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Just checked the oil level, it was down about half a quart or so. Sound dosn't seem like it's going away. Pretty noisy. Sounds like our Volkswagen Turbo diesel. Not good. Wish i knew for sure what is was before the dealer gets it. Does seem just like yours though. oh, and didn't see any smoke from the exhaust, some morning condensation for a min. or less, but then it was clear.

Always loved you rig. A great color. Makes me wonder if we should have a Pathy RIP section. Lately, between trade ins, blown/hydro locked engines, and crashes, seems needed.

Not that it's for my truck, but i have some observations. Well, for steel, 3/16" is great, but 1/4" bent right would work well enough. Shackles are a huge plus. I like the T-slot idea of simons too. License plate light/bracket is a great one, I found out what a pita that one can be the hard way. Gas/highlift/tire carrier is really handy too, if you can maintain decent clearance. I wouldn't think it would be to hard to produce a model with a swing away, and one without. They can be produced as two totally separate components easily enough. I jealous you guys have yet another option i don't for my R50 LOL. Good luck getting this done Slick.

LOL!

LoL, now when your on the highway and honk the horn, does your truck go "Mooooooove over" ... uhhh, sorry about that (pete crawls back into his hole)

Alright, thought i should post this for the forum. I was trying to figure out if i needed a Hi-lift adapter that arb sells for their bull bars, for my long awaited Sahara bar (ordered from 4wp in april, still don't have it). Couldn't find anything definitive on the web, so i contacted Buddy King, sales manager for ARB USA via email. Long short is, the "earlier" air bag compliant sahara bars (ours) should not be used as a lifting point. The mounting brackets were not designed for verticle lifting. yes, they can be used for winching, but not lifting. I was shocked. I hadn't heard that anywhere before. Still getting mine, but only because i'm already in this deep, hope this might help someone else if they're shopping for one. Pete

Yeah, last week as a matter of fact. Ordered the Pacer surface mount hoping to bend up the mounting lip for some extra clearance and get some better coverage for my swampers. Sorry to say, that they're not worth drilling into your body for. They provide no extra coverage over stock. None. I mocked them up, realized they just didn't help any, and returned them. I plan to just remount the stocks, perhaps modify them in some way where the lip is to get more clearance. As for more coverage, i can only offer you this. There's that rubber lawn edger stuff that you can get at a garden center. I've seen on some forums people use that to extend their flares. Not the greatest option, but what else have we got? I already emailed bushwacker for their extended flares, seeing as they already make the street style. All i got back was the generic " we'll forward your suggestion to the appropriate department". Maybe if more of us emailed showing an interest? Good Luck. Let us know if you find anything. Pete

Hey Thanks! You just made my day! Now i wonder if i'll be able to make their "Pocket" or "Cutout" work. The holes in those are already drilled in the flare. How do the ones you installed mount exactly? Are they supposed to mount to factory holes? Sorry for all the questions, i haven't dug into how my OEM's are mounted yet, and after running my TSL's for the first time this weekend, i realized i'm gonna need to do some work. I only need a couple more inches probably, and love the look of their pocket style, would love to make that work. Thanks for your time. And Great looking ride. Real sharp wheels, too nice for me though, i'd hate to take them off road. Why did you have to replace your oem flares? pete

But from what i can find, they don't make them for our trucks. Up to 99 only. Is that what you used?

I'd like to know too. I've got to figure out something for my new super swampers. Throwing rocks like a mofo. Could you provide any more info? I've got an 02', and as usual, no one makes anything for it that i can find. I'm curious how your bushwackers ended up and which ones you used/tried. The only other options i see are something from a company called Pacer. Flexi fender it's called. Never seen it in person though.

No Joke! And a winch mounted, damn it. I've swapped the BFG at's out for Super Swampers this past weekend, so that should help. I'm hoping that'll help me stall on the lockers lol. Pic SS:

Unfortunately, i only rattle canned it with bedliner from napa. Finding a powdercoater in my area is super difficult, and the couple i found within a couple of hours were pricey and had a long wait. Maybe this winter i'll take it off and have one of them do it. Thanks for the exhaust suggestion. For some reason, my exhaust rusted through and broke right in the bend over the rear axle last year. So i cut out the rot and put in repair piece. Well, on a recent trip to a new off road park (since the pictures), it came apart again. So i tore the resonator. Now it's just gassing me from the rear axle area lol. I plan to have a tailpiece installed and exited by the rear tire too. I just wonder though, no one's hit their rear tire on it under flex? Seems like it would. LOL, trust me, you can weld. I've often thought of starting a welding school for monkeys, if i could figure a way to motivate them I'd be rich! :tongue Seriously though, just takes practice to get the basics. Now fabricating, that's an art. The guys who built arcano's and xplor4x's were good, real good. Pezzy's is great for a home built too. There is so much time in the thousands of little details no one notices. Some carnage from the offroad park:

Gottem already. But you've got them on yours too. this was a particularly challenging portion for me, and i tried a few different ideas. But in the end, i cut the mounting arms off the OEM receiver hitch, and used them by "splicing" extensions that conformed to the interior of my newly bent bumper. This is probably the most questionable portion of my build. It allows me to maintain all of my Hitch mounting points, but some might argue it might not be strong enough. I also added stiffeners along a portion to help stabilize any lateral forces. I haven't towed or needed to use it for recovery yet to tell you how it will hold up real world yet, so ymmv. I also followed Xplor4x's idea and added a bracket to the actual receiver tube to help increase strength. How's that? Did i explain it ok?

Well no, i did the labor and some of the design, but i owe allot of help and ideas from Pezzy, Xplor4X, certainly Arcano, and a couple of guys from work and even a neighbor pitched in when i needed a hand (friggin thing is a bear to mount). Not to mention the hundreds of people who posted pics and ideas that i found helpful of their bumpers/can holders. Also, if you look close, i used our Plasma cam table at work and cut "Pathfinder" in the gas holder. Can't really see it because of the tire, but it's custom anyway lol. And no Alex, nothing about our bumpers. I emailed the guy at arb tonight for an update, but i don't expect much to change at this point, it's on a slow boat from Australia. Only the weather can change that... I hope. I'll keep you in the loop if i hear something. Thanks for the compliments guys. If anyone is planning on building one, ask me your questions soon while it's still fresh in my head. Time seems to steal things from my dome, and it was a bitch.

Not a fan of my bling? LOL. I'm not sure what i'll do with it. I'm not sure i love it, but it's high gloss aluminum and i'm not sure how it will hold paint. I had to keep weight down, it's already incredibly heavy. It's the same bumper, but i've since added the swing out carrier with the gas/water cans. Allot more work than it looks unfortunately. There's tons of little detail there. Funny ain't it, i built it faster than arb could get us our bumpers. By two months in fact.

Well, here's some pics of my new bumper. Not the departure angle i wanted, but i had to make some compromises. I might have to add a few more bits like mudflaps and i have to finish wiring my license plate lights, but that's mostly done. Whatcha think?

Eh, this problem has been bugging me and my 02 for over a year. If your vin falls in the TSB range, then you have to have the cpu reprogrammed so it'll stop turning the o2 on too soon. That's seems to be the problem, it turns on too soon, causes moisture to burn off and contaminate the sensor, or something like that. Mine is the post catalytic one, and isn't involved in engine management, so i've been putting it off. Oddly enough, last week the light went off and didn't come back on. You'll have to find the TSB and see if your vin is on it. Sorry i don't have it for you, but it's here somewhere. Good luck.

X2 I've had no problems with mine so far. I will add, if your doing the strut bearing, OEM only. DO NOT buy the KYB version. They KYB's are a much lower quality than the OEM, and cost me considerable time and some money to learn this. Pete

I'm not sure what that thing is lol, but it looks big, and seems like it would allow water into your system. Did you happen to see this post? More of what i have in mind. http://npora.ipbhost.com//index.php?showto...mp;#entry321684

OUTFRIGGINSTANDING!! Looks great. Nice ideas. Have you considered bending a piece to follow the Apillar and then buying a tophat from ARB or TJM or it? Only asking because it would seem an inevitable next project for me. I'm already lightly treading for ideas. Thanks for sharing yours. Pete

Thank you. I love the miller BB. Very helpful guys on there too. I hear what your saying, the initial planning on this one and mine has been intensive, but even if i could afford the tooling (like blackpanther) and pre-staged parts, i'm not sure i could get someone to appreciate the work that goes into it and pay for it. I take allot of pride in my work quality and it's amazing how much time all the little details i add, that really make them special, take to execute. I could pop out cookie cutter ones like i see on ebay all day long, but there's no art, no effort. Just guys making a buck. Nothing against them, but i'm making a buck at work, i'd want to give people a product they could brag about, beat the hell out of, and then sell it for someone elses ride when it outlives they're vehicle LOL. I tell my buddy that bumper will see at least 3 jeeps in it's life. SOunds kinda , but that thing will out last me. Some one will buy it for $50 15 years from now, and never know who made it, but i'll still be mine. That's the kinda work i like to do. Thanks Slick! Yeah, he's a good guy, and i was happy to do it for him. You should see how proud of it he is. His eyes were as big a saucers when he saw it done LOL. He's already gotten allot of people asking him about it, and he loves the attention. I can't wait to finish my R50 bumper. You guys are gonna love it i hope. Pete

Try to PM Arcano for his google sketchup file. that was moderately helpful for me, but i didn't really use any of his dimensions. I mostly used pictures oh his and others rear bumpers and bracketing, to include Pezzy and Xplor4x's. They're all available here with a thorough search. Then for me it was trial and error adding details and solving problems as i came across them. It's really a very complicated build for a rear bumper I found. I made it harder with some things i decided to do, but there's allot going on back there to consider. I'm willing to offer more specific answers when you start getting into it, but there's just too many details to type out. I've got lots of fab pics too, just pm me your email and i'll send them if you like. Pete

so i've been having so much fun with my R50 rear bumper build, I thought i'd help my buddy out with one for his YJ. What do you guys think. I'm pretty proud of it, some errors, but i'm getting closer. He's a body guy (collision repair) and did an awesome job finishing and painting it too. I wish there was a way for me to make it profitable. I love making stuff that's useful and mine for people. Ten years of welding bridges, buildings, MRI's, Submarines, and Cutters. I'm finally getting into something creative, not fixing somebody else's designed old @!*%ty stuff.

Hmmm. At the pump, yes, your paying more. In fact, last i knew, Denmark was paying more at the pump than anyone else ($7us/gal and they don't care, they're nearly carbon neutral, they don't use much). What i hoped to illustrate was that what we're paying at the pump for a gallon is not an accurate determination of cost. There is a greater cost per gallon, and we've been paying it in National defense dollars (taxes) and blood for sixty years. If you were to add the trillions spent securing our oil interests worldwide (national defense spending) using various, shall we say, murky methods, we might get an accurate per gallon cost for gasoline. I can promise you it is higher than any other country in the world. And that doesn't count the blood. The US spent roughly $626 billion on it's military budget last year. Canada, $15 billion. At least what your paying at the pump is closer to accurate. Most of us don't have a clue. We pretty much pay for your national defense too. But that's another conversation... :tonguefinger: More from Wiki: ( I know, not the greatest resource, but i'm lazy) Comparison with other countries Military spending as a percentage of GDP Military spending as a percentage of GDP The 2005 U.S. military budget is almost as much as the rest of the world's defense spending combined [7] and is over eight times larger than the official military budget of China. (Note that this comparison is done in nominal value US dollars and thus is not adjusted for purchasing power parity.) The United States and its close allies are responsible for about two-thirds of the world's military spending (of which, in turn, the U.S. is responsible for the majority). Military discretionary spending accounts for more than half of the U.S. federal discretionary spending, which is all of the U.S. federal government budget that is not appropriated for mandatory spending.[8] In 2003, the United States spent about 47% of the world's total military spending of US$910.6 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The United States spends 3.7% of its GDP on its military, more than France's 2.6% and less than Saudi Arabia's 10%.[9] This is historically low for the United States since it peaked in 1944 at 37.8% of GDP (it reached the lowest point of 3.0% in 1999-2001). Even during the peak of the Vietnam War the percentage reached a high of 9.4% in 1968.[10] Because the U.S. GDP has risen over time, the military budget can rise in absolute terms while shrinking as a percentage of the GDP. For example, according to the Center for Defense Information, the US outlays for defense as a percentage of federal discretionary spending, has from Fiscal Year 2003 consumed more than half (50.5%) of all such funding and has risen steadily.[11] Discretionary spending accounts for approximately 1/3 of all federal outlays.[12] Therefore, comparing nominal dollar values of military spending over the course of decades fails to account for the impact of inflationary forces, for which military spending as a percentage of GDP does account. The recent invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan are largely funded through supplementary spending bills outside the Federal Budget, so they are not included in the military budget figures listed above.[13] In addition, the United States has black budget military spending which is not listed as Federal spending and is not included in published military spending figures. Other military-related items, like maintenance of the nuclear arsenal and the money spent by the Veterans Affairs Department, are not included in the official budget. Thus, the total amount spent by the United States on military spending is higher.