the new photo vehicle!!

[Daniel Buck]

to get me out and about, into the wilderness for photography :D And also to get me back and forth from work, since the mustang's a little to much for every day driving now

http://404photography.net/wip/jeep02.jpg

[Jim Copp]

Congrats Daniel
Nice jeep and a Rubicon at that! They sure have come a long way since my old '77 CJ5... come to think of it, I sure miss that old jeep LoL What do they have for a drivetrain in the Rubicon?
Jim

[Daniel Buck]

Dana 44's in front and rear with remote-triggered locking differentials, 4.11 gears, and a 4:1 transfer case. 6-speed manual, and I think the driveshafts are beefier too, but I'm not positive on that.

Gonna put a quick disconnect on the front swaybar, and possibly a few other little things, we'll see.

[Jim Copp]

Wow! a factory built rock crawler. Sounds like Jeep is now doing everything that we wanted to do, They really are a go anywhere vehicle. My wife thinks that we should sell her Alfa and buy another Jeep. Hmmm

[Daniel Buck]

Yea, it seems like Jeep hit it on the head with the Rubicon models, they even made the fender flares a bit wider since alot of folks will probably put larger tires on. The newer ones (2007 and up) have electronic swaybar disconnects, and I think some other sort of electronically controlled differential (not sure on that).

I was originally just going to get a regular Wrangler X, but once I started reading what was in the Rubicon, that made my mind up :-)

I don't plan on doing crazy rock crawling or extreme off roading, but I'd like having some of those features just incase I come upon something thing that needs a bit more to get through. I think on the Rubicon's also when the rear is not locked, it's limited-slip instead of an open diff, so even that right there is nice. Without even locking it up it'll be better than an open differential, for most of the off-roading I'll be doing I'll probably hardly ever need to lock the rear up, maybe the front. I hated the open differential on the truck I used to have, it would get stuck in wet grass :-( haha!

What I'd really like is an old FJ40, but they are pricy when they are in good condition!

[Morgan J Segal]

I've actually taken a Rubicon over the Rubicon. Congrats

http://www.mjswebgallery.com/rubicon/images/07%20Jeep%20Rubicon068.jpg

http://www.mjswebgallery.com/rubicon/images/07%20Jeep%20Rubicon077.jpg

http://www.mjswebgallery.com/rubicon/images/07%20Jeep%20Rubicon138.jpg


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[Daniel Buck]

Nice :-D That's like a 4-day trail, isn't it? I bet that was fun!

[Morgan J Segal]

It took two days to go twelve miles. It was fun for the first 4 hours, after that it was just relentless rock crawling at 1mph, you'd spend 45 minutes trying to get over one hump only to find another on the other side. After a while you couldn't wait for it to be over. We did a lot of damage to the Jeeps too.
Overall a good time (the camping was fun), but I prefer off roading where you are moving along a little faster, with some technical stuff thrown in every now and then.
There is a lot of good off-roading up in Mojave and Death Valley areas, been on some great camping trips up there.

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[Daniel Buck]

Yep yep, I agree! I'm not looking to get into rock crawling like that, the possibility of damaging the vehicle (and potentially rolling it!) is way to high for me, especially when this is my daily driver.

I'm looking forward to hitting the more milder trails in the Mojave. And photographing near the jeep so I don't have to haul the heavy 8x10 very far on my back :-D Maybe even some closer trails, if there's anything in the hills of Malibu. I do alot of hiking there, and always see the fire roads out there, I bet there some nice places out there. I should probably hook up with a 4x4 club and learn the area a bit.

[Morgan J Segal]

http://www.amazon.com/Southern-California-Backroads-4-Wheel-Trails/dp/0966497643

[Daniel Buck]

Nice, that looks like something I should pick up, I think I'll do that.

[Steve Stein]

Daniel,

So Ansel had his mule, now you have yours! At least you don't have to pick up after it.

Steve

[Daniel Buck]

took it off the pavement today for the first time, a nice easy trail so I can get familier with getting it into 4wd hi & low, and the lockers. (none of which were needed for this dirt path though, hah!) Man, 4wd-low is SUPER low, 1st gear is hardly a walking speed, even 3rd gear is super slow in 4wd-low. Now I know what folks mean when they say "crawling", it really does just crawl along when it's in low-range.

changed the spark plugs too. Gotta say, that was the quickest and easiest spark plug change I've ever done, didn't have to go from below the engine, or through the wheel-well or anything silly like that, it was just nice and easy!

http://www.buckshotsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/jeep_01.jpg

http://www.buckshotsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/jeep_02.jpg

http://www.buckshotsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/jeep_03.jpg

[Jim Copp]

Hey Daniel
Nice shots...looks like a great spot to try out the Rubicon
Jim

[Daniel Buck]

will hopfully be hitting up parts of the Mojave soon, after a bit of work on the jeep :) Just patched up the air hose going to the front locker, noticed it was leaking and causing the locker to not lock up most of the time. Thankfully the leak was outside of the differential, so I didn't have to pop it open to check!

Changed the plugs and put in a new battery, will probably change the all the oils (engine, trans, diffs). Then goes on the 2" lift and beefier drag link & tire rod assembly. Need new tires too, haha! Tires will be the most expensive, :-\

[Jim Copp]

Sounds like you might be heading towards some xtreme offroading and some serious rock crawling yet..LOL.. perhaps the Rubicon trail
Jim

[Morgan J Segal]

That was me yelling "hey" to you just a few minutes ago

[Daniel Buck]

Figured it was :D I just saw a figure and a dog, since it was on your street I figured it must have been you!

Hows the Caterham doing? getting to be good weather for it I bet!

[Aaron Kupferman]

Hey Morgan, speaking of seeing people around - I saw you driving the 7 on Venice over to the freeway on-ramp. I was too far away to flag you down though.

Daniel, we definitely have to do a 4x4 photo trip soon once you get the extra work done to it. It's looking great so far though. And when are you getting the bracket made to mount the 8x10 directly to the jeep itself. I can imagine some sort of a swing arm which comes out and locks in place which would let you move the camera around a bit and give you some variation of angles.

[Morgan J Segal]

Yeah, took a ride into the hills with it today. Last weekend I took it to Leno's Garage ( I had a shoot of one of his cars), turned into quite the day :cool:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4039/4630124865_9debc26844_o.jpg


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[Aaron Kupferman]

Ha, nice way to impress and earn instant respect from him. He's definitely THE car guy.

[Daniel Buck]

hah! you'll be pimping that photo for a long time I bet, haha! I'd print it and frame it :D

[Morgan J Segal]

**Threadjack!**


I've got this one too, with my old car

http://www.mjswebgallery.com/elan/images/leno_V2.jpg


Actually went out driving with him in a couple of cars. Here is the 1907 White Steam car

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4630724946_71c4e13b7d_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/4630725058_ec3933b548_o.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4630725128_0059868a5f_o.jpg


:D




What year is the Jeep Daniel?

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[Daniel Buck]

2006, last of the TJ's :D

[Erik Anderson]

Nice Jeep, congrats!

[Daniel Buck]

It's fun driving with the doors pulled off :D I really should have gotten one of these jeeps along time ago!

Some photos from a few weeks ago with the new tires, shocks & springs (2" higher), stronger steering assembly, and beefier front bumper (winch arrives next week!).

http://www.buckshotsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/jeep_05.jpg

http://www.buckshotsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/jeep_06.jpg

[Steve Stein]

You call that off road? Heck, my Miata could handle that! :)

Like the Jeep. It's been a while since I went 4-wheeling in the Rockies. I kind of miss that.

I found this on the internet. This isn't me, but this is one of the last trails I hit before I sold my Toyota 4 x 4 back in 82. We hit the summit right when a thunderstorm rolled in. The red in the rock is iron. Not a good mix when you're the highest point around.

http://www.atvtrails.org/Red_Conex.html

[Daniel Buck]

yea, it's not much more than a rough dirt road in most parts really. Guarantee your Miata wouldn't make it up though, hah! My transfer case skid has collected quite a few little rocks inside (looking forward to pushing the transfer case up higher sometime and getting a flatter skid!).

It's the closest "trail" I've found though :( I don't mind it being a very mild trail though, it's helping me get familiar with driving the jeep in 4lo and just getting a feel for it :)

To get to the good trails, I think I need to go up north a few more hours I think. I'm looking forward to that!