TJ's X

The X gliding through the rock garden at RC - Alex @ NIORA posted it:
https://s104.photobucket.com/albums/m193/jester8484/?action=view&current=0916061043.flv
(That's Jeremy running for his life to get out of the way...)

AWESOME pics, TJ!!! I actually used that one with the 4 of you on the rocks with the beautiful sky in our
photo album (I printed out 4x6s and put them in an album for people to look at at the PA JEEP SHOW) I
got it from Ken.

Your X is wicked. Are you guys at Centralia in that one pic with the cracked road? We went there last ECXC.
It was a neat place.

Can't wait to wheel with you....although I'm usually in the Jeep. My X needs some fixing and more armor!

Lol

That was Brent and I on the crack...he has stock arms, so he was sort of leaned over INTO the crack; My tires just drooped down into the crack, but the X stayed level. The crack was smoking....sort of the opposite of what happens to crack around here. I've been to Centralia several times...its a cool (Hot?) place....steamy sulfurous fumes exhausting into the air from innumerable fissures and bubbling pavement and charred wood everywhere....and foundations, but no homes, just charred remains....very eery.

Yeah, I've wheeled the Jeep more times since 2006 than the X....and I only GOT the Jeep a few months ago, for my wife - who wheeled it herself at RC, doing pretty stinkin' good for a newbie. She traded her Mini Cooper in for the jeep after she went froading with me for her first time in 2006.

2006 is when the strokes and brain siezures started, so she was pretty much out of action after that.

The jeep, and her meds getting things under some semblance of control, has allowed her to get outdoors again.

:)

How are her strokes/seizures now? Did they ever find out why they were happening?

That's awesome that she loved wheeling! It's always a bonus when the person you're with
wants to do the things you do!!! Hope to meet her sometime...and you, of course. We're hoping
for the PineBarrens in september. I have to make a few calls, pms, etc etc. Hope you guys can make it!

She doesn't like mud, just rocks...mud's too "dirty"...go figure...plus, she's a Piney Girl (New Egypt), so the Pines are old hat anyway.

She'll do RC/other high ground if its a day trip or we stay in a hotel (No bugs, indoor plumbing, etc...)



She has a hole in her heart that was shaped weird, and was swirling the blood around like a centrifuge, making clots, which then flew through the hole, and hit her in the left side of the brain, paralyzing her right side, making her unable to speak, and suffer a plethora of other symptoms...including seizures emanating from the damaged brain areas.

As the seizures could either make her unable to move, or, make her muscles contract uncontrollably, or, BOTH types, at the SAME TIME....they thought she had epilepsy, MS, and a host of other things INSTEAD of strokes ("She was too young to have strokes...")

So it took a while to diagnose properly (Had to go to Philly for a real Dr, etc...)

So - Her FIRST time wheeling, I hydrolocked the engine (The airbox opened, and my filter was floating next to the X - "a bad sign...")

So, her first time wheeling was a few hrs, and then we had to be AAA'd home again....and, then I started an engine swap....and, before it was totally completed...her strokes started, and I spent the remaining time at Dr's and hospitals....the X languishing in the driveway, immobilized....maybe sympathy pains?

But - she said she liked it more than she thought she would, mostly, because the PEOPLE we were with were so nice, and the way the off road community sticks with their fallen comrades, etc...made her really appreciate the entire scene....despite the uncool demise of the engine, she was really cool about it...and decided to trade her mini cooper for a jeep...which she did, when allowed to drive again.



So - anywho...I might make a Pine Barrens run...but, I doubt she'd go, other than to be dropped off at her Piney relatives place(s) while I got dirty, etc.

Hi, TJ. Glad to see you made it over here (yes, I hang out here too).

Tell Pattey what a great ECXC she missed this year. A lot of fun, a bit of carnage, and a fair share or crazyness.

k_enn

nice pix........can you wheel centralia? i've been past there a bunch of times when i was driving truck, and yeah, it is quite surreal seeing that and thinking people used to live there.

Yeah, you CAN wheel Centralia, but its not like there's trails...the most fun is getting over the earthworks and other obstructions they put in to keep you OUT....and the random areas of coal shag and rubble....with some field/hill areas....etc.

I MOSTLY go to see the surealistic scenary.

BTW

I rec a PM, but don't see a "reply" option?

I also can't tell if I am looking at a very short messege directly, or if I can only read the subject line.



I AM looking at it on a Blackberry...or am missing something?

TJ wrote:

BTW

I rec a PM, but don't see a "reply" option?

That was me, kiddo. Just shouting hello and letting you know we plan on making a few trips to the Pines. I can't wait to see you and your wife and some of our friends in NJ.

I'm sure the reply button will be there once you are on a regular computer...I checked and the icons and buttons are all in working order.

Hope all's well with you and your family...hope to see you soon!!!



As for Centralia...it WAS cool...went there in 07 when we were at ECXC. Went to the Yuengling brewery and then to Centralia....people still live there!!!

Yes they do Pattey. Centralia is only about 5 minutes from me and Robby. I used to drive all over out there when i first got my license.

I was just watching Engineering Disasters # ? on Discovery Channel yesterday. They did a whole big episode on Centralia. That is one neat/weird place. That bit of road with the smoking crack was pretty well bermed at one end (I think only TJ went in that way, but at the other end an X could crest the berm. The town dump where it all started was pretty neat too. I wouldn't mind going back to Centralia again sometime.

k_enn

LOL

Yeah, I remember that one, I went in over the earthwall....and everyone else bailed, and drove all the way around to the other end of the highway.

Bass Turds left me alone in there for like 15 minutes.

cool.....not that you were abandoned for awhile....i might have to check it out sometime. matter of fact, we drove past there this past august on the way back from knobels. i was explaining it to my wife. the last time i was in there, geeze.......i was maybe 10. we went on a tour of the ashland coal mine and then we went over to centralia as part of an extension to the mine tour. i remember there were pipes stuck in the ground, to vent off some of the heat and such. i wasn't sure if anyone was still there, there's a couple of houses, just didn't know anyone was actually there.

Yeah, the EPA has vent pipes, and emissions monitoring equipment stations all over the place.

The parts that I like most though are the smoldering cracks...that emit a red glow from deep within, and cause fallen branches, etc, to burst into flames if they fall in.

From that run at Rausch Creek with Tom, Andy, Charley and I....Tom's Pics:













































As always, Tom and I had a great time, and Andy and Charley didn't slow us down too bad, they just took a lot of by passes.

Charley has a new X, eh? Andy's X is so wicked...I can't believe he babies it like he does!!!


Your X looks incredible...nice shots!!!

Yup, Charley traded in his '01 on the 2006 OR...and promptly lifted and armored it...in my driveway.

:)

Andy's good people...but, yes, he does tend to be conservative off road.

You saw me the FOLLOWING weekend at RC with NORA's winter run...in the parking lot airing up.

You weren't there when I did THIS run, because you're a poser.





And Tom takes some nice pics...or I'd have none.




So - when are we going to try actually being on a trail at the same time?

Poser, my ankle!!! I just hate winter wheelin'!

Besides, Jeep people are WAY more fun to wheel with!

(they make me say that....help me )

We have a monthly run. And I know Chris would wheel any time he has extra money....
so next time you're coming out, make sure to tell us. Also, we'd love to come out to
the Pines sometime soon too.

[sticks tongue out]




I have a Wrangler too.





Sounds good.

OK, I have rear shocks, and an exhaust, again. (Repaired the damage from that chick who crashed into my butt)





























The upper shock mounts are on a frame to frame mounted bar, and the lower shock mounts are welded to the axle.

The shocks are Bilstein 5150's, valved at 255/70.


I run around for work weighing about 6k on the truck scales, and the pack is stiff to handle that.

My stiff leaf pack actually limits my droop, so the Revolvers don't get fully extended...but they DO restore the droop lost and then some, even w/o fully opening.

On the plus side, the shocks allow enough compression to fully stuff the tires...and enough extension to not be my limiting factor on down travel.


I have not had time to test it out, so I don't yet know how well the combo will work off road, etc.


The shop replaced the cross-over back part of the exhaust that was also smooshed in the accident, so, its as damage prone as before, as far as from ledge drop offs, etc...but does now miss the shock's new placement.

Lookin' great, sir! hahahaa
Any chance you want to show us around the Pines on May 28th for a few hours in the morning?
I was going to contact Dominic and see what his guys were up to and if we could tag along.

XJXtian wrote:

Lookin' great, sir! hahahaa
Any chance you want to show us around the Pines on May 28th for a few hours in the morning?
I was going to contact Dominic and see what his guys were up to and if we could tag along.

You'd much rather Dom showed you around the Pines....I always follow HIM (I have no sense of direction).



I can check my schedule, but, being self employed, it changes every time the phone rings....so, I never REALLY know where I'll be....and even then I might be lost anyway.

Hey, nice rear end!

Wait, that doesn’t sound right, does it?

Hmmm, no, it sounds right.







I also added 1.5" rear spacers to improve frame rail clearance on opposite droop/stuffage articulation. I did NOT add front spacers, as I wanted to maintain turning radius, etc.



Took a few quick shots drooped, before it got dark:






All 4 tires on still firmly the ground, but still flexed out pretty well.






Rear stuffage:









The bump stop clearance and remaining shock travel to cover it on that rear stuffage.




Both sides




Another view of the way the rear tire stuffs with the spacer.