AssBurns 2000 Limited Build Thread

[AssBurns]

Well if anyone hasn’t seen how my weekend went, here it is. It was actually one of the best weekends I’ve had in a while despite everything that happened. My wife, daughter and I went to Ocotillo Wells for Tierra Del Sol this past weekend and met up with some friend that I grew up with but never made it out to the desert with before. So this was the first time wheeling with them. They are all Baja racers and grew up racing Jeep Speed and other classes. We got out there Friday night and within 2 minutes of getting to camp, we were aired down and on our way wheeling. Just goes to show that there was no ***** footing around. They wanted to find some of the hardest stuff out there which was some pretty nasty notches (Not the notches everyone usually goes to but some super gnarly stuff that most sane people wouldn’t attempt in a vehicle). I had to bypass the really hard stuff but still made it through some pretty wild stuff for being only 2wd still. I did have to hook up the strap a couple times in some sandy sections. After some of that we cruised down to the Iron Door, which is a hokey little bar in the middle of the desert. Drank a few Pacifico’s then made our way back to camp and proceeded to drink by the fire until the last one went to bed. Pretty much did the same thing on Saturday, and Sunday too.
So all that fun didn’t come without any damage. If you haven’t been out to the Truckhaven/Ocotillo Wells area, it’s all big mud hills, washes and notches (which are giant ruts that can start from being a little rut that you can drive over then turn into a 10-15 foot deep mini canyon that a vehicle can barely squeeze through). Well there were some spots that were just that, squeezing through and hitting body panels. Got a nice set of scratches along with a dent on the rear passenger side quarter panel from Friday night. Then on Saturday I cut the corner just a couple inches too close to the wall and blew out my drivers side rear window. Then rubbed the wall again shortly after than in the same spot. Good thing there was no window to break that time! Then what ended the night for be want blowing out my rear end again going up a sandy hill coming out of one of the notches.

Overall the weekend was an absolute blast wheeling and watching my buddies in their built rigs do some pretty wild stuff.


This was right after blowing out my window and hitting the quarter panel again. The notch finally opened up enough to get out and check it out.

The new dent above the fender from Friday night

Tail light got some fresh cracks in it.

Blown out ring gear.

Pinion has a couple small chips but no broken teeth.

Video of the broken diff. No idea how this happened.
https://youtu.be/y0-87ItR76E


Those 40” tires make the ledge look tiny.

My daughter spectating. She wouldn’t let us take her out of her onesie [emoji23]

My daughter seeing how deep the ledge was first hand

We climbed through some mud tunnels

A TTB swapped XJ [emoji1619]
Some inspiration right here!

 

[theesotericone]

Video of the broken diff. No idea how this happened.

Talk about getting after it. Your living up to my mantra. Build it, beat it, break it, repeat.

Are the bearing caps bolts still tight? Maybe they came loose allowing play in the bearing then total destruction?

 

[psraff]

This was right after blowing out my window and hitting the quarter panel again. The notch finally opened up enough to get out and check it out.

Seems like our windows always take a beating. I've seen quite a few of these on this forum, mine included. Always wanted to weld up some armor to protect them.

 

[4-Ripcord]

wait you took out another diff?

 

[phattyduck]

wait you took out another diff?

Looks like he's 0 wheel drive at the moment. eep:

-Charlie

 

[AssBurns]

Talk about getting after it. Your living up to my mantra. Build it, beat it, break it, repeat.

Are the bearing caps bolts still tight? Maybe they came loose allowing play in the bearing then total destruction?

Not super proud of it at the moment. Sometimes I'd rather just spend my time wheeling or upgrading, not repairing breakages again and again.

The bearing caps are still tight. All the painted bolt torque marks were still lined up.

I spoke with ECGS today and they said - "All the pressure is on that side. When it shock loaded it jumped the threads, that’s why the lock is still in place but bent way out. It never spun just shot out.

You can send it in again and we will go through it. Be advised do to the short duration of the diff life you need to either get a bigger diff or change driving style.

What size tires are on it?"

I'm not sure if they believe me when I told them the hill I was going up wasn't bad enough to cause this IMO.

Seems like our windows always take a beating. I've seen quite a few of these on this forum, mine included. Always wanted to weld up some armor to protect them.

It would be cool to have some sort of way to protect the window, but anything I can think of would look retarded or just get in the way. I should probably just pay closer attention to things when I'm wheeling in tight situations.

wait you took out another diff?

Yeah I don't feel like this one was completely my fault though. Could be, but I don't think so. :shrug:

Looks like he's 0 wheel drive at the moment. eep:

-Charlie

:flipoff:

 

[Inv4drZm]

It would be cool to have some sort of way to protect the window, but anything I can think of would look retarded or just get in the way. I should probably just pay closer attention to things when I'm wheeling in tight situations.

4x4labs makes a rear bumper for 4th gens and they have 'side sliders' on the sides of the bumper wings. Should help push your rear end off of obstacles.

3rd gen rear bumpers aren't as huge as the 4th's but they still might help. Should be easy to weld on to yours.

 

[theesotericone]

Not super proud of it at the moment. Sometimes I'd rather just spend my time wheeling or upgrading, not repairing breakages again and again.

I understand that. Everything is a lesson man. Just learn from it and move on.

My first truly capable off-road rig was my 77 F-250. 400M fully built, 4 speed with granny 1st, 6 inches of lift and 38's. I was 22 or so when I built it. I broke everything on that rig at least once. Some things multiple times.

I was young and drove it like a race car. I didn't care because I had another DD and the skills and money to fix it when needed. Breaking shit was like a badge of honor between my friends and I. The more obstacles you did the better. To do them you, or one up your buds, you ended up broken a lot of the time. I had a blast doing it.

Looking back, I could have still done everything I did in it without breaking nearly as much. I have a much larger skill set now. I'm older and drive fast when needed but slow when it's smart too. I lived and I learned.

 

[Dezert4Runner]

So you had to put the runner on one of you buddies’ trailers to get it home or what? That situation reminds me of Danny out at Calico. About 2 hours from home and a broken rear diff!

That JeepSpeed is bad ass! I don’t like Jeeps a whole lot but that thing is what I want my 3rd gen to grow up to be one day but with IFS Long travel.

Off topic but I saw a post of yours in the Southwest regional section about a trip near Williams in Arizona. Did you hit any trails out there? Any recommendations? We’ll be in Sedona next month and we’re making a day trip from there to the Grand Canyon South Rim and Bearizona but I’d like to hit an easy trail if there’s something worth a detour in the vicinity.

 

[AssBurns]

4x4labs makes a rear bumper for 4th gens and they have 'side sliders' on the sides of the bumper wings. Should help push your rear end off of obstacles.

3rd gen rear bumpers aren't as huge as the 4th's but they still might help. Should be easy to weld on to yours.

I've seen those things before but I doubt that those would have helped in this particular situation since I think the body actually leaned into the wall pretty hard, not just rubbing along it. Some of those tubes seem like they would just end up getting in the way and getting caught up on stuff. Good idea for folks that want to protect themselves from body damage, but I just don't want to break windows really. I'm assuming you are talking about something like this? https://forum.ih8mud.com/attachments/rearbumber2-jpg.55693/

I understand that. Everything is a lesson man. Just learn from it and move on.

My first truly capable off-road rig was my 77 F-250. 400M fully built, 4 speed with granny 1st, 6 inches of lift and 38's. I was 22 or so when I built it. I broke everything on that rig at least once. Some things multiple times.

I was young and drove it like a race car. I didn't care because I had another DD and the skills and money to fix it when needed. Breaking shit was like a badge of honor between my friends and I. The more obstacles you did the better. To do them you, or one up your buds, you ended up broken a lot of the time. I had a blast doing it.

Looking back, I could have still done everything I did in it without breaking nearly as much. I have a much larger skill set now. I'm older and drive fast when needed but slow when it's smart too. I lived and I learned.

I always seem to quickly forget how much it sucks to break your vehicle enough to leave it out of service for weeks on end. I get the whole badge of honor thing, but I don't have much of that kind of pride. I just get a little stupid in the moment of things and say "Fvck it!" a little too often. I always seem to have a blast doing it though!

So you had to put the runner on one of you buddies’ trailers to get it home or what? That situation reminds me of Danny out at Calico. About 2 hours from home and a broken rear diff!

That JeepSpeed is bad ass! I don’t like Jeeps a whole lot but that thing is what I want my 3rd gen to grow up to be one day but with IFS Long travel.

Off topic but I saw a post of yours in the Southwest regional section about a trip near Williams in Arizona. Did you hit any trails out there? Any recommendations? We’ll be in Sedona next month and we’re making a day trip from there to the Grand Canyon South Rim and Bearizona but I’d like to hit an easy trail if there’s something worth a detour in the vicinity.

Yeah I put it on my buddy's trailer and drove his XJ home. I really need to get a truck and trailer just for this reason. I can't really afford that at the moment though since I don't want to finance a vehicle and don't have the cash to buy one in full. JeepSpeed is pretty sweet for sure! These guys are pretty involved in pretty much all sorts of offroad racing. My buddy preps race vehicles before races on everything from Baja Trophy trucks to Ultra4 buggies.

I want the same thing out of my vehicle except I don't really like the week front end that our rigs come with, so I'll be swapping that with something a little stronger.

When we went to AZ, we ended up not taking the 4runner and just made a road trip out of it to check out the cities a little more since we someday want to move out there. There looks to be all sorts of pretty cool trails out there though!

 

[JBurt]

Glad you had a good time. Sorry about the diff. Maybe this will help

https://www.ajtdesign-llc.com/online-store/Beer-Runner-Patch-p90515189

 

[AssBurns]

Glad you had a good time. Sorry about the diff. Maybe this will help

https://www.ajtdesign-llc.com/online-store/Beer-Runner-Patch-p90515189

That's pretty awesome! I'm not a patch guy, but I went ahead and bought one just for the hell of it haha. Thanks for the share!

 

[Inv4drZm]

I've seen those things before but I doubt that those would have helped in this particular situation since I think the body actually leaned into the wall pretty hard, not just rubbing along it. Some of those tubes seem like they would just end up getting in the way and getting caught up on stuff. Good idea for folks that want to protect themselves from body damage, but I just don't want to break windows really. I'm assuming you are talking about something like this? https://forum.ih8mud.com/attachments/rearbumber2-jpg.55693/

Yes, but more angled outwards to push off of trees. Like you said though they could get caught on more stuff but 3rd gens are narrow right? I've seen a guy weld them on at even more of an outward angle than this:

 

[AssBurns]

This past weekend was pretty frustrating to say the least. Got pretty much nothing accomplished. My plans were to fix my broken window, but it was raining all day Saturday so I could only get so much done between the few dry periods. I did get the window surface cleaned up and cut the new window out of the quarter panel that a buddy gave me that had a good window still in it. Waited till Sunday for things to dry up so I could put the new window in. Last week I ordered some 3M Single Step Primer and 3M Windo-Weld Urethane. When I opened up the primer, the jar was dried out already! What was supposed to be liquid was rock hard. Luckily Amazon is pretty awesome and with a quick email, I'll have a new one here tomorrow.
I also had some other plans to do some work outside on Saturday but rain killed that pretty quickly.
After reading BFAD's thread, I went ahead and purchased a wireless winch remote control and was planning to do that on Sunday as well. A couple issues I had with that project. Firstly, when I went to unbolt one of the nuts that hold the wire to the solenoid on the winch controller, the bolt just broke off the solenoid. I was able to solder the wires together but eventually I'll need to replace that solenoid. Shortly after that I realized that my winch controller uses 5 wires instead of the 3 that most winches use. I guess it can still work but I haven't really figured out exactly how yet. So while I was trying to figure that out, I decided to bench test the remote controller it didn't seem to work. I was able to hear the solenoid click but it wasn't sending any power to the wires that are supposed to control the in/out on the winch. Sent that back for return today. Once I figure out how to wire it all up correctly, I will order another one.

Lastly and most importantly was fixing my diff. Initially I was going to have a really good buddy fix it for me since he knows how to set up a diff and was is able to get a really good deal on some gears and install kit. I figured it would save me some time since shipping the diff back to ECGS was going to take 4 days minimum each way plus time to get it fixed there. He let me know that he would be super busy all week at the MINT 400 and would be able to help me on Sunday or Monday, and should have the parts by then. Well I spoke to him Wednesday right before he left for the MINT 400 and haven't heard back from him since. No response to my calls or texts. The whole idea for me to go through him was to save time. Now I can't expect to wait on him any longer so I will be shipping it back to ECGS tomorrow. Luckily they are super awesome to deal with but now I will still be looking at another 2 weeks minimum to have my diff back in.

I'm pretty frustrated right now. Mostly at the whole diff thing. What a waste of my time!

 

[JBurt]

That blows. I'm sorry your weekend and your diff aren't working out well. I wish I was closer and new how to set up diffs.

Looks like someone needs a DD.

https://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/d/99-lexus-sc300/6518205403.html

 

[Tyler James Inc]

Holy shít dude; that's so frustrating.
At least we all know we aren't alone when we have days/weekends like that.
You definitely need a little Civic or something to DD!
And tell ECGS to set your diff up correctly this time [emoji849]

 

[AZBub]

When we went to AZ, we ended up not taking the 4runner and just made a road trip out of it to check out the cities a little more since we someday want to move out there. There looks to be all sorts of pretty cool trails out there though!

There are TONS of trails across the whole state. Everyone seems to think Sedona is it. The truth is those trails are super short.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AssBurns]

That blows. I'm sorry your weekend and your diff aren't working out well. I wish I was closer and new how to set up diffs.

Looks like someone needs a DD.
https://inlandempire.craigslist.org/cto/d/99-lexus-sc300/6518205403.html

That's exactly what I did. Picked up an '04 Lexus ES330 a couple weeks back when this whole diff thing happened. Got a great deal on it and it fits my needs as a DD perfectly. It's gonna be nice to have a reliable DD so I can spend more time working on the BeerRunner and not have to button it up by Monday morning.

There are TONS of trails across the whole state. Everyone seems to think Sedona is it. The truth is those trails are super short.

That's what I've heard. Moving to AZ in in my 5 year plan. I'm thinking maybe checking out Prescott Valley or somewhere in that direction. Seems like it's close enough to the desert, mountains and river and sounds like it has moderate weather.

 

[AssBurns]

Well as for updates, not a whole lot going in over here right now. Window is fixed. The new rear end is back in and just about done with the 500 mile break in. ECGS is still super awesome! Not only did they rebuild my diff for the second time, but they also sent me 12 quarts of Lucas Gear Oil for me to flush the fluid after 500, then every 1500 miles after to make sure all the shavings get out. They absolutely did not have to do that, but they wanted to make sure their customer was taken care of. If you haven't heard me say it already, I'll say it again. If you are looking for gears or lockers, send your stuff to ECGS. They have not only the best warranty policy, but they also have the absolute best customer service I have ever dealt with as a customer.


I took my wife and kids out to Joshua Tree area for Easter to camp and just get away from the holiday BS. It was super fun and relaxing to just get away by ourselves and enjoy each others company. We even woke up before the kids and hid some Easter eggs for my 3yo daughter to find. She thought it was so silly of the Easter Bunny to come all the way out to the middle of the desert to deliver a basket and hide eggs. Were we went was about 90 miles from my house and I was still breaking in the gears, so we stopped every 20-30 minutes to let the new diff cool down and find somewhere to enjoy a beer. That was fun too, even though it made a 90 minute drive into about 4 hours :cheers: We didn't do a whole lot of offroading since the diff needed to be broken in still, so we just cruised around the easy trails. We stopped to do some shooting (Even my 3yo daughter did some shooting with my 9mm). After checking out the area that we camped at, just east of JT National Park off of Old Dale Mining Rd., we cruised over to the park. We went in to Indian Cove Campground to have lunch and play on the rocks for a few hours. My daughter absolutely loved that part of the trip. We climbed all the way up to top of one of the rock piles, which is pretty high and steep for a little kid, but she kept wanting to climb further and further until we made it to the top. She climbed most of the way up unassisted except for the bigger ledges. It was actually a little scary how comfortable she was climbing up these giant rocks. Totally fun to see her enjoy getting outside and having a blast out there.



On top of the rocks

Easter Egg Hunt

Shooting

Watching her movie before bed

A picture I took at 11:30 at night before bed.

Well now on to some somewhat good but also extremely frustrating news. I finally got around to pulling the front diff back out again. This time I actually split the clamshell to assess the damages. So, I was expecting to find some broken spider gears or something else broken. I opened it up to find that everything seems to look perfectly normal. I cannot find a single flaw in that differential. That's pretty good news in a way, but it is frustrating that I still have not pinpointed the cause of my CV's binding and breaking. What is weird is, I didn't do anything different to anything when all this started happening. I was out at the desert and broke a CV like I have before, but this last time I couldn't keep the CV's from breaking anytime I was in 4WD even on flat ground. My only other though is possibly something in my T-case ins binding the front output shaft side of things. Idk... For now, I will be cruising around with no front diff until I figure things out. 2LO FTW

Pretty bummed since I will be up in Big Bear for the weekend to do some wheeling, but I'll be riding in my buddy's rig this time around. Maybe it'll motivate me to actually spend some more time and money to fix this thing the right way.

 

[phattyduck]

Did you check the ADD system and the right side needle bearing for issues? That's kinda all that's left up front...

-Charlie