08 Dodge Megafun

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this guy out Urban offroading ... getting stuck and grenading t cases...

That sucked but luckily some of the Point Mugu club members stepped up and got us out.

Back story is, I was at work when I got a text from my nephew about where he can buy a tow strap. I gave him a few online options from Freedom Ropes and Rhino USA as they have supported our events and land use. He said he needed one today as he is stuck right now. So I ask him where he is stuck as I have some recovery stuf in my truck and I was about to go on break. It happens he was right past our facility. So I told him to meet me there and I would give it a shot.


It is absolutely dumping rain at that point. I hop the curb going in the same way he did and get about 50 yards before turning on the rear locker and another 10 before putting it in 4 low and engaging the front locker as well. As I turn the corner I am assessing the situation and think I should go left around him, but by that time I am locked in the two ruts like it is Autopia and there is no left or right. I am not heavy on the gas at this point as, I was still moving forward easily and his truck was in these same ruts. Finally I stop and go to reverse to pick a different line and nothing. All 4 spinning but not digging. This is where things go down hill fast...
I get out of the truck to see what the situation is and close the door (still practically a monsoon out there and I didn't need my interior soaked). I quickly realize I had made a terrible error as the truck was running, the gas light turned on in Simi on the way to work, my phone was sitting on the center counsel, and my door had locked at some point. F-me
After my nephew gets there we contact AAA and they send a guy out to open my door. Once that is done I turn off the truck and call out from work for the remainder of the day. I air down a bunch by guestimation to get a foot print and grab my shovel to make sure none of the axles or anything else is touching. We also dug a drain ditch from the ruts to the field to try and get rid of some water.
Once we were a little better situated I attempted to self recover. I put it in reverse and just tires spinning on greased clay. I don't hit it hard as it is pointless unless you feel some movement. Forward gets me a few inches, so I put it in reverse. I hit it a little harder to see if it will climb out at all and then the ugly noise of bang and grinding. Front tires not moving but backs still do. I tried 4hi with similar results but 2wd was fine and quiet forward and back. At that point I put out the larger SOS on Insta and my clubs Facebook.
A hour or two later the calvery arrives. Two Rubicon JKs and a newer 1500 Ram. We walked the 4 door JK close enough to connect to the two straps off my truck, 40ish feet back and then the Ram hooked up to the back of him with another 20' strap. First pulls do fairly well until the ram starts to have issues. Not digging so much but not grabbing in the snot. So we rotate him out before we have to recover him and hook the 2 door Rubicon in his place. They start pulling and that is when I notice my fronts have been locked and are just skidding backward. Once we get back far enough they get in front of me and rotate me towards the curb. Rolling forward my front frees up so we disconnect and I drive out the rest of the way.
At this time Steve from KillerR off road pulls up in his monster Scrambler. LS powered, 4 linked, coil overs, tons, and 53" MFing swampers... Basically a show rig that performs. He drives around to a good spot to hook up to Ethans OBS crew cab 7.3 F350 sitting on the axles and gives it a tug. A few tugs later tires are touching ground again and Ethan is rolling.
As I was pulling my front drive shaft to get home I noticed some fluid pooling from the T-case so I shine a light up there and see the front case has a crack.


Now the hunt for a new case begins.

 

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I found a case on facebook marketplace and they said it would be ready the next day. So I drive to Montclair, grab the case and fight traffic back home. I highly recommend the shop if you are in the need for something similar.

I made record time pulling the old case and putting in the new one by myself with no transmission jack. I was putting away tools and driving my truck by 5:00. I don't know what is worse, the fear you are going to fumble the case sliding it off the splines and drop it on your face or the aggony of hoping you line up the splines and the studs on the first try when bench pressing the new case up there.

I still have to get 3 of the front shaft torx bolts out of the pinion as I drilled the heads off when the torx bit twisted and wouldn't grab.

 

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Used the Map gas method to loosen up the remaining bolt shanks in the yoke mentioned in another thread and it worked like a charm. Front shaft is in and 4wd is working.
Towed the trailer up to Santa Paula KOA last weekend for a buddies birthday party and the Sumo springs were perfect in the rear. I also have enough space between the upper and lower at ride height where it isn't as bad of a empty ride as I was expecting. Speed bumps and angle large transitions are harsh but freeway and normal streets are fine.
Can't wait for this weekend coming up to do some playing in the sand.

 

[JACKSONRALLYINC]

Are you by chance running a transfer case support mount?

I have an 06 Mega, I thought about getting one after I put a nice built transmission in. I have not put one in. I did end up with a cracked OD housing and luckily found a brand new one but still have not tried the extra transfer case mount...still on the fence on that one.

 

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Are you by chance running a transfer case support mount?

I have an 06 Mega, I thought about getting one after I put a nice built transmission in. I have not put one in. I did end up with a cracked OD housing and luckily found a brand new one but still have not tried the extra transfer case mount...still on the fence on that one.

I am not currently. I will probably look at doing something when I build a skid. I did have the tcase nuts loosen on me. This snapped all the studs dropping the tcase in the sand at sunset while navigating the rocks through Cougar Buttes. I don't know if the support would necessarily help in that situation. If I remember right the Power Wagon has a second crossmember and a rubber bumper the tcase rests on.

 

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Long time no update.
Put in American Off-Road Ball Joints deletes right before the Lonely Pinos 250. Great product, fairly easy install, horrible instructions. Front end is way more solid feeling now. Last balljoints had about 100k on them and should have been changed out long ago.
Truck did great on the trip other than the rear shocks not keeping up with the front. Lost a radiator hose the second day, but found it when stopped and the truck never got hot. Bed cage riv nuts left the chat at some point going into the warm springs. Will convert to a through bolt, nut, and washer setup for the future. My 8 year old Dometic CFX65 DZ wouldn't hold temp either. Probably replace it with a 75DZ down the road.
The Interstate starting batteries failed last week. But they were a 3/19 date code so I got decent use out of them. Just moved my house batteries forward in the mean time as I don't really need them without a working fridge.

 

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On another note. As we were airing up we filled up Shane's jeep with the Moorflate system we got at the Point Mugu Fright Night Raffle. Shanes Jeep is on 33s and he took it from 12 to 24. I then started filling up my 37s from 18. I got almost to pressure and one of the hoses ejected from the hose barb. I am running a modified Smittybilt pump and they run real hot. I reached out to Moorflate and they responded immediately that they will send me out a new kit. I guess they have updated the hose as well to deal with heat better. Great that they both support our community with the raffles and stand behind their products. I made a copy of this system myself before winning this one and theirs is way better. If I had known how much better theirs was, I wouldn't have waisted my time and money.

 

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Mini update in prep for Point Mugu 4x4 Mohave Trail run.
@the_fablab_ did a repair/rebuild on my rear shocks Thuren 2.5" piggy back Kings. I was able to mount them upright and protected with trimming to one of the bed braces on the drivers side and the upper shock mount on the passenger side. I think the non-billet piggy back reservoir mount like is used on the 3" shocks or a non-piggyback mount would be way better for mounting on a Dodge. Or be smarter than me, keeping your truck as a fire road flyer and out of the larger rocks and they will live fine in the dumb body down mounting.
Finally got a dust light mounted and wired. I had picked up two 3" square amber pods off someone's IG garage sale. One went on my truck and the other will go on Shane's TJ. I bolted it to the bed rail right behind the stake pocket on the back passenger corner of the bed. I couldn't put it against the cab where I would like it more due to visibility issues with the bed rack and RTT.
I destroyed the container I had my camp kitchen stuff in on the Death Valley run so I took my 17" Blackstone into Lowes to find a new tote to store it in. I found the 30gal Craftsmen versa stack fits it near perfect with some room for the remainder of cooking stuff. I also Picked up a 16" tool bag for spatula's, spoons, and other gear. The plastic bin I had them in previously also shattered. I used a ladder strap bolted through the side of the box to hold the griddle in the bottom of the container.
I was having issues with my ARB CKSA12 compressor. First the pressure switch was bad, then after replacing that it wouldn't build pressure. I found a direct rip off of the larger CKMA12 on Amazon for more than $100 less than the ARB. Since this is just a Air Locker compressor and I and other friends have never had long term luck with ARB compressors I figured I would try it out. Took a little bit of modifying the new pumps harness and the harness from my smaller pump to work, but overall I am happy with it. I will let you know how the long term testing goes. I will have to update the mounting a bit after the trip as the larger foot print has the inlet filter sticking out past the wheel well line. I am sure something will slide into it and cause damage as it sits.

 

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[the bodj]

I’ve been using the Versa stack stuff for a couple years now and really like it. I have a couple of the smaller totes for my cooking gear. They were the saddle bags I had on my fenders for that trip.

 

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I’ve been using the Versa stack stuff for a couple years now and really like it. I have a couple of the smaller totes for my cooking gear. They were the saddle bags I had on my fenders for that trip.

I'll probably grab a few of the smaller ones for extra organization and attach them to the top in the future. I know @4lowlance is a big fan of the Milwaukee stackers and uses them for a ton of stuff. It is all a bigger price entry point than I typically look for, but it it lasts then it will be worth it.

 

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The other "fix" I did for this trip was ditching the nutsert mounting for my RTT bed rack onto the bed rail. The drivers side pulled out on the Death Valley run and caused all sorts of havoc to the bed rail. I ended up drilling out and removing the passenger side inserts and just through bolting the bed rack. The idea of the threaded insert is great but they really do not grab well enough for heavy weight.
I also figured out that with a flat stock spacer between my bed rack rail and the RTT that I can squeeze my stainless Front Runner table very tightly in that space.

 

[the bodj]

I'll probably grab a few of the smaller ones for extra organization and attach them to the top in the future. I know @4lowlance is a big fan of the Milwaukee stackers and uses them for a ton of stuff. It is all a bigger price entry point than I typically look for, but it it lasts then it will be worth it.

The Milwaukee stuff is definitely more robust. I just can't justify that sort of cost for something I use once every couple months.

 

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After 4 days on the trail my only complaint about my kitchen box is that the latch side of the ladder strap was cut and attacked too short. It would be better if it was long enough to go over the edge of the box. It is kind of a pain to put the grill in the box and fish that side of the strap out from under it at the time.

Finally having both front and rear shocks on the truck was so much nicer. It is way more balanced and handles mild bumps real well. It really shines on dips and rollers. The guys who actually run woops in these trucks are on a whole different level of nutty. I could see long arms and non progressive springs making a little bit of difference up front, but I think it is more of a lack of up travel issue with the 2.5" springs. I think I just need to realize this thing will never be @4lowlance truck and just use it in the zone it shines in.

 

[4lowlance]

yea watching the rear, it seems you only have 3-4” of up travel based on how much of your shaft was showing (pun intended)

 

[4lowlance]

 

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yea watching the rear, it seems you only have 3-4” of up travel based on how much of your shaft was showing (pun intended)View attachment 27941

The good news is that it droops out with 1-2 of shaft to go as well.

 

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Got a few more trips in.
We hauled some trail workers into Sunset camp so they can work on a moto trail from there to Half Moon. Lost a caliper bolt but ended up finding it and putting it back in. Also lost a rear brake line on the trail. Vice grips and zip ties to the rescue. Truck went up and down Miller with little fuss.

Barstow clean up was after that. Filled up my truck bed and a 8' military trailer on the way out. The next day @Jared MacLeod @Pt Mugu RAM 4x4 went abandoned car hunting with some of the other Point Mugu Members. I Drug a Camaro shell out of the hills so we can get it on a trailer. Went back up and hooked up to a truck frame and drug it down to the main crossing. Went back up to hook up the trailer and ended up filling it and the truck bed with trash. Keith drug a truck cab out with his Explorer.

Next trip was Ballarat camping with Point Mugu 4x4 and Bakersfield Trailblazers. We did the Pleasant canyon / South Park loop day 1. Fairly straight forward but Chicken Rock / the shelf trail is way better going up than down in a vehicle like the Megacab. I much prefer the sheer cliff on the drivers side where I can see the tire in relation to the drop. The Next day we ran Goler Wash through to Bad Water Basin. Leaving Butte Valley @4lowlance let me and Dylan in a new Bronco (Sasquach?) by and we bombed the two track to the next stop. We also had some fun on the road into Bad Water and then the road back to the highway.