direct hard spray though. Since I bought my jeep new, it's been pretty easy. This last JKX has made it a challenge though because of the quantity of mud we saw. I have finished cleaning the undercarriage of the jeep this last weekend. I still have a little cleaning left in the front/behind the radiator area. All I do here is the same as the underneath, liberal use of foaming tire cleaner. It's messy at first, collects dust, but after a wash or two down the road it's fine.
Really, it comes down to just having no life and being bored enough clean in places that most people just blow off
:ahhh-what: hey now, i have a life :cheesy:
seriously, what greg. starting off from the get go will help out a lot. using low water pressure is your best bet to not do any damage to anything important. i sometimes spray some simple green on the engine cold and in the shade and then rinse too. this helps with any greasy stuff. i know it sounds crazy but, spraying on some wd40 on the engine will help make it shine nicely too
:ahhh-what: hey now, i have a life :cheesy:
seriously, what greg. starting off from the get go will help out a lot. using low water pressure is your best bet to not do any damage to anything important. i sometimes spray some simple green on the engine cold and in the shade and then rinse too. this helps with any greasy stuff. i know it sounds crazy but, spraying on some wd40 on the engine will help make it shine nicely too
Good to know. Got some muddy water splashed up in the engine this past weekend and want to get it cleaned back up. Also had the engine cut off on me at one point. Have you had yours do that at all when going through a puddle in RubiCat? Doesn't seem to like water but everything I read about cleaning the engine everyone says just spray water over it and it will be fine. :idontknow: Doesn't seem safe to me but if everyone else is not having a problem I don't see why I would....
GCM 2
New member
Yes you do my friend, we all have pretty great lives these days :thumb:
On a more serious note, I actually felt a cringe when you posted your sector shaft photo. I remember talking with you about our sector shafts and we both agreed that our ram assist seems to take the majority of the load off.....hope I didn't jinx you buddy :naw: I did immediately go out to my jeep (it was around 10:30pm) with a flashlight in the garage and check the sector shaft, pitman arm, and brackets. It all looked good, no cracks. Judging by your photo, that break looks clean and all at once, no hairline cracks that grew over time with the telltale staining/rusting as it grew. Is that how it looked up close?
GCM 2 said:
No, it looked like it had been breaking for a while...
what cindy said. as you can see in her pic, the sector shaft had clearly been breaking for some time and long enough that it started to oxidize/rust. when it finally broke, we weren't doing anything other than slowly passing up a few jeeps that had pulled over to let us by on the trail. in all fairness, this was our 3rd steering box and the one that lasted the longest - maybe 70,000 miles or so and that's probably thanks to having a ram assist. but, like all things, breaks can and still will happen.
With a ram assist, you can still "kinda" make your jeep steer just a bit by turning the wheel all the way over to one way or the other. You won't get much out of it but, it's still better than nothing and, was enough to get our Jeep out of the way. Under the best conditions, replacing a sector shaft can be tough and replacing a broken one, one that might be flared out or even slightly bent (like ours was) is a hell of a job. It took Mel and I almost 4 hours (including correcting dumb mistakes) to do and that was with having ideal tools like a grinder, bench vice, a lot of brute force and plenty of extra steering fluid. Swapping in a new steering gear would be a lot easier and faster but, it also takes up a lot more room and is heavy.
GCM 2
New member
I stopped a really huge, badass SnapOn tool truck one day and asked if he carried a "Mel Wade" in SAE and Metric. I figured with one each, I could basically fix most anything.