TeamCF

Could always take the old boot off and use it to match one up. Or at least take it to compare just in case. I seem to remember the inner DOJ's being a (slightly) larger diameter on my front EMPI's than the original ones. An original sized boot may still fit though. Check the innards while you have it apart too. the EMPI looks beefier from the outside... But uses teeny tiny needle bearings on 3 pins on the inside. I went through 3 axles in the past year, all had the little bearings grenade. Lucky for me they all went under warranty (as in replacements were free). But now the guys at Discount Import look at me cross-eyed every time I go in there. But that's a different thread altogether.

I like the camo.

Exactly. Whole post is 100%. Second paragraph, is the nail hit squarely on the head. Alot of people really don't care too much. But thier fave celeb and the other hippsters down at the coffee shop do, so they must follow suit so they can be cool as well. I think you've worded/explained far better than I have. And I'm sorry for having brought out these "bummer threads" in our wheeling section. But I frequent a few other 4x4 boards and such, poke around the FS websites alot, so I see these issues pop up alot. And it's stuff we need to pay attention to if we want to keep on rollin' through the woods.

I proly could have explained my feelings in more detail. My beef IS with the trespassers. That was just stupid on thier part. The "tree huggers" can however use it as one more incedent in thier files to help thier fight to end us. They are just doing what they do, and idiots in 4x4s just keep on handing them more ammo. Every time something like this happens it's just one more nail in wheeling's coffin. There will be alot of people that will not look so much at the fact they trespassed. They'll look at the fact they were tearing up a replanted area. I'm NOT a "tree hater" myself, heck I even looked at some full electric cars for a DD a few months ago. I'm kind of a tree hugger that happens to like wheeling. We need protected areas and such. We also need kids (and not just kids, but it seems it's mostly younger wheelers that tend to cause the harm) with 4x4's to start respecting them. This hit's close to home as we are supposed to be getting some class 2 trails put in out in the Hood River area, which is just on the other side of the mountain for me. But if people don't cool it and wait. The rest of us waiting for the trails could suffer. A case of too many bitter feelings towards us causing future trail projects to be halted. Self control and some "tread lightly" is the only thing that is gonna keep us from getting pushed into fewer and fewer scattered ORV parks. That, at least around me, tend to only cater to the ATV crowd. (I just found a new area a few days ago southeast of Mollala. But it's only for bikes and quads, no 4x4s allowed) In the end it's our fault as a whole, and we have the power to keep our off road rigs from becoming obsolete. It's happening fast near me. And it seems to be picking up speed. I've looked at some forest maps from several years ago. Found a bunch of marked "4x4 trails" around the Mt. Hood area. I'd say at this point, about 95-99% of them have been closed off. I've explored some, and roads that lead to them are gated, blocked with concrete walls, new signage, ect. All I can hope for is the few ORV park type areas that are supposed to be created in the next couple years around here actually happen. I have the maps, but the areas are still closed. One of which has not moved forward cause illegal wheeling has still been going on there and the FS is just getting fed up with the wheelers. (La Dee Flats area) I'd love to have some close to home trails,...... My wheeler Soob is a real pain on the highway!

And now the tree huggers around Hood River have more ammo to point at us. *Last names removed for privacy... News Release from: Oregon State Police FOUR CITED ON CRIMINAL TRESPASS AND MISCHIEF OFFENSES FOLLOWING 4-WHEELER INCIDENT ON PRIVATE REFORESTED MEADOW IN HOOD RIVER COUNTY An Oregon State Police (OSP) Fish & Wildlife Division investigation into a complaint that 4-wheel drive vehicles trespassed and damaged a reforested meadow on private SDS Lumber Company property in Hood River County led to four Mosier-area men being cited for criminal trespass and mischief offenses. On March 18, 2009 OSP Senior Trooper Joel McNerney received a report that several vehicles were stuck in a reforested meadow on SDS Lumber Company property off Huskey Hill Road causing approximately a thousand dollars in damage. Subsequent to an investigation by McNerney with the assistance of Senior Trooper Swede Pearson, four suspects were identified and interviewed. They were cited to appear in Hood River County Circuit Court on felony and misdemeanor charges. The investigation alleges the incident began on the evening of March 17th when a white 1986 Toyota pickup and blue 1987 Ford Bronco became buried in the mud on private SDS Lumber Company property. The next day, four men returned to the area in a black 2001 Toyota Tundra pickup and tan Army National Guard Humvee. They drove these vehicles into the meadow where they also became stuck. They called a tow company to come out and remove the four stuck vehicles. One of the men reportedly is an Army National Guard member and had checked the Humvee out for a road test but instead used it to come out to the meadow to try and help remove the stuck vehicles. It should also be noted that the blue Ford Bronco driven by a different person not involved in this incident got stuck in the middle of Hood River near Dee, Oregon on February 1, 2009. The following four men were each cited for Criminal Mischief in the First Degree, a class C felony, and Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree, a class A misdemeanor: * JIMMIE, age 20, from Mosier * JAMES, age 26, from Mosier * JONATHAN, age 26, from Mosier * TRAVIS, age 27, from Mosier Criminal Mischief in the First Degree is a class C felony punishable by a maximum fine of $125,000 and 5 years in prison. Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree is a class C misdemeanor punishable by a maximum fine of $1,250 and 30 days in jail.

Very nice!

Love it. It just looks "right". The front bumper is very nice.

I'd say just pull it. Easier. Safer. And besides if you want to leave it in. You will have to pull the mustache bar anyway in order to remove the back cover. So you may as well just pull the diff instead and call it good. They pop in and out pretty easy.

Here is a site with some examples. http://www.olive-drab.com/od_mvg_camo.php3 There are certain ways in which the patterns are layed out. http://www.olive-drab.com/od_mvg_camo_patterns.php Kinda like paint by numbers. Gonna do mine in kind of a black and olive drab tiger stripe sort of pattern here soon. Thought of painting it up like an old Japanese WW2 fighter plane at one point.

Been running mine for quite awhile as well. Never removed an axle for the street (but it's does not see much pavement, only for transit to the trails). Kinda rough at times but once on the highway it's not noticable. You just have to get a feel for it in the snow. It'll go from understeer to oversteer quick, and can be squrrily on an icy highway. But you'll learn it's tendencies and adjust driving style accordingly. Been wanting to do the dual brake handle mod myself. Just been too lazy to hit the JY and pull some donor parts. Yeah old thread but some folks may find the info in it useful. Good job on searching out the info, lots of old threads fill with great stuff buried around here.

Yup. That rock is the one that gave my rocker panel it's first real "kiss". Man it was sloppy on FB5.

Glad ya had fun. Tried to get in as many trails as possible even with the detour into the snow we did. Guess I didn't remember that turn as well as I thought.

That was a good day. I'm glad I just decided to back off on FB5. Didn't need me trying out parallel parking on top of rocks as well. I didn't get any pics. Just one bad one out the front of a trail that looked way scary but when we got out an looked it was cake. Definitely a greasy day out there. But was able to make some really nice climbs and such. We ended up going back out behind you and then hitting up all the Powerline Trails. Then went and hit all the Archers Firebreak Trails. Except of course Canopener and Waterfall. Gotta have 36"+ meats, front and rear lockers, and 4:1 low range for those badboys. Popped out down on 6 closer to Tillamook on Archers road. Looks like the Land Rover Club adopted the Rodgers Trail (name might be off as my TSF map is out in the Soob). Gonna have to check it out sometime as it's long. Out there by itself, but long. It was closed for awhile but looks open now!

hehe, I talked to him about that. He said "it's a wheeler, I just held up some cardboard over the stuff I didn't want painted." Kinda my feeling on it now too. I spent a day carefuly masking and taking apart my Soob for it's first paintjob. The next one, when it gets it's "panzer camo" job...... Screw it, I'm just gonna remove the lights and mirrors, paint it up, and scrape the overspray off the windows. Pretty nice. I envisioned a more "chocolate" brown. I like the greyish brown reality better.

Adding it to the calender.

I'm thinkin' that's gonna work out pretty good. And at only 22 lbs. It wont be an anchor on the front. The big winches work out great on bigger rigs but adding 80 pounds to the front of a Roo just seems like you'll be using the winch to get out of the situations IT put you in. (as in, without the 80 pound winch hanging off the front you proly would not have gotten stuck half the time in the first place ) Little further forward. but that one should basically be not much more than having the spare back under the hood. And be plenty for all but the nastiest situations. May want to do something with your grill to get it in closer. Could take it off and just mesh in close to the rad like how I did on mine..... but you could make it look nicer. I was in a hurry/ it's my wastland vehicle.

Just about anytime for TSF. Thinking the lower trails are proly pretty clear of the snow. Was up there with Greg last time we went to SL though and trails like Hogsback were snowed in pretty deep.

I could possibly take a day off or something for some Soobin'. Have Greg let me know what's up.

Yeah that was one thing I noticed right away the first time I took it out in the snow after putting in the welded rear. It's a bit twitchy. And backing up, keeping it where you want, can be a pain at times. I'm used to it and hardly even notice anymore. Driven on nasty ice several times with no incedent, just had to get the feel for it. Greg had a moment though when he was backing up that it guided him wrong. I think he's got the hang of it now though. We had a few roads that we got a ways down, found we could not go further and could not turn around so we had to back all the way back out. Lots of practice.

So I take it you are welding up the front diff? ... it's gonna turn awesome.......

So Scoobyclimbs and I decided to go roll around the Mt. Hood area and see what the snow has been doing. Check out what can be hit and stuff. Turns out not a whole lot except forest roads. Trails are still too high up to get to with the crappy cementy icy wet snow. :-\ But. We still had some fun. Up on Lolo pass. We almost made it to the top but then the tracks stopped. and the sinking began. Aired down, turned around, and headed out. Lolo was not our #1 area to check out so we didn't push any further. Scoobyclimbs went off the track and got stuck... Headed out around Hood River and found a small climb. Took my turn and got a pic from the top. Looked nastier in person... Kinda suprised I didn't need a run at it as slick as it was. Just a 1st-lo climb. Parked on the top for a break and quick plan making. Taking the back way to Mosier (I think I may have spelled that right) on powerline trails. Ended up getting kinda sketchy and it was getting close to dark so even aired down to 10psi we decided to just back out and head back. Not as much trail action (we hit up one short one at the bottom of Lolo) as I would have liked but still good times. Was just nice to get out. I had never tried airing down for snow before (always knew about it but always just saved it for the sand) and it proved to really make a huge difference. Scoobyclimbs had gotten a little stuck at one point while aired down to 15psi, he went down to 10psi and just drove right out. Shoulda gave it a shot years ago. But only since going to Sand Lake alot have I started carrying a "real" compressor. (big hand pump before ) So stuff like airing down was a bit of a hassle before.

I ran some 100W "KC knock offs" for about a year with the stock 55 amp in my GL. It never seemed to have much of a problem. The heater fan dropped the volt meter in the dash further than the lights, Proly not so accurate these days but I'm used to where it should be and it gives me an idea of whats going on. I recently upgraded the alt to a 100 amp GM unit though. (plenty of info on it around here) Now I can kick everything on high. Wipers, all the lights, heat, rear aux lights, rear heat, (fan mounted in back for defrost as the window lines kicked it long ago) stock tape deck cranked. No problem. And the chances I'll have all that on at once in the real world is slim to none. Big thing is run new lights from the battery. Good wire, fuse, relay. Should be good. That way you KNOW all the wiring is up to it. Also (something that is on my list) as many connections in the car as you can.... check, clean, ect. Grounds and everything. I always read that it seems to help some on our older Soobs. Good luck, and enjoy the wattage!

I like the adjustables as I get about an extra inch out of them. (though I don't know how it compares with the non adjustables) Time/$$$ at the moment prevents a lift. And I really don't want much more tire under mine (a little bit would be fine, but wanna keep some low end) so it gives me a bit extra under the engine up front. Axles seem to be lasting long enough for the moment too. But that's just MY reasoning.

Have to try and shoot for this one.