What Did You Do with Your 80 This Weekend? (43 Viewers)

[93yotasr5]

I'll do more of a writeup when I get pictures from other people, but basically I tried to cross a snow drift that was covering half of a road using my lockers. The weight and traction of the vehicle on the driver's side rear tire caused the edge of the road to give way, and my attempt to get out of the situation was less than effective.

The jeep was very light and primarily there to keep the truck from pivoting and rolling further down the hill. Most of the work was done by a '100 with a winch parked against a truck-sized boulder. Then when it was on all 4 again, a 4runner with no winch used a tow strap to pull me back about 30 feet to flat/level ground where we could start wrenching.

KEEP YOUR HANDS INSIDE A ROLLING VEHICLE. That said, even though I didn't, and almost lost a hand when the a-pillar smashed it into the (soft) ground, I escaped with only a couple scrapes.

After getting it back on the wheels, pulling spark plugs to shoot the oil from the intake manifold out of the cylinders (damn pcv system), it started up on the second crank and drove down the mountain on its own power.. albeit with a LOT of smoke. Didn't even change the alignment.

Met and was helped by some truly awesome people too. If anyone is in Ouray DEFINITELY check out the Beaumont Historic Hotel. Words can't express how awesome the owners of that business are.

Back in Austin now.. will be keeping an eye out for cheap bodies. Every panel but the lower tailgate is smashed, and most of the glass. But, everything other than the body is perfectly fine.

Keep an eye out for a more detailed explanation of stuff

wow man. glad you're OK.

that must have been a butt puckering experience!

 

[SammyT96LX450]

Got stuck.

Muddy mess today

 

[SammyT96LX450]

Little video from the concrete pile

 

[bloc]

wow man. glad you're OK.

that must have been a butt puckering experience!

Thanks!

Perhaps the weirdest part? Not sure if it's because it was a very slow roll, but it wasn't scary at all.

I was just sitting there strapped into my seat fighting the small trees poking into the drivers window and tools/ice/food/camping gear sloshing around the inside of my cruiser thinking "well that was fxxxing stupid"

Same thing when instinct took over and I put my hand out to brace against the ground that was roughly where the little bump on the front window runs is and the a-pillar rolled over my hand.. "Well that was fxxxing stupid too"

I think the guys that came and got me out were more bummed/excited about it than I was/am..

I learned a lesson. And the fact that I got extremely lucky isn't lost on me. The rig will look similar next trip. But functionally it'll be very different with regards to gear/tool/spare tire storage.

Oh, and I'll be getting out and stacking rocks next time.

 

[LS1FJ40]

Recovery school :/

Glad you are ok. Poor 80.

Where in Texas is there snow in July?

 

[LFD2037]

Ok so here we go with the sway bar issue. Do we remove them for trail performance or do we fab quick disconnects or do we just wheel with them in place? Recently I began the quick D mod by purchasing pins. Tomorrow I embark on a day trip to Signal Peak here in Nor Cal. Do I remove the front sway bar or do I rig up a Qick D system? Well, what I did was a test in my driveway with a high lift jack. Not to my surprise Old Man Emu knows what they are doing when it comes to an 80 series suspension. At first the shock is the limiter. Dis connect the shock and the wheel falls only 5/8" more but the big thing here is that at this point the spring had come loose and applyied no downward force. So what I observed is that with front sway bar in place ultimate flex is not limited, at least not with OME heavies. I believe this to be true with any spring you install to be used with the stock control arms.

What springs and shocks? Your results are different than the others I've read about. Search
Poor Mans 3 Link on here.

 

[bloc]

Glad you are ok. Poor 80.

Where in Texas is there snow in July?

This was in SW CO at about 12k feet.

 

[93yotasr5]

Funny I saw this thread and couple hours later pass you on the freeway!!! Nice rig man!

View attachment 1108402 View attachment 1108403 View attachment 1108404 View attachment 1108405 View attachment 1108406 Real time photos! Up on top off signal peak at 8000ft. The stone cabin was lived in years ago by a lonesome soul who kept track of the train schedule and somehow sent signals to whomever where ever. Nice cool breeze up here.

 

[SammyT96LX450]

Best pic from the mud fest

 

[baldilocks]

What springs and shocks? Your results are different than the others I've read about. Search
Poor Mans 3 Link on here.

Front 850j with a 1" spacer. As I stated, this was done on my driveway with a highlight Jack. On the trail droop may be adversely affected by the sway bar when the opposite side is completely stuffed.
However, no matter what, the shock was the limiter until I removed the nut from its bottom mount. Just that extra 1/2" droop caused the spring to come u seated and that pretty much renders that tire useless for traction.
In order to realize more uselful travel a taller softer spring needs to be used and that's when s*** gets squirrelly on the highway.

 

[baldilocks]

Funny I saw this thread and couple hours later pass you on the freeway!!! Nice rig man!

Yeah when I saw you go by I told my wife "I gotta catch that guy"! LOL Built up 80's are not something you see very often and yours looks ready for most anything.

 

[Douglas S]

Audi-related duties. Found a spare engine to build.

 

[LFD2037]

Front 850j with a 1" spacer. As I stated, this was done on my driveway with a highlight Jack. On the trail droop may be adversely affected by the sway bar when the opposite side is completely stuffed.
However, no matter what, the shock was the limiter until I removed the nut from its bottom mount. Just that extra 1/2" droop caused the spring to come u seated and that pretty much renders that tire useless for traction.
In order to realize more uselful travel a taller softer spring needs to be used and that's when s*** gets squirrelly on the highway.

L shocks? Check out the poor mans 3 think thread to see what others have experienced. Thanks.

 

[baldilocks]

L shocks? Check out the poor mans 3 think thread to see what others have experienced. Thanks.

Yes L shocks and will check out that post. Thanks

 

[moclakens]

Audi-related duties. Found a spare engine to build.

Very envious!

 

[Schmutz]

...what I observed is that with front sway bar in place ultimate flex is not limited, at least not with OME heavies. I believe this to be true with any spring you install to be used with the stock control arms.

Just to make sure I understand you correctly, there is no merit in disconnecting the swaybar? This is on my research list for later in the year before my Moab trip, but I'll tackle it now while it's fresh in your mind. I'm running 850 in the front and 863 in the rear.

 

[Dragos80]

@LandCruiserPhil should be able to help you with a quick disconnect kit.

 

[baldilocks]

Just to make sure I understand you correctly, there is no merit in disconnecting the swaybar? This is on my research list for later in the year before my Moab trip, but I'll tackle it now while it's fresh in your mind. I'm running 850 in the front and 863 in the rear.

I'm no expert here as I am only a bit over one year into 80 ownership. I can tell you this: With 850j and L shocks and a one inch spacer I wheel my way over the Rubicon happily with or without the front sway bar. I think that with the shorter springs and shocks you are running any difference would be even less. However, it only takes a few minutes to remove the sway bar when you get to Moad so you can conduct your own testing. Also worth considering is the stress put on the sway bar axle mounts when at full flex. It may be a good idea to remove it when wheeling just to avoid pulling one of these rather thin mounts off the axle housing.

 

[IanB]

Audi-related duties. Found a spare engine to build.

Oh no, motor is on the way out, or gone already? You were lucky to find one of those locally!

 

[Bella1992]