TrailChaser

I think there are lots of great deals and dealings on here. You just don't hear about it nearly as much when stuff goes right.

If you want, just ship it to me and I'll reweld it with the bearings out. No charge. PMed you the address to the Machine Shop I work in.

A friend of mine emailed Phil a couple of months ago to let him know he was wanting a stage 2 cl kit. He mentioned that the only thing stopping him from making his purchase was the outstanding bad reviews on this website that Phil has a link to from his website. Needless to say he never got a reply to his email, and it doesn't look like any of you guys are getting your parts or money back either. He has had more than enough time to get you guys your stuff, or money. I feel like a chump. I believed his sob story about depression and "making things right." It really sucks that Phil turned out to be a thief. On a similar note, the ex-president/co-founder of our Nissan club here in Texas told a similar sob story to the whole club just before stealing the domain name and all the club $$$. Just shows you never know who a person really is.

I upgraded to a 135db horn from AutoZone and it is a joke. So I installed an air horn off an 18wheeler. Now people can hear me when I honk. :tonguefinger:

Look around and you can get a much better deal than that. I paid $250 shipped for mine off an ebay store. I think it was RockRoadOutfitters or something like that..?

The guy was right about the clutch, it's just like with brakes. If you want to adjust the clutch it's pretty simple. Just take out the pin that holds the linkage to the clutch pedal and screw it down a little then check and see how it feels. It's all done in the drivers foot well and you probably won't even need to use tools. I think the harnesses are for the dealer to be able to "update" the ecu. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong on this. I can't help you on the cap issue, but check the part out threads in the classifieds on this forum and you'll probably get lucky.

The thickness isn't really important. As long as you're not planning on using exhaust pipe for it. Sch40 would be fine, anything thicker would be adding unnecessary weight unless you plan to really abuse the bumper. If you're talking about making one out of "square" tubing like I did for my pathy then you'll be looking for some 3"x6" tubing or whatever size you prefer with about 3/16" sidewalls. Just remember that from the roll below the rear hatch to the bottom of the body on the corners is about 6.5" that you'll need to cover, but with 6" tubing you can split the difference and it turns out nice. I can get you some measurements if you're not sure about some part.

I don't know the science behind this stuff, but it does work as long as the steel is submerged in a fluid(saltwater) while the charge is being emitted. A company I worked for years ago made what we called stringers for offshore platforms and ships. It basically just electrically charges the water and steel in a small area around the stringer. We made lots of different lengths to protect the legs from above the water surface to the sea floor on the inside of the huge "pipes" they use for legs. For as many as we sold and the price we were charging I'd hate to think they don't work. I was told that the electric charge was so minimal that you can safely dive/swim in the water while the system is activated. It also has no effect on fish as you can usually catch lots more fish around the rigs. We mainly made sewage treatment for military and cruise ships that electronically turn urine and feces into chlorinated water, but that's a sh!tty subject. lol Here's another one of those made for cars. opps, I forgot the link.

As long as you kept the engine running I don't see any water getting in there. Even if you have a leaky flange the exhaust pressure would keep water out. Have to looked for a kink in the pipe from whatever you hit?

The O2 sensor is about 1.5" down from that flange on my pathy. It's right between the flange and the cat. Makes taking the bolt out a PITA. So we're gonna have to give him back a few Car Guy Points and take 50 of yours... From reading your other posts you've probably got plenty left over.

You seem to have a leak in the flange right behind the "Y" pipe and immediately before the cat. When that flange leaks it tends to send the superheated exhaust strait to the thin steel under your feet. Mine leaked bad for a while.(I burned the hell outa the heel on my right shoe) I just welded a heat shield over the flange to redirect the hot gasses till I had the time to actually fix the problem. I'd suggest getting someone to hold their hand over the tailpipe when the truck is cold and first cranked up, while you crawl under the truck and listen for leaks. A leak bad enough to burn your carpet should be pretty loud under their. The new gasket is cheap compared to a new cat.

You have to remove all that stuff. T-bars, and t-bar crossmember. Drive shaft needs to go. You should also put the bolts back in the tranny crossmember to help with something to hold onto and for leverage when dropping it. The transfer case can stay on it, and it should balance on the tranny x-member with it still on. Sounds like you're pretty green on this subject, so I'd suggest getting a little help on this project from someone. Four hands, and two brains will really help you get this done smoothly. If you're in the Houston area I might be able to lend a hand.

I may be way off base here, but my understanding is that after 9/11 the gov. redirected lots of monies that normally went to the forest service/national parks. Since that happened they have been understaffed and their take on the problem seems to be that less access will ultimately mean less people visiting. Less visitors/roads/trails to maintain means less responsibilities for the few rangers and workers that are left to deal with everything. Welcome to the bush's(dubya) trickle down effects. We seem to lose more every day. I know what you're talking about when you say a few f*ckwits spoil it for everyone. I've seem several private ponds and lakes closed off because @sshats use it as their personal trash can.

A friend brought this to my attention from pirate.com Please help by emailing and reposting this info.

Most tire prices have gone up a bit. They claim it's because of the higher oil prices.

I hate stick welding with a passion. It is more versatile, but it's also a pain to deal with. I'll never weld with a stick welder as long as I have a mig welder at my disposal. I would suggest to anyone wanting to learn to weld to start with stick welding then move on to mig after you know how to stick weld enough to get by when you need to. Most new welders think it's called "stick" welding because you weld with a stick. Then they find out the real reason in the first couple of minutes. It's just like with driving. You can be the best at driving an automatic, and never learn to drive a manual tranny. One day you'll find yourself in a situation were a stick is all that's available you're screwed because you never learned it.

If you can plug your welder into a regular 110v wall socket that is probably your problem. Flux core wire is good stuff. If you're not shielding it with co2(which is dual-shield, the flux is one the co2 is the other. Argon-co2 mix is not dual-shield.) You really need to clean the paint/rust/oil off the surface with a wire wheel on a grinder. The flux(or whatever shielding agent being used) is to keep the oxygen off the molten steel, and get the impurities out. If you don't have enough power(amps) to burn thru the impurities and penetrate the steel the weld will never hold. You should post up some pics of your practice welds and some of us can guide you on proper technique from what we see. First thing to remember when welding with a spool gun is to SLOW DOWN. Slower is usually better especially when welding with inadequate power. This is a hard one, but don't watch the arc. Watch the puddle. If you watch the puddle you know when to slow down more or speed up, and you can see whether or not you're covering both pieces of what you're welding together. How are you weaving your arc? You should be doing slow overlapping circles or even overlapping the letter "C". If you're flat welding in the corner of a 90deg angle(most common weld) you should be doing your overlapping "O's" in a counter clockwise rotation so that the arc is hitting fresh steel on the bottom and then going up to the other piece then back thru the puddle over and over for best results. You should also dwell at the end of the bead for a second of two so that the weld doesn't taper off and make a weak spot that is most likely where it'll end up failing. Please DO NOT practice learning to weld by making mods to your rig. Practice on scrape steel till you're confident that your welds will hold then torture test them by bending the steel at the weld(a bench vise and a long pipe welded to the test piece is a good way to do a controlled bend) and checking for cracks around the weld where it meets the steel, or by working on them with a nice size sledge hammer. If you grind the weld down flat before testing it you can see failures in the weld much better. You don't want to lose a trailer because of a weld breaking, or any piece of your rig that could come off and go bouncing into the car's windshield behind you. You can greatly increase the strength of what you're welding together by using gussets. They are simple triangle pieces of steel that you weld into any corners that need extra support/stability. If you or anyone else wants a portable mig welder with commercial grade power(250+amps) that cost less than $500 PM me. I've been welding professionally for years and never wanted a welder at home because the units that plug into 110-220volts were a joke compared to the 480volt welder I used all day at work. Now I have a home/rig welder that's pushing around 300amps from two deep cycle 12volt batteries that I can keep in the pathy with me all the time. I've already used it several times to do trail repairs on other peoples rigs and my own. Not to mention the rear bumper/tire carrier and jerry can carrier I've built with it. Good luck and welcome to the wonderful world of welding. David

If it's not in 4wd the CV on that pathy should not move... Maybe you have a bad auto hub that's keeping it locked. Probably time to tear into it and see how it looks.

It's all custom.(well, I used a master lock for the latch) I bought the jerry can to get measurements. Used scrap steel from work. I just knew I wanted to be able to take it off when it's not needed.

Here are a few pics of a Jerry Can Carrier I made to attach to my custom bumper/tire carrier. I made it removable so I don't have to have the extra weight on the truck unless I need it. I also made it with a locking latch to deter criminals from getting free gas. David

Here's a pic of where mine's mounted. I like it there. It's easy access and out of the way. I need to pick up another one for the same spot on the other side.

You're on the right track.

Bryan, is that weld from your Ready Welder? Looks good, looks good and hot.

How does that work when the manual tranny shares fluid with the transfer case and the automatic doesn't.

I mostly agree with what Slicks friend said. Looks like someone who knows how to weld but doesn't do a very good job used a lil welder like a 140amp instead of a real/good welder. You could have the welds ground out and rewelded by someone with a commercial grade welder, but then you'll burn up the grease in the bearings and have no way of cleaning and repacking them. For the limited amount of movement these bearing see you would probably be better off doing it this way for the sake of keeping you, your kids and anyone else around you safe. I'm sure he uses a jig to weld these on. So when you take it to a welder to have it redone you should have him only grind the weld on one side flat then weld over it before touching the other side. Don't have him grind the welds out completely because you want it to stay true and the heat from a good welder will pull/draw with quite a bit of force if it has a chance. Also you may be able to save some grease if you tilt the CL to an angle that allows you to have the sleeve and bearings sitting in water on one side. You could use a steel cake pan for this. As for the double shear holes lining up. If you can force the bolt thru it'll be good. Double shear on these is overkill anyway. Phil if you're reading this my advice to you would be to recall any CL's you've sold with similar welds from the HH140 before someone gets hurt when an end comes apart at 70mph on the way home from a trail run. You need to remember how important it is to put good welds on anything you sell. The DS IA's, PA's and IA braces are one thing, but when you put weak unfinished welds on the centerlinks you are just asking for bad things to happen. I see at best 5-10% penetration on the tack weld in this pic.