Baystate Jeepers

So my JK comes off the road for the winter. Why? Cause 37 x 13.5" tires... Not good in snow it turns out. Haha.. But more than that I love my Jeep and the thought of it bathing in salt almost brings a tear to my eye. But does this mean I don't have "Jeep Time" planned? Heck NO! Matter of fact I think this is my favorite Jeep Time. I plan out mods I want to do, nothing is rushed, and the spring a whole new Jeep pulls out of my fab shop.
So I can't be alone in this. Repair trail damage, that upgrade you have been putting off, some custom work you have put hours of time thinking about. What do you all have planned for your Jeep this winter?

I will be busy myself. Here are my plans.

1. Time to do something about the anemic 3.8L and terrible 6 speed in my 2010 JK. The direction I decided to go was an LS swap. I purchased a low mileage LC9 5.3 and a 6L80E transmission from a 2012 Silverado. I'm using a MoTech install kit to get it done. The motor swap is a pretty big project but swapping from manual to automatic will add some fun as well. Looking forward to being able to cruise 75 on the highway again!

2. Building a Teraflex HD44 axle housing. Time to upgrade as the stock Dana 30 was bound to give up the ghost at some point. I actually traded my front axle for the Teraflex housing that is still in the crate. My axle does have an ARB locker, 4.88s and chromoly axles but I still feel it was a fair trade. Time to call Offroad Elements to fill it with parts...

3. Rebuilding the rear axle. I went 35 spline in the stock rear 44 housing with an ARB. I had an ARB and chromoly axles before but now I am beefing it up a bit. But after a slight stretch and some other suspension mods I decided to strip the axle bare and weld on all heavy duty Artec mounts, spring perches and a truss. In the process of doing this I will be setting it up for proper driveshaft angle.

So there it is.. what are your plans?

No real mods scheduled. Mostly maintenance with some upgraded parts. Borgeson lower steering shaft, M.O.R.E. steering bearing riser, Luk clutch assembly, NV241OR t-case rebuild, Timken unit bearings (one is real tight but not making noise), and if it can find all the parts - rebuild the NSG370.

I might disconnect Betty' s battery.
Pumpkin will be gaining a couple of tons and inches over the next few months.

Im hoping to get the tow rig up and running and get a trailer for the rig. Was a rough year for me hope next one is better.

MDSRACING398 wrote:I might disconnect Betty' s battery.
Pumpkin will be gaining a couple of tons and inches over the next few months.

Keeping pumpkin street legal?
I just put on some Metalcloak Overline fenders, now my 37’s look puny. Those WERE my winter project, may go back to my 2.5 coils now that my wheel wells are opened up. That’s the legal lift height for a JK. Only other winter project planned is hydro assist.

Modeler wrote:No real mods scheduled. Mostly maintenance with some upgraded parts. Borgeson lower steering shaft, M.O.R.E. steering bearing riser, Luk clutch assembly, NV241OR t-case rebuild, Timken unit bearings (one is real tight but not making noise), and if it can find all the parts - rebuild the NSG370.

Seems like you have your work cut out for you. Quite a bit of driveline work.

RandyCarol wrote:

MDSRACING398 wrote:I might disconnect Betty' s battery.
Pumpkin will be gaining a couple of tons and inches over the next few months.

Keeping pumpkin street legal?
I just put on some Metalcloak Overline fenders, now my 37’s look puny. Those WERE my winter project, may go back to my 2.5 coils now that my wheel wells are opened up. That’s the legal lift height for a JK. Only other winter project planned is hydro assist.

Probably my favorite fenders. They certainly make some clearence for big tires and they are well built. My friend runs them with a 3.5" lift and 40" tires with no rub at all.

Fix the p0340 and p0344 in the coming weeks so I can actually rev above 2500, stepping up to 37” tires on Feb 16, and possibly rear coilovers and a 4” stretch. Oh and possibly pass inspection. 14 months until I can just pull the check engine bulb out and not worry.

Fuel tank skid plate, ham radio install, replace crappy OEM battery terminals. With the summer work done, I'm in a much better spot now!

... I need to reconnect my 4wd.. I had to cut it.

thinking about swapping out my front OX cable locker for something else.

Selling Mona and taking the winter off ! FjR68

Frank wrote:Selling Mona and taking the winter off ! FjR68

i don't believe it for a minute.

Make me a reasonable offer . Just think , you can drive by the inspection station and wave the #1 at them . Oh , and you can wheel with the big dogs. FjR68

Mine's more a late fall project, where I put the hard top on, and change over to the snows and keep driving. Most of our big stuff is probably going to be later in the spring, but the plan as it sits is a 3.5" Game Changer, and 35" tires.

replaced all my U-Joints, Repairing all other mechanical Issues. Finally got a CB set up. doing my 4x4 linkage soon. now i need a winch and i wont feel like a idiot going to events.