As if it’s any news to us, Chrysler just reported that May 2012 saw U.S. Sales increased by 30% making it the best May sales in 5 years. BUT, the most amazing news was that “Jeep brand sales were up 24 percent in May compared with the same month a year ago, the brand’s best May sales performance in 12 years and its 25th-consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains. The Jeep Wrangler, the brand’s volume leader for the month, set an all-time sales record in May with its solid 44 percent sales increase.” Clearly, the Jeep JK Wrangler is the flagship vehicle for Chrysler’s!!

The full press release can be seen on the link below:

Chrysler Group LLC Reports May 2012 U.S. Sales Increased
30 Percent - Best May Sales in Five Years

If you can believe it, this was the 3rd year in a row that our traditional Summer Kick-off up in the Sierra’s ended up being more of a Winter Final. In fact, I’m starting to think we’ll have to change it’s name for next year with the hopes of getting an opposite effect. Still, in spite of the snow and freezing temperatures the first couple of nights, I think everyone enjoyed getting out of the desert and back into the mountains again and, at least for me, I can say that I had a hell of a good time! Here are some pics from our first adventures back in the Sierra Nevada Mountians this year.

Sierra Summer Kick-Off Memorial Day Weekend 2012

Changing your engine oil is a necessary part of routine maintenance and really, it’s something that anyone can do. In fact, thanks to the design of the all new 3.6L V6 Pentastar engine, it’s something that easier to do than ever before. This short write-up will explain in detail what all is involved and just how little you will need to do. And, after you done this on your own, I can almost guarantee that you’ll never take your Jeep back to your dealer or a shop to have it done for you again.

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A couple of weeks ago, I read about an Annular Solar Eclipse that was to occur in our neck of the woods on Sunday, May 20, 2012. At the time, I didn’t give it much thought but as we got closer and closer to the weekend, the more more I found myself talking to Cindy about it and before I knew it, we were dropping what we were doing and heading out to the desert to chase the sun. And, after exploring a good part of the eastern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern corners of Arizona, we decided to set ourselves up on a mesa top near the town of Mesquite, Nevada. Here are some pics from our trip.

Chasing the Sun Run Quest to see
the 2012 Annular Solar Eclipse

After extending our Arizona adventures with a side trip out to Sedona, we decided to make our final push back to Southern California by way of Route 66. Starting from Flagstaff, we made our way across the Mother Road, into the Hualapai Indian Nation and it was there that we found ourselves drawn to yet another side trip in the town of Peach Springs. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the area, there is a 19 mile trail that starts from here and takes you all the way down to the Colorado River. Known as the Diamond Creek Trail, it is the only road that I know of that takes you to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and really, who can resist a trip like that? Here are pics from our 2nd side trip and long drive back home on Route 66. I hope you enjoy.

Grand Canyon Trail to the Colorado River & Arizona Route 66

Rather than heading straight for home after the awesome weekend of wheeling we had in Arizona last week, Cindy and I decided to make our drive back a bit more interesting and took side trip up through Sedona. I mean hey, it’s not everyday that you find yourself in a state with so much to see and do and wheel and we just felt that it would be a crime to pass up the opportunity… or, at least, that’s what we told ourselves. Fortunately for us, the weather was outstanding with the days being as long as they are right now, we were able to get in multiple trails including the famous Broken Arrow, short but interesting Soldier Pass and visiually stunning Schnebly Hill before ending our fun filled day in Flagstaff.

Sedona Arizona Photo Essay

Axle Alley is one of the most challenging trails in the Florence Junction area of Arizona and really, a trail that you typically only find buggies on. Over the weekend, Mel Wade of Off Road Evolution drove his 4-door Jeep JK Wrangler out to this trail from his home in Southern California, took it on and then drove it all the way back home. In this Project-JK RAW video clip, you’ll get to see EVO 1 conquering this near vertical dry waterfall that stands about 8 feet tall. Check it out.

Last weekend, our good friends Greg and Dave of Powerline Patrol invited Mel, Cindy and I out to Arizona to run a few of the trails out in the Florence Junction area. To be exact, we ended up running a total of 7 beautiful and epic trails including Box Canyon, the Martinez Mine Loop, Jack Handle, Orville’s Loop, the infamous Axel Alley, Upper Woodpecker and a better part of Highway to Hell before Mel’s steering pump quit on him and forced us to bail out. Now, we’ve always heard all kinds of stories about how tough the trails are out in this area and I gotta tell you, they’re all true. This area is surprisingly lush with vegetation, filled with all kinds of history and has some of the most challenging trails I’ve ever taken on and with razor sharp rocks to boot. If you would like to see pics from our epic trip, simply click on the link below:

Florence Junction Arizona Weekend of Wheeling

Over the weekend, we got a chance to hook up with some really old friends of ours, Matt and Heather (aka doojer & doojette) and do some camping out in the desert or, what some like to call, “overlanding”. Being that this was the first time they’ve had a chance to go wheeling in a couple of years, we decided to run a portion of the Old Mojave Road starting from Afton Canyon and then work our way over to the Kelso Sand Dunes where we intended to setup camp. As luck would have it, a lot of the old camping area had been fenced off with signs specifically stating NO camping was allowed and so, we headed up into the Providence Mountains and found a much nicer home for the night. Anyway, here are some pics from our weekend trip and reunion with old friends. I hope you enjoy.

Vulcan Mine Camping Trip Photo Essay

Day 5 of the JK-Experience Rocky Mountain Run took us up and over the most famous and terrifying trails in the state of Colorado, Black Bear Pass. After having some fun on what are certainly some of the most hair raising, narrow switchback roads you can find anywhere, we made our way west to our final destination of the week, Grand Junction. To end our trip with a bang, our 6th and final day would be spent on a short but technically challenging trail called, Billings Canyon. Rated a 9 out of a 10, this trail would put everyone and their rigs to the test and, as you can imagine, had a hell of a great time!

We hope that you’ve enjoyed all 4 episodes of KEEP IT TIGHT: The JK-Experience Rocky Mountain Run. If you’ve been inspired by what you’ve seen and would like to see more films like it, we’d be grateful if you could please contact the good folks at Chrysler® and let them know what you think. You can reach them at:

http://www.chryslergroupllc.com/footer/Pages/ContactUs.aspx

Thank you for your support!
Cindy & Eddie Oh

I always hear people talk about how much the factory skidplates suck, how inadequate they are and how important it is to install heavy and expensive aftermarket replacements. And, truth be told, I just don’t get it. I mean, I’m totally on board with protecting vital parts on your Jeep that come with little to no protection at all, such as the oil pan on all JK’s, the automatic transmisson sump pan on 2011-up JK’s and even a very exposed transmission cooler line on 2012-up, but I simply have not seen any need to replace what you already get for free from the factory. Sure, things like your gas tank, transfer case or automatic transmission skid plate may get beat to all hell and may not look real pretty after a lot of wheeling but, in the over 5 years we’ve been punishing the 4 JK’s we’ve owned, I have yet to see any of them fail. In fact, I have yet to see or hear of any factory skid fail on any of the JK’s that join us on our runs or, even online for that matter.

Having said all that, I’d like to take a moment and give some love to the under-appreciated factory skidplates. They are provided for FREE from the factory, do not add extra weight, do not hide leaks that you want to see, don’t trap in excessive amounts of heat like aftermarket skids do, are easy to remove and because of it, allow for easy access to service your transmission and transfer case. Again, I would be the first to recommend protection of vital parts on your Jeep such as your oil pan and transmission on newer JK but, only because they come with little to no protection at all.

I’m sure there will be people out there who will go on and on about how wrong I am but, I’m the kind of guy who prefers to go off of what I’ve seen and not what I imagine will happen.

I just wanted to post this up as a public service announcement as I get 2012 owners asking me this question all the time. If you lift your 2012 Jeep JK Wrangler more than 2.5″, you will have issues with your factory front drive shaft making contact with the exhaust cross over. However, rather than wasting your money on a Y-Pipe kit that can cost upwards of $300, please do yourself a favor, spend the extra $150 and just upgrade your front drive shaft to a 1310 drive shaft like the kind that J.E. Reel or even Coast makes.

So you know, an aftermarket 1310 drive shaft or even 1350 drive shaft will be narrower in diameter, will not have a slip shaft boot and will not make contact with your JK’s exhaust cross over as would be the case with a factory drive shaft. This is a shot of a factory drive shaft installed on a 2012 JK with 3.5″ of lift and at a full droop…

Now, this is a shot of our J.E. Reel 1350 front drive shaft installed on Rubicat with 12″ coil overs, no exhaust modifications and at a full droop…

As you can see, the shaft is not making any contact with the exhaust cross over and there is plenty of room to spare. Also, on the 2012 JK’s, the taller you go, the more of an angle you will have at your output shaft CV joint. At just 3.5″ of lift, this angle will be sever enough to cause the CV boot to fail prematurely and so, even if you were to install a Y-Pipe, you would still end up having to replace your front drive shaft sooner than later.

Need I say, do yourself a favor, spend just a little more cash and do things right the first time around.

NOTE: Results will be different on a 2012 JK with manual transmission as the transfer case will sit further back.

I know a lot of you have been waiting for this and, I’m happy to say that last night, we finally got a chance to do a side by side comparison test of the all NEW Truck-lite Complex Reflector Optics Design LED Headlights versus the original LED Headlights that they’ve had out for a while now. And, after doing the test, this is what I can tell you.

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Ken Offerbeck is not only one of the very first members of JK-Forum.com, he’s also a senior moderator and a personal good friend of mine. Known best by his screen name, HappyCurmudgeon, Ken has the hightest post count on the forum second only to me and, has been a tremendous help in making JK-Forum.com what it has become today. For those of you who’ve been following his “I don’t have good news to share” thread, you know that he had been fighting an uphill battle against an agressive form of cancer known as sarcoma and unfortunately, it was one that he lost back on December 27, 2011.

In a last ditch effort to provide for his daughter’s future, Ken decided to sell his beloved JK and put all the money into a 529 college savings account. After months of being on the market, a member of the forum contacted Ken to see if maybe some of the sponsors here could pick up his JK, build it up and then sell it with 100% of the proceeds going to he and his family. The build would be called “Curmudgeon’s Revenge” and it would be the ultimate 2-Door dream JK. Before Ken left us, Cindy and I decided to take on this challenge, buy Ken’s JK, bring it back to California and do our best to make this dream a reality.

While most everyone on JK-Forum may know that our big white JK is affectionately called “Moby Dick”, I think few actually know where that name came from. Fact of the the matter is, it was Ken who christened it with this befitting name after seeing it all built up and, we thought it would only appropriate to reciprocate. The dreadful disease known as cancer may have taken away Ken’s life but, it couldn’t take away the man he was, the life he lived or the people he touched. It is because of this that he can now take his revenge on cancer, a disease that tried to crush his family and do so by being able to keep on fighting for them now through the build of this Jeep.

“…to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee.”
— Moby Dick, (1851) by Herman Melville

It is because of this, we have officially named this JK… “VENGEANCE!”

Today, I’m happy to announce that Vengeance has finally moved into Off Road Evolution where it will begin it’s transformation from mild to wild!! I am also happy to announce that they will be teaming up with Nitto Tire and together, will be putting Vengeance to the test on both the 2012 Ultimate Adventure and JK-Experience!!

Its great to be a part of this build and I’m looking forward to building up the “V” as if it were my own personal vehicle. As always, we will focus on PERFORMANCE ON and OFF ROAD.

We will be Building up this JK to accomodate Nitto’s New 40 inch trail Grappler for the Ultimate Adventure. One thing is for sure is that when it comes time to sell this JK for this Great Cause, it will be capable and proven on some of the toughest trails around.

Proud to be a part of this,
Mel

If you would like to follow Vengeance’s build, simply click on the JK-Forum link below:

Curmudgeon’s Revenge - Follow the Build of VENGEANCE from Mild to Wild!

A BIG Thank You needs to go out to the following manufacturers and vendors for their support of this build: Off Road Evolution, EVO MFG, ATX, PSC, Dynomax, Poison Spyder, WARN, Nitto Tire, 4WD.com, Superchips and Sparco.

With the economy still in the dumps and gas prices through the roof, I suppose it really shouldn’t come as any surprise that the 2012 Moab Easter Jeep Safari was by far one of the least crowded ones I’ve seen to date. And, it really is a shame too as this was really one of the nicest years to be out there. With the exception of only one day where we had a freak snow storm, every day during the week was a perfect doorless and topless day and, that’s not something I’ve seen in over 5 years. Anyway, here are a few pics highlighting our epic journey to the promised land.

2012 Moab Easter Jeep Safari Photo Essay

Episode 3 of KEEP IT TIGHT highlights our 3rd and 4th day of The JK Experience Rocky Mountain Run. In it, you’ll get to follow us on our long road day back west and see the fun detours that we made to places such as, the world famous Royal Gorge Bridge. After a long night spent working on Jeeps in the town of Montrose, we headed south to the San Juan Mountains and did a scenic run up the gorgeous Alpine Loop. Along the way, we covered trails such as Mineral Creek, Poughkeepsie Gulch, California Gulch and visited historic mining sites and ghost towns such as Animas Forks before ending our day in Silverton, Colorado. We hope you enjoy it.

Having a good CB Radio in your Jeep JK Wrangler is not only a lot of fun, it’s an important piece of equipment that a lot of clubs and organized trail events require you have. Unfortunately, one of the biggest reasons why so many are reluctant to install a good CB Radio is because most are pretty big and bluky and really, there are so few places if any, to install one and cleanly. This is especially true in 2011 and up JK’s and, why we chose to get a Tuffy Security Overhead CB Console.

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Day 2 of the JK-Experience Rocky Mountain Run would take us south toward the town of Buena Vista, Colorado, and to the trail that a majority in our group would run for the day, Chinaman Gulch. At the trailhead, the option of running the infamous Carnage Canyon BV trail was also given to those willing to risk substantial damage to their rigs and, of the 22 JK’s we had, 4 would choose to join EVO 1 in taking on the carnage including, Project-JK’s, Moby Dick! Episode 2 highlights our run up this short, “nasty ass” trail as Mel liked to call it, and then follows us as we made a mad dash east with the hopes of being able to climb to the top of Pikes Peak before they closed. We hope you enjoy our film.

Over the years, Jeep has come a long way in beefing up the Wrangler and with the new JK model, I was pleasantly surprised to see it come complete with skidplates protecting the automatic transmission, transfer case and gastank. Sure they get beat up pretty good but, to this day, they are all that we run and they’ve held up just fine. Having said that, there has always been one vital component that I could never figure out why Jeep would leave it so exposed and, that would be the oil pan. While I’m not a big fan of aftermarket skid plates that replace what you already have, I am a firm believer that any exposed part that can leave you high and dry if broken should be protected. Needless to say, that is the reason why we decided to install the all new 2007-11 EVO MFG ProTeK Oilpan Skidplate on our JK.
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