Rodzlla
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 85
- Location
- Northern Virginia
Truck is looking great. Good to see the skid being used. Hoping to get out on the trails soon myself.
-
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Project WANAVEE
- Thread starter WANNAVEE
- Start date
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Happy New Year everyone!
What a weekend! I'll try to post everything today. Lots to type up and lots of pics to sort through.
Happy New Year everyone!
Thanks, Rod. Oh it definitely got used!
What a weekend! I'll try to post everything today. Lots to type up and lots of pics to sort through.
Thanks!
Sorry for the delay, I was more tired than I thought and still dealing with this cold since I haven't really given myself a chance to fight it off.
So, after I got WANAVEE back from the shop on Christmas Eve I had a lot to do in a little time to get ready for the event. I already threw out my checklist but here's what I can recall:
-Got another front-end alignment finally (I needed one from when the upper control arm came loose a while back).
-Installed a Daystar Dash Organizer with Ram ball-mounts and a Scangauge II mounted in it. Nothing new here, I saw others do it and thought it was perfect! I got the X-gauge working for the transmission fluid temp, which was the main reason I wanted it. The other gauges and features are nice too.
-Installed a tuned-up Midland 75-822 vehicle (or handheld, parts included for both) CB and a K40 (brand) K30 (model) magnet-mount antenna on the roof, temporarily. I didn't have time to install a permanent antenna or hard-wire the CB power, but that's in the plans. I used an SWR meter to tune the antenna (close enough) by cutting off roughly 3/4" from the whip and sealed the base from water ingress and primed and painted it flat black (because the gloss black base and silver whip stood out like a sore thumb on the camo H3).
-I wanted to keep the belt-clip on the CB so I can use it as a handheld by swapping on the included battery pack and rubber-ducky antenna then clip it onto my belt (duh), so I bought a panel-mount bracket for another handheld and mounted it to the radio surround and it worked out pretty well for the vehicle setup.
-Plasti Dipped the radio surround green while it was out.
-Extended more of the brown Plasti Dip in a couple places on the rear since it still didn't look quite right to me. Good enough now, done with that.
-Cleaned and Plasti Dipped the final brake caliper black because I ran out of time when I did the other 3! (Although not obvious, it looked stupid with the camo when you could see it).
-Wired up the winch power with quick-disconnect for use in the front (I still have to run power to the rear to use it there) then anchored the synthetic line to my Silverado for tension and pulled the H3 up to it.
-Changed the trans tune a bit for softer shifts in 4LO, but it didn't help enough and I didn't have time to play with it more, so I flashed the stock trans tune while at the event which tamed it to very acceptable near-stock levels (still have that shift kit in the trans).
-Washed and soaked down the whole exterior with paint sealant because it helps clean off mud more easily (even on the Plasti Dip).
Then I still had to load up all the recovery gear and everything else for the trip. I brought everything except the kitchen sink... toolbox and extra tools, hitch-mount winch setup, all the normal recovery gear and some extras, extra vehicle fluids, fire extinguisher, portable 12V fridge for food, bottled water, and then some. I knew I wouldn't need it all for this trip since I'd be wheeling with a lot of people but I wanted to load it up to the max to test it out with all the weight. The winch and tools stay in the rear floorboards to keep the heavy stuff as low and centralized as possible. It all works out quite well.
Without CB:
With CB:
So, after I got WANAVEE back from the shop on Christmas Eve I had a lot to do in a little time to get ready for the event. I already threw out my checklist but here's what I can recall:
-Got another front-end alignment finally (I needed one from when the upper control arm came loose a while back).
-Installed a Daystar Dash Organizer with Ram ball-mounts and a Scangauge II mounted in it. Nothing new here, I saw others do it and thought it was perfect! I got the X-gauge working for the transmission fluid temp, which was the main reason I wanted it. The other gauges and features are nice too.
-Installed a tuned-up Midland 75-822 vehicle (or handheld, parts included for both) CB and a K40 (brand) K30 (model) magnet-mount antenna on the roof, temporarily. I didn't have time to install a permanent antenna or hard-wire the CB power, but that's in the plans. I used an SWR meter to tune the antenna (close enough) by cutting off roughly 3/4" from the whip and sealed the base from water ingress and primed and painted it flat black (because the gloss black base and silver whip stood out like a sore thumb on the camo H3).
-I wanted to keep the belt-clip on the CB so I can use it as a handheld by swapping on the included battery pack and rubber-ducky antenna then clip it onto my belt (duh), so I bought a panel-mount bracket for another handheld and mounted it to the radio surround and it worked out pretty well for the vehicle setup.
-Plasti Dipped the radio surround green while it was out.
-Extended more of the brown Plasti Dip in a couple places on the rear since it still didn't look quite right to me. Good enough now, done with that.
-Cleaned and Plasti Dipped the final brake caliper black because I ran out of time when I did the other 3! (Although not obvious, it looked stupid with the camo when you could see it).
-Wired up the winch power with quick-disconnect for use in the front (I still have to run power to the rear to use it there) then anchored the synthetic line to my Silverado for tension and pulled the H3 up to it.
-Changed the trans tune a bit for softer shifts in 4LO, but it didn't help enough and I didn't have time to play with it more, so I flashed the stock trans tune while at the event which tamed it to very acceptable near-stock levels (still have that shift kit in the trans).
-Washed and soaked down the whole exterior with paint sealant because it helps clean off mud more easily (even on the Plasti Dip).
Then I still had to load up all the recovery gear and everything else for the trip. I brought everything except the kitchen sink... toolbox and extra tools, hitch-mount winch setup, all the normal recovery gear and some extras, extra vehicle fluids, fire extinguisher, portable 12V fridge for food, bottled water, and then some. I knew I wouldn't need it all for this trip since I'd be wheeling with a lot of people but I wanted to load it up to the max to test it out with all the weight. The winch and tools stay in the rear floorboards to keep the heavy stuff as low and centralized as possible. It all works out quite well.
Without CB:
With CB:
With coffee, Day-Quil, Motrin, and more coffee the early Saturday morning 3 hour trip up to AOAA went smoothly. I got there and took more Day-Quil because screw you, virus... not gonna ruin my weekend!
On Day 1 on the trails (still Saturday) there were a group of 7 of us for most of the day. 6 Wranglers and an H3. Paul from World Tour Off Road (who had basically just finished the trans swap and other stuff on WANAVEE) was the lead since he's very experienced at AOAA. I jumped right behind him and got the advantage of seeing the right lines to take (or in some cases... the wrong lines to take so I could avoid them). These were only green (level 1) trails with this largely novice group, though some of them were pretty awesome anyway due to recent heavy rains. There was a stock 2-door with stock tires behind me and they had a tough time making it up some of the trails (though they did make it). Some of the modded Jeeps had a couple troubles too, but nothing serious. I was experimenting with *all* the combinations of 4HI unlocked/locked, 4LO, rear unlocked/locked and front unlocked/locked. Most of it was overkill so I had absolutely no problems with traction on any of those trails.
There were some seriously tight turns through dense trees that nothing much bigger than a Jeep would make it through. Fortunately the H3 isn't much bigger than a Jeep, and I surprised myself at how well I got through them without any contact or backing up. You really have to know where your corners are and where they will end up! Some of the folks behind me did have troubles, and my favorite quote of the day came from a guy toward the back... "Come on, if that Humvee can make it through them trees, I know them Jeeps can too!" LOL
One Jeep broke a front driveshaft toward in the latter half of the day so they pulled it out on the trail and we took easy trails back to the parking lot so they could make it in 2WD.
We got to the lot about an hour or so before closing and most of the group split off or left for the hotel, but I asked Paul if he'd lead me down some blue (level 2) trails, so he and I followed by the "Humvee" quote guy went out to hit some up. We did a few of those and I started having much more fun. A little more rock crawling, hill climbing, and muddy sections rounded out the day then Paul and I went off to pressure rinse our rigs on his suggestion. We didn't "wash" them since Day 2 was yet to come, but spraying off all the heavy mud before it dries overnight is a good idea!
Here are some Day 1 pics. Few are from me and others while most were from my wife in the passenger seat. She took over 400 pics between the 2 days! It took forever to sort through them and delete redundant or blurry pics then upload the better of what was left. Hopefully there aren't too many here (Day 2 still to come):
That guy brought his cat. I didn't know cat's like 4 wheeling.
Stopped for lunch:
On Day 1 on the trails (still Saturday) there were a group of 7 of us for most of the day. 6 Wranglers and an H3. Paul from World Tour Off Road (who had basically just finished the trans swap and other stuff on WANAVEE) was the lead since he's very experienced at AOAA. I jumped right behind him and got the advantage of seeing the right lines to take (or in some cases... the wrong lines to take so I could avoid them). These were only green (level 1) trails with this largely novice group, though some of them were pretty awesome anyway due to recent heavy rains. There was a stock 2-door with stock tires behind me and they had a tough time making it up some of the trails (though they did make it). Some of the modded Jeeps had a couple troubles too, but nothing serious. I was experimenting with *all* the combinations of 4HI unlocked/locked, 4LO, rear unlocked/locked and front unlocked/locked. Most of it was overkill so I had absolutely no problems with traction on any of those trails.
There were some seriously tight turns through dense trees that nothing much bigger than a Jeep would make it through. Fortunately the H3 isn't much bigger than a Jeep, and I surprised myself at how well I got through them without any contact or backing up. You really have to know where your corners are and where they will end up! Some of the folks behind me did have troubles, and my favorite quote of the day came from a guy toward the back... "Come on, if that Humvee can make it through them trees, I know them Jeeps can too!" LOL
One Jeep broke a front driveshaft toward in the latter half of the day so they pulled it out on the trail and we took easy trails back to the parking lot so they could make it in 2WD.
We got to the lot about an hour or so before closing and most of the group split off or left for the hotel, but I asked Paul if he'd lead me down some blue (level 2) trails, so he and I followed by the "Humvee" quote guy went out to hit some up. We did a few of those and I started having much more fun. A little more rock crawling, hill climbing, and muddy sections rounded out the day then Paul and I went off to pressure rinse our rigs on his suggestion. We didn't "wash" them since Day 2 was yet to come, but spraying off all the heavy mud before it dries overnight is a good idea!
Here are some Day 1 pics. Few are from me and others while most were from my wife in the passenger seat. She took over 400 pics between the 2 days! It took forever to sort through them and delete redundant or blurry pics then upload the better of what was left. Hopefully there aren't too many here (Day 2 still to come):
That guy brought his cat. I didn't know cat's like 4 wheeling.
Stopped for lunch:
Back at the hotel we had a catered Italian dinner, but it honestly wasn't very good. Ah well, we were starving so it was better than it could have been. Then they had a raffle and I won a free guided green-trail ride which I gave back because I won't use it (those are often painfully tedious and boring for anyone except first-time off roaders from what I hear), then I won a Quadratech recovery gear kit which was pretty awesome. There were a couple items missing from my personal kit and this filled those in and gave me some spares too. Sweet!
It was really late by that time, so more medicines and some sleep then it was time to get ready for day 2!
Then they had a raffle and I won a free guided green-trail ride which I gave back because I won't use it (those are often painfully tedious and boring for anyone except first-time off roaders from what I hear), then I won a Quadratech recovery gear kit which was pretty awesome. There were a couple items missing from my personal kit and this filled those in and gave me some spares too. Sweet!It was really late by that time, so more medicines and some sleep then it was time to get ready for day 2!
On Day 2 (Sunday) there were just 4 of us in the group (3 Wranglers and an H3), all decently modded so we wanted to go on pretty much all blue trails. Paul led again but I was 3rd in line this time because the 2nd guy didn't have a CB and Paul wanted us other two to be behind him. #2 was the only one who wasn't in the group the previous day (he had to work).
I used 4LO and rear locker almost exclusively and front locker judiciously this time. Much more challenging this day! Not just mild rock crawling or tight trees, but mild rock crawling through tight trees! Also, more mud (of course), hill climbs and descents, streams, and just general awesomeness. Of course we covered a lot less distance on day 2 because it was so much slower going.
All went well for the H3 except a couple minor problems cascading into a bigger one (still relatively minor). Twice when I went to start the engine, there was a no-crank. It wasn't caused by the Passkey system, because I bypassed that in the tune, and not caused by the battery because voltage stayed good. After less than a minute both times, it restarted like nothing had happened. (I'm thinking that it my be a starter relay going bad which would be super easy to fix but I haven't had time to troubleshoot this yet). After that I decided to leave it running the whole day to avoid the situation on the trails.
We were crawling up "Upper Anthracite", a hard-blue trail that follows a stream bed (uphill in this direction). After being sure that I broke WANAVEE in half (I didn't) on a large boulder from having to skinny-pedal it up out of the water then landing HARD on the new (used) DOI skid plate (it wouldn't crawl over that slippery mess of an off-camber rock and no way around it), I then got to another moderate obstacle and for some reason the engine died. It did this a couple times at the event last summer in 4LO too, and I'm not sure why (maybe cleaning the TB will help). That wasn't a big deal, but then it wouldn't start again. :roll: This time it took a while longer and I thought "Maybe it won't start in 4LO" so I put it back into 4HI (unlocked). Still no start, but it finally did after another minute or so. Now here's where *I* screwed up. I forgot to put it back into 4LO, and I was so focused on the rocks and suspension that I didn't even realize it! That V8 does have some good torque down low now, but I still should have realized it was 4x less than moments earlier! So after a few more obstacles (still uphill), I glanced at the trans temp on the Scangauge as I had been doing regularly, and I saw 265*! SON OF A.... I immediately put it into park (and left it running) and the temp kept creeping up. I grabbed a water bottle and dumped it onto the trans cooler through the grill and then another partial one before one of the guys mentioned that I was parked over an icy-cold stream. LOL So I started refilling the bottle and soaking the cooler. It reached 275* before it started coming back down. Someone then found a small bucket on the side of the trail that was quicker to fill and dump (perfect!). It still took several more minutes but I brought it back down to the ~170* temp that it had been running all weekend, then we started again. The temp started coming up again before I realized I was still in 4HI! DOH. I was working that torque converter HARD! I put it back into 4LO and we finished that trail and carried on (and I didn't have a single issue for the rest of the trip). When we stopped for lunch I apologized to everyone for holding them up but I didn't want to fry my brand new ~$5000 (installed) built transmission! (No one minded). The trans is still perfectly fine but the fluid will get changed before I drive it again.
Regardless of the issues, I don't want to do Upper Anthracite again (at least in those conditions). It was satisfying to make it all the way through, but the painful solid bangs and hard scrapes were not enjoyable! Nothing seemed to get damaged other than the UCP though, and it looks like only the stock oil pan skid plate needs to be banged back out a little. The mildly reinforced DOI steel held up admirably. That thing is a beast! I might want to replace the stock gas tank skid though, it looks a little worse for the wear.
The other blue trails we did were awesome! There were some intense moments that weren't caught on camera, but it was all a lot of fun! Everyone was impressed with WANAVEE (including me). No haters that weekend!
Anyway, enough words for now... On to Day 2 pics:
I used 4LO and rear locker almost exclusively and front locker judiciously this time. Much more challenging this day! Not just mild rock crawling or tight trees, but mild rock crawling through tight trees! Also, more mud (of course), hill climbs and descents, streams, and just general awesomeness. Of course we covered a lot less distance on day 2 because it was so much slower going.
All went well for the H3 except a couple minor problems cascading into a bigger one (still relatively minor). Twice when I went to start the engine, there was a no-crank. It wasn't caused by the Passkey system, because I bypassed that in the tune, and not caused by the battery because voltage stayed good. After less than a minute both times, it restarted like nothing had happened. (I'm thinking that it my be a starter relay going bad which would be super easy to fix but I haven't had time to troubleshoot this yet). After that I decided to leave it running the whole day to avoid the situation on the trails.
We were crawling up "Upper Anthracite", a hard-blue trail that follows a stream bed (uphill in this direction). After being sure that I broke WANAVEE in half (I didn't) on a large boulder from having to skinny-pedal it up out of the water then landing HARD on the new (used) DOI skid plate (it wouldn't crawl over that slippery mess of an off-camber rock and no way around it), I then got to another moderate obstacle and for some reason the engine died. It did this a couple times at the event last summer in 4LO too, and I'm not sure why (maybe cleaning the TB will help). That wasn't a big deal, but then it wouldn't start again. :roll: This time it took a while longer and I thought "Maybe it won't start in 4LO" so I put it back into 4HI (unlocked). Still no start, but it finally did after another minute or so. Now here's where *I* screwed up. I forgot to put it back into 4LO, and I was so focused on the rocks and suspension that I didn't even realize it! That V8 does have some good torque down low now, but I still should have realized it was 4x less than moments earlier! So after a few more obstacles (still uphill), I glanced at the trans temp on the Scangauge as I had been doing regularly, and I saw 265*! SON OF A.... I immediately put it into park (and left it running) and the temp kept creeping up. I grabbed a water bottle and dumped it onto the trans cooler through the grill and then another partial one before one of the guys mentioned that I was parked over an icy-cold stream. LOL So I started refilling the bottle and soaking the cooler. It reached 275* before it started coming back down. Someone then found a small bucket on the side of the trail that was quicker to fill and dump (perfect!). It still took several more minutes but I brought it back down to the ~170* temp that it had been running all weekend, then we started again. The temp started coming up again before I realized I was still in 4HI! DOH. I was working that torque converter HARD! I put it back into 4LO and we finished that trail and carried on (and I didn't have a single issue for the rest of the trip). When we stopped for lunch I apologized to everyone for holding them up but I didn't want to fry my brand new ~$5000 (installed) built transmission! (No one minded). The trans is still perfectly fine but the fluid will get changed before I drive it again.
Regardless of the issues, I don't want to do Upper Anthracite again (at least in those conditions). It was satisfying to make it all the way through, but the painful solid bangs and hard scrapes were not enjoyable! Nothing seemed to get damaged other than the UCP though, and it looks like only the stock oil pan skid plate needs to be banged back out a little. The mildly reinforced DOI steel held up admirably. That thing is a beast! I might want to replace the stock gas tank skid though, it looks a little worse for the wear.
The other blue trails we did were awesome! There were some intense moments that weren't caught on camera, but it was all a lot of fun! Everyone was impressed with WANAVEE (including me). No haters that weekend!
Anyway, enough words for now... On to Day 2 pics:
Pressure rinsed again Sunday evening after dinner then slept at the hotel again Sunday night and came home Monday. Pretty much constant 70mph ended up being 14.6mpg. DOH (heh)
It rained nearly the whole way home so it got yet another good shower. Home all safe in one piece! I'd call that a good weekend! (Then I crashed for a couple days, heh).
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Couple more notes: I thought for sure that magnetic mount CB antenna was going to get yanked off from banging on thick branches overhead like 50 times... but that thing was solid! I apparently did a good job with the paint job too because none of it came off. I did sand it and use self-etching primer, but I still thought it would lose some chunks. Nope! Good to go...
Considering that about a thousand branches scraped across the Plasti-Dipped body, it held up remarkably well. There are a couple small spots taken off the mirrors but easy to touch up. The worst Plasti Dip damage was from a ghost branch that jumped out right in front of the passenger side rear fender and shoved its way up the 90 degree angle between the fender and door. I never did actually see that branch, but we sure did hear it hit! It put about a 2 foot tear in the Plasti Dip that I'll have to touch up when I get time. That won't be too bad because it's all a black section and can be done with a rattle can (unlike my custom green and brown). There are of course some pinstripes on the side of the body but I'm okay with that, it's not supposed to be a show-quality Plasti Dip job.
There are a few gouges in the rims of my new wheels. :/ Not too bad and not unexpected though. Will probably touch them up with matte black spray paint.
The 35" Duratracs worked well in all conditions at 21psi on the trails. Some of the trail sections had a lot of rocks... Not the kind you crawl, but the kind that makes cruising along them bone-jarringly harsh. This type of terrain was what made up most of the first trail I took in the H3 (The one on the first page, the one before I even got it home from TN), and that took the worn front suspension and made it painfully loose. This time I was worried about these sections doing the same thing but all those great parts made by great companies held up just fine. Everything feels just as good as it did last week. I feel that 15psi might have been great over these sections, but even 18psi at the event this summer felt really soggy (and I didn't want to break a bead on the sideways stuff).
The Jeeps didn't seem to mind driving faster than me over this stuff though... I wonder if they ride better in those specific situations. They do have more front suspension travel than us and JK's have coil springs so maybe that softens it up over our pickup-truck suspension? Paul told me that on road my H3 rides like a Cadillac compared to a JK with similar mods (~2.5" lift, 35's) but maybe that reverses in that specific mildly rocky terrain?
Overall, I'm super impressed with this rig. It seems to do nearly everything on road and nearly everything off road both very well, and that's exactly what I was looking (and modding) for. Awesome!
Considering that about a thousand branches scraped across the Plasti-Dipped body, it held up remarkably well. There are a couple small spots taken off the mirrors but easy to touch up. The worst Plasti Dip damage was from a ghost branch that jumped out right in front of the passenger side rear fender and shoved its way up the 90 degree angle between the fender and door. I never did actually see that branch, but we sure did hear it hit! It put about a 2 foot tear in the Plasti Dip that I'll have to touch up when I get time. That won't be too bad because it's all a black section and can be done with a rattle can (unlike my custom green and brown). There are of course some pinstripes on the side of the body but I'm okay with that, it's not supposed to be a show-quality Plasti Dip job.
There are a few gouges in the rims of my new wheels. :/ Not too bad and not unexpected though. Will probably touch them up with matte black spray paint.
The 35" Duratracs worked well in all conditions at 21psi on the trails. Some of the trail sections had a lot of rocks... Not the kind you crawl, but the kind that makes cruising along them bone-jarringly harsh. This type of terrain was what made up most of the first trail I took in the H3 (The one on the first page, the one before I even got it home from TN), and that took the worn front suspension and made it painfully loose. This time I was worried about these sections doing the same thing but all those great parts made by great companies held up just fine. Everything feels just as good as it did last week. I feel that 15psi might have been great over these sections, but even 18psi at the event this summer felt really soggy (and I didn't want to break a bead on the sideways stuff).
The Jeeps didn't seem to mind driving faster than me over this stuff though... I wonder if they ride better in those specific situations. They do have more front suspension travel than us and JK's have coil springs so maybe that softens it up over our pickup-truck suspension? Paul told me that on road my H3 rides like a Cadillac compared to a JK with similar mods (~2.5" lift, 35's) but maybe that reverses in that specific mildly rocky terrain?
Overall, I'm super impressed with this rig. It seems to do nearly everything on road and nearly everything off road both very well, and that's exactly what I was looking (and modding) for. Awesome!
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Great pictures. It is mentally draining to me when you are constantly trying to fit between trees. Did that one day with a group of jeeps in my H2 where I had about 1-2 inches clearance on each side with the mirrors in. That was the hardest part of the day. A Jeep with <1K miles broke the front drive shaft that day too.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Definitely mentally taxing, especially on the sharp loose rocks through those tight sections! There are about 10 different things to think about all at once in 3D while all of it continuously changes with every inch further traveled. Perfect spatial awareness is key and one wrong move can cost you a bumper or fender or even a roof rack and those beefy trees have lots of battle scars to prove it. Paul actually sliced a hole in a sidewall on his 37 on some of this.
I was focusing so hard that my head started getting hot and it was 40* with heater off and the windows down!
I can imagine that being super stressful in the ginormous H2. Several places that I went through would simply not fit an H2 through them period.
As taxing as it was, I got great satisfaction out of making it through untouched each time which made it lots of fun!
I was focusing so hard that my head started getting hot and it was 40* with heater off and the windows down!
I can imagine that being super stressful in the ginormous H2. Several places that I went through would simply not fit an H2 through them period.
As taxing as it was, I got great satisfaction out of making it through untouched each time which made it lots of fun!
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Bowser-II
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 270
- Location
- Hagerstown, Maryland
It’s been awhile since I was at AOAA, but what I do remember is that some of those trails get so tight that with mud a green can quickly turn into a blue and your pin striping become canyons!
Looks like you had fun.
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Looks like you had fun.
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Yeah, I don't know where they normally draw the line on 'green' vs 'blue' in standard conditions but with the washouts and mudholes I wouldn't doubt that some of those greens were blue at the time. What I do know is that since Upper Anthracite was "only" a 'hard blue', I don't think I'll ever try any blacks! WANAVEE may or may not make it through a few of those but it sounds like guaranteed damage. No thanks.
Then there are reds, but I understand that those are reserved for the most hardcore rigs, usually trailered-in dedicated crawlers.
Average blues are enough for me, thanks!
Then there are reds, but I understand that those are reserved for the most hardcore rigs, usually trailered-in dedicated crawlers.
Average blues are enough for me, thanks!
Bowser-II
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 270
- Location
- Hagerstown, Maryland
Ha ha, this is true, I just don’t enjoy going to RC or AOAA just to bash up my truck. Traveling around and camping is much more fun.
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JPaul
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 2,436
- Location
- Way up north, UT
Looks like a lot of fun! Glad it all went well overall.
Hi all, long time no post. Been going through a lot (still am). Time goes way fast for me so please don't mind if I ghost again for a long while. WANAVEE hasn't changed much since last post, but almost time to peel the Plasti-Dip and go back to boring faded silver. :no: :/ I want to paint it in camo CARC for real, but that's way too much work for me to handle.
H3Trex, sorry for no reply. I don't know of any meetups (well that's obvious during Covid times, but even before). I'm not far from you if you're still there.
I've been out only a couple times since last post, another round at the motocross track event (now permanently cancelled) and a solo 3 day wheeling/camping trip up to Flagpole Knob in VA via Union Springs trail last fall. It was awesome, itching for more of that even though it was a lot of work with my health issues. Here's a couple highlights (not too exciting to watch though. As always, terrain looks super tame on video even when it isn't):
https://youtu.be/p33BfGuhhQI
My friend just bought a 2007 Grand Cherokee diesel project and we plan on going out to Flagpole once he gets it running (then elsewhere). Looking forward to that.
H3Trex, sorry for no reply. I don't know of any meetups (well that's obvious during Covid times, but even before). I'm not far from you if you're still there.
I've been out only a couple times since last post, another round at the motocross track event (now permanently cancelled) and a solo 3 day wheeling/camping trip up to Flagpole Knob in VA via Union Springs trail last fall. It was awesome, itching for more of that even though it was a lot of work with my health issues. Here's a couple highlights (not too exciting to watch though. As always, terrain looks super tame on video even when it isn't):
https://youtu.be/p33BfGuhhQI
My friend just bought a 2007 Grand Cherokee diesel project and we plan on going out to Flagpole once he gets it running (then elsewhere). Looking forward to that.
With this built trans and its shift kit designed for drag racing, shifts are very firm (even with a conservative tune, but moreso with the more aggressive aftermarket tune). This is fine by me for street driving. However, on that tune *when in 4lo*, the shifts were *extremely* jarring, even with very little throttle, to the point that I was concerned that axles or diffs were going to break. On dry pavement they probably would have. However, with the stock trans tune loaded, although still very harsh, it was MUCH more manageable. So at first I was loading the aftermarket tune for the street then switching to the stock tune for off roading, but then I got lazy and just kept the stock trans tune (other than tire size correction) for the street. However, due to recent other car troubles and bad weather, I've been commuting in WANAVEE. I quickly got sick of the sluggish stock trans tune (though the 93 octane engine tune is still great!) so I loaded the aftermarket trans tune again and it's SO MUCH BETTER.
That re-realization pushed me to start researching ways to ease 4lo shifts, and upon finding very little documented about it (most DIY GM tuners are drag racing), I decided to start experimenting with the tune myself, knowing it was risky. Well I'm thrilled to say that after I spent several hours on the issue yesterday, I now have a usable 4lo and awesome street performance all in the same tune. :thumbs: Having cake and eating it too is great!
The main problem in 4lo was the raised part throttle upshift points. The higher they are, the harder the shifts. Of course I can shift myself because gears 1 and 2 stay with the 1 and 2 shifter selection, but sometimes I want automatic shifts depending on the situation.
I was able to find a table that applied to 4lo only (not explained anywhere or obvious in any way) so I entered the stock 4lo upshift points into that table. What also helped a bit was slightly lowering the line pressure in 4lo only for the 1 to 2 upshift.
I thought I found a torque management table for 4lo only, but it didn't seem to make any difference going from 0% all the way up to 75% torque reduction across the board. That's okay though, as it's slightly better than the stock trans tune in 4lo now, and I've been offroading with that several times without issue.
This 93 octane tuned 5.3 at sea level is still just adequate IMO (even though most would consider it to be well more than enough), but the much snappier responses from the trans tune definitely make it more acceptable.
That re-realization pushed me to start researching ways to ease 4lo shifts, and upon finding very little documented about it (most DIY GM tuners are drag racing), I decided to start experimenting with the tune myself, knowing it was risky. Well I'm thrilled to say that after I spent several hours on the issue yesterday, I now have a usable 4lo and awesome street performance all in the same tune. :thumbs: Having cake and eating it too is great!
The main problem in 4lo was the raised part throttle upshift points. The higher they are, the harder the shifts. Of course I can shift myself because gears 1 and 2 stay with the 1 and 2 shifter selection, but sometimes I want automatic shifts depending on the situation.
I was able to find a table that applied to 4lo only (not explained anywhere or obvious in any way) so I entered the stock 4lo upshift points into that table. What also helped a bit was slightly lowering the line pressure in 4lo only for the 1 to 2 upshift.
I thought I found a torque management table for 4lo only, but it didn't seem to make any difference going from 0% all the way up to 75% torque reduction across the board. That's okay though, as it's slightly better than the stock trans tune in 4lo now, and I've been offroading with that several times without issue.
This 93 octane tuned 5.3 at sea level is still just adequate IMO (even though most would consider it to be well more than enough), but the much snappier responses from the trans tune definitely make it more acceptable.
Gpcalero
Well-Known Member
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- SW Florida
Lots of great info here in this thread.
Most tranny builders raise line pressure with components in their level of builds (i.e. your Level 6 build from RPM) for drag racing like you said. Sometimes end up with too much static line pressure lol, so it makes sense that it helped to lower it. I'm putting together a tranny combo for my 6.2L build and may hit you up if my tuner can't figure out the neat 4LOW table you've found. Nice looking rig.
Most tranny builders raise line pressure with components in their level of builds (i.e. your Level 6 build from RPM) for drag racing like you said. Sometimes end up with too much static line pressure lol, so it makes sense that it helped to lower it. I'm putting together a tranny combo for my 6.2L build and may hit you up if my tuner can't figure out the neat 4LOW table you've found. Nice looking rig.