I'm Going Fuckin' Crazy

Having a puppy means that often I can't even have 2 minutes to myself to think. I'm not just training the puppy, I am training my wife to train the puppy. She is having more problems with Toffee than me. Toffee likes to jump up and down on her and bite. Me? Not as much. When I need time, I have to steal it by going into the garage to work on the bike. At this point, work is a better place to be.

It's so frustrating trying to blog, while my wife and the dog are around. I usually can't even finish writing a full sentence. And when I actually have to explain to Emily why I need time to myself, I need extra time to calm down, before having my alone time. Argh!!!!

CRF300L- My First Dirt Ride

It's Christmas day. Like most people who work, I have the day off. This Christmas is unlike Christmas days of the past- for the first time ever, I have nothing scheduled! My dear mother moved to SoCal to retire in the warmer climate (and to be closer to my sister and her grandsons) and Emily's family scheduled no get togethers. Her sister made a last minute announcement that she's heading out of town (pre-planned unannouncement). I was determined not to let this day go to waste. It hasn't rained in a week, so the trails should be in pretty good shape, so I decided to take the bike out to a nearby park and test out all my new equipment.

I mounted up the Versahaul on the Jeep yesterday, so I wouldn't have to do everything all on the same day. I wanted to see if I could omit the hitch drop/extender this time to bring the bike closer to center, reducing leverage, increasing stability, but I wasn't sure if the handlebars and pegs would clear. Also I needed to test a method of getting the bike up the ramp, since the Jeep is so tall. I got a few sturdy milk crates lined up along the side of the rack, so I could elevate myself as I walked the bike up the ramp. I also needed to turn the bike on and clutch it up the ramp in first gear, but it got up there and indeed it fit just fine without the extender! I loaded up all my gear and off I went to Frank Raines OHV!

It took about an hour to get to the park. It's a bit of a drive down Hwy 5, then there's still another 16 miles of windy roads to get into Del Puerto Canyon. Carnegie is much closer, but I know that park is harder and for my first time out, I wanted to be somewhere that I was familiar with. Also Frank Raines is not as popular, so I figured there would be less traffic out there on a Christmas day.

When I got to the park, I saw that there was one other vehicle in the parking lot- a big dually truck with a giant toy-hauler. I found an incline at the back of the parking lot and used that slope to help get the bike off the rack, reducing the steep angle of the ramp. I found a nice picnic table and got situated over there, so I could lay out my gear and get organized. I used the document cubby on the bike to carry my cell phone, Garmin Mini and car keys, leaving everything else behind. I elected not to wear the chest protector. I did try it on, but it just seemed too bulky and I couldn't even pull the jersey over it. I had also already decided to return it to Amazon, so I didn't want it to appear as worn. I got dressed with all my other new gear, hopped on my bike and headed out to find a trail.

I started on the East Ridge and climbed up the hill. After a bit, it forked off to Fire Road. And then I encountered a couple of puddles in the road. I had the option to select the road to the left and avoid the water altogether, but I was feeling like that optional road might take me away from the Fire Road, so I elected to negotiate the puddles. How deep could they possibly be anyway? I picked the one on the right. I slowly entered and I found that it was about 16" deep! Yikes! The front wheel started to wash out and then the rear wheel lost traction and the bike fell over on it's right side! I didn't get trapped, as I already tried to put my right foot down to help the bike stay upright, but the mud was too soft to even stand in. The engine stopped by itself. My boots both filled with water. I took a couple of seconds to compose myself, before attempting to get out of this mess. I restarted the motor and tried to walk the bike out in first gear. The bike only starts in neutral with the kickstand up (which is kind of fucked up) and I was on the right side of the bike, so I had to start the bike in neutral, reach over the seat and pop it into first gear, as I was holding onto the clutch with my right hand, then switch hands again to get my hands on the handlebars. The rear tire was stuck in a hole and the bike would not make forward progress. I tried 2-3 times with no success- the rear wheel was just digging deeper. I knew if I kept attempting like this, I would just make my situation even worse. So I directed the front wheel 30° to the right and sure enough, the bike slowly worked its way out. My socks were soaked with muddy water. My pants and right glove were covered in muck. I shook it off and headed back to the Jeep. Wow! Right off the bat! Into the mud hole!

On the way back to the Jeep, I decided I wasn't going to let this incident get the best of me. Once I got to the base intersection, I headed up West Ridge trail. There were some steeper and loose stuff, but nothing that was too scary. I learned that the throttle was very sensitive in first gear- throttle pop and chop. Second gear was much smoother. I got to the part where the road takes a sharp left and heads steeply down the hill. I didn't feel like attempting this today, so I walked the bike around and headed back down to the parking lot again. Before getting there, I encountered a very steep decline, where my rear tire was losing traction. Nearer to the bottom of this hill, I thought I was going to stack, so I let off the brakes slightly and just ran it out. A good save!

I'd only been out for about half an hour, so I decided to try East Ridge again. This time, I tried the split to the left- a good choice! The road took me to the Jeep playground, where I saw a JKU trying out his suspension on the big tires. I continued on with the trail where I caught up to a big blue GMC. After trailing him for a few minutes, he let me pass by. As it turned out, the road only went for about another 1/4 mile. At that point, I turned around and headed back to the parking lot after passing him again, and then the Jeep also that was making his way up the road.

Man, I couldn't wait to get those cold wet boots off my feet! I stripped down to my bicycle shorts and changed into a dry t-shirt. I took a few minutes to warm up and collect myself. When it came time to load up the bike again, I drove the Jeep to that incline, but when I tried to position the bike higher up on the slope, I had issues- the ground was soft and while trying to turn the bike around, it almost dumped on top of me. Luckily, there was a big side-by-side that saw me and the guy came over to give me a hand. He immediately recognized that I was new to this, so he just did it for me and gave me some tips for next time. On my way out, I drove by and gave him and his wife a "Merry Christmas!". 

After I got home, I unloaded the bike and all my gear and went in for a hot shower. I left the rack on to take off another day. That night, I washed all my gear by hand and let them hang dry. I also rinsed out my boots with fresh water a few times, then left them upside down to drain out and dry.

Well, I got the first day down in the books. and I got the first major drop of the bike out of the way. The bike needs a good wash, then I'll hit the reset button and wait for the next dry period to take her out again!

How Low Can You Go?

In the tradition of dirt bikes, this dual-sport enduro is plenty tall. Honda specs the seat height at 34.6", but it sure seems higher than that. (I think I have a 29" inseam.) Even just trying to keep ONE foot partially on the ground and the other on the bike is pretty impossible. But I bought the bike with a game plan :)

I wasted no time in working on the first part of the plan. I had done some research on just how much I can cut down on the seat. The bike came with a fancy expensive Seat Concepts premium comfort saddle, but I didn't mind shaving it down. I bought an electric turkey carving knife from Walmart and went to town on that seat. I took my time and was deliberate about my measurements and my cuts. The hardest part was getting the staples to stick back in the seat to hold the cover back on. Some areas took 4-5 tries, but I got it in the end. The entire project probably took about 3 hours with the going back and forth to the bike to try it out and all. I effectively cut just over an inch off the seat.

Part two of my lowering strategy- working with the suspension. I have looked at all the different options of how to lower that rear shock. Most popular are the lowering bones (because they're cheap), but they tend to change the leverage on the spring, therefore making it feel softer. Also some report that it enables the rear tire to bind into the fender, if taking a hard hit. The best option is probably purchasing a whole new shock that can be custom built "shorter", but the cost is anywhere from $600-$900. Yikes! The third alternative is to drill a different mounting hole in the shock bracket, therefore lowering the bike. Simple. This solution does not alter the characteristics of the shock or spring. And this mod is completely reversible! I just popped the bike on my stand, removed the rear shock, drilled the two holes (one on each side, so the bolt can go through). No need to remove any panels! The whole project only took just over an hour. This lowered the bike another 1.5"! I reciprocated with the forks by raising them 18mm in the triple clamps. This only changed the head angle from 27.5° to 27.0° a very nominal change!

Between the seat and the rear shock mod, I reduced the seat height by over 3"! Now, I can sit pretty comfortably on the bike with one foot almost fully flat on the ground or two toes on the ground! I'm not looking to flat-foot both sides (that would be utterly ridiculous!), so this is going to work out just fine for me!

My New Bike! The Honda CRF300L

For DAYS, I've been scouring the web for a CRF300L. They've only been available in the US since November, 2020, so basically there's only bikes out there that are 2 years old. In the meanwhile, I've hedged my bet by putting down a refundable $500 deposit at Hayward's Eastbay Motorsports for a brand new 2023 model. These bikes are so hot and hard to get, even the dealerships are only getting about one per month. I told the guy that I would be getting my refund if I can find a better deal.

Every day I check Craigslist and FB Marketplace to see if anyone is posting a bike for sale. Well, Saturday night, I checked Facebook and found that there was a used bike dealership in Sacramento that had a 2022 model with the ABS braking system, for a really good price! The bike had 2600 miles on it and looked brand new! Right away, I messaged the ad to see if the ad was real and if it was still available. Of course I knew I wasn't going to get an immediate response, since it was almost midnight. I went to the dealer's website to see if I could get more information and pics. From there, I also inquired about the bike.

Sunday morning came and I had to go to puppy training school. I did get a response through FB messenger and an email follow-up. The seller, Shawn, sent me more pictures as well as video about the bike. The bike came with a bunch of accessories included- upgraded seat, skid plate, cell phone holder, rear rack and soft luggage to name a few. He said that he would hold the bike for me, if I was intent on driving up today. He didn't want a deposit. I told him that after puppy class, I would get home, mount the rack and head out.

I got a late start, but still managed to arrive by 2:45p. They closed at 4p, so I had a little room to breathe. Shawn had the bike parked right at the entrance of the store. He started her up and showed me the bike. It was in excellent condition! I tried to sit on it, and it was tall, but I had a plan to make it rideable for me. Shawn was on his way out, but he set me up with Ann, who took my payment. She was very nice and a pleasure to trade stories with. The bike came complete with 2 keys, receipts for accessories and work done, owner's manual and original Honda dealership packet. One of the techs helped me to load up the bike and tie her down.

I drove the bike home with no incident, but was worried about her all the way. I wasn't sure if the handlebars were going to hit the spare tire, so I had the hitch drop/extension mounted, which brought the bike further away from center, making the Jeep more bouncy. When I finally pulled into my driveway, a flood of relief poured over my body! I got her unloaded and put her to bed in the small garage. Unmounting the rack can wait till the next day. It was late, so I went in to get some dinner and look over the documentation. I was pretty damned pleased with the purchase!

Today I spent some time checking out all the extra accessories on the bike. It had a throttle lock (cruising device), Kriega soft luggage set, a Seat Concepts premium seat to name a few things. After adding up all the receipts, It came to close to $2,000 worth of accessories and work! I realized that the bike was only purchased 4 months ago, but it had 2600 miles on it. I looked up the previous owner, who is a fire safety inspector, who lives in an apartment. Putting the clues together, what I am figuring is that the original purchaser was a 38-year-old single guy (who wasn't struggling with money), who had some buddies that were all set to go on a motorcycle adventure ride to perhaps Baja for a week. This guy wanted to go, so he bought the cheapest dual-sport he could find, quickly outfitted it with luggage and touring amenities (Ram cell phone holder, USB charging ports, cruise control), and did the trip. After he got back, he realized that if he really wanted to pursue this kind of activity, he would really need a bigger, stronger motorcycle. With a lack of space to keep the bike, since he lives in an apartment, he sold the bike. He paid cash for the bike with title in hand and didn't really care too much about how much he recovered for the bike, so he sold it on consignment to the place I bought it. It was priced low for quick sale. Lucky me!

I stripped off most of the accessories, trying to get it to look close to stock, that way I could really access what I bought. I gave the bike a quick wash and it's a keeper! Of course, the bike will need work to make it appropriate for my shortness. Plus the bike will need work to up the torque and horsepower, and possibly some suspension work. That will all come in time. But for now, I am pleased as punch at the bike that I just acquired!!

Versahaul Motorcycle Rack- What an Awesome Deal!!

I've been looking for a motorcycle hitch carrier to fit on the back of the Jeep to haul the prospective bike around. I was pretty fixed on getting a Versahaul unit. I've known about this brand for decades and in my mind, there's no comparison in quality. Of course they're way more expensive than any other cheap imitation Chinese knock-off brand, but you gotta pay if you're gonna play. Brand new, after shipping and taxes, well over $800!

I found a few racks for sale in the "near" vicinity, like San Luis Obispo County, Roseville and outer Sac. I communicated with some of them. Someone in Roseville had a rack that had only been used twice and was in fabulous condition willing to sell for $400. Plus he was heading through Dublin on the way to San Jose and was basically willing to deliver for free. But then I was able secure a deal with someone who lived in Auburn who had the same rack that had never been used! It was assembled, but no motorcycle was ever put on it. It included the accessory brake lamp kit with the license plate light! After I told him about the other rack I was going to buy, he offered to drop his price to $400!! Now, how could I possibly pass that up?! He was right on the route to Palisades, so I figure that I could pick it up on the way back from a day of skiing. He told me that he was willing to keep it for me until Sunday went skiing.

Well, then came the snow. It was dumping for days through Sunday! So I changed my ski day to Monday. He was willing to still hold it for me. When Monday morning arrived I made a game day decision that the roads would be too messy and the traffic would probably be too fraught with accidents to drive to Tahoe. I didn't want to wait in traffic for an extra 2 hours. Again, the seller said he would hold the item for me.

I headed up mid-afternoon to pick up the Versahaul rack. As I'm driving, the seller messaged me to correct the destination, as he actually lived half an hour further than he had previously stated on FB. Argh!! After three hours of driving, I finally reached his house! The rack was exactly as he had described it- it was everything I was hoping it would be! I handed him the cash, we got it hooked up and I headed home.

The drive home was a little unsettling, just that I had never driven with one of these on a car before and I was nervous that something could fall off. Worrying all for nothing. Everything was fine, except that we never got the lights to work. I'll have to check that out later.

I got home and after a more thorough inspection, I found the product to be in excellent shape and an awesome value, since it also included the brake and license plate lights!

A Wrench in My Plan...

After weeks of researching, I have come to realize that it is nearly impossible to "plate" a California green sticker dirt bike. There are services that I could pay for online to do it, but they do it through trickery, titling the bike out of state, then bringing it back into California, etc. and they're not cheap.

So I turned my attention to street-legal dirt bikes. Just about every manufacturer makes one. As it turns out, for the Honda CRF250F that I want to buy, there is a CRF250L! But a couple of years ago, it got a little makeover with a bigger engine, which means more low end torque! It also comes with a slipper clutch! The difference in price isn't all that much between the dirt bike and the street-legal model. With the fees it would take to title the bike, plus all the accessories that I would have to install on the bike, it only makes sense just to get the enduro version.

But as luck would have it, this CRF300L is pretty hard to get a hold of. They've only been produced since 2020, plus they were hard to get from the dealerships. Used ones are few and far between. I'll keep my eyes peeled on the usual places- FB Marketplace and Craigslist.

CRF250F- It's Perfect For Me. I'm Not Changing My Mind!!

Okay. I was doing just fine searching for my CRF250F. Prices are reasonable. There are plenty around. And I finally let the cat out of the bag and told my wife about my sinister plans to hit the dirt. I told her that I would be riding dirt, and with these bikes, there's no insurance since they don't ride on the streets. And the price on a used bike is just over $4K.

The Black Friday weekend happened and I took the opportunity to take advantage of some of the great deals. I bought lots of dirt riding gear- a jersey, Fox helmet, goggles, pants and new Alpinestars boots. 

After I posted a picture of me trying on my new boots, a friend made a comment and invited me to do a local dual-sport event. Okay. That kind of threw me for a loop. The event looks fun. I wanna do that!! But the bike I want isn't street-legal. He told me that maybe I should just buy a dual-sport bike.

I'm not willing to change my mind on that Honda dirt bike. So what to do? I know that there are street-legal conversion kits out there for different bikes. I'll see what it takes to get this bike street-legal. 

Dirt Bikes- the Wheels Are Turning....

I don't know, but I feel that I need another motorcycle. I have already planned to sell the Harley in the Spring- it's riding off-season right now, so it wouldn't sell very well now. It would be kind of nice to have a little dirt bike. Something small and light that I could just tow over to Carnegie to play. I'm thinking that I could get a hitch rack for the Jeep and that might be a good simple solution. The Jeep is capable of towing 400 pounds for tongue weight. A small dirt bike will weigh 300'ish, plus the rack and that would be just about right. Entrance to the California OHV parks is only $5. What a deal! and a cheap way to spend the day. Carnegie SVRA is less than a half an hour away from my home.

The question is which bike should I buy? What would be a good bike for a beginner? For someone with short legs? I could pick up a used bike for cheap if I knew what I'm looking for.

I have been investigating the Honda CRF250F, a well-respected bike that is terrific for beginners, but adults of all skill levels love the bike. It's got a reasonably short seat height, but the bike can be modified to be lowered. The predecessor for this bike was the CRF230F, which was equally loved, but got an upgrade in cc's and got fuel injection.

I have also been looking at the Yamaha TT-R230, which also has been around for a long while. Lots of similarities to the Honda, but with no fuel injection. But honestly, I would rather have FI- who knows where I might be riding? It would be nice to head to Tahoe and not worry about the bike running too rich.

Suzuki? Not really interested as a dirt bike. KTM? Husky? Too expensive and not really good for beginners.

And the search continues.....

Gina- She's Gone

For the past few weeks, I've been keeping busy getting my Mazdaspeed Miata, Gina, ready to sell. Actually going as far back February, I've been picking parts off the car either using them in other vehicles or selling them off. All the bolt-on engine parts, including the downpipe, had to come off. I removed the Flyin' Miata radiator fans too. More recently, it's been more about making the car presentable to sell. I had to remove both front and rear bumper covers and redo what the Maaco did haphazardly and incorrectly. That took courage, as I've been putting that job off since I got the car back from the painters. That was one of the things that really deflated my attitude about the car. I had to remove the new short shift kit, the oil filter relocation kit and figure out how to electrically reattach the OEM radiator fans. Then came the polishing and waxing. Finally, she was ready to get some pictures taken. I found a nice winery parking lot to take some photos. Rather than use my cell phone, I brought out the big guns and employed my DSLR Nikon. I went out the later part of the day, so I could get the setting sunlight. Pictures turned out fantastic! There was just so much to tell about the car that I decided to put it on a blog page, so I wouldn't be confined to such a small space on Craigslist. I paid my $5 to Craigslist to list my automobile and set up my ad. It was fairly succinct, but I included a link to my blog, so if anyone was really interested, they could read more details there. Additionally, I left a link with one of my Facebook posts. Well, it worked! Almost too well!

In the meanwhile,  I took the car in to get smogged, so I would have a smog certificate to hand over with the sale of the car. To my surprise, the car failed! Apparently, I hadn't been driving the car all that much, since I disconnected the battery to work on the stereo, so some of the monitors hadn't yet cleared! That was a nice waste of $30! Stupid me! Since then, I've been trying to run the car through the emissions cycles, so I could take the car back in to smog.

So almost immediately, I started getting inquiring CL emails. The car sold in a week and a half, and that was only because I had to wait for a buyer, Dylan, to drive up from SoCal on a Sunday. I only showed the car twice. The first guy, Danny, was a local coming in from San Jose. Dylan actually tried to butt in and swoop on buying the car, before my appointment with Danny, but I told him no- I had made a commitment to Danny and I was going to see it through. I told him that he would be next in the queue. Danny and I went for an excellent test drive through Foothill Road in Pleasanton. I figured he would appreciate it and it would give him the opportunity to push the car a little and get some feedback. All was great till the end of the drive. When we got back to the parking lot, we noticed that we picked up a nail in one of the tires and it was losing air fast. He didn't want to commit to the non-refundable deposit, as he said he would, when we arranged the meeting, and said he would text me in a few hours with his decision. It was a no, which I figured it would be. My guess is that he had business in Pleasanton that day to drop off his BMW for a warranty issue and he just acted interested, because he wanted to test out what an MSM was like. No big deal. Except now, I had to deal with a flat tire!

First, Danny gave me the idea to call Emily to pick me up and bring tire into a shop to get repaired. After we said our goodbyes, I realized that there was a spare tire in the trunk! I could also call AAA if I wanted to- after all, that's what I'm paying for, right? But I'm no invalid! So I got down to business and decided to test out that spare tire I've been hauling around for all these years. It only took me about 10 minutes to swap tires. Getting the trunk to stay closed on top of that big tire took more time than changing tires! After I got home, I was going to take it into Costco, but realized that the purchase was more than 5 years, so Costco probably wouldn't help me. Emily found that Les Schwab fixes flats for free! I didn't believe it, so I called our local Les Schwab and they said bring it down! I was shocked! I dropped off the tire and they told me that the puncture was at the corner of the tread and they might not legally be able to repair it, but they said they would do their best. A couple hours later, I got a call that the tire was ready for pickup! When I picked it up, the tech told me that he tested it twice and it held air. The puncture was made by a 2" nail that we picked up on our test drive in a construction zone! Because the hole was so big, he said that he used a huge patch to fix it, a patch that they fix semi tires with!! I tipped the guy, since the repair was free and I was on my way.

After I picked up the car, I needed to do some driving to try to clear some smog monitors. Took it to some far away remote road, so I could do some weird cycles. I hadn't noticed, but it was getting late. Then my wife informs me that I need to pick up dinner at a restaurant before they close! I got on the freeway and drove as fast as I could! While doing 85, I noticed that the back of the car started hopping. It was that darned big-ass tire patch that was throwing the wheel off balance! Dammit! One more thing I had to take care of before showing the car again! But I did manage to make it to the restaurant, just in the nick of time! The following morning, I took the loose tire to my nearby Big-O where they were able to do the balancing, while I waited. It only cost $12.50! What a deal! The car was happy again!

My appointment to meet with Dylan was this morning. But of course, a few days ago, another guy, Ryan, was trying to snake the car away from Dylan! He was willing to drive up from Santa Cruz late at night after getting off of work to pick up the car. I told him I already had a buyer appointment, but he begged me to let him beat him. I gave him one chance to see where this would lead. Of course he didn't respond to any of my emails for 6 hours. That pissed me off and he lost his one and only chance. Even yesterday, I was receiving Craigslist responses where one guy was going to be in the neighborhood and wanted to check out the car. I told him I was at work until midnight. He was hoping the car would be outside, where he could view it- if it checked out, he would put down a deposit. I told him I had to see my appointment first. But good God! These people! all trying to climb over each other to get to this car!

In the end, I sold the car to Dylan, a young 20-year-old, who drove 400 miles to pick it up. He was a nice kid, who needed a playtoy to take to the track with his other friends who already had rides. As a matter of fact, he already booked two HPDE days in advance- one at Buttonwillow and another day at Streets of Willow Springs! I really wanted this car to get back to the track, where she belongs. I threw in a bunch of things, like the boost gauge, cell phone mount, soft top care products as well as the Carbotech pads and brake rotors. I made an add-on sale where I sold him the MiataRoadster short shifter for $300. It was a good deal for him, since it was barely used. It was good for me just to get some money back for it. I know it will get good use!

Almost Ready to Test the Jeep!!

With a medium amount of effort, I was able to get the breather hose mod project completed. I found that Lowes was selling 1/2" I.D. fuel hoses in 10' segments for under $8. They also had the connectors and clamps I needed, so one quick trip to my local Lowes did the trick. It cost me just under $40. I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to tackle this, but I was thinking why replace the entire hose systems with new stuff, if the old stuff was fine- I just need to extend what I already have.

I started with the rear differential breather first since it was the easiest to find. The breather cap was hiding just behind the right fender liner. I connected, then ran the hose along the passenger frame rail to the front of the Jeep. Supposedly, the transfer case breather hose on the automatic is only like 5" long, but information that I found on the internet was conflicting and confusing, so much more research had to be done, and I mean much more!! After hours of looking (over a span of several weeks off and on), the short TC breather hose info was shown to be incorrect! The real location of the TC breather hose end is at the firewall, about halfway down near the battery! To me, it's still about a foot lower than I would like it to be, but because of it's difficult to reach position, I decided to start a new hose, rather than extend the existing one. I T'ed the hose into the line that was coming from the rear differential.

The front differential breather end is easy to find- it's located just behind the drivers fender liner, which puts the height at the top of the tires. Not very high. I extended the hose and again T'ed it into the line running from the rear differential, right by the battery. So the rear diff, transfer case and the front diff are all tied into this one common hose. The terminal end breather cap sits just under the level of the hood at the firewall, which is more than adequate.

The transmission breather hose already sits pretty high from the factory and is located on the passenger side of the engine, right under the removable plastic engine cover. But the way the factory clips it in, the position is more lateral/horizontal than vertical. The breather cap is supposed to bob and protect the opening orifice with a bubble of air, but I don't see how that is possible, if the cap is sideways. I popped it out of the last clip and positioned the cap so it sits vertically. Done! That was easy.

So now, King is ready to ford DEEP water crossings! Like just about up to the top of the hood deep! I feel way comfortable with that! Water will be coming into the cabin, before I drown the components!

Okay, on to the next project! Time to get those skid plates back on the underside of the Jeep! If there's anything I've learned from installing the gas skid is that parts do not fit very well on Jeeps that have already been off-roaded. Parts are bent, parts are dented, things just aren't in alignment anymore the way they were coming from the factory. Plus this time around, I would be installing the extra spacer plate, so I can make more space for the exhaust crossover pipe. I first installed the transfer case skid and spacer with the use of the floor jack and that wasn't too bad, except now there's the gas skid that I have to contend with. That's an additional width of metal so bolts seem to have gotten shorter! Getting the driver side bolt in wasn't all that hard, but getting that gas side bolt was a total bitch!! Matter of fact, it took a couple of days of trying to figure it out. My first idea was to just run to the hardware store and get a longer bolt. I was able to find the diameter then the pitch, but to find that together in the proper length wasn't going to happen. I did a quick search to see if I could buy one on the internet and that would be possible if I wanted to purchase a lot of 100! No, that's not happening! My next idea was to have to unbolt everything again, just so I could tip that metal closer and make that the first bolt to go in, then bolt up everything else. That idea indeed worked, but I struggled to get the other holes lined up. Eventually it all worked out with the exception of one hole- I'll just have to hog it out with the Dremel. The part of the skid plate that is overlapping the gas skid is bent to meet the hole. And does the skid plate make contact with the crossover pipe? Absolutely! It touches at the lowest part of the pipe making very firm contact. But after taking him out for a test drive, there were no adverse sounds or clunks. I would believe that it should act as additional support for the engine and transmission adding stability. It could in time wreak havoc on the exhaust system, weakening the spacer/extension interfaces. Only time will tell. 

There are a couple of left over things that need to be taken care of in order for all these little projects to be considered "complete". One of the middle bolt holes on the overlapping skid plates needs to be relieved a little bit in order for me to thread in that last bolt. Also I left out a couple of washers, when I put the oil pan skid back on. I'll try to get these things taken care of before heading out on my upcoming crawling trip!

Transfer Case Progress and More

 Well, the motorcycle lift trick worked quite effectively. It took a few attempts to find the angle that was just right for all the bolts to line up, but with persistence, I was able to find something that worked. Once I got a couple of bolts in the holes, then it was a matter of raising and lowering the transfer case and the transmission to level out the bolts in the holes. Getting the input shaft splines to line up wasn't that huge of a deal as I was able to rotate the front tire with my foot to get them to line up. Getting the nuts on the bolts wasn't nearly as horrific as trying to get them off, since I had some experiences of which wrenches might fit in the tight spaces. I reinstalled the drive shafts, then drained and filled the fluid and I was back in business!

While I was down there, I decided to do a fluid change on the transmission. Dropping the pan was easy since the exhaust crossover was already lowered, the skids and crossmembers were out of the way. I bought a gasket/filter kit from Napa auto, which fit perfectly. Over the next few days, I've added 6 quarts of ATF+4 fluid. Finally, the fluid level is right!

Over the course of this entire endeavor, I've noticed that the rubber boot on the front drive shaft has been chewed up a little, which is indication that with the 2.5" lift, the drive shaft doesn't have enough clearance during severe articulation. Funny thing- I happen to have a Rugged Ridge exhaust spacer extension kit that I bought 5 years ago, when I bought the suspension upgrade. At the time, I wasn't convinced that the lift was enough to warrant the spacers, so I tossed them in my box full of Jeep odds and ends. Well, without too much looking, I was able to find them again. Installing them was quite the bitch though. I watched that stupid Teraflex installation video (since all the spacer kits are basically the same) and Dennis makes it look like it's a 5-minute job. Not so!! So many problems that he didn't address. For instance the flange bolt/clamp where the two pipes slide into each other is more or less welded into place, so you need to grind it off. Or the fact that the two pieces just don't slide together! They gave him a modified easy to install Jeep to demo on. I'm not the only one who experience these difficulties either.

I did the initial installation with much difficulty- realizing that the clamp bolt was not about to unscrew out and trying to force the Y-collector pipe into the cat pipe, which wasn't about to work. I took an angle grinder to the clamp and that took about an hour. Then I ratchet strapped the Y-collector to the rear axle and still it wouldn't slide in more than 3mm. I just bolted it all together to get the Jeep running. When I started it up, I immediately knew that something was wrong. There were major exhaust leaks! After spending some time on the internet cruising the forums, I could see that there were physical impediments hindering the two pipes from sliding together. Eventually I found an afternoon where I could redo the project. I rented a chain cutter from my local O'Reilly and I went to work separating the two pipes. I got the Y-collector/crosspipe free and attempted to cut just over an inch off the end, but the chain cutter kept wandering, so just got out the reciprocating saw to finish the job. From there, things got a lot easier. This time around, I sealed up each side of each spacer with high temp gasket sealant. Now everything fits as it should and no more exhaust leaks!

There are two other projects that have been on my to do list for a couple of years  1) relocating the evap canister to a place where it won't get hit by rocks and  2) extending the breather hoses from the differentials and transfer case to a higher level in case I do any deep water fording. I crawled under the Jeep this morning to access the evap canister situation and noticed that the skid plate doesn't have any rock rash on it and I've taken King through some very difficult trails!! After some deliberating, I think that it's going to be just fine in it's factory location. Some people do the relocation because their rear drive shafts make contact with the box or skid plate. I found no signs of contact on my rig.

So maybe tomorrow I'll start on raising the breathers. I think with a few odd parts from my local hardware store, I should be able to take care of it pretty easily. Once that project is done, I'll put the rest of the skid plates on the underside of the Jeep. I'm not sure how the skids are going to play with the lowered crossover exhaust pipe, but we're going to find out awful soon!!

Refocusing Update

It's been an eon since I last wrote to this blog. It's been nearly 5 months since I lost my precious dog and I still think about her all the time. In time, we'll eventually get another dog, as we really miss having that puppy energy and happiness in our lives, but for now, we're going to make the best of the situation and do a little traveling. Not having to worry about caring for the dog, while we're away will be a nice change. 

On the work front, Covid burnout is real. We are easily at least 2 techs and one tech aide short on a daily basis. While we are short-handed, our workload hasn't slowed down. From time to time, management will put out requisitions to try to fill the vacancies, but few and/or unqualified candidates apply. So matters never change. I've finally become sick of hurting myself at work. We routinely get 250-450 pound patients weekly and until recently, the techs would not have help to rely on. But since I made a stink about quitting my job due to not wanting to permanently injure myself before retirement, my new supervisor has been very good at finding us additional hands to help out. Thank you, Liz!! Still the same, come this Fall, I'll either have found an easier, non-laborious clerical position to move into to finish my vesting term or I will outright quit. I am selling one of my houses, so that should help ease me into retirement early.

The Miata- after deliberating for a few weeks, I decided to give her up and sell her. My plans were to do some autocross this Spring. But since I went ahead and swapped out the OEM tranny for a 5-speed, that would automatically bump me up to the Super-Street Modified class, running against the big boys. To even be slightly competitive, I would have to dump another $5K into the car with stand alone ECU, injectors, tires and wheels, heavier springs, etc. It's time I cut bait and concentrate on the other projects in the garage. It's taken me a few months to peel off the go-fast parts and get the car mainly back to stock- I'm still leaving the suspension, roll bar and intercooler in there, as well as miscellaneous items like stainless steel lines and upgraded stereo. The Miata is nearly ready to go to market. I just need to tweak a couple of things, then wash/wax and take pics.

The Harley- I recently did an oil/filter change and maintenanced the air filter. I installed Rocker Lockers, but I don't really think they made that much of a difference. AND I repainted the front fairing. It was that quickie bumpy job from when I first got it, but I did a real paint job this time- it turned out nice and smooth and rich. There is one spot where I wet-sanded through a little too aggressively, but I'm not worried about it. I also installed a cell phone holder, so I can see who's calling me, when riding. The bike is running great! It's pretty well set!

The Jeep- I'm continuing to put time into the Jeep, King. I still have a couple of trails left on my Hit List here in Northern California that I would like to conquer- Dusy Ershim and the Slick Rock Trail. I found on the Diablo 4-Wheelers Club calendar that they're planning on doing a Slick Rock run in July, so I went to one of their monthly club meetings. A very nice bunch of people. Friendly and accepting. Afterwards we hung out in the parking lot around my Jeep and chewed the fat. I met one of the members named Steve, who said he owns a cabin at the top of the Slick Rock Trail and offered to take me on the run in a small group! Heck yeah!!

Lately I've been working on overdue upgrades. I finally bought and installed a new gas tank skid plate after banging the old one back into shape. (That way my fuel gauge will read more accurately and I can get more gas capacity.) I went with Rough Country. It was a great price, but the kit didn't quite fit. I had to Dremel some of the holes a little wider. It was actually kind of a bitch, as I had to remove one of the tires to get access to the holes!! Whatevers.

I bit the bullet and bought a new tie rod. For a year, I've been thinking about an aluminum tie rod, but in the end, it's all about fitment. Many of the tie rods out there won't fit with the dimensions of my AEV Borah wheels. So I bought a Metalcloak kit. Fitment is great. Thank goodness I bought the lifetime wheel alignment package from Wheel Works, so I had them realign my wheels, since the front driver tire seemed to be making scrubbing noises. Something was definitely off. It was so bad driving down the freeway that the traction control light kept blinking on and off! The new alignment fixed that. I haven't really drove it much since, so I'll have to do an update later.

Ever since the Fordyce trip, I've been toying with the idea of changing out the transfer case to a Rubicon 4:1 TC. For a while, I wasn't even sure it could be done, but with a little research, it's not that hard to do as long as you get the correct part. I kept an eye on the market and prices. Finally there was a great deal on FB Marketplace with some guy in Sunnyvale. A new TC will cost $2500. A good used one will go for $1200-1500. This guy had his listed for $750, but he wasn't 100% sure it would work, so he offered it to me at $600, which I thought was very fair. Supposedly it popped out of 4-Low twice while steep descents. But when in gear, it worked great! He tried to purposely duplicate the problem, but could never get it to do it again. He had money, so he bought another used TC and paid someone to swap it out. But he first bought a used 2.72:1 TC, so he was trying to sell that one as well. When I went to pick up the case, he had the Sport TC ready to take. I checked the part number and found that he was going to give me the wrong case. Maybe an innocent mistake, but it could've been a costly one for me had I drove off with it. I figure that his problem was probably that his linkage was bad. There's not much that can go wrong with the internals. But worst case scenario is that I'll have to rebuild the case in my garage and a kit is only about $250.

Right now, I'm in the middle of doing the TC swap. On the forums, some say it should take 2.5 hours. They're completely full of shit. Maybe if you've done it a couple of times before, I can see it might be done in about 3 hours. In my case, I'm fumbling around with what to get out of the way just to get access to the mounting nuts! It took me 2 hours just to get the transmission crossmember off, since I had to unbolt most of the gas tank skid plate again! Then getting the mounting nuts off was a total struggle, trying to figure out what would actually fit in that tight space. It took me a while to figure out how to get the TC unmounted and lowered without damaging the old case. I finally got the original case off and was able to check that the input shaft spline count was the same. Phew! I did get the right part! My next step is to get the Rubi TC up and mounted. I'm thinking that I might be able to use the motorcycle lift to pump it up to the correct height, then I can slide it in. I'm hoping that the lift will fit under the Jeep- since it has 2 platforms, that will stabilize the TC and make it easier to mount. Fingers crossed!!

That's it for now! More to come....