neohic

Funny thing is that this is one of the biggest problems I have with where we are now is actually a lack of people... well, people in my age demographic. :idea: I'm in a retirement community. Some (Rob) might argue that this is the perfect place for me what with my lack of interest in most modern things. It was just a couple weeks ago that I finally gave in and got myself a smart phone! :eek: Don't get me wrong, I like hangin' with the older crowd... for the most part. But when it comes to really spending time with others and trying to make friends, this place has sure been lonely. Out in CO? Sure... I know that there is probably an older crowd as well. Tell you one thing though, I can think of at least one stand-up type of elderly gentleman that I'd like to make myself closer friends with! :D

Getting back to thinking about things. Wifey has nine months of school left and then... :dunno:

Fixed again. Ready for more.

Few more pictures... ... ugh... text over pictures. :shake:

I hear big tires are good for that! :laughin:

Off topic but... holy crap! Been a while since we've seen you around, MrSimon! :waving:

Looks awfully comfy. :drool: Another nice one, Jay! Way to go!

Absolutely! The group I was with is planning on Dresser in early October. Maybe looking into another event around Backus in late September? I might even be going down to Appleton this coming weekend. Just can't get enough lately, I guess. :D

:bowdown:

What a marathon this weekend turned into. :shake: Spending time with friends... working on the Jeep... road trip... By definition, this all works out to the perfect weekend. However, here's what actually happened... We left Friday morning just about on time to meet up with another guy for the first leg of the drive. The plan was to drive up to Gilbert a bit of an indirect way but with the possibility of meeting up with another Jeep along the way. Well, we made it to our first stop off the interstate along with a giant white cloud. My first thought after seeing a dump truck along the side of the road was, "Hu! I bet that guy has some real issues!" Very soon after, I realized that the giant white cloud of smoke was actually coming from the underside of my Jeep. Bummer... fortunately, we were planning on stopping at my parent's place which was conveniently just over a mile away. I crawl under it... not good. Everything is drippy and burning on the exhaust! Goofy thing about it was that we couldn't tell what it was right away! Oil? Maybe... it's kind of brownish. Tranny fluid? Maybe... it doesn't smell like oil. There wasn't any loss of power from the engine or slipping from the transmission, but a decision needed to be made regardless. Diagnose, fix, and continue on or throw in the towel and call the weekend a fail? Everything cooled for a bit and was kinda-sorta wiped clean to address the situation. Transmission... and it's bad. Fluid wasn't even on the stick as it was hemorrhaging from inside the bellhousing. Not good... very not good. Time for an impromptu transmission swap. :fs2: My dad was finishing some interior doors at the time and he just hung about a garage stall's worth. Perfect timing, I guess. Pulled the trans... found a trans... got fluid and a filter... installed the trans... tested the trans (briefly)... cannonball it north about 200 miles. Sounds fun, right? Again... that whole "by definition" thing. This put us six hours late getting to camp. We rolled into camp around 10:00 at night then had a real fun time setting up tents. All this came down to the fact that this weekend was supposed to be all about wheeling and that's exactly what we planned to do. Finally had the chance to go out on the trails with Austin. We've only been taking about it for a few years now. :yes: Couldn't help but feel left out following two MJs on the trail. Really felt like I wasn't one of the cool kids for a while there. Not even a couple hours into the day, we ran into more trouble. The guy in the Jurassic Park XJ got high centered real bad. I made a couple of attempts at the same ledge but the difference between myself and him was that he trailers his Jeep everywhere. His dad came up from behind to try and give him a gentle tug off the rocks... ... and then some more unfortunate events occurred. One custom crossmember, coming up! He ended up being able to limp it back to camp but that was the end of his weekend as a driver. That meant that my family truckster of a station wagon was fully loaded for the remainder of the day. That's not to say that the rest of the day was without issues. They were minor, but issues none the less. Note to self... get leaf spring clamps to keep them from twisting around and hitting the inside of the tires. :doh: I'm sure there will be more pictures soon. Again, "by definition" it was a good weekend... and it mostly was. I'll take a bad weekend of wheeling over a week of work any time! We were happy enough, the Jeep was still running and able to get us home, and we're already planning for the next round. ... seems happy enough to be back home with his buddy the shed, anyhow. :laughin:

:thumbsup:

I don't think I ever properly looked over the body on this thing before. BONDO?! What kind of jalopy did you trade me, Austin?! :fs2: :rotf: Anyhow, ready for another round of rocks. Gilbert bound Friday morning. The old sliders up on the roof are being gifted to a fellow XJ Jeeper. They're still very usable, but it'll take some work with a grinder to make them nice again. Otherwise, the mounts are nice yet and the rest of them can just be used as a template. Regardless, very happy to have them gone and proper tube rockers in place. Oh... note to self, with the newly added height in the rear, always put the high lift on the roof AFTER it's out of the garage. :doh: Tools are loaded, gear is yet to be packed, yet I'm already mentally more than ready to go. :banana:

Wow. Hell of a truck for the price. Nice find!

Almost finished today. It's done enough to put it down the road and back though and the vibes are all but gone. Everything got hit with some zinc enriched primer. Sealer and paint to follow tomorrow.

Forget what I said about two tone being maximum '80s... that's painfully '80s. Think you could do something similar on Don's truck? You know... just for fun. :D Same stripes only dark gray. Curious minds need to know.

D. Mega '80s swoosh stripes in the same dark gray as option C. :drool: Hmm... that'll make it easier to sleep tonight... :drool:

Ugh... I'll put just about anything carpentry related on my list of "couldn't pay me enough to do it professionally" type jobs. Carpentry, bodywork, automotive painting, really really good lawn care... nope... it'd have to be able to get away with charging a completely out of line figure to do any of those for someone else. :shake:

Oh, how lowering my crossmember can get out of hand much like most of my projects. :shake: What were those sliders protecting, anyhow? Hopefully finish tomorrow.

Noted. The selector valve goes from shower to straight up when not in use. I found that with the valve at a half way point, the tube up to the shower head opens allowing everything to drain out through the bottom faucet. Honestly, I'm really hoping to not be in this house in the next three to five years anyhow. :peek:

:popcorn:

Yup! Still playing around with dialing in the new rear leafs and angles. I've got a bit of vibrations when I let off the gas though. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure I need to drop my trans crossmember to easily make all my angles happy. Fortunately, I'm using this as an excuse to make up some frame stiffeners to create the drop instead of just throwing a spacers between the frame and the crossmember. The frame looks pretty sad so the stiffeners are a step in the right direction anyhow. Then to add to the snowball and being I need to remove the current sliders to plate the frame, I'll be cutting out what's left of the factory rockers to replace with 2"x6" tube. Should be able to get things done... probably. :laughin:

Very cool to see another example of this kind of project being done. Looks great so far! Good idea with plating and reinforcing while things are apart now. :thumbsup:

... but this has been the type of project that one just can't dilly-dally about with. Got it down to the bare studs Friday morning after one last shower, and then it was an all out marathon to get it done. My parents gave me a hand over last weekend to get the drywall up and mudded. They stayed in a hotel in town so everybody could still get a shower while they were in town. After Sunday though... there were a couple days where things got late and desperate for getting everything at least operational again. Plumbing was done enough to take a bath (which was very awkward for someone 6' tall in a 4'6" tub) late Tuesday evening while everything was totally water related was completely done Wednesday afternoon. Since then it's been fussy little details and finishing touches. By no means do I consider myself a carpenter much less a finish carpenter. It all photographs well enough but there were a lot of reluctant trips back and forth to the garage for fine tuning wood work. Why is it that I have zero issues spending as much time as needed to fit a piece of tubing to another to end up with a few thousandths of play while I have no patience for wood? Anyhow... all in all, it's nice to not rely on a shower curtain stapled to the wall anymore to keep the moisture out of the poorly applied tiles from 1964.

I don't know, Don. You planning on tearing the whole thing apart for a repaint? This just doesn't seem up to your standards.

Very nice with everything, Wade! I like the simplicity of everything. Did you plate the frame any before putting the new mounts on?