Howdy! (or: "Does my Texas accent make me look fat?")

[Get Bent]

My name is Duane, and I drive a slightly cut and bend up 1998 TJ. My wife drives a 2002 TJ (somewhat prettier than mine) as well as a 99 XJ daily driver & grocery getter. Oh, and we tow our junk around with a Dodge CTD. And as you can see, I don't have a winch. I am in the market for one right now tho; probably gonna get a WARN M8000 because it's cheap and reliable, and all my buddies run one so if/when I lose the controller, I can borrow one of theirs. LOL!

I'm not new to the Jeepin' world by any means, but I can say that I've never met or even run across most of you. There are quite a few usernames I recognize on here from other Jeep boards, but none from my neck of the woods.....which BTW happens to be the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I spend most of my web-wheelin' time on a local forum (CowtownJeeps) as well as on PBB.

I'm deadly serious about recreational land use. In fact, I've been running a 4x4 Land Use blog for a while now (it's at http://landuse.blogspot.com if you're interested in checking it out) and I've been fighting the 'good fight' for a number of years. I'm pretty well known in my area for land use activitism, and have done speeches at various clubs across north Texas.

I also do 4x4 vids. Don't wanna pimp them here; just check the vendor forum if you're interested in that sort of thing.

I'm certainly not a 'hardcore' four wheeler, but I don't mind beating my junk up -- because its fun! I don't have any money, but I still spend too much on my Jeep. I rarely drink, but I'm a serious cigar freak. I'm not old, but I'm not young anymore either. I enjoy wrenching with my buddies, but I'm probably the most un-mechanically inclined one of the bunch. Thankfully, they don't seem to mind.

Thanks for listening.

- Duane




p.s. -- with my business endeavors, I've seen a LOT of forums/websites lately, and I gotta say that MJR is *hands down* the best looking, best designed one I've seen on the 'Net. Not trying to suck up or anything....just callin' it like I see it.

:2:

[sarah]

Get Bent -

Nice intro, sweet jeep, and awesome blog! Do you want to link exchange with us?

I can say I've flown through Dallas, but that probably doesn't count as visiting the state. I did check out your video trailer and thought it looked sweet, looks like there are some great trails here - just promise us that there aren't a bunch of ads pumped into like every other wheelin' video we've seen hehe

And, of course, thanks for your nice comments about our site here. Welcome aboard!

Sarah

[Jeri Lyn]

Welcome!

[RUBICONN]

Welcome aboard!

Michael

[Jeep Thing]

Well they say all things are bigger in Texas?

Hello from So Cal. glade to have you on board and nice blog.:smile:

[Get Bent]

Nice intro, sweet jeep, and awesome blog! Do you want to link exchange with us?

I assume you mean on my blog? Sure, no problem. I can add you there and on the sitemap/links page on my video website.

BTW, I guess I didn't really describe my Jeep much, did I? I'll have to do that in a bit...

I did check out your video trailer and thought it looked sweet, looks like there are some great trails here - just promise us that there aren't a bunch of ads pumped into like every other wheelin' video we've seen hehe

Yeah, Katemcy is INCREDIBLE. It's 800+ acres of solid granite, very Moab-like. And on the edge of the park, where the granite dome meets the dirt, there are boulders the size of SUVs. It's positively incredible out there....I wish everyone could go wheelin there, just to see how awesome it is.

Oh, and the video isn't full of ads; the only time IN PRROGRAM that you'll see any ad-related stuff is at the very beginning, right after the intro (which you basically just saw) where it says "sponsored by" and then flashes each sponsor logo on the screen for a couple seconds. Besides that, you have to dig through the DVD menus to find the sponsor information.

I dodn't like intrusive advertising any more than anyone else.

[Get Bent]

Hello from So Cal. glade to have you on board and nice blog.:smile:

Thanks; I've been blogging less the past few months because all my time has been taken up with the video production work, but I still keep up with it. I've dumped more volunteer time and money into Land Use advocacy than I care to think about. LOL!

[Get Bent]

Alright, and now some more info about my Jeep!

I mean, isn't that what this forum is about? LOL!





1998 TJ Sport; Chili Pepper Red
4.0 6cyl, AX-15 5-speed, NP231
JB Conversions SYE
Tera 2-Low shifter
BDS 3" springs (plus 1" spacers in front to level it out)
RE adj. control arms (short) uppers & lowers
RE adj. track bars
Teraflex swaybar discos
Baertrax Tie Rod
Baertrax Drag Link
Baertrax Tranny Mount
MORE Torsion 1" Motor Mounts
MORE 1" body lift
AFM rear bumper with Crosby D-rings
AFM Lower Control Arm skids
Baertrax Buttface diff cover
Skid Row engine skid
01+ gas tank skid
Currie Rocker Panel guards
T.O.R. roll cage, with mods
Baertrax roll cage footplates
Baertrax Windshield Quick Discos
Hi-Lift jack, first aid, and fire extinguisher of course
15x10 aluminum wheels (I hate them, but they were only $50 bucks)
36x12.5x15 Super Swamper bias-ply TSLs
D30 front - 4.56 gears & LockRight + 1.75" wheel spacers (5-on-5.5 adapters)
Sunray 9" rear - 4.56 & Detroit, disc brakes, & ChroMo 35-spline shafts :thumbs_up


My rear axle is, of course, my pride and joy. I bought it after I twisted the splines on my factory Dana 44 axle. Sure, I repaired the D44...but I knew it wasn't gonna be strong enough for my eventual needs. I hope to one dday replace the front D30 with a Sunray "609" D60/9" hybrid axle, which is why I custom-ordered the rear axle 2" wider-than-stock (to match the 609, which is 2" wider than stock). I put spacers/adapters on the front to widen it to match the rear. I'm now sitting at 79.5" wide, outside-of-tire to outside-of-tire.

My next purchase is gonna be a WARN M8000 winch. I've got the funds for it, but I still need to buy a front bumper. Plan on looking for a small, stout one that won't get hung up on rocks, and preferably with a built-in winch plate.


Alright, I think that about covers it.

[nagal]

Welcome aboard!

Nice Jeep and I must say 98 Chili Pepper TJs just plain rule

[sarah]

Sweet pics - I think you forgot a spec, somewhere in the middle

[Get Bent]

Oh yeah, you're right!

"Longfield 300M Super U-joints"

I'll hopefully be buying some alloy shafts to go along with them this year.

[]

[Badboy]

Sweet Jeep, the mod list just keeps gettin bigger...hahahahaha, I'll see you around. Johnie

[Get Bent]

We started building a bumper for it this week, in anticipation of the penting winch purchase. It's being layed-out in AutoCad and then the plans will be sent to a WaterJet guy we know.

Sounds fancy, but it's not gonna look particularly 'odd' or anything. Pretty much like any other normal bumper.

My friends just like to go crazy with this kind of over-the-top fab work.