Got to be careful with stuff like that! I've done model rockets for years. You are definitely losing a lot of stability launching them like that... Think fire and danger!

Now, for Blast, that seems right up his alley...

Earlier this winter the local Walmart closed out their model rocket stuff. I picked up six 3-packs of "C" engines for $1 per pack. I feel all tingly every time I look at them. Oh, the possibilities...

-Blast

When the axle does fall out of a Dana-35 C-clip after breaking the axle, the technique of using a log as a skid does, in fact work. I remembered this from the US Army Driving Manual , page 22-8

NOTE: This is not my vehicle

That is so freaking awesome!

I was having a rotten day until I logged back in for the first time in about a month. Reading the story and seeing the picture reminded me that ETS is not just tools and gear. It's really about people, initiative, creativity and a refusal to lie down and give in.

Thanks for the mood lifter :-)

Wow, I suddenly feel a lot less nervous about the spring that broke in my suspension on Monday. Still glad it goes in the shop on Thursday, but not as scared now.

by Bill Mauldin

We've had to engineer a lot of things out in the woods. I call it my "No rig left behind" policy. No way am I leaving my or anyone else's vehicle out there to get stripped or burned. We'll get it out of the woods if we have to drag it out on skids on all 4 corners.

ToddW - Yeah, I've kicked around the idea of the 14-bolt, the Dana 60 was free and is in really good shape. I have a friend who runs one and has beat it like it owes him money with no problems. Locker won't be an issue as I'll just weld it up, but a lot beefier welding than the D35 is right now.

IronRaven - A spring isn't very bad. Coil spring or leaf spring? In one weekend (the same weekend listed above) I managed to fry my winch (being repaired as we speak), snap that axle shaft, my starter died (replaced already), and kill my throwout bearing (working on getting a new one in). I knew very little about automotive repair until I bought this Jeep new in 2005. I bought the Haynes manual for it and have repaired a lot since then.

It's amazing how much you can learn to do on your own.

Coil spring.

And everything I know about cars I know from Haynes manuals and Tom And Ray. But this noise fits into the "loud and potentially violent sounding" territory. Doesn't look like it would be that hard to fix if I knew how to detatch a few things, and had a garage, I'd just pull the whole shock... "column" is the best word I can come up with, don't know the right one. Unbolt it from up top, and swap in used parts from a bone yard. But I figure if one is getting bad, get the other one checked.

Yeah, I wish I actually had a decent sized garage. Most of my wrenching has been done either at a friend's shop or laying out in my yard under my Jeep. It's not a bad idea to have it checked out, noises on a vehicle that didn't make them before are never a good thing.

On my Jeep there are always noises, I get nervous when something stops making a noise.

Great find! "D" engines are even more fun! And then you can also get into multi-stage rockets... Yet I digress...

I always wanted to make a shoulder launched "missle"... The little voice inside my head talked me out of it tho... Something about, "Probably not a good idea!" kept echoing in there.