Somerville by way of Seattle

[Skitz]

Hello all,

I moved out here from Seattle a couple years ago and shipped the jeep out last year. I am stationed in the Coast Guard in the north end and am currently just using it to play around town while I work the bugs out. I truly felt like a fish out of water out here in a bigger jeep until a couple weeks ago when I stumbled upon one of the kids from this club in a finely polished white Rubicon. He told me about the club and a little about the private land agreements. Seemed very logical and with a family of farmers and land owners, I am not really for trail blazing or trespassing. So now I'm here and about ready to learn.

Please post a pic of your jeep.

How long have you been offroading?

Been playing with gas powered off-road toys since I was a puppy. My uncle rolls with the pirate crew in Cali and wheels big boy buggies. I got my first wheeler in 1996, it was an 84 Toyota pickup on 35's with gears, spools and a 22r.

Is this your first jeep?

Its my third, I had a 74/78 Frankenstein CJ-5 with a 360 and a heap of junk 7 before that

I rolled this current jeep on a dumb line with muddy tread in 2001ish. Cashed out on the insurance, bought it back and parked it in my pops barn in Idaho. Every year I took a few weeks of vacation to visit the family and repair all the body damage. Needless to say it took 8 years to get it done that way. Here is a link if you want more pictures of the rebuild. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2543783/1986-jeep-cj7

Tell us about the mods you have made.

I shipped the jeep out here on the back of a car carrier towards the end of last winter and it got here with a weak clutch, rusted cylinders and a nasty heartbeat through the valve cover.With only a driveway at my disposal, I found a local kid who had buddies at a small town style auto shop near Davis Square called Aris auto. If you need work Aris auto is great. I found a machine shop called Marshall's machine in Maine that delivered a built 4.2 with warranty to Somerville at no extra charge. So after a few months working out kinks, I have it back on the road and spinning tires with more power than I've seen in 10+ years. Still have to figure out a better way to work out fitment for the 3 core radiator and a fan clutch (or maybe an electric Taurus fan) before I can wheel. I am close enough now that I feel I should start meeting folks to wheel with.

The Jeep has all the standard CJ/258 mods and I am a frequent of jeepforum. Its got a spanish Weber 32/36 and aluminum valve cover with the nutter vacuum bypass rigged pretty well. Still a few vacuum leaks, but idles nicely at 650rpm. Also have the MSD CDI and team rush distributor setup from and old F150 with decent plugs and wires. Any of you with the 258 I offer up a good amount of experience and am more than willing to help.

The drive lines are strong enough for what I use it for. Yukon 4.56 gears, Superior 1 piece axles and a Detroit True-trac in the rear.

Tell us about the mods you hope to make in the future.

Suspension on this jeep is piss pore at best, I did the lift when I was 17 using a procomp/skyjacker 4" all in one kit. It is next on my list to get cleaned up but I'm sure I have some homework to do before I spend. Any input on that RE4.5 setup on YJ shackles? Also looking to get some Rancho 9000's and ford shock towers in the coming months.

Also might pick up a tom woods drive shaft if I jack up another rear one.

How long have you been a member of Baystate?

Haven't joined yet

AND REMEMBER ** NO TRAIL NAMES **

WTF is a trail name? East coast slang? Call me ChiefSitsWithaBeer

[Hoodoo Man]

welcome to the forum ChiefSitsWithaBeer

a trail name is the name of the actual trails we run. We prefer not to publicize private land where people can Google the trail name and wheel illegally etc.

[ZAEDOCK]

Welcome to the forum. Looking at your Jeep, it would be a great fit for this club.

WTF is a trail name? East coast slang? Call me ChiefSitsWithaBeer

Out west (i.e. outside of New England), there is a greater acceptance of 4WD groups and as such more places to wheel. Many even have state land to recreate. Mass is pretty much anti-OHRV. There is a group of us in the NEA (North East Association of 4WD Clubs - to which Baystate is a member) working on this, but we're a long way from official Mass state property.

As far as trail names go, we typically don't post the names of the trails we ride in the public sections of our forum, as many are private parcels secured via permission. This deters Joe-public Jeeper from going there and/or causing damage. Many of the trail runs that Baystate schedules, are scheduled with the association and shared with other member clubs. This is how we manage overuse and alleviate excess trail impact.

We'll still call you ChiefSitsWithaBeer though.

[ArticRubi]

There you are, glad you made it over, Doug! Membership is easily the best $50 you'll spend your jeep.

[Skitz]

Thanks for the welcome all, I will try to get my membership info in this week. Can't wait to meet some of you in person.

Trail names makes good sense not to share. Nothing like a bunch of underage drunk kids ruining a good time for all with a quick google search. Trust is hard to earn and easy to loose when it comes to private land owners.

Duncan, things have been real busy last week and this one. I am going to try and tackle the bed liner and radiator mount next week, and maybe even shocks, then I'll be ready to play.

[Carl McFly]

jeez..... another dude from Somerville. We might have to start a sub-forum. Welcome aboard Doug. I'm way over in Mehfuh, on the other side of Tufts. You're going to like it here!

[Dirtoyz]

Welcome Gotta love a clean CJ.