Baltoro and the Art of Jeep Maintenance

[SuhaibKiani]

The much neglected rear fifth rim seems to make a significant difference to a vehicle's overall look. Never liked those haloween type light covers, but they served their purpose well but nobody would ever guess if the indicator was on, hence good practice with hand signals!

[Jeep_junkie]

One small thingy which is a bit of a mystery for me is that Baltoro does not have any bump stops at the front. The pic in post 95 above (from a stockish CJ7) shows a big bump stop, but after years of trail and rally type abuse, it was about two years ago that I realized that we have brake pipes running where the bump stops should be at the front! Meaning that the front axle never travels more a few inches upwards even though its not hindered by the shocks. Even on our rally FJ40 with strong double shocks, the front axle maintains its love affair with the bump stops and you can feel the bump stop hits on even mildish abuse. I guess it has something to do with a helper / load leaf spring and the 2LT being somewhat lighter than the original engine. Nevertheless, it isn't the lightest of CJs and its something which I can't really explain anymore than I could ever get the front axle to hit the brake pipes! Some pics to follow shortly.

I have noticed the stock CJ axles, being lighter than the beefy Toyota units, are easier for the stock front springs to handle, and they don't fly up at the frame with the same kind of energy as the Toyota axles. It takes a LOT of bashing to make them bottom out. Different story with the Toyota axles though - they actively use the bumpstops, and you can really feel the thumps. However, if you haven't squashed those brake lines even once in all these years of 'wheeling, you've got either great driving skills, amazing luck, or a combination of both . Definitely time to instal those bumpstops!

[Jeep_junkie]

@SuhaibKiani is that a CJ5 or 7 behind you? Nice looking rig.

EDIT: Never mind... it's an early CJ5. I just noticed the wiper motor cover on the outside of the windshield.

[engineermali]

@SuhaibKiani

Zabardast ........ Great Effort ........ Thumps Up (y)

[Farrushah]

& when's the next update? It's all too quiet here.

[Farrushah]

I am lodging a "missing persons" report for SK.

[SuhaibKiani]

Nahin nahin I am here I just can't figure out where all the photos went from this thread and also having a hard time recalling what all I had in mind for starting this! Plus a few days ago, my old Balto stopped on the side of the road and as the engine stalled and the car was rolling to a halt, I was left wondering if this was to be the day when I have it towed for the first time and if starting this thread had anything to do with it! Yes, age seems to be making me more superstitious, but in usual Balto tradition, I managed to get it going in a couple of minutes and got through the rest of the day and into the workshop for a minor fix!

Nevertheless, will try to resume this as soon as possible

[Farrushah]

Ah, the thread is not jinxed

[SuhaibKiani]

Once upon a time, I got hooked onto running the car without any rear shocks! It was a fun, coil-sping like, bouncy ride at city speeds (as long as there were no speed breakers) though I did end up jumping bumps more often than I should have. Somehow ended up with two broken broken main leafs at the back, although they did not get discovered for a significantly long time afterwards. Actually, not fully sure if the breakage is attributed to shockless riding as such as there was too much activity happening. But the key point here is that while both the main (first / shah ) leaves were broken, the military wrap on the 2nd leaf (wazir patta) held the car structurally in place rather well! Nevertheless, the replacements were not easy to find and cost around 6k !

[SuhaibKiani]

Over the years, took so many photos of and off the jeep that the shutter on the camera died, but budhi chal rahee hai. Bas baba farigh ho gaya hai

[SuhaibKiani]

Basically the moral of the story is that, one should not talk so much! If one talks much especially from the front foot, people start to believe that you know your 'chit and then slowly you yourself start to believe that you know the 'chit! And then something happens or you come across something that you just can't explain and it dawns on you that you don't even know jack 'chit. This is one of those things right here, hmmmm....

[Jeep_junkie]

Basically the moral of the story is that, one should not talk so much! If one talks much especially from the front foot, people start to believe that you know your 'chit and then slowly you yourself start to believe that you know the 'chit! And then something happens or you come across something that you just can't explain and it dawns on you that you don't even know jack 'chit. This is one of those things right here, hmmmm....

Oh no wonder @suhaibkiani! Your brake line bracket is mounted to the bumpstop bolt hole! You need to feed the metal line into the chassis through the oblong holes and mount the bracket on the side instead.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using PW Forums mobile app

[SuhaibKiani]

Yes but the question is why/how is it that the diff has never smashed into the brake line to date.

[SuhaibKiani]

I seem to have recollected the original chain of thought for this thread. Basically our indulgence (and as some would say over-indulgence) in the art of jeep making did not start with the Baltoro Project and neither did it end there. Through a series of events, we started with a frame and built a new high powered Project, which is a long but familiar story. Regardless that we seem to have ended back at the frame, we tried to implement what we knew (or what we thought we knew) and ended up with a whole new set of learnings and experiences.

[SuhaibKiani]

There is precious little more to be said on this project of ours but that its the panga that started it all and while its arguable whether its taught us to fly or not there has definitely been a lok of work over the years to keep this boat afloat.

Some of it quite painful and time consuming. Here we see it, the GMC 7.4 litre Eight Cylinder Vortec engine, now finally running without any error codes or missing. Touch Wood!

[Farrushah]

Did you say 7.4L V8? (Let me wipe that drool) Did you, really, say 7.4 L V8?

[SuhaibKiani]

Did you say 7.4L V8? (Let me wipe that drool) Did you, really, say 7.4 L V8?

Yes Indeed! Its from a GMC Suburban 1996 engine model Vortec L29 Chevy Big Block 454 along with its own 4L80 transmision and rear GM 14 bolt differential. The front diff is a Dodge truck Dana 44 converted to passenger side drop. Suspension is original springs with front SOA conversion and rear upside down Waggy shackle converted to normal shackles. 37X16.5 Wheels and Tires off a HumVee! Output is about 290HP (revs to only about 4000 rpms) but with 400 lb.ft off of idle it should make for some interesting offroad experiences, touch wood! That said the Cherokee has never really been dull at offroading, has it

[Farrushah]

Gotta see this one in action, sometimes soon.

[SuhaibKiani]

Yes, it look an awful long time getting here and for now a simpler teaser is all we get from Doc!
Eid Mubarik to Everyone!

[video=vimeo;102136727]http://vimeo.com/102136727[/video]

[surplusstock]

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