Well, another year has come and gone. What the hell.
2024. Let's get to it.
Mods: Honestly, I did not do many major mods, it was a heavy year for major mods in 2023 so I felt 2024 revolved around refinement of those modifications and some beautification.
-Rear sway bar, I can live the swaybar-less life with leafs out back. They self center, they are a progressive rate. Coilovers you definitely want a sway bar. I tried to do something in between too stiff and not stiff enough so it would still flex offroad. I went with a schroeder sway bar. 48 spline 1in diameter bar that is machined down to .95. It has 1/2in thick steel arms that I made double sheer. This was to improve on my 3 link or really just do what it needed from the start.
-I made a "roll over vent line system" to not leak fuel into my evap canister on steep climbs. Relocating my evap canister due to the 3 link caused it to dump fuel in the evap canister when on steep inclines so I made hose system to not allow that to happen. It took a while to figure out but it worked.
-I added a PS cooler since I cooked my pump, and I added another trans cooler.
-Got 20in KMC Beadlocks with Jantz quick deflators and 42in Mickey Thompson Baja Boss's. They are mounted but I haven't put them on yet. That may be in early 2025.
-I plastic welded all my broken jacked up fenders and raptor lined them.
-I made custom mounts to fit low profile turn signals up front so they don't get clipped by my big tires anymore.
-I redid my slider/b pillar cage combo to make it more slippery
-I redid my rear lower links to make them more slippery. That involved a lot of work to make it fit around a gas tank.
-Lots of DIY learning on HPtuners for 6l80 shifting and TCC Lock up. I am finally happy with it!
Carnage/Repairs:
-Cooked a power steering pump in moab that inhibited my ability to steer.
-I had to do inner axle seals up front which required a full disassembly of my front axle
-I had a tap shift issue in Moab. I have since rerouted my tap shift resistors which seems to have fixed it.
-I had a battery explode which was a disaster and required a full tear down of the suspension, battery, fuse box and a full cleaning, and repainting 0/10 would not recommend.
-At the end of this year I am having a throttle issue on steep climbs. I am currently investigating that.
Wheeling:
-In February I ran meatgrinder which a local trail and the first real shakedown of the 3 link rear
-In April I went to Moab and ran Hells revenge, hit mickeys hot tub, Pritchett Canyon, Helldorado, Green day and Coyote Canyon. The last 4 trails I mentioned were gnarly.
-In May I ran a local trail called death wobble, then I went back out for a BLM project where they were claiming a trail wasnt a legit trail and had to do a BLM ride along.
-At the end of May/Early June we ran the rubicon. We took my wife, brother, his fiance, my 2 sisters and my sister's boyfriend.
-July I ran the local trail death wobble again
-August I took the hummer friends to the rubicon and did the traditional start to finish route which had some good road time for the hummer.
-October we ran lone pine, a hard and fun local trail.
-Nov./up to mid December I havent run anything but been doing changes and fixes. I plan to squeeze in a shakedown run for the new lower link setup before year end.
What did I think of 2024 from a Hummer perspective?
It was a good year. I am proud to say I didn't give up my dream of wheeling and wrenching since I have a child. Do I wrench less? It is tough to say, I probably do but I also still wrench a ton and I probably sleep less because I will wrench after she goes to sleep. I would rather give up sleep then spending time with family or wrenching. My wife was supportive of me leaving for a few days here and there to go wheeling and being 35 min to some fun local trails makes it easy to have a solid trail day in without sacrificing too much time. I was able to balance spending time with family and wheeling/wrenching.
From a wrenching perspective it also doesn't include the work I did to my brothers JK to get ready for the rubicon, I had A LOT of work to do to that thing. I had quite a bit of work to do on the F550 and car trailer to haul my brothers JK to the rubicon....so I am happy with what I got accomplished.
2025?
Well, I want to redo my coolers. I want them gone from the front of the grille blocking the radiator. I plan to mount my PS cooler under the front of the rig, the trans cooler should go in the back under the rig and have some fans or something. The Hummer runs cold with the AC off no matter the condition. The Hummer even ran under 210 in 100+ with the AC on with 1 trans cooler but with the 2 trans coolers and a PS cooler in front now it will get warm at slower speeds as the 3 coolers are just heat soaking everything. I want to move it all. This radiator has a lot of work to do cooling a heavy rig on 43in tires. The tires add so much rolling resistance and load. I think with that change I can be in stop and go traffic with the AC on in 100+ without issue.
I want to figure out a front sway bar setup that allows disconnecting on the fly. I see SDI racing has something for the JK/JL. I can do that or adapt a rubicon sway bar setup? With both front and rear sway bars hooked up it handles AWESOME but I do not want to play with disconnecting the front. I want on the fly capabilities. I plan to redo the arms I have but gotta find something for on the fly capability.
I will continue to monitor and make 3 link changes based on performance. I knew I had a lot to gain on the rear 3 link and a little to lose in terms of ground clearance. I already made some improvements but will continue to monitor it.
As for wheeling, I need to get to KOH and the hammers in general. A new place to wheel would be a blast. I really want to push myself for a long road trip in the hummer with my streetable 42s I want to do a 1000 mile trip to make sure the Hummer is still capable of that.
I would also like to take my daughter out. She is about to turn 1. I am thinking maybe some snow wheeling next winter before the end of 2025. I figure that will be less jarring and a lot smoother. She is going to KOH with us so she will probably get some seat time but I dont think she will be riding with me on anything crazy.
I doubt I will get to this in 2025 but I want to change my steering setup, I have some ideas I got from a well respected 4500 Ultra 4 car but I am a ways out on that. I need to really drive home that the rear 3 link and 6l80 are 100% before committing to another major change.
So, that's 2024 and what I hope 2025 brings!
wish him all the best.
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