Hunt's Debadged RME TJ

Owners Name & City- Hunt, Carmel , NY

Make, Model & Year of Vehicle- Jeep, TJ 1997

Engine- 2003 5.3L LM7 from a truck, LS1 Oil Pan, ECU re-flashed for 325 HP and 375 Ft lbs of torque, Sanderson Headers with 2.5” collectors and 3” exhaust with Magnaflow muffler, Aluminum radiator with 2 speed Taurus electric fan,

Transmission- TH 350 (recently rebuilt and resealed!) with full manual valve body & engine brake, Summit Racing 12” 2000 RPM stall converter, Art Carr shifter, Spal transmission cool, Advanced Adaptors, deep extra capacity aluminum transmission pan,

T-Case- Advanced AdaptorsAtlas II with 4.3 to 1 ratio, 32 spline outputs front and rear, Roark Fab Atlas mount

Axles- Rear- Dana 60 with 40 spline Mark Williams 1.75” shafts, 5.13 gears, spool and disc brakes, Tera HD diff. cover, Width=62”, 1.5” spacers at both wheels, TeraFlex axle bridge truss,
Front- Tera CRD60, Dodge Kingpin Knuckles with chromo shafts, 5.13 gears, ARB locker, 35 spline outers(not chromo) and Warn Premium hubs, crane diff cover, Width=64”, Full hydraulic steering with single-ended ram, PCS pump and Appleton power steering cooler/reservoir/filter, 83” wide from the outside of the tire to the outside of the tire,


Suspension- TeraFlex longarm LCG for an Unlimited Wrangler, Rear coil buckets have been moved back 11”, wheel base is 104”, 3” of suspension lift, 1” body lift under the tub but not under the radiator shell, TeraFlex Dual Rate S/T swaybar, BTF coil mounting kit, Custom from 3 link with the upper link built using lower components, TeraFlex Belly-Up 1/4” t-case skid plate,

Wheels and Tires- 17”x9” Cragar Soft 8 steel black wheels, 5 total, 3” back spacing, 6 on 5.5 lug pattern, Staun internal beadlocks @ 30 psi, 40x13.5x17 Maxxis Creepy Crawlers DOT compound running 6 psi rear and 8 psi in the front,

Winch- Warn M8000

Body Modifications and Protection- BTF Crusher Corner Comp Cut rear quarter panels with LED rear brake lights, BTF Rocker Protection, Highline hood, Ben Hank’s Racing custom front fender raised for more tire clearance, Custom Ben Hank’s Racing roll cage tied to the frame in 6 places, BTF front bumper with d-rings, BTF winch plate,

Favorite Trails- Hell’s Revenge and Hell’s Gate Moab, UT

Other-Summit Machine aluminum fairlead (I need to get a synthetic rope or switch to a roller fairlead), Orbial battery, Corbeau Ultra SS seats tied to the roll cage, RCI seat harnesses, Custom 15 gallon fuel cell behind the rear seat built by Ben at Alliance Metal Works in SLC with a Napa P5000 pump, Bestop Super Top with soft doors, Bestop Bikini Top, AutoMeter white face Hotrod style gauges,

 

[RockChucker]

That thing sounds so good! Awesome vids. The jeep does well. Back east wheelin is way different than out here

 

[Greg]

Very cool, good to see that it's still working well! The supercharger is badass! I love the sound & instant launch when it spools up, looks like the 5.3 and boost are a great combo... really love how much power that thing seems to have. I was happy with the N/A 5.3!

 

[Hunt]

On a last minute notice I got a chance to tag along Sunday on the JonFund Crawl Magazine Readers Ride in Brookfield, MA. The trails were not fantastic. I think they were geared more for the lesser build Jeeps. But getting out and enjoying the beautiful weather and the company of a lot of good people was worth it.

Here is some GoPro footage. The aluminum Willy's in front of me is my good friend Charlie Melchner. I should have used the skeleton GoPro case with the great weather. With the sealed case it makes the sound practically muted.

[youtube]m4Un-Omc2Dc[/youtube]

 

[Greg]

Loved seeing the horizon tilt, then you drive right out of it! Looks like the old TJ is still silly-stable!

 

[Bart]

Very cool. Charlie is a great guy.

 

[Hunt]

Loved seeing the horizon tilt, then you drive right out of it! Looks like the old TJ is still silly-stable!

It sure is. And now with the Improved Racing oil pan baffle and accumulator I don't worry about the crazy angles at all.

Very cool. Charlie is a great guy.

I can't say enough good things about Charlie. He is probably my best friend.

 

[Bart]

I know Charlie from the old UROC comp series. I was running unimog axles on a rig and broke down in Jellico Tennessee. It was the first time I met him and he offered any part he had in his trailer. I replaced the parts at the next event and always enjoyed barley pops and bs with him after that.

 

[Hunt]

We are making plans to go to KOH 2013 so I've been starting my preps now. I have another trip overseas for 7 weeks at the end of Oct. That gets me into late December. Then Christmas and New Years holiday stuff. Now I would be into early January. With the KOH UTV race being February 7 I need to leave New York some time the last week of January. That gives me enough time to get to California and do some pre running, testing an tuning in the new car. I am just running out of time fast!

Last week I went through the trailer axels. Brakes looked great. Did a clean and inspect as well as repacking the bearings. While I was at it I dropped the axels out and did a spring over conversion. The trailer always sat way to low for the places we go. I would drag the rear all the time. The front had to be way to far up in the air to clear the bed rails because it didn't sit level. I ordered up new spring perches, u-bolts, extra set of inner and out bearings, and a spare seal. I welded the new perches on 180 degrees and left the old ones on incase i ever need to lower it back down. It pulls fine and I was able to lower the nose down. I can tell it put a lot more tongue weight on the truck. The air bags will take care of that.

My Dodge needed some love too. I have had a pretty bad shutter on take off when the truck is loaded. The carrier bearing is shot and I found out it is a pretty common complaint on the 2 piece drive shaft Rams. I ordered a one piece shaft for it. I pulled the old 2 piece out and the dust boot and seal on the transfer case output were shot. This led to a transfer case fluid change. Which lead to front and rear diff fluid changes with the addition of extra capacity Mag Hytec pans. The shocks are shot as well. Ordered up a 2.5" ICON kit with the progressive rate springs and matching shocks.

The truck has nearly 100000 miles and needed some long over due maintenance. I cann't do anything just good enough so upgrades were in order.

 

[waynehartwig]

Those are made right here in Spokane

can't wait to see this thing at KOH!!

 

[Hunt]

I snapped a few shots of my Dodge tow rig. It was a beautiful sunny day today and even though the truck is filthy dirty it still looked pretty cool to me. I finished up the Icon 2.5" Stage 3 kit, front and rear Mag Hytech diff pans, ATS trans pan, and new one piece drive shaft. Along with a bunch of other maintenance stuff, I think the truck is ready for the California trip.

The front is still a little high. Kind of "Bro"-ish so I hope it settles some as I drive it around more.

 

[Greg]

"Bro-ish..." Good description! I didn't realize you parted with the Power Wagon, I'm sure the Cummins truck is much better at tow duty.

 

[Hunt]

"Bro-ish..." Good description! I didn't realize you parted with the Power Wagon, I'm sure the Cummins truck is much better at tow duty.

The Power Wagon was awesome but just did not fit what I needed in a truck. It was too nice of a truck and I couldn't bring myself to wheel it like it was built to. I traded it off shortly after getting the bigger enclosed trailer. Nearly all the accessories form the PW went right on the Cummins so that took some of the sting out of it.

 

[Greg]

Makes sense... those Power Wagons are too cool, but when you have a built TJ, wheeling the Power Wagon would be questionable.

 

[Hunt]

Makes sense... those Power Wagons are too cool, but when you have a built TJ, wheeling the Power Wagon would be questionable.

Never wheel the tow rig. The reason I have a trailer queen is so I can wheel it hard and not have to worry about getting it home.

can't wait to see this thing at KOH!!

It's official. Come hell or high water I am going to KOH again in 2013. I sent my entry for the UTV race in today! Guess I need to finish up the little car...

 

[Hunt]

Serviced the Jeep, bolted on the windshield, top and doors, loaded in the trailer and she is ready for prerunner duties at KOH 2013. See you on the lake bed!

Edit:
Thanks to Herzog the Jeep will be rebadged as the RME.com Jeep. Thanks for the stickers.

 

[Bart]

Cool. Hope there is an opportunity to meet there. Looking forward to KOH.

 

[platinum5.9]

Can't wait to see some pictures and videos from KOH. I love this rig and look forward to updates!

 

[Herzog]

Glad the stickers made it you!

 

[Hunt]

Cool. Hope there is an opportunity to meet there. Looking forward to KOH.

I have a pit tent. 205 Poison Spyder. Stop by and say hello. My dad is coming this year for the first time. He has never even been hard core off roading. He volunteered to be camp chief and he is a hell of an awesome cook.

Can't wait to see some pictures and videos from KOH. I love this rig and look forward to updates!

The plan is to get lots of pictures and video this year. I have 3 GoPros, my big Song DSLR, and a small pocket point and shot. My nephew is going for the first time this year so I am sure he will be all about pictures and stickers (he is 12). 3 years ago, I somehow only managed to only take one picture of my jeep and that was at a gas station someplace in New Mexico I think. We were just so busy with the race car I forgot to get pictures of the Jeep.

Glad the stickers made it you!

Thanks again!

 

[Hunt]

KOH 2013 was a complete success! Just a grand time! more to follow as I dig through the pictures.