Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and is looking forward to the New Year!

Found out this past weekend that the mud terrain tires absolutely suck in the snow. Had a pretty good cold snap and a bit of snow that the road crews plowed but did not salt (not complaining, I hate the salt!). Helped some family move yesterday and some spinning and a bit of sliding. Downshifting to slow down was the worst. But, overall still happy with the choice to go big.

 

...and that right there is what Ex owners do with these rigs, help people...

Love dragging them out of snow banks.

 

Not really build related, but picked this Jeep up over the weekend. I'll daily this for a while while so I can get to work on Clifford doing some projects that I desperately need done.

1. Inner and outer rockers
2. Door bottoms
3. Roof sand down and raptor liner (or whatever brand)
4. Other sheet metal (front fender, b and c pillars, rear fenders)

I have quite a lot of rust these days and I'm not liking it. Plus, this Jeep will be easier to tow behind the coach and I won't have to deal with the tow dolly. And, I might have some fun doing it!

It's a 17, appears to have been done right, and needs a regear for the tires that are on it. There are a few changes I'll make, like the lights (which don't work very well), not sure I'll keep the jack up there, MTs need to go. Interior is nice, and the best part is, there's almost no rust at all!

 

Really nice ride Keith! I miss my Jeep!

I have more chances of buying another Jeep than I do of finishing my Ex. conversion this year.

Project is on hold again since the birth of another grandchild...who we're raising. He really cute but has no torque to pull a trailer. LOL

I'm seriously considering sending it to be finished since I'm time broke most of the time.

 

Nice Keith,
yeah, those MTs need to be gone,
put street treads of the proper size for the gears, and tow it....

I took off ATs and put on Michelin Defender LTX M/S because of the noise, and lousy handling.

 

Thanks! I think I'll enjoy it! Too bad your X is on hold, but family comes before everything for sure!

I did love my Michelins, got a ton of miles out of them. I'll keep this a bit on the offroad side and go with an AT. I've looked at several different ones and haven't quite settled on one yet. I like the Nittos, but there are other good options I'm considering. We'll see where I fall out. The tires are new enough, I bet I could sell them as takeoffs and recoup some of my tire expense.

 

my son is using 10 ply Toyos and really likes them

 

How interesting, I've also picked up a black four door Jeep as yet another project. One of my sons wanted a Jeep, and since I couldn't afford a nice one, I picked up this 2009 with a bad engine (dropped a valve seat). This one is the less desirable 3.8 engine JK (apparently the 3.6 is better), doing a basic stock rebuild (.020 over) and throwing some 5.13 gears and 37's at it. Should be plenty good enough for a highschool kid.

 

The open country is on the list as are the Nittos and the BFGs. Seems like people either love or hate the BFG. Nittos are expensive, and more people like the Toyo than not. That's probably my short list.

Should be fun! I wonder if a person could find a 4.0 I6 and get it to fit in a newer model Jeep. Those were good motors.

 

I originally wanted to LS swap it (plenty of aftermarket support for that and I'd take an LS over the Jeep I6 4.0 anyway), but since this is going to be a kid vehicle and said kid might end up going off to college in an area that requires emissions testing, I made the decision to just keep it fully emissions intact/ legal so he can register it wherever he goes without issue.

And side benefit, just repairing the 3.8 is cheaper than engine swapping it too, so more money available for fun stuff (like gears/ lockers/ tires/ bumpers, etc).
...

 

Hey folks! Been a while since I posted an update. Not much going with the X. I have a bit over 50K on the odometer since the conversion. Still haven't done the 271 transfer case. Might get to that rebuild this winter. We've been pretty busy with travel this year. Several smaller trips but the one of note was out to Teton and Glacier NP on a two week run out west. I could stay in Glacier for a month and not get tired of it. We flat towed the Jeep out there and it was flawless except for the janky CV joint in the front driveshaft.

I've driven the X for most of this week and it's good to be back shifting gears again. One complaint I have at this point is the 37" tires. They sure do look cool, but even with the torque of the Cummins and being able to control gear selection, I did NOT like the way it hauled a 12' tandem axle box trailer this week. Had to put a new fridge in the coach, so I borrowed the box trailer and drug it around for two days going back and forth. Not fun at all. I see a couple of options.

1. 35" tires next time around. This will help with turn radius overall and definitely when backing a trailer. Also, not as much gearing required when towing.
2. Regear to probably 4.10s. More expensive because I still need new tires on top of that.

I really enjoy the way the X drives unloaded now, but I didn't build it the way I did to daily drive (necessarily). The original intention was to be a tow rig for a camper, but we went to the coach so I don't really need the capability now. Heck, I don't even really need the X any more at all. I'm keeping it, if nothing else for nostalgic reasons, for the foreseeable future.

So, anyone have opinions on all that? If I regear it, I'll get a lot more pep (I think) and be able to keep the 37" rubber. If I don't, I really feel that to tow the boat and any trailer I want to (for whatever reason), I should go down to 35" rubber.

 

After having 35s and 37s, I wouldn't do 37s again. Mine just ran into the truck on every turn and I hated that. My BFG "37s" were true 35s and fit like a glove. 4.10 would take it another step further, and give you a little more oomph, plus I think it's a solid move to make if you're running big rubber.. If you're set on the 37s, maybe ponder 4.30, but nothing past that since you've got a diesel. The only downside to 4.10 is it's not a big jump but it is expensive. It's a solid opportunity to toss a TrueTrac in though

 

I'm still loving my 35" Nittos on the18" SVT's less sidewall than a 35 on 16". Less 'flubbery' (my new word). I can't recall if you're still on 16's Keith. If you are, sell them as a set with the rubber.

I sure wouldn't sell my Ex. either, even though we may be selling our Passport 2810BH since we so rarely use it.

 

Thanks! I might try out a set of 35s first and see what I think. I don't think I'll be disappointed in the overall look of the X and it might get me just enough for the little towing I do these days. And if it doesn't, I can go to a taller gear.

Thanks! I'm running 17" wheels these days. Interesting that you say "flubbery". One of the complaints I had driving with the trailer was that the rear of the X was a little wobbly. I attribute most of that to the hitch I was using. It's one of those multi piece hitches where you can move it up or down based on trailer height. If I were towing that trailer all the time, I'd get the appropriate drop height in a standard hitch. The other part though, seems to me to be the tires. I have them aired down a bit, but they are 10 ply (E range), so I could crank them up a bit next time (if there is one).

 

You could stay with a 37 inch tire and go up to a 20 inch wheel for less sidewall flex when towing.

Guess it really depends on what you want the truck to be good at. It can’t be good at everything, there are compromises in every modification .

Like if you want it to be good offroad, then keep the 17 inch wheels because sidewall flex when the tires are aired down offroad is your friend, but that same sidewall flex makes it worse for towing.

As for tire size, I say keep the 37’s regardless (wish I’d gone 37s actually). If you do gears, go for at least 4.30’s. You’ll barely notice a difference between 3.73 and 4.10, heck even going to 4.30s isn’t a huge jump. For what’s it worth, Ford put 4.30s in some trucks stock (like my old 08 dually) and those trucks run around on the small stock size tires, so it’s not like 4.30s are crazy low. With your double overdrive G56, you could even go lower ( like 4.88s maybe) and still be fine.
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