Jeep 8.8 or Dana 45 for TJ

My brother and I were out wheeling and he totaled his rear axle out on the trails. He was running a Dana 35 on his 33" tires and it just couldn't hang. We have an extra 8.8 in the garage we were about to build up, but he needs something quick and we don't have the time to piece it together right now.

He has a 2002 wrangler, and want's something that's ready to bolt up to a TJ. No welding, no hamering, he want's something that's ready to drop in.

If your in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and have something, post up and I'll contact you!

Wheeling in Gilmer Texas

Took my jeep to Gilmer for memorial day.. WOW is all I have to say. The new trailer in Gilmer look awesome and I had a blast. I'll be posting pictures of the trip soon. Barnwell Mountain is the best place in my opinion for texas wheeling, next to katemacy. I just had to let ya'll know how much fun I had out there and I hope to see more of ya'll out there next time.

Fort Worth Jeep Club

Looking for a jeep club in fort worth? There are a couple really good jeep clubs in Fort Worth, and in the general dallas fort worth area. If you want to do some hardcore wheeling, check out the cowtownjeepclub.com... If you are a beginner, and have never done any wheeling in your jeep before, or are looking for soem family style fun, I would recommend you check out the Lonestar Jeep Club (lsjc.com)... Looking for some good ol hardcore wheeling, regardless of vehicle type? Check out the FWD-FWD (Fort Worth Dallas - Four Wheel Drive) at fwd-fwd.org.

I hope you find a club that works for ya!

Washington DC Jeep

There's a new term that's been going around for pretty street jeeps that aren't wheeled. When someone lifts a jeep just to look cool, it's called a Washington DC Jeep. If your looking for Jeeps in Washington DC, well, we all know your not going to wheel it. Your probably better off getting an Izuzu Amigo or a Power Wheels Jeep in Washington DC.

So anyone seen any Washington DC Jeeps lately?

Make your own sway bar quick disconnects

Making your own sway bar disconnects is very simple. You can do this with any vehicle, but this article will be based upon making sway bar disconnects for a Jeep Wrangler (YJ/TJ) using the stock components.

Your first method is simple. What you do is take your stock sway bar end links, and cut them in half. You then grab your welder and weld a sleeve to the upper end link, just big enough for the bottom end link to slide in. Slide them together and align them properly, then drill a 1/4" hole through both the sleeve and the bottom endlink. Take a 1/4" cotterless hitch pin and insert one into each end link.... And now you have $5 sway bar disconnects.

For a Jeep TJ (97-06), you can buy two 2 1/2"x7/16" Clevis pins, two Cotter Pins, and four 7/16" washers. Remove the lower bolt on your sway bar end links and insert the cotter pin with a washer on both sides. Slide in your clevis pin, and you now have a cheap sway bar disconnect.

These mods are not recommended for road use, and I assume no responsibility for your modifications.

Increase Gas Tank Capacity - Jeep YJ/XJ - 15 to 20 gallon conversion

You can easily modify your stock Jeep Wrangler or Jeep Cherokee gas tank to hold 20 gallons if you only have a 15 gallon tank. Daimler Chrysler only made one tank for the Jeep YJ and Cherokee (87-95). So, if you didn't buy the 20 gallon tank option, the vent hose in the tank was extended so that you could only fill 15 gallons into the tank before it forced the pump to shut off.

It was a great way for them to save money, and I am glad they didn't make 2 tanks, because I now have a 20 gallon tank.

The modification is very, very simple. I am going to give instructions for doing this on a Jeep Wrangler, but you can use about the same steps to do it on a Jeep Cherokee. I will not give detailed instructions as the mechanically inclined can pick up on this. It's pretty simple, so use your head.


Our target today is the smaller vent tube going from your gas cap to your tank. You can drop the tank, or you can leave the tank in place. Since you are changing the capacity of your tank, you might want to drop it (empty all the gas first) and lower the fuel sending unit one notch (to correct your gas gauge).

I don't care how you get there, but remove the smaller vent tube from your gas tank's filler neck (after de-presurizing your fuel system). One you have it removed, you will see a smaller tube inside there. Pull this tube out using pliers. It's about 10" long and extends into your gas tank. Remove this tube and cut it down to about 2 1/2". After cutting it down, reinsert it into the tank and bolt everything back up...

You now have a 20 gallon tank!

Make your own snorkel

So you want a snorkel. A snorkel is a great investment as it can prevent damage to your engine, but there's more to it than just stabbing a piece of PVC through your cowling. You need to seal your distributor cap, every electrical connection and component, and well.. you need to waterproof EVERYTHING under your hood to really protect your motor.

This is going to be a pretty quick post as there are already many, many great resources out there for putting a snorkel on your jeep. My buddy wants me to get this up over here to better expose these resources and to help others get set up properly, as opposed to just guessing. So, without further.

Instead of buying one of the gay looking ARB snorkels, try building your own home made snorkel for your vehicle. If you build your own snorkel, you will save a couple hundred bucks and end up with something that is just as good. Now I'm not talking about building your own diving equipment, that would just be stupid. Though you could probably win some darwin awards with your homemade dive tank made out of a propane tank.

So if your thinking about building your own snorkle, here are some good write-ups that I found useful. I will be posting my own instruction on how I did my friends next week. Were still getting together the materials and deciding whether to do a hummer style snorkel on his jeep, or if we will do an ARB style snorkel

	Make your own jeep snorkel (www.freecarkits.com) "I’m not a daily mudder, in fact hate mud, but I’ve come close to testing the limits of the current intake system, and it only takes 2 Tsp of water to destroy an engine. Also, a cold air system would be nice to have, and I needed to install the welder too." This is a great write up for making an ARB style snorkel at home.
	3" ABS Snorkel for a Cherokee (www.pirate4x4.com) "The snorkel is basically constructed from 3" flexible aluminum ducting, and 3" ABS pipe." This snorkel is much smaller than others, but as you can see you can easily keep an additional piece of tubing in your vehicle and when you know you will be crossing water, you can attach the piece of tubing belower the upper elbow, making it a very versatile snorkle.
	Do it Yourself Snorkel Project (www.bc4x4.com) "The premise of a snorkel is obvious; move your air intake up higher by relocating the stock intake. To do this you need to have some kind of filter box that has both an inlet and an outlet (to allow filtered air to get to the engine). This needs to all be connected using air tight fittings. It took me all of an hour to decide on the basic set up."
	Custom Deep Water Air Intake - in cab snorkel (www.madxj.com) "After seeing the deep-water snorkels on the market I knew that something like that was needed. The only thing is that I don't need a snorkel that would allow the Jeep to cross streams up to its roofline on my daily driver and the price was a turn off on top of that. So I came up with my own system for about $11.00."
	Grand Cherokee Snorkel How-To (www.Jeephorizons.com) "As you may know the snorkel for the Jeep Grand Cherokee is expensive and hard to find. I hate to spend my money on parts that cost a lot and give me little by way of return.. Meaning, why spend $400 when I can spend $40? So when it came time to put a snorkel on my rig"
	Do It Yourself Cheap Snorkel (www.jeepaholics.com) "Well I made this snorkel about two years ago now, and I figured since so many people have asked about it, I would go ahead and do a write up. Now, as I said, its been a while since I put this together, so the prices may not be totally accurate, but I pieced it together for around 40 bucks or so."

Well, that's it guys. Good luck building your own snorkel, and DO NOT forget to properly seal everything under your hood, or your snorkle will do nothing to save your engine!