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“Dylan’s” 89. Back at it!

89 Jimmy 6.0/4l80e/MAGNUM 205/d60/14bolt
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Well, it has been too long.

After the AR trip I noticed I was leaking trans fluid at the trans adapter/magnum. And wow, I just realized that took a year to get around to and finish. In the mean time I had to fix a rear main seal leak in the Jeep and after that nightmare I decided to sale that bitch. Somewhere around 1998-1999 Jeep engineers decided it would be a good idea to route the exhaust below the oil pan. In order to fix the rear main seal the front axle had to be at full droop, skid plates and trans crossmember removed, starter removed and the exhaust loosened at the manifold. It took me 20 minutes to replace the seal, it took 3 days to get to it and put it all back together. Never again.

After I decided to sell the Jeep I figured I needed a tow pig for the Jimmy. And that's what I bought. Maybe I cam finally do what I built this thing for.

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83ChevyK5Blazer said:
Gas? I really liked my 20ft pj buggy hauler....
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Its a diesel. I actually wanted that new 6.6L gas but you couldn't find them and they would not move on them if you did. Got this one for about the same price as the gas model. Always wanted a diesel anyway but never had the need. I haven't towed a single thing with it yet but I love the truck. After driving a 6 cylinder jeep on 35s for 3 years this thing is awesome!

Funny thing, about a week later my dad bought the same truck, gas model and a 5th wheel camper. He's is pleased but it does have to get into some high rpms pulling the camper. Not sure why the gas motor got paired with a 6 speed trans and the diesel got a 10. In town he's getting pretty close to the same mpg though. We'll see how it holds up. All the emissions junk makes me weary of its longevity; might do some deletes after the warranty is up.
 
chris85 said:
Looking at picking up some interior stuff, kick panel speaker holders and the center dash speaker. Looking at getting one of those in case I run a cage through the side dash speaker holes later. Anyone know what size to get? Not gonna order that from LMC.
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Did you ever do the stereo stuff? I'm curious about the kick panel speaker panels.
 
nvrenuf said:
Did you ever do the stereo stuff? I'm curious about the kick panel speaker panels.
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No, haven't made it there yet. Lost brakes all of a sudden. Went to drive it one day and the pedal just hit the floor. No visible leaking anywhere, so I gotta track that down.
 
With it happening with several master cylinders could the problem be something else? Were the master cylinders all for the same application or have you tried different?
 
Well here I am again. Between kids stuff and building a house its been busy. But! I finally have a place with a garage big enough that I dont have to swap tires to get it in and out of the garage.

So ordered a hydroboost system to get back on the brakes. And today I found a marketplace item I just had to jump on. 40s baby!!

Its still gonna be slow going since there's alot of house stuff to be done outside. Picked up a new toy for that as well.

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Oh, as for the brakes, does anyone have a solution for what to do where the stock proportion valve is? Some kind of coupler? Its a disc/disc, which from what I've read is a gutted valve. The kit i bought will have a new valve up by the MC. Could I just leave the stock one in place since its really not doing anything?
 
Mounted the 40s just to see. On the truck they really don't look too much bigger but next to the old 37s its pretty significant. Hydro-assist was always kind of in the plans but I think it'll be more necessity now.

Still waiting brake stuff to come in so I started putting together a rear bumper that I've had for oh......about 5 years.

And why the heck did GM change the bolt pattern on these newer trucks!? I had an idea but it was a no go.

Goal had always been to take this thing to Blazer Bash at least once. A couple years ago we drove out to Park City and stayed a night in Moab. That place is wild! That might've been a kicker to get back to work.
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Why are there so few options for 14 bolt lockers? Basically have ARB and Detroit, thats it. The rear already has a Detroit but I'm looking at rear gearing in the future and the 60 needs a locker. I'd like to have matching sets but that wont happen unless i spend about 4 grand on ARBs. And i just dont want them; seems like too much can wrong. Really considering an E-locker for the front or a mechanical.

Anyone have a mechanical front locker? Guess if the hubs aren't lock the on-road manners should be ok? Had a Spartan in the LJ and I wonder if I had broke it in the first week because it made a few really loud pops while driving. Then it was quite.
 
My front 60 is welded. On the road while unlocked it drives normal. Not saying to weld yours, just letting you know it shouldn’t affect the drive ability.
 
I had detroits in front and back of my K10. I loved them better than a selectable for what I did. The reason is because when a selectable locker is locked, like an ARB, OX, or Elocker, it's a spool, makes it hard to turn in certain spots. Often when it is bound up, it would be difficult to unlock a selectable. But a Detroit is like a ratchet, it will always let the outer tire spin faster if needed, it doesn't let it bind up. People call it automatic locking, but it's technically more like automatic unlocking.

I prefer that setup.

As far as onroad manners, they were great. I never locked it in 4WD in dry pavement, for obvious reasons. I did drive it several times on dry pavement with the hubs locked in 2WD. It drove fine that way or in 2WD, no problem at all.

The one time it did not, and I only did this as a test to see if it was viable if I broke the rear driveshaft. Since I have twin sticks, I put it in front wheel drive only once. Then it handled like crap, wandered all over and kept disengaging and then it would pull it the other way and it would switch back, very annoying, but I never once had it do that offroad. That is the only scenario I don't recommend a Detroit in the front, if you need to drive home a long distance in front wheel drive because the rear driveshaft broke or something. It would still get you home, but not fast, going fast like that wouldn't be safe.

I can get Detroit's through my distributor if you need them.
 
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14 bolt: grizzly or detroit (same basic function) or ARB because that's all you should ever need. We're fans of both. A big factor is if you ever drive slick roads and I'm guessing that's a big NO since mississippi. So Detroits are OK, the rear will still give some feedback on the road sometimes but it's totally drivable. The front doesn't matter when the hubs are unlocked so it's wide open.
Off road, it'll turn better with the rear unlocked which is an ARB option only. I'm not talking front dig, just plain old open diff in back, locker up front. This is our preferred setup for a lot of trails and rocks.
ARBs aren't that complex, if you can take care of the wiring and plumbing to make an engine run, I'd certainly hope you can keep the wiring and plumbing for a locker functional. And you need an air compressor on a trail rig anyway. That said, it's all more complex than a pair of automatic lockers.

Good luck with this decision. You can't get it wrong. Or completely right.
 
I have an E locker in front and Detroit out back. I do enjoy the front selectable nature and felt it was a necessity since I live in ND and sometimes drive in the winter with hubs locked in.

Detroit in the rear is not my favorite and if Eaton made an e locker for the 14 bolt I would have probably already bought one. On the road it gets quirky sometimes unlocking or not unlocking when i want it to. Off road it definitely hinders my turning radius even with the open front.

I didn't do ARBs just because I don't care for the air lines/compressor requirement.
 
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