wheeln

Maiden Voyage

2009-06-23T03:40:00.001-07:00

Well, I finally got the TJ out of the garage and into the woods. Christine, as I call my Jeep, did great. I started out by loading her up the night before and rolling out to Tillamook State Forest with my neighbor Dave. We stopped and picked up subway in Banks and met the rest of the crew @ Rogers Camp. We did Firebreak Five and Archers with lunch @ 7up. It was a great day and fun was had by all.
Pictures and Videos are @

Dana 44 "Rear" issues

2009-02-16T19:52:00.000-08:00

Dude, who the hell designed the seal setup for the D44. Crazy! Anyway, I tore into the rear of my new 99 TJ because of my earlier blog about the trip from Vegas to Portland. The metal I discovered in the rear pumpkin turned out to be the passenger side carrier bearing and I needed to replace the passenger side axle seal so, why not do it all. I removed the axles and the axle bearing had broken in two on both sides. So I spent $70 on carrier bearings/races, ~$45 on axle bearings and $40 on just the axle seals. <-- NUTS!
Then I had to buy a hydraulic press to do the work. I drove 20+ miles to Harbor Freight, bought a $130 press, put it together and it will not work to press off the bearings on my D44. I even built my own brace so it was thinner but the press bent the fabbed up brace. I disassembled it and took the press back to Harbor Freight the same day which, total was now 80 miles of driving. I ended up at Napa in Beaverton and spent $60 for them to press off and on my bearings. When I got the axles back the retainer was on backwards. The Napa dude said he didn't take them off and I believe him because, that side had the issue with leaking. So I took them home, cut one side of the bracket and took my Oxy/Ace torch to the other side, heated it up and bent it for removal. I turned it around and put it back on. I will tack weld it in place once I determine the bolt location is sound. This took almost all freaking day. Now it is 8:00 pm and I am just cleaning up the parts. Wow, what a pain in the butt.

Pictures of the process here:http://picasaweb.google.com/esniper/Jeep_99TJ_rear_end_rebuild#

Vegas and back for a 99 TJ Wrangler

2009-02-02T23:02:00.000-08:00

I have been looking for a wheeln rig ever since I sold my 98 TJ last year.
I bought another 98 TJ Dec 30th 2008 but, it was a 4 cyl. It was fairly cheap and I was going to build it up to a trail rig as it was bone stock. Anyway I search Craigslist on a regular basis and ran across a 99 TJ in Las Vegas with all kinds of mods: - 37" tires, Beadlocks, Tera Flex 7" lift, Teraflex 2wd low kit, 4:56 gears, and Detroit locker out back with lock rite up front. Did I mention I live in Oregon! I sold my newly purchased 98 jeep and flew out to Vegas. I saw it, liked it but, how to get it home, 1200 miles away? I had the bright idea of driving it back. It only had a bikini top and it was winter but, despite it all I decided to just do it. :) I mean, I am tough and I had a jacket! I started out around 5:00 pm Sat Jan 31st 2009 north of the strip in sin city. Since it had the 7" lift I got some advice on the phone from my bud and wheeln buddy, Shane Carter, to ratchet strap it down for stabillity. This helped somewhat but, it still swayed the entire time I was able to drive it. My plan was to take Interstate 15 south to 58 west. This would put me on 99 N. to I5. I actually left Vegas around 6:00 pm on I15 South. I got a little turned around but, I made it to Barstow California around 10:30 because I was fairly scared of the constant control issues keeping it on the road, "yes I am totally nuts for trying this". I got gas at the crossroads gas station and headed out on 58 west. All four ratches straps had broke at this point and it was damn near impossible to control. I stopped at a Pilots half way across 58 west and bought a heavy duty trucker ratchet strap for the front. I made it to Kingsburg Cali on 99 N. and stopped due to fog, tiredness, and lets face it pure fear of being in the damn thing. OH, if you are ever near this area don't even think of staying at the Tavcam Inn. Anyway, I crashed for a few hours till day break now Feb 1st, and headed north. I started hearing a banging sound and a slight tug now and then toward the right. With all the side to side motion from the lift, tires and lockers I really didn't notice at first. I realized something was up so I turned down the stereo and slowed down as the wind was blowing in the cab, -->"not a full soft top".
I stopped off the highway somewhere in Modesto. The right front shock mount was complete busted and the shock itself was banging up against the tire. The cheap tools I bought in Vegas were no good as the ratched was busted. I decided to tie it off and continue down the road. Around 3:00 10 miles north of Redding Cali I lost all steering capabillities just past a two lane bridge. Luckily I was heading up hill and was in the right lane on a left hand bank turn. Had it been down hill I would probably not be alive to tell anyone about it. After several hours I was able to obtain a tow truck through several phone calls with my insurance, wife, and roadside assistance. The guy who came and bailed me out was the coolest dude on the planet. Gary who owns Northern Automotive in Redding towed me back to his shop and at 7:00 or so at night and we started working on the jeep. We got the track bar back in with a secure bolt and bolted up my shock with a big washer. I was back in business but, with no top, at night, 4000 foot elevation in the pass I decided to crashed for the night southbound at a motel 6. The next morning Feb 2nd I started out around 7:15 am. I made it all the way to Roseburg Oregon and lost the CV joint in the rear driveline around noon. I tried to drive it with front wheel drive but since there weren't any hubs to unlock and the front was locked up I couldn't keep it steady. This was as far as I could get. I called a buddy of mine Jason Woods who drove all the way from East Portland and picked me up with his 2006 Chevy 3/4 ton and trailer. I made it home and will never try a stunt like that again. I do have a wheeln rig now and will be busy working on it after the dust settles from this fiasco!

Pictures of the rig

Jarrod

Florenc ATV Trip (Sept 27th and 28th)

2008-09-29T22:44:00.000-07:00

Well, Dave and I got up @ 4:30, dragged ourselves to the prepacked trucks w/Quads and started the drive to Florence from Cornelius. We took 26 to 217 to I5. It took almost 4 hours with a stop for breakfast in Eugene at the Ye Olde Pancake House. It was a local version of Shari's and was quite good. After chowing down we headed to Florence South Jetty. We got to a 2 acre property owned by Dave's coworked Stan. We met up with Ed, Stans neighbor, and he mentioned the day use parking lot was filling up fast so we turned around and parked at the second day use staging area with all our gear. Ed, Stan's neighbor is 75 years old and has two 400ex quads. He loaded up and followed us to the parking site. We unloaded and hit the dunes. Ed showed us around all morning and ran some pretty cool trails. We broke for lunch and chowed down on sandwiches and cheese puff's which, Bitzy, Ed's dog, thouroughly enjoyed as well. We hit the dunes again and Ed rolled his quad on the second tree island south of S. Jetty. I thought the worst. Dave and I rushed over on our quads and help him up along with the quad. Ed was fine. His 75 year old bones were in better shape than mine I tell you. This guy was amazing. I hope I am still able to ride a quad at 75.
We finished up the day portion of our ride around 4:30 ish and headed back to setup camp. Stan's camp site resembled a waste recycling facillity complete with old trailers and spare parts from various unfinished projects. I can't complain, it was close and free! We setup camp tents and dining canopy and headed out around 6:45 for a night ride. Wow, I have never done a night ride on a quad and I am not sure I will again. It was pretty wild. You couldn't see over the approaching drop off, "Razor Backs" as they are called, so it made for an interesting ride. We rode till we were about to get kicked out around 10:00 pm and got out of there before they locked the gate.
Back at camp we had a few drinks, burgers, and enjoyed the raging camp fire for a few hours. At roughly midnight I think we decided to crash. I just want to say that all air matresses SUCK! I have yet to find one that doesn't leak! Needless to say after a rough nights sleep I woke up to a coyote and a black dog barking and howling. After the mutts left we got up and hit the dunes again. This time we were a bit sore from the previous rides but we still ripped it up pretty good. Old Ed had to get goin as he ran out of gas and flipped over to reserve so we followed him out. Dave and I packed up camp and headed for home. We stopped at good old Dairy Queen for a healthy lunch and made in home around 5:30 ish.

Florence Quad Trip (Solv run) 2008

2008-09-20T23:58:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up at 5:30 and smacked the alarm snooze button. Ten minutes later the insistent noise returned so I got out of bed. Did the usual morning hygene and met up with Dan in the Cornelius Fred Meyer parking lot @ 6:00 am. Almost four hours later we were at the South Jetty near Florence. We grabbed our Solv trash bags and headed out for a few hours picking up garbage.
Then the fun began. After riding around aimlessly for an hour and some change a subset of the original group got to have some real fun. We ran all over the South Jetty to Driftwood II campground. What a blast. I had been there before but it was so windy it was hard to make heads or tails of anything. We ran up so pretty steep bowls and tree shots as well as hit some pretty cool jumps. We basically started jumping the south side of all the razor backs. We had two Raptor 700's, one 660, and a Honda 400 with us. Nobody got hurt and we didnt' even have a wreck. Fun was had by all.

Fixed the website

2008-09-01T23:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, I found an old server in a closet and low and behold it had an old backup of wheeln from 2004. It didn't have everything but that is ok. I had the videos and that is what I wanted. Of course this isn't before I rerendered everything last week but it still saves me time making the shortened and compressed vids for the web. :) Cool, I am so happy.

Anyway, check out the old vids if you care.

Thanks
Jarrod

Wheeln Website Completely Hosed

2007-06-05T10:46:00.001-07:00

Well, I did it his time. I wanted to move hosts for one of my other sites. I first backed everything up and then made the move. Since my current host for wheeln only allows 100 mb of storage, I was using this other domain for several links. I thought I had pulled the files I needed down. When I had already terminated the other site, I realized the ftp completed but with errors. Guess what, I didn't get all my files and the old host (1and1) tells me the deleted the site once I cancelled the service.
Arrrggggg, I am so stupid.

It is going to take me a while to figure out what I want to do and rebuild the site.

I got my Jeep

2007-05-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally got my Jeep. It is a 98 TJ Wrangler with a 4.0 liter inline 6. It has 4.56 gears and front and rear ARB air lockers. I am stoked. I haven't taken it out just yet because for one I just bought it, and for two it needs a few things. I need an exhaust manifold and a few ujoints.

After that I think I will test it out in Tillamook State Forest.

Here are a few pics. MY_JEEP

Behind the 8 ball

2007-03-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Well, Since my last post I have done a few trail runs and of course made it down to Sweet Home for the Annual "MUD FEST" as I do every year.

First off I apologize for not getting the video on the wheeln.com website. I still don't have last years video of the MUD FEST on there. I am such a slacker. I will make an effort to do all of it this weekend.

Anyway, this years MUD FEST was awesome. I took my 2nd Samurai down there and had a blast. I didn't think it was going to do as well as the Blazer but it did better. Of course I didn't run through the big 44 holes but I didn't even do that with the Blazer. The little Samurai was awesome. I had it up on its ass end a few times and almost indo'd it once. It was caked in mud to the point you couldn't see the color of the paint. :)

At the end of the day I loaded up the trailer to get out of there. Once out on the hard ball I realized the Tahoe, I use to tow the toy, was stuck in low range. I spent 2 hours trying to get it out of low range and decided to drive it to camp where all my friends were. Once guy, Billy, is a GM mechanic. He tried to fix it for about 2 more hours but nothing was doing the trick. I called On Star and they were down for maintenance.... . ARGGGG! So luckily Jason came to the rescue with his AAA RV Plus card, which covers 100 mile tows. I owe him big! A tow truck arrived at the Waterloo campground and towed my Tahoe, trailer, and Sammy all the way to my house in Cornelius. Did you know it is exactly 99.7 miles from Waterloo to my house! :)
All in all it was a great trip but I have some issues with electronic 4 wheel drive. The funny thing was, the next day it came right out of low range. Unbelievable!

I recently traded the Samurai for another 400ex Honda ATV. We now have 2 of them. Fun summer I hope.

Look for 3 different sets of wheeln videos coming soon, including last years mud run.

Samurai in the woods

2006-09-23T18:05:00.000-07:00

I sent out a mail to OBH and Braille Trail groups.

Looks like Todd Brooks and I were the only ones who made it to Tillamook State Forest today Sept 23.

Todd brought his son Dominick and I brought my dog Duke.

We started off on Firebreak 5 and ended on Archers. In between we did Hogsback, Saddleup and a few others I have forgotten. Anyway it was a lot of fun and I broke in the Sammy. The only thing remotely broken is a few new rattles in Todd's Jeep and a known rear driver side bearing on its way out for my Sammy.

Here are few pics of the outing in case anyone wished to take a gander.

http://picasaweb.google.com/esniper/TSF_Sept_23_06

Jarrod

Sand Lake in the Sammy

2006-09-13T00:48:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got around to fix'n up the Samurai well enough to beat up on her. I ventured out to the Pacific Coast south of Tillamook Oregon to explore the sand dunes. It was fun but the little 1.3 liter on 33" tires was not a good combo for big hills made of sand. I had to get a serious high speed run at them even to come close to the top. Here are a few pics. SAMMY_SAND_LAKE

Hack'n up the Zuki

2006-08-01T22:35:00.000-07:00

Well I decided to cut the doors off. It was a little fun getting those little bad boys to come off but a cutting wheel and a dremel helped me out.

It looks like I am going to need a few things.
Ball joints for the Z link, Master Cylinder, front driveline ujoints, and probably new hubs.

Here is where I am posting all the picts now and in the future.
Link to all pics of the Sammy

I will have video of the Sammy in action on http://www.wheeln.com around the middle of August when I take her on the maiden voyage.

I bought an 88 Suzuki Samurai

2006-07-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

My next rig

2006-07-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

I am probably going to buy this Samurai tomorrow.
White Sammy
A few freinds have Samurais now and it sounds like a cheap way to have fun.
Since I sold the Blazer I have been jones'n something fierce to get out in the woods.
Jarrod

http://portland.craigslist.org/car/184698411.html

My old Blazer

2006-07-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

I saw my old Red Blazer a few times in various 4x4 shops around town a few months ago. I always wondered how she was doing and what trails she was visiting. It just so happens I got an email from the new owner and the Red beast is still alive and kicking. She has new doors on her, tires, and a new front and rear end. Wow!
This guy actually spent the money to make her street legal. My under the table "no cat" dual exhaust is gone.
It looks like Carl, the new owner has dumped 5k into fixing her up just to sell her. I thought I was crazy.
Anyway if you want to see more pics, here is a link.
Link to pics

Mudfest 2006 was cool but packed!

2006-03-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

Well this year was just as packed as last year. It was so packed it almost sucked. I did have a ball though. I ran the obstical race track in 1:38 while tools and shit were hitting me in the back of the head. Darrell was my codriver and both of us had to hang on for dear life as we rounded turns and hit the jumps but it was fun in a full sized Blazer. We ran the hill climb 3 times or so and made it without issue in the center and left side. We did all the bowls and decided to grab burgers for lunch. After we filled up on beer and burgers we decided to see if we could break something. Well it didn't take long. We hit one of the straight up and woopty doo'd bowls full throttle. We launched off the top and got air but I snapped the drivers side axel Ujoint when we came down. It grenaded both ends of the axel shafts. Oh well it was toward the end of day anyway. That is what they are for, having fun and breaking them so you have something to work on. :)

Jarrod

2006 Mud Fest

2006-02-06T23:20:00.000-08:00

The annual mudfest in Sweet Home Oregon,(www.themud.com), will be enjoying my company once again. The dumbest way to sell tickets possible is how they choose to do it every year. You have to call in Feb 4th starting @ 9:00 am Pacific. People from all over the nation start dialing and you get about 5 million busy signals before you get a live body on the phone. Anyway my wife had two cell phones and I was on the LAN line. My buddy, Darrell, and his wife were calling all the while communicating with me via MSN messenger to tell the other when we got a live body on the phone. Darrell actually got through in record time. @ 9:25 he had tickets. Wohoooo. Others were not so lucky.
Shane = 1:30 pm
Kevin = 1:35 pm
Linda "She Devil" did not get any... bumber!

I have seen them on EBAY and Craigslist for about $35 if anyone is interested.

It is going to be Awesome! Mud for everyone.......

Jarrod

Scio wheeln run 05

2005-12-04T03:11:00.000-08:00

I had never before heard of anything 4x4 related in Scio Oregon. It turns out this old guy let's people wheel in his backyard for $10 a pop almost every weekend.
It was pretty cool. He has trails, bogs, hill climbs, and a car to run over if you so desire. If you haven't gone, it is worth the drive past Salem to check it out.

Video is posted of the run under 4x4 runs.

Have a nice day!

Hello from Costa Rica (Quad Fun)

2005-08-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

Well I am on my honeymoon and my new bride and I decided to go run around the mountains on some Quads. It was awesome! I mean what else would you do on your honeymoon! :) Here is a pic.

Hot day in Tillamook

2005-07-31T20:26:00.000-07:00

Shane and I decided to head out to TSF, Tillamook State Forest and do some wheen.
Shane broke his transfer case but had it rolling in a half hour. I jammed in the driver door a bit and torward the end of the day did something to the carb. It is running strange now. Anyway we did 7up, Archers and a few other runs.
Here is a hairy pic.......

Forum on Wheeln dot Com now!

2005-07-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

I downloaded and installed php my admin and have been playing around with My SQL a bit. I haven't had the time to make it all work but I stumbled across a free packaged forum. I decided I would use it until I got my own up and running. It is called Pro Boards.

I have just started using it but so far so good.

Anyway if you are into 4x4's join up and post or at least check it out.
My forum link can be found at the top of www.wheeln.com.

Working on the Blazer

2005-07-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

I spent about 4 hours working on the Blazer last week. I replaced the stock intake with an Edelbrock performer and obviously replaced the thermostat. The reason I mention this is I have been having overheating problems. I decided to replace the clutch fan ($75) as well. I was pleased when I was able to pop the distributor back in the same place without any issues. Anyway with the new intake and clutch fan things seem to be working just fine. I went up last week with a bunch of OBH (Oregon Bush Hacker) guys and Shane, with his new Sami and had a little fun. Nothing worthy of video however! I will be heading up to the forest again on the 31st so stay tuned. It should be some good video as all of my crew now own video cam corders! :)

Working on website (Videos)

2005-07-25T10:57:00.000-07:00

Life seems to get in the way but I managed to get some more video up on the site.
I acquired a dvd from a fellow wheeler who was with me on most of these runs. The problem is I had to get it from the DVD format to a format I could work with. AVI is preferred but it creates a large file. I filled my 80 gig drive on my main system so I am using the 40 gig USB drive as my storage area for now. The I/O sucks but hey what are you gonna do. I have a 200 gig Linux workstation box and a 50 gig Linux fileserver that I normally use but they are offline at the moment. So anyway, I decided to rip from DVD to MPEG format. That was a mistake. Even with the highest quality output the audio sucks! I use Pinacle Studio and Adobe Premier to render and create my videos and I must say this last batch "OBH Run" really sux. If any of you out there are video guru's send me and email with a better way.

jarrod@wheeln.com

Been a while since I posted......

2005-05-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

So I could give all my excuses but I will spare you. I have been out on several 4x4 runs since my last post. I destroyed my passenger window and door via a cedar tree in the Tillamook State forest. Darrell in his 79 Chev w/ 38" Swampers grenaded his front end, "spider gears". Kevin in the 71 Bronco sliced open his lower radiator hose. I overheated on the last run and ran the rest of the day with the heat on full blast on a day when it was about 80 ~ 90 degrees out, that was fun! All in all the usual stuff.
One exciting thing for me is the new trailer. It is a 10,000 pound tandem axel setup with electric brakes. Man electric brakes are so much better than surger bumper brakes. Some day I will upgrade to a gooseneck but, for now, I am enjoying owning my own trailer. I hate the hassel of renting every time I want to go wheeln.

Well check out the site ( http://www.wheeln.com ) for all the latest pix and vids of our crazy adventures.

Till next time......

Jarrod

Darrell's first run and almost my last

2005-03-22T10:20:00.000-08:00

So I took a buddy/coworker of mine to Mudfest a few weeks ago. He enjoyed it so much the following week he bought a truck. That very next weekend we went to Tillamook State Forest and beat it up.

Check out the videos here:
http://www.wheeln.com/4x4_runs/4x4_runs_frameset.htm --> click on TSF 03/19/2005

It was supposed to be a light 4x4 run. It turned out to be moderate to difficult.
For those of you familiar with TSF we did the entire Archers run. We bypassed Archers Waterfall though. :) There was a guy in a International Scout who had just rolled it on the fall. We figured we would not follow in his footsteps. :)

All for now
Jarrod