Sliders installed & painted.

Lexi received her last major purchase of the season... the rock sliders are on & ready to go sliding.
I got a really good deal with them welded on with no paint. So, today I taped her up & painted them with the Dupli-Color Bed Armor. I'm hoping the bumpy texture will help with the family getting in & out without slipping.

Bumpstop Removal After Body Lift Install

With the OME medium lift on my Lexi, I had to install bumpstops in the front to stop the 315s from rubbing in the fenders. I installed the 1" body lift so I could remove the bumpstops to allow more uptravel. I am happy with the results, it does flex a lot better than before, approx 3" more.
Today we improved uptravel, next is improving down travel. It doesn't want to go past 27" extension at the shock. I believe installing a set of MAF drop brackets will do the trick. (Edited later: the did all 2" more drop at the shock.)

I have a video coming stay tuned...

Heater Block Valve Quick Fix.

My wife has been sitting in the "Hot Seat".
The 2nd row rear heater under the passenger seat has been very hot lately. I removed the hose at the heater block valve to check the position & noticed it wasn't closing all the way shut, probly since the head gasket replacement. I fixed that & since I allready purchased a brass ball vavle I went ahead & installed it for just for in case. Summers are hot out here... don't need anymore of that. Here is some pics.

Marlin Crawler Transfer Case Gears.

Hey all, my Lexi just got a bit more creepy.
Well, I mean slower.
Yeah, it got a new set of Marlin Crawler T gears... The actual numbers are from a 2.3:1 to a 3.1:1 That is a 25% reduction.
With those numbers it puts it back to lower than stock.

With my A343F tranny 1st gear of a 2.8:1 & the Marlin T gears of 3:1 & stock 4:10 it has a final of 35.5:1 from the stock. 26.4:1 is stock. By no means is the is this a rock monster, but a step in the right direction of gearing. Call it a baby rock crawler.

I've just played with the gears close to my house in the dry creek bed & have noticed a pretty sizeable difference. I don't seem to drag my break as much. Most notably not stomping on breaks at the top of a obstacle after mashing the throttle to get of it.

My tranny reference came from CDan post all the way back in 2003.

The Good, The Bad, A 1" Body Lift Look Back.

After having the body lift for a while I can now give a honest opinion. The main objective of the body lift was to give more fender room so I could remove my bumpstops to allow more up travel of the tires.

I will go with Con's first since there are'nt that many.

Con's:
Body lifts cost money.
You have to install them.
My shifter is shorter.

Pro's:
It gives more room for up travel of the suspension.
It allowed me to remove my bumpstop pucks up front.
It's a cheaper way to lift.
Lifting just the body keeps the COG down lower.
It helps with air flow across the engine.
It helps with added space from the hot exhaust on passenger side floorboard.
It pulls the engine wiring harness up & away from the hot EGR pipe.