Finally...the historic Naches Trail!

(All of the pictures are clickable so you can see a larger version)

After obsessing over this trail run for the better part of a year, it was finally time to actually do it! The Naches Trail was first crossed by Longmire in 1853 and has since been kept open as a 4x4 trail. Our plan was to cross from west to east starting at the Lower Naches part of the trail at FS7065 and ending at FS19. We then planned to retrace our steps but, due to time constraints, it became necessary to save the east to west crossing for another day. This trail is one of many on my list of trails to do before the Jeep dies. The anticipation was finally over!

Just prior to our trail run I had a 4 day trip to fly that wouldn't return me home until 11pm. We were due to depart at 7am the morning following my return. As a result I did as much packing as possible so I could just get some rest the night before. I put my spare tire on the roof to conserve space inside, as well as the Hi-Lift jack and a shovel. In the cargo compartment went enough tools to completely assemble and disassemble the Jeep in case we got bored. Also included was plenty of water, food, warm clothes, First Aid kit, air compressor (in case Jeff's fancy Warn PowerPlant Dual Force winch refused to air up the tires), and recovery gear. I also included some axle u-joints, driveshaft u-joints, and various other miscellaneous parts most prone to failure. I really didn't want to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with a broken rig!

Although we had printed out all of the maps contained in the sidebar of this blog (to the right under Northwest Trails) I had spent countless hours piecing together a GPS track for the trail based on Garmin's MapSource software. I wasn't sure of the accuracy before we set out because the software didn't really have a good depiction of the westernmost and easternmost parts of the trail. I wasn't really concerned with getting lost, but I did want to know how much distance we had covered and how much we had to go during the trip. It would also be nice to verify that we hadn't taken a wrong turn somewhere, just in case. Upon uploading the coordinates from the computer to my GPS, I found that the waypoints had been corrupted...argh. With no apparent way to correct the problem I set to entering all of the waypoints by hand in to my Garmin GPS III Plus while I was on my 4 day trip.

While I was away, my lovely wife rounded up the few remaining items on our list, along with lunch and snacks for the trail. Sunday morning arrived, we loaded up the last of the gear, and we were off at 715am. Not bad! We started off with my wife Heidi, my father-in-law Gary, and myself in the XJ. Jeff's Jeep JK Rubicon was carrying the notorious husband and wife team of JD and Becky, and of course Jeff himself.

After a brief stop for breakfast we arrived in Greenwater, continued south to the FS70 turn off, and made our way to FS7065. The road splits here at FS7065 and we took the opportunity to air down the tires, secure loose objects, disconnect sway bars, and spool up for some fun!

Me, disconnecting the front sway bar. The Jeep is riding low in the back with all of that crap onboard. Time for some stronger springs? OUCH, my wife just hit me.

Gary watching...I'm still trying to talk him in to lifting his Jeep Liberty CRD. He's warming up to it...I think.

Jeff, right, taking the top off of his Jeep while JD plays service monkey...just kidding JD:)

After setting up, we travelled down FS7065 for a short distance until we reached the start of the trail.

The first section was rather steep so the pictures didn't come out good. The two designated photographers, Heidi and Becky, were too busy holding on to be framing good shots! Here are a few of them anyway!

You can see FS7065 in the background. This is the start of Lower Naches.

It is a good thing that the trail was rather dry. A little bit of water would have made the Lower Naches section much more difficult. We'll have to try it in the rain sometime!

After reaching the top of the steep section we paused briefly to recap the uphill thrill ride and lamented over the inability of pictures to capture the magnificence of the trail.

Heidi and Becky on top of Jeff's JK celebrating their survival:)

Jeff and JD.

We then continued along the trail, winding through the trees. Jeff was in the lead and, as he rounded a corner, I lost sight of him. As I came around the corner I saw him on the other side of a "puddle" of water. I edged up to the water to have a look.

I got on the CB and asked how deep the water was. JD replied, "It's too soon to tell...hehe" I then looked a little closer and saw Becky perched on top of Jeff's Jeep, on the other side of the "puddle", with the camera poised and ready to record events that only they had knowledge of. I asked the question again and received no reply this time. I was obviously being set up. It didn't look that bad so I elected to give them what they were looking for.

Not too bad, right?

I can only describe the frame between the picture above and the picture below since it is missing. Right after the previous picture the XJ's nose dipped in deeper and slid into some ruts. I gassed it but forward progress was slow and we were headed directly for the logs in the middle of the water. I pressed on hoping that the mudders would bite and pull me up and out of the ruts. Just as I was thinking "stop!" to keep from hitting the logs, the XJ jumped up out of the ruts, out of the water, and around the logs. Perhaps next time I will wait for a proper response!

The aftermath, muddy interior and all. What retard didn't fix the window switches so the passengers could roll up their windows? Oh yeah, that was me...

Uh oh. Mechanical trouble after the puddle. Debris? Broken axle? Transfer case damage? To my relief, it was just a cranky brake caliper that was sticking after the water crossing. Evidently it didn't like getting wet. It didn't know what it was in for. It's new, it'll get used to it:)

Jeff is all smiles.

JD in the driver's seat for a while...

...and Jeff ridin' shotgun...and nervous, but masking it well for a picture.

Here we are past the more difficult sections and enjoying the scenery of the forest.

JD having some more fun with Jeff's Jeep. Can you see the anxiety on Jeff's face? If you can't see it, you can feel it! Jeff likes his Jeep and will likely beat JD if he messes it up. We would have liked to see that but, alas, there was no damage.

My turn...much easier when your Jeep is skinny.

More tree navigation.

AHHHHH! Don't hurt my Jeep!

Can you see Jeff praying in the right seat? Click and look closely.

A little bit of recon to make sure we can get by the log at the top of the hill...it is steeper than it looks.

Becky hamming it up while we recon the hill.

Heidi taking pictures atop a stump...

...and what she was looking at.

Mt. Rainier peaking from behind the ridgeline.

Time to catch up.

Jeff enjoying the view.

I love this picture! Here we are driving along a ridge, approaching an area where we can stop to enjoy yet another spectacular view.

The mud is dry and Heidi points out the handiwork of JD. Yes, in fact, I do have mud.

Here is the crew, minus me. From left to right: Gary, Jeff, Heidi, JD, Becky.

Gary and Heidi.

Jeff and Becky.

JD and Becky.

Thanks so much for taking this picture JD:) Really, I'm just doing my part to prevent forest fires.

We finally reached Camp Urich and Government Meadows. This is the point where the Pacific Crest Trail crosses the Naches Trail. Government Meadows is where the settlers of the Longmire wagon train rested for two days. I think I would have rested longer considering what they had been through and what they had ahead of them. Heck, I might have just built a cabin and called it good. It is beautiful.

In case you can't read, here is the sign marking the spot where the camp was set up...if you couldn't read, I guess this wouldn't help. Perhaps I will just let the signs speak for themselves.

The Government Meadows sign...I can't help it!

Government Meadows in the flesh.

This is the cabin at Camp Urich, about 100 yards south of the Naches Trail on the Pacific Crest Trail.

It's time for lunch!

Evidently the birds were hungry too. We made JD smile the whole time because the birds seemed reluctant to approach him when he had his Marine Lieutenant Colonel face on.

A view through the trees at Camp Urich.

Just east of Camp Urich is the sign indicating the Naches Pass. The trail begins a long descent from here.

As we continued east from Camp Urich, Heidi wanted a turn at driving. We switched seats and she had some fun! I missed most of the good stuff with the camera but I managed to jump out for a minute and take some pictures on a nice flat part of the trail. She contends that I wanted to be "barking at her" on the more difficult parts, but I don't know what she is talking about. I was perfectly calm:) She also maintains I was squealing like a little girl and saying "you're going to roll it!". I certainly don't remember it that way...

Some pictures of Jeff's JK at the same time. Notice der schnorkel on Korvettenkapitan Jeff's U-boat/Jeep. This is a wise modification from previous misadventures. I won't mention it here to preserve his dignity *cough* hydro-lock *cough* bent connecting rod *cough* Who said that?

While standing atop this ridge looking at the view we were wondering, with all of the forest roads, why the settlers even bothered using the Naches Trail. Silly pioneers.

Finally, a picture of my wife and I together.

While taking a break we found a remnant of another's misfortune on the trail. It's definitely an axle shaft from a Dana 30.

As we progressed further east we became more and more pressed for time. As a result, the pictures decreased at this point. We exited the Naches Trail onto FS19 at the trail's end, just prior to another trail recognized as 'most difficult' by www.nwjeepn.com. Maybe next time for this most difficult trail! We followed FS19 to Hwy 410 near Cliffdell and continued over Chinook Pass back home. The trip was impressive for it's views, the trail, the historical significance, and the company! The trip was quite an experience and I look forward to doing it again next year! Anybody up for round two next season?

Powerline Road/Landslide

The family and I made a quick trip to Capitol Forest to check out the powerline road and view the massive landslide that had occurred during previous heavy rains. I can't find the impressive pictures of the landslide, so I will update the post with those pictures later.

Madeline enjoys the wind in her hair and the warm summer drive

Daniel laughing with his sister

Me...didn't get one of the prettiest passenger, Heidi.

A beautiful view of Summit Lake from a forest service road at the top of a ridge

A section of the powerline road


Time to get out for a walk

Here lies an XJ that has seen better days. It looked like a joyride to me. I had seen this wreck earlier in the year when it was very intact, complete with 31" Super Swampers. I posted it's existence (but not it's exact location) on NAXJA in hopes of finding the owner before it was stripped. By now the the vandals and looters have worked it over pretty good and flipped it over.

During our hike up the landslide Heidi spotted a horseshoe in the debris and commissioned me to retrieve it. Who knows how old this is or where it came from, but it managed to avoid burial during the carnage.

Time to go home by reversing our route!

Axle Upgrade

The time had come to do some serious maintenance on my axles. Both of the axle u-joints on my Dana 30 were wasted, the ball-joints were worn, the brake disks were shot, and my passenger side caliper was sticky and barely functioning. My Dana 35 was leaking profusely from the pinion seal. I felt that I had reached a crossroads. I could either sink a bunch of money into my existing axles or upgrade to stronger axles. I was loath to spend any money on the Dana 35. I knew that it was a weak axle to begin with, and I would simply be polishing my turd...I would still have a turd when I was done. My Dana 30 just needed to be upgraded for strength, but I was unhappy with my stock gear ratio on both axles since I was running 31" tires. There was no way I was going to spend the money to regear a Dana 35. The 3.07 gear ratio had to go...cheaply.

After doing some math, I found that the stock axle ratio from the automatic transmission equipped XJ's would work pretty well. The 3.55 gear ratio would put my engine back into it's intended RPM range, and then some. Axles with the 3.55 gear ratio are plentiful in the junkyards so it was just a matter of searching. I had originally intended to find a Dana 44 to put in the rear but the asking prices, both at the junkyard and through private parties, were more than I wanted to spend.

From what I had read, the Chrysler 8.25 29 spline axle found in late model XJ's was very strong and recognized as being able to accommodate 35" tires with a locker. Since that is bigger than I ever intend to go, the Chrysler 8.25 fit the bill and was available at a much lower cost. Soon after making this decision I ran across a 2001 8.25 with 3.55 gears and only 89,000 miles on it. Perfect! I picked up the axle at a junkyard near my house and it was in beautiful condition. It didn't need any work except for a brake line which had been cut during removal. This wasn't an issue since I planned on putting a longer brake line from a mid nineties Dodge Dakota on it anyway.

I was also lucky enough to find a '96 Dana 30 in 3.55 at the same junkyard. This one had about 150,000 miles on it. Although it needed some work, the price was right and would provide the late model axle shafts capable of accommodating the larger 5-760x u-joints that I wanted to use. It also had a lot shallower film of rust than my current axle! Let the games begin!

This is the Dana 30 and Dana 35 that came out. Note the leakage and overall scabby appearance...under the mud!


This is a picture of the 1996 Dana 30 prior to the restoration and rebuild phase.


Here is the 2001 Chrysler 8.25 29 spline...not much restoration to do here!


Here is the new Dana 30 with a few hundred miles on it after the restoration and rebuild. I completely stripped and wire brushed the axle housing, axle shafts, and any other components that would stand up to it. I then painted the axle housing with primer and Rust-Oleum flat black. I decided to use red on the differential cover. I think it looks good with the Warn diff. guard, otherwise the red is too much. I replaced the ball joints on the passenger side, installed higher strength 5-760x u-joints in both axle shafts, and installed Superior axle tube seals to keep the Northwest's mud and water out. It also received a complete brake system replacement with new disks, calipers, and pads. Yes, that is power steering fluid all over everything and yes, it is now fixed:)




The Chrysler 8.25 came out well too. I just painted this axle since it didn't have any rust on it to begin with. It didn't need any work aside from the brake line. I used a mid 90's Dodge Dakota brake line which netted a lot more length than the stock brake line. I also used the springs off of the 2001, which were in much better condition than my old rusty ones, with my Skyjacker add-a-leaf. I had new high strength u-bolts made, purchased a shorter stock driveline from George the Jeep to fit the AX-15/Chryco 8.25 set-up, swapped in my driveline u-joints, and was ready to go! I also left the rear sway bar off to allow for better articulation on the trail. The red differential cover is a bit much but I plan to put a black diff guard on it at some point in the future. This should mute the red nicely so it's not so obnoxious!



The end result is fantastic! On the street the XJ accelerates briskly in town and cruises on the freeway without a need for downshifting, except for mountain pass-type hills. It crawls much slower on the trail and the stronger axles give me peace of mind knowing that they are overbuilt for my 31" tires and open differentials. It also drives as smooth as glass. I feel like I got a new Jeep after the swap!

Yeehaw!

This picture was taken on the powerline road near the Rock Candy Mountain entrance of Capitol State Forest by Derek Pearson. He is a professional photographer and managed to get this shot as the daylight waned. If you need a wedding photographer, he's your man. Evidently he does Jeeps now too. Nice picture Derek!

My XJ's History

I bought my 1991 Jeep Cherokee Laredo XJ in January of 1998 as a replacement for my car that was destroyed in a serious car crash. I would love to say that I knew all of the details about Cherokees when I bought mine, but the truth is that I didn't know very much about them at all. Yes, I knew I wanted the 4.0 liter engine, but I had no idea which axles were offered, what other drive train options were available, or the subtle differences between the model years. My wife liked them a lot and she was actually much of the reason I began looking for one. After seeing a lot of bad examples I just wasn't sold on the idea until I took a trip down to Vancouver, WA.

I was responding to a classified ad from a salvage dealer that specialized in acquiring wrecked XJ's, rebuilding them, and then selling them. I was looking at a different XJ that was advertised in my price range but, after driving it, found that the automatic transmission didn't shift properly and the 4.0L motor was very tired.

When I returned from the test drive I zeroed in on an XJ on the other side of the lot that had caught my eye earlier. It was out of my price range but it was beautiful! The red paint with grey trim really caught my eye, as it was in great shape. The interior was grey and in perfect condition, with the exception of a slightly bent steering wheel and small cracks in the dash under the steering column. It had just under 100,000 miles on the odometer.

It became apparent that this Jeep had been in a frontal collision and the driver had caused the damage to the steering wheel and dash upon impact...ugh. This prompted a check under the front end of the XJ. From the outside it looked pretty good, with some of the body panels showing slightly tighter gaps in some spots and wider gaps in others. A check underneath showed a left lower control arm flange that was tweaked but workable. The right front frame had been straightened and rewelded. I decided I couldn't live without it so I talked the guy down quite a bit and drove the Jeep home.

As I know now, I happened to get a pretty good XJ model. My Cherokee Laredo has the 4.0 liter HO motor (good), AX-15 5 speed manual (good), NP231 transfer case (good), high pinion Dana 30 non disconnecting front axle (good), and the Dana 35 rear axle (bad). Only one 'bad' is pretty good considering I wasn't even looking for most of this stuff. After all, I could have ended up with the Peugeot BA-10/5 transmission or a vacuum disconnect front axle, right?!

Little did I know, this would be the beginning of a long and pleasurable relationship! The Jeep gave us many many trouble free miles and I simply fell in love with the thing! It endured multiple family adventures, mild off-road excursions, and a trip to Michigan and back.

After spending 5 years of it's life in the salted winter roads of Michigan, my good looking Jeep started developing scabby rust on it's entire undercarriage and on some of the body panels. When we moved back to Washington State it was time to provide some much needed maintenance. I had grandiose ideas about lifting it, but knew that the cost would be prohibitive. Did I mention I didn't have much disposable income! All of the springs were sagging and rusty and the shocks weren't doing much damping anymore. They still had the Chrysler factory logo on them in 2004...OEM shocks from 1991! The horror! I looked in to stock replacement suspension parts. It became apparent that this option was also expensive so I began to search for a good deal on a mild lift kit.

One additional reason for lifting it presented itself one sunny afternoon while driving along some forest roads with my daughter Madeline, about 5 years old at the time. We were driving along in Capitol Forest and a conversation similar to this ensued:

I say, "Hey Madeline, look at that road that splits off. I wonder if it goes up to Capitol Peak?"

Madeline says, "There is a big berm in the way Dad."

I say, "I think we can get over it."

Madeline says, "If we try to go over it we'll get stuck and then we'll have to walk. I don't want to walk because it is a LOOONG way home."

I say, "Let's try it. I think we can make it."

(Sound of frame slamming down on berm)

Madeline says, "I knew we would get stuck! You promised we wouldn't get stuck!"

I attempted the shameful recovery process while my daughter blissfully played in the dirt, chased butterflies, pooped in the forest, and occasionally reminded me that she knew we would get stuck, but "that's OK Dad, this is still a lot of fun." I finally realized that I was ill-equipped to rectify my high-centered situation so I called my father-in-law, Gary, to pluck us from the jaws of Capitol Peak. Not very big jaws, mind you, but big enough to snare a stock XJ. Gary came to the rescue and I still haven't lived this one down...probably never will.

After many hours in front of the computer and multiple websites over the course of many weeks I finally stumbled across a screamin' deal at 4wheelparts.com that fit my budget and my near term goal for the Jeep. Amazingly, they were selling a 3" Skyjacker lift kit complete with front coil springs, rear add-a-leafs, extended lower control arms, track bar relocation bracket, and 4 new Hydro 7000 shocks for $320. This included free shipping and no tax with the internet order! I bought it and wrung my hands in anticipation of it's arrival.

I am pretty handy with a wrench and have been working on vehicles of various types for quite a few years. I hadn't worked on suspensions much at all until this project though. The lift installation didn't look too hard but I hadn't factored in the sheer amount of corrosion that I would run into. I figured that it would take two days...it took six. What a pain in the ass. Honestly, I had a great time doing it but quickly tired of breaking off bolts and getting flakes of rust in my eyes and nose. Even with safety glasses it seemed to find it's way into my eyes!

During the course of the lift I had to make multiple trips to the store to purchase new bolts as the originals snapped off...all but two shock mount bolts, track bar bolt, you get the idea. I also broke off one of the sway bar end links which required a run to the junk yard to find a replacement. This is when I found the novelty of the local pick-and-pull junk yard. I had no idea so many people liked to wreck their XJs! I quickly realized that I had stumbled upon a gold mine of available used parts. The Cherokees in the junk yard were, in many ways, in better shape than mine. With nearly 3 million Cherokees manufactured between 1984 and 2001, these things are everywhere in the junk yards! This would continue to come in handy over the course of the next several years. More on that later...

With the lift installed, the Jeep looked great. I still had the 30x9.50 mud tires on it with stock rims, so that looked stupid, but other than that it looked much better. One of my biggest fears was that I would lose ride quality or it would drive funny after lifting it. That quickly disappeared on the first test drive when I found that the Jeep now rode better than it ever had. It handled beautifully and had a nice tight ride without being harsh. Nice job Skyjacker! After about 50 miles I noticed that the steering was acting real funny. Further inspection showed that the track bar relocation bracket appeared to be loose. I checked the torque and it wasn't loose at all. A phone call to 4wheelparts provided a solution. They said that the bracket frequently does this and the best fix is to tack weld it in addition to the bolt. I drove up to their retail location in Tacoma and they tack welded it for free! Problem solved!

I finally scored some 31 x 10.50 Michelin X's from my Dad. I had just purchased Type 62 15"x8" alloy rims from Discount Tire because my stock rims were badly corroded (one even had a small crack developing!). The Michelins were originally off of my Dad's beautiful Jeep CJ-7 and he was generous enough to give them to me. The new rims and tires really filled out the fender wells and made the Jeep look good, aside from providing amazing on-road ride quality. Off-road was a different story. Rocks or dry dirt didn't present too many problems, but the instant moisture was added they failed miserably. Since I live in Washington, the XJ was screaming for mudders. More on that later...

My Dad was also generous enough to buy a K&N FIPK for me when I started towing our travel trailer. I was looking for simple modifications that would allow the engine to breathe a little better, and the K&N intake was the first step in that direction. The intake provides about 7 horsepower (according to K&N). Even better, it makes the 4.0L engine sound bad-ass at wide open throttle! An aftermarket header and Dynomax "cat-back" exhaust system is in the future. One day I noticed that the ol' XJ was starting to leak anti-freeze on the driveway. The anti-freeze was easy to see because the fluid beaded up nicely on the oil slick in my driveway from the various oil leaks from my engine:( The source of the dripping was the water pump. Coolant was leaking out of the little hole on the bottom indicating bearing failure. Great. I limped it along until payday. As I began to look closer at the water pump I noticed that the radiator fins were badly corroded. I ran my finger along some of those fins and they turned to DUST...just disintegrated. After I had a little fun turning 1/3 of my radiator to dust while chuckling to myself, I hit the phone book and started piecing together the parts required to restore the cooling system. The Jeep recieved a complete cooling system makeover for just over $300. While I was doing the work my neighbor, who is a mechanic and owns his own shop, asked me what the heck I was doing to the Jeep this time. I explained and he said, "Why don't you just buy a new car?". I asked him how much his monthly car payment was for both of his brand new Chevy trucks. "I see your point...", he said. The fact is that the Jeep had been largely maintenance free up until this point. I was more than happy to pour some cash into it to keep it going. The brakes would soon wear out...ok, not more than happy to pour some cash into it, but you get the idea.

After nearly wearing out the Michelins I finally broke down and bought a set of BF Goodrich Mud Terrain KM's. Wow what a difference! The on-road ride is good and they aren't noisy at all. Just a soft hum that I rather like! Off-road they are spectacular in mud and rocks. Anybody who has ever owned a set knows what I'm talking about. The only question mark is how many miles I will get out of them. Time will tell! I continued my trips to the junk yard, picking up various parts along the way. I added some extra leaves to the rear spring pack for towing our trailer (I later removed them when we no longer towed with the XJ). I added a temperature sensor, which my XJ was missing from day one. The overhead console was there, but the temperature read-out didn't work. Three bucks at the junk yard fixed that problem. I also picked up a replacement tail light box after some idiot kid clipped my rear bumper and cracked it. Five bucks from an '84 XJ...problem solved. I have replacement headlight bezels and just need a grille to finish replacing the peeling front end...5 bucks each for the bezels and 15 for the grille when one shows up. Everybody seems to smash the front end so it will probably be a while before I find one. While looking for a grille with Madeline, we ran across an XJ with a Yakima gutter mount roof rack on it. It included 4 towers and two cross bars. This set up would cost $200 bucks new...I got it for $16! I have plans for this setup in the near future after I get some new keys from Yakima to unlock the towers.

By far the best score I have had at the junk yard was finding an XJ with the Up Country package on it. These Cherokees came with a factory one inch lift, tow package, and front tow hooks, among other things. Most important to me, the Up Country also had a full complement of skid plates on it. I was able to grab the front skid plate, the fuel tank skid plate, and the transfer case skid plate. They were all in GREAT condition and bolted right up. The fuel tank skid required modification to fit around my Draw-Tite hitch, but the modification was minimal. The front skid covered most of my steering gear and also provided an attachment point for my JKS disconnect storage pins. The transfer case skid leaves a little bit to be desired but, hey, it's better than nothing. The best part? $25 for all of it!! $25!!

I wanted more articulation out of the front end so I began searching for some front swaybar disconnects. The bushings in my stock swaybar end links were completely shot. I am a firm believer in the idea that if you bother to replace something, replace it with something better...if you can afford it, of course. I would kill two birds with one stone by replacing the swaybar links with the disconnecting type. New bushings and the ability to disconnect, all in one. I bought a set of Skyjacker disco's but it became evident that these would be an utter pain in the ass to reconnect on anything but perfectly level ground. They were drilled incorrectly anyway so it provided a great excuse to return them and get what I really wanted, a set of JKS quicker disconnects. Let me just say that as far as manual sway bar disconnects go, these things are awesome. They are so easy to reconnect compared to other styles. They are also fully adjustable so I was able to dial in the correct geometry. My original stock links had been a little too short, so I guess I killed three birds with one stone...not bad!

Every modification is a slippery slope. Upon ordering the JKS quicker disconnects I realized that if the axle will articulate more, then the brake lines will have to be longer lest I pull a brake line out of the caliper and spew brake fluid everywhere...and pick the nearest tree to hit so I can stop. I pulled up some of my favorite websites and quickly discovered that extended steel-braided brake lines for the front end are at least $99 per pair. That wasn't in the budget. I didn't factor this in and now my Jeep is apart with yet another broken link. Yes, the other swaybar end link broke during removal. I wasn't going to replace that one with a junkyard piece just so I could put it back together until I could afford the brake lines. It was time for another plan. With a Google search I discovered more websites with great technical write-ups. MADXJ had already done the homework for me and discovered that brake lines from a '93-'95 Jeep Wrangler YJ were about 3 inches longer but still bolted right up to the XJ brake system. They also had extended metal ends that would protect the lines better than the original XJ brake lines did. I found the brake lines at the local auto parts store for $16 each. Much better than $99! I bolted everything up and am still surprised at the difference this makes in off-road traction.

In order to keep doing this...

...it became necessary to extend the breather tubes from both of my axles and my transfer case. The pictures above were taken in Tahuya State Forest. I extended the breather tubes in preparation for this trip and, upon inspection after the trip, didn't find ANY water in any of the running gear. My buddy Jeff couldn't say the same thing about his 2008 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon (JK). His rear differential was full of water...he extended his shortly thereafter.

Since I was doing a lot more wheelin' with the Jeep I realized that it severely lacked any kind of recovery points. If I did get stuck, I was looking at causing collateral damage during the recovery process. I found some front tow hooks from Rugged Ridge that not only attached to the bumper bolts, but also attached about one foot down the frame rail for added strength. That took care of recovery from the front, while a birthday present in the form of a hitch receiver d-ring took care of a recovery from the rear. Now my friends with winches could pull me out! Also added to the mix was a Hi-Lift Jack and a hefty tow/recovery strap.
This is what the Jeep looks like now. It is far from done...definitely a work in progress. At 202,000 miles it is still running well and will get it's upgrades as the checking account allows. It does pretty good "as is", but there are just a few more things I would like to do!:)

Muddy Lunch

I took Madeline, Daniel, and Rosie into Capitol Forest for a quick trail run with lunch. We stopped on a ridge and enjoyed the view while scarfing down PB&J.

We got to put a little bit of mud on the Jeep...just enough to keep me busy washing for an hour or so. I figured I would fortify my front lawn with new soil at the same time and kill two birds with one stone.