Fall Truck Camper Trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway???

Looking forward to choosing a route from Clemson SC back towards Asheville and or Knoxville.

Guys, thanks for the auggestion on Clemson 4x4 (or rather confirmation of what U-Joint Off-road had said). We rented a car hauler for $80 one way in Asheville, to Clemson 4x4...turns out they are a Uhaul dealer as well. Didn't expect to catch them but they were just leaving and pulled back in. We left the trailer locked inside their yard. You know how you get a feel for people pretty quickly sometimes? These guys seen like good people. We discussed a few options and took their rec's for a good campsite for the night and we'll discuss options in the morning.

Then hopefully hit the BRP tomorrow. Beautiful drive down this afternoon, but sheesh, I don't know how y'all handle humidity. I'm a dry thin air guy from the mountains that's for sure.

The leaves are definitely getting started....

man look thats one place I have seen no equal.have rode the 1500-cc bike some many times in the fall, when it looks like some body painted each tree a dif color, wow nothing but the greatest.u have to see to belive.we have seen it many times.now its all happy-camping

http://eastcoastgearsupply.com/c-283493-complete-axle-assemblies-jeep-jeep-tj.html

These folks do a lot of work with D30's/ TJ's.

btggraphix wrote:

I think I've got it now....pull the axle out of the Jeep, sit it on perfectly level jackstands (that can be a challenge I suppose if the shop doesn't have a perfect floor?) and match the good side to the other. The broken side is the short side and there is hardly any tube exposed so not sure how they will rotate it but I guess they'll know. I guess the length of the tubes should be perfectly level along that bottom surface. I guess the main question I would then have is how much has to come off of the axle? Wheels plus brakes/calipers/rotors? Hubs too? Do the axle shafts even need to come off? Does the R&P have to be reset for backlash etc.? BTW they are 4.56 gears.

They may pull everything out. But I would think they may not even pull the axle out of the jeep. They can get it level on a lift and they can get easy welding access by disconnecting the shocks and lower the axle down some. They may just pull the caliper, hub stuff and axle (and maybe the knuckle) from the short side and work with that.

I don't know how hard it will be to turn that tube back to where it was. Some of those tubes are press fit and then plug welded. How much did the tube rotate?

For another $50 or $75 Jeep Inc could have put a real axle (HP D44) under the front of all those early TJ's and avoided this.

Thanks Bryan. I actually have a line on staying at a property of a volunteer from the Expo, who believe it or not was in one of the 4 classes I taught. He mentioned it was the one where we got sidetracked a bit on the topic of being pulled over and weighed in a particular area of TN so I guess I'll have to give him a one-on-one training session to repay him! We aren't so prepared for long-term boondocking as you, but at least I have a silly amount of tools with me that could make me useful to someone if I am stuck somewhere like this and perhaps even earn some of my "keep". Wish I brought my Stihl Kombi motor and attachments.....or my skidsteer/dumptrailer instead of the Jeep? :)

Brian, welcome to the world of Full Timimg and being on the road, stuff happens. This is a good example of why I carry a lot of the extra stuff I carry, as well as prepared to be stopped for a while to eliminate backtracking (reference Overland Expo West).

I have friends in the Ashville area, if I can be of any help. You know how to reach me.

b

Guys, thanks.

I think I've got it now....pull the axle out of the Jeep, sit it on perfectly level jackstands (that can be a challenge I suppose if the shop doesn't have a perfect floor?) and match the good side to the other. The broken side is the short side and there is hardly any tube exposed so not sure how they will rotate it but I guess they'll know. I guess the length of the tubes should be perfectly level along that bottom surface. I guess the main question I would then have is how much has to come off of the axle? Wheels plus brakes/calipers/rotors? Hubs too? Do the axle shafts even need to come off? Does the R&P have to be reset for backlash etc.? BTW they are 4.56 gears.

Of course the priority at the moment is getting the axle fixed, but here is some info about the PCM aspect.

First off, the engine build and swap was done by Evan Austin of BackwoodsOffroad.com. The 5.9L Magnum engine came from a 2000 Dodge Durango 4WD and I have the VIN# for that vehicle. The PCM flashing history gets really confusing and I am not 100% sure this is right...I've pieced it together partly with Don's wife from old emails between Don and Evan, and partly from my mechanics' testing and referencing the part #'s with Chrysler. I actually have two PCMs, one bagged and tagged by Don, and the one in the Jeep currently.

The PCM in the Jeep, that works, but has this idle issue:
Daimler Part#: P56040368AE
Serial#: 25GCP07F14
Module Serial#: TEH130007V16

The scanning of this PCM comes back as for a Dakota/Durango:
Part#: 56040410AG
Year: 2000
Chassis: RearWheelDrive, A/T
(plus some other miscellaneous info.)

But my mech. called Dodge and had the part #'s run, and it comes back as a PCM for a 2000 RAM 1500 Pickup with a 5.2L V8! I believe the reason for this is that Don first had a company in Texas do a 5.2L swap that failed miserably and Evan probably used this PCM because it was either from the truck the engine came from or at least was from a truck that had the same engine. Evan actually ordered a Dodge remanufactured PCM for a Dakota Rear Wheel Drive, Automatic, R/T model, and that PCM-in-a-bag I have checks out as being for that model based on the part #'s.

So it seems they reused this same PCM for the 1500 truck with a 5.2L, and reprogrammed it using the VIN# from the Durango which the 5.9L engine came from, and a program from B&G Chrysler, to get where we are now.

I had put together a bunch of this information because I had my mechanic try to put the 2WD Dakota R/T PCM into the Jeep and see what it did, and it would kill the motor 3 seconds after start because the PCM thought it was being stolen (no Central Timer Mechanism and all the things it ties to) so conceivably this PCM would be a better place to start and try to strip OUT all the extra stuff for the CTM, anti-theft etc.

Wow, now I have really strayed from the BRP vacation topic....but I am still sitting here in Asheville and I guess this is something that you can all consider as a "fun" thing to do while along the parkway on "vacation" plus I remember Brad loves a good riddle. Remember that "what is this part?" trivia posts he did at least once :)

- on edit, I'm continuing to search the net and starting to at least get some decent leads on PCM issues with Magnum V8 swaps (though my head is starting to spin reading a 128 page thread on a Jeep forum.) Though I'm in over my head I think. But for the moment I should probably focus on getting the axle issue dealt with so I can head down the road....probably not fair to Brad's thread.

Below are three other options:

http://www.off-rd.com/about-us/

http://www.essentiallyoffroad.com/

http://www.hudlowaxle.com/

kohldad wrote:
Rotating the tube is the castor and the purpose of the level. Since one side is still welded, you use it as the refence and rotate the other end to the same angle. Within .1 or .2 is more than close enough.

Exactly. As you said, one side is still good; just set the other side to match. I too set a big socket on the top ball joint and measure from that for caster. So easy, even a caveman can do it.

Rotating the tube is the castor and the purpose of the level. Since one side is still welded, you use it as the refence and rotate the other end to the same angle. Within .1 or .2 is more than close enough.