My Old PC Challenge! Try, Try Again!

I've been a computer geek since the late '90's. Basically since PC's became mainstream and the Internet was born, that's when I started my journey. I built my first Linux box in 1998 and I've built many PC's since. I got my degree in computer science and worked for some of the Silicon Valley giants doing network management, before leaving it all behind for another career in healthcare medical imaging.

Over the years, I've accumulated LOTS of computer parts- whole PC's, cases, motherboards, RAM, graphics cards, hard drives, peripherals, boxes of cables, etc. So if I get an itch and want to build something or change something, I have a deep bin of parts to choose from.

At the time that I started building PC's, I started playing PC games. Unreal had just come out. I read all the reviews and heard all the rant. I had to have it! It did not disappoint. Then I played the Diablo series. I've been a Diablo (and Blizzard) fan ever since. So it kind of became a habit of building a new system every time a new benchmark game was coming out. Eventually, life got busy and I was less involved with gaming, but I would still build and play for games I really needed in my life.

Diablo III was released in mid-2012. About a year later was when I built up a fire-breathing rig that was worthy of running that game. The build included a new cooler-breathing Lian Li tower, an Asus P8Z77-V motherboard, a Intel Core i7 chipset, a Radeon HD 7770 PCI-E video card, and 8GB RAM. That was a phenomenal machine for the game! Over the years, I put in another better graphics card in there, pumped up the RAM a bit, and converted to a solid state drive.

In 2021, I did the unthinkable- I switched to Mac! Something that I NEVER thought I would ever do. Diablo IV was around the corner and I knew that I would have to build up the PC, since the requirements were so high. I added up the cost and to buy a new motherboard, chip, graphics card, RAM, etc was going to cost $1500+. At the same time, I was also thinking about getting a new laptop. So many priorities were changing for me at that time. My Samsung smart watch just died in a hot tubbing accident on a recent cruise and I needed a replacement. I was somewhat pissed at Samsung that built a watch that couldn't take 10 seconds being submerged, so I wasn't crazy about giving them more business. I was pretty interested in the Apple watch that had fall detection, in case I was to get in kind of accident. Unfortunately the Apple watch was not compatible with a Samsung Galaxy phone, so that meant that I would need to get a new iPhone, which was just starting to put satellite technology into their builds. Well, heck- if I were to get a new iPhone and Apple watch, it would work best if I had an Apple laptop too. So could I dock a Macbook like a Dell and have it run as my desktop too? Apparently, yes! and could it run games? I went down this expensive rabbit hole and bit the financial bullet. The watch was everything I was hoping it would be. I hate to admit it, but the iPhone is rock-solid! Way more dependable than the Galaxy. And the Macbook is at least 4 times faster than any Intel laptop could be. I does play some games. I was able to install Bioshock on it through Steam and it ran like a dream!

So most of my issues were addressed. Except for that Diablo IV thing. When D4 was finally released, Blizzard elected to not make it Mac friendly. In order to run it on a Mac, I would have to run it on Wine, Parallel (or some kind of translator), or subscribe to an additional streaming service and play it on their servers for a monthly fee.

Okay. Back to the PC drawing board. It was the beginning of 2025. I was about to have my second open-heart surgery and I knew I was going to have some downtime. I thought it would be nice to play that during my recovery time. Could I make my current PC rig run the game on minimum requirements? I installed a new BIOS, ran some GPU programs and was able to overclock the card. I overclocked the chipset too. I bought the game and yes, it could run. But after trying to play it a few times, it was chunky and not very satisfying. That took the wind out of my sails and so the machine sat.

Fast forward to now. I bought that game and it seemed a shame to not be able to play it. What could I do to get it to play in an acceptable manner? I'm sure that throwing more RAM at it would help. and a better graphics card could surely help. If I could do this without breaking the bank, I could live with that. I bought 32GB of RAM and a brand new Radeon RX 580 graphics card on Amazon. After messing around with it for 3 days (and doing a completely fresh install of Windows 10 Pro), I finally gave up on that video card. Whenever I opened a game on Steam, whether it be Bioshock Infinite or Diablo IV, it would shut the computer off. I tried different drivers and different game graphics configurations. Nothing would solve the problem. I returned the Radeon card and half of the RAM (convinced that the memory was not the issue) and bought a refurbished Nvidia card to see if the drivers was the problem.

The renewed Nvidia card was $60 more, but that seems to have fixed the problem. It was a pain in the ass trying to get the newest drivers installed, because Windows wouldn't do it and the Nvidia application wouldn't do the installation. The game kept complaining that it needed a more updated version of the graphics card driver. I did a clean wipe of the old drivers in safe mode and miraculously Windows found a more recent iteration.

I've been torture testing the "renewed" card all day and I have yet to have my PC crash on me yet! I started on Diablo 4, since that's what this fuss is really all about. I bumped up the video config demands in stages until I was at full screen in 3840x2160 and it's still running at 60 frames per second! The game looks fabulous and it's running smoothly! Then I switched back to Bioshock Infinite. Slowly, I increased the graphic demands of the game and again, 60 fps with no crashing! The rendering and colors are simply stunning! Okay, we have a winner. Although this card is 10 years old, it's just what the doctor ordered! and it'll get me there until I need to do a full gutted rebuild. All-in-all, the PC refresh cost me just over $250 to get these games to run the way they should. That, I can live with 👍

Screenshots from Diablo IV

Screenshot from Bioshock Infinite

Moab 2025!!!

I've been waiting for what seems to be forever to go to Moab to run my Jeep! So many times, we've had the vacation planned and penciled in, then we would cancel for one reason or other. Well, when my Diablo 4-Wheels Club decided we were going to go this year, I had to be in on it!! And it did not disappoint!

Before I get into the vacation summary, I have to spend some time gushing about my Jeep! I am so surprised and proud of him! what he is actually capable of doing!

So everyone who gets a Jeep has to figure out which path is right for him/her- what's the Jeep going to be used for? What would be the appropriate equipment to buy? How much do you want to spend on it? I specifically purchased this little 2-door JK to rock crawl. When I went to the stealership, I knew that I did not want to buy the Rubicon model, because I would just replace all the upgraded parts on it anyway. Electric windows and door locks? I would be removing the doors some of the time anyway. So ultimately, I knew that buying the least expensive model, the "Sport", would be the right option for me. Sure, it didn't have lockers on it like the Rubicon, but I could take all the money that I saved and just do everything the way I wanted it.

The Sport model does not have the stronger Dana 44 front axle like the Rubicon does, so I had to do some reinforcements on it. I took the Jeep to the 4X4 Shop in Livermore. I had a truss welded to it, as well as C-gussets. I also had front control arm skid plates welded to it, as long as the shop was welding. They also installed new Synergy ball joints, installed Eaton e-lockers front and rear and regeared the Jeep to 4.56. (I always felt the Jeep would only be offroading 15-20% of the time. I also built the locker selector system myself.) I later installed Revolution Gear chromoly axle shafts to increase strength to the axles, since I would be running 35" tires. Tom Wood drive shafts were fitted front and rear. I purchased a Rubicon 4:1 transfer case from someone on FB Marketplace and rebuilt it myself with all new everything. I eventually installed a Metalcloak 3.5" Gamechanger suspension system with MC bumpstops. I'm running the Teraflex Falcon 3.3 adjustable shocks on all four corners and Smittybilt skids all along the bottom of the Jeep. I went with AEV Borah wheels (with beauty rings) and BF Goodrich KO2 315 tires. For additional external protection, I have a Smittybilt front bumper, Poison Spyder rear bumper and rock sliders. Poison Spyder iron differential covers protect my gearing.

Oh and for sound, I just had to replace that God-awful excuse of a stock sound system. It wasn't until I replace the original head unit with a double-din system I stole from my Miata that I found out just how absolutely shitty the stock speakers sounded! It's as if they had to adjust the curves on their head unit just to make the speakers more listenable. But replacing the head unit only  reveals how terrible the stock speakers really are! Being able to hear music at freeway speeds with the top off is a must!! So I installed a Sony stereo/nav unit paired with Infinity Prius components in the front and Polk Audio components in the soundbar. I have an Alpine 8" subwoofer under the seat and an Alpine 4-channel amplifier to give the system some help. This sound system is AWESOME!!

The Jeep has just about 80K on the odometer. I drove it from the SF Bay Area to Moab with a soft top and hard doors on it with a hitch trailer and a 300 pound dirt bike on the back of it! I averaged 16 mpg to get there and 14.5 getting home (due to high wind activity in the last half). I would say that's pretty outstanding, considering I'm used to seeing 13-15 mpg around town! When I got to camp, I removed the hitch rack and unmounted the hitch from the rear frame. 

During the trip, the trails and obstacles we ran were:

• Hells Revenge, including Hell's Gate and the Staircase options
• Top of the World
• Metal Masher
• Steel Bender
• Poison Spyder Mesa and Gold Bar Rim, including the Waterfall and 
• Cliff Hanger

Notice that they are all rated difficult (RED)! I was told that some providers don't even recommend that 35" go on Cliff Hanger! Now, remember- my Jeep is still running Dana 30's!! My Jeep, King, did GREAT on all these trails, but I did have to get winched on one of the last step ascents coming back on Cliff Hanger- I didn't have enough clearance to find a good line where my tires won't slide off! Other than that, no assistance needed. A good spot didn't hurt on some of the superhard stuff. Nothing broke and most of the time, I was even running the air conditioner! To say I had the time of my life would be an understatement!

I was also able to do a few other things that really completed my trip. I spent one day running the Onion Creek Road trail on my Honda dual sport bike with my buddy, Don. That road wasn't very difficult- just a lot of stream crossings. Lots of fun!

One afternoon, I hiked out to see the Delicate Arch in Arches National Park to watch the sunset. The lighting was like magic! Then I stuck around a bit longer for the stars to come out, and was able to get some pictures of the Milky Way next to the Arch!

On the way home, I made a stop to do a tour of the Upper Antelope Canyon near Page, Arizona. I went with a tour company called Tse Bighanilini Tours. Our tour guide was Keanu. He and the tour were outstanding!! All during the morning drive out to the Canyons, it was raining and overcast, but during our tour slot, the clouds dissipated and the sun came out! That was very fortunate, since I paid a premium for that time slot, because the sun would be more overhead, so there's a good chance the sunlight can shine into the slot canyons! Keanu was full of great and fun information! He was instrumental in setting the camera filters for his customers, and he took pictures of everyone on their phone cameras!

Right after that, I drove for 10 miles to the Horseshoe Bend, and there it started raining again. It was a 0.75-mile hike to the overlook. Then it really started pouring rain! But I was at least able to get a few shots in, before the downpour! Hiking back to the Jeep, I got pretty soaked and had to change my shirt and shoes.

Another 8 hours later, I was in Las Vegas. Emily had booked a room for me at Treasure Island. I did free self-parking in the hotel parking structure very near to the entrance security booth, where someone could keep an eye on my motorcycle. I quickly dumped my stuff, got dressed and made my way across the street to the Wynn Hotel, where I ate at their famous buffet! The buffet is known for their seafood selection, which I pretty much tried every bit of it. But I had to sample the meat too and for me, their beef brisket took the cake! It was SOOOO GOOD! That made the visit completely worth it!

The next day, I woke up, hit the Starbucks inside the casino, then had very long drive back home. Now I can cross Moab off my wheelin' bucket list! It did not disappoint! and the time I got to spent with my friends was really nice. King performed like a champ! and all the way home, I knew that I made all the right decisions building this little Jeep!

The Economy SUCKS in California- Don't Believe What the White House is Telling You

Please explain to me how well our economy is doing Mr. Biden.

Denny's Restaurants just announced this week that they're closing 150 locations. CVS is closing 300 stores by the end of the year. Walgreens is closing 1200 stores! In 2024, California is the 5th largest economy in the entire world. And we have the most billionaires living here. But grocery and gas prices are still on the rise. PG$E bills have doubled in just the past few years. Home and car insurance have both raised their prices significantly! Home insurance companies are dropping policies, because they're losing money. Highway 1 is closed off in Big Sur. There are roads that I used to use in my local area that are closed and have not been repaired for YEARS, because California doesn't have enough money to fix them? Bridge tolls are going up AGAIN, claiming that they're still in a deficit from the Pandemic. BART is raising their prices again. Both Oakland and San Francisco are MILLIONS over budget (SF $800M and Oakland $80M) and can't close the gap. Where are all my California taxes going???? I am paying over $14K in property taxes alone this year!! These are ALL reasons why I am planning my move out of California, a once glorious state- the state where I was born.

These are all signs of a good healthy economy? Don't drink the Kool-Aid.

Yes, the stock market is at its all-time high, but the stock market IS NOT an indicator of the economy.

I Think I Have Time For That... I Retired!!!

So I did a crazy thing the other day. I went ahead and quit my job (because it sucked)- I decided to get on with my retirement. Until recently, I was an MRI technologist working for the Big-K (Kaiser Permanente) in Oakland, California. I actually really loved what I was doing, but was not crazy about my employer and management. A few years back, I used to train MRI techs and I would always teach them on the first day- make no mistake about it, healthcare is a business and all the decisions that are made are business decisions a.k.a. it's all about the money. They don't necessarily care about the welfare of the customers, it's all about the money.

And that is Kaiser in a nutshell- not giving staff enough time to properly do their jobs, not having the proper equipment on hand, forcing the techs and staff to do things against what they're supposed to do. At Kaiser, I would constantly say that they're just pushing their luck waiting to kill a patient, THEN maybe policies will change, at least for a little while. (I worked there for two and a half years and NEVER ONCE did we EVER do a CODE BLUE drill! I would spot check staff about the procedures and no one knew what to do!) And that's exactly would did happen. Again and again. The pandemic made things worse in that we were constantly short-staffed. And the more short-staffed we were, the more morale would decline and more staff would call out sick. When staff individuals quit, most of the time the staff member would not be replaced. Management style was reverting back to the late 90's. It was a thankless job. I actually wanted to quit a year and a half ago, until I realized that if I didn't achieve at least 5 years, I would not vest and all my miserable time spent working at Kaiser would add up to nothing with the pension.

So I tried applying to other jobs outside of my normal job scope. I applied for 10 months for just about any office position until I finally got a call! I took a job as a cashier in the Eye Center. When I arrived for my first day, they asked me if I would mind cross-training into scheduling. I didn't know better, so I said okay. They didn't tell me that there was very little training involved and I would be talking to 100 angry old people who couldn't hear you on the phone! It was literally 45% of my MRI pay. After 3 days, I figured that if I was going to work a job that sucked, I might as well get paid for it, so I returned to my former sucky position.

But that also spurred me on to start working on a retirement forecasting spreadsheet that recorded all my assets and liabilities. The forecasting projected through my 90 's (as well as my wife's). I came up with a plan and calculated that as soon as I crossed my 5-year line with Kaiser, I could "retire" at the early age of 59. I knew that I would not have Medicare for another 6 years, but I built that into my plan. Most people don't really know where they stand with their retirements- they just know that they don't want to run out of money, so they keep working. I was able to see that even quitting at 59-years-old (my wife already stopped working 3 years ago), we would never run out of money. By my calculations, by the time we're in our 90's, we should still have tons of money in the bank, and all along we should have enough money to live like we already do- toys, vacations and all.

My point is: if I can do it, you can do it! With the way things are today, working isn't what it used to be. Figuring out your retirement isn't rocket science- it's strictly math. You have all the tools to forecast and plan it. If you have a good plan and the discipline to follow it, you're golden!

Mounting the ARB Awning, Again!!!

Today I was set on getting my ARB awning on the Jeep. I called in sick today, since my body (and attitude) has been so worn and beaten from work for the past three weeks. I've got a lot of little projects to get done and I just don't have that many free days off to get things done. I truly needed this mental rest day just to sharpen my saw.

I already had the Rhino rack on the Jeep from the iKamper installation. The awning is so long that I really wanted to add a third rack rail to the top to give the awning more stability, since I will be taking the "overlanding" setup rock-crawling. I had another Surco rack set laying around and figured that I could reuse the front rack assembly. When I bought the used Rhino Rack bars from ExtremeTerrain, I somehow ended up with an extra (third) bar for free! So I thought it would be nice to get that into the mix. But when I tried to attach it to the feet a few weeks ago, the inserts would not work right, so I went ahead and ordered some more off of Amazon. I bought some Chinese knock-offs to save some money. What could go wrong?! Lol!

The idea was to mount the third bar in a manner that I would later be able to use it to carry traction boards or extra Rotopax fuel cans. I removed the Surco bar from the feet, then tried to attach the Rhino bar to them with the new kits from Amazon. As it turns out, the screws were too long, so I had to hunt through the garage for some suitable replacements.

I got the new bar assembly onto the top of the Jeep. Then I tried attaching the awning. I mounted both front and rear awning stays on the tops of the bars. There was a difference in heights between the Rhino and Surco rack bars. The Rhino setup has such a low profile that the awning mounted at a downward angle front to back. Hmmm...something I hadn't really considered. Okay. So I mounted the front awning stay to the bottom of the Surco bar. Much better! Close to perfect, but now the awning sat so low that the driver door couldn't even open. Also when mounting the stay to the bottom of the bar, the stay was so long that it ran into the mounting foot, so it was sticking out away from the roof quite a bit!

I decided to whomp on them awning stays and do some cutting and drilling. I drilled three new holes in each 1 inch higher that the original holes. I also took the front stay and cut 2 inches off its length. I sprayed a little satin black paint on them to keep the rust away, then it was time to mount.

In order to mount the stay on the front, I had to remove the rack from the top and slide the foot aside, so I could have access to tighten the bar mounting screws. At this time, I also measured 8" off the RTT so that the Rotopax will fit comfortably when mounted. The rear stay was a bit more work. One of the awning stay bolts was buried under the RTT, so I had to unmount both left and right mounts for the tent, just so I could lift the tent assembly to give me access to tighten the bolt! Of course after I had it all tightened up back together again, I realized I needed to undo it again, so I could be able to tighten the bolts that attached awning to the stay! Argh!!!

Once it was all back together and tightened up, the awning was mounted solidly and level! Yay! The mounts were far enough apart that they will have plenty of support when things get rough. 

My Honda CRF300L- a Little Horror Story.....

After riding the CRF300LA for one dirt outing, the bike had an issue with the ABS system. I had decided that the bike needed a different kickstand, since it made the bike sit so high that I always thought it would just fall over if a light wind hit it. I bought an adjustable replacement from T-Rex Racing and installed it. I used the youtube video from JaketheGardenSnake, which also showed how to disable the factory kickstand engine killer safety device. The device is designed to kill the motor if the rider tries to put the bike in gear with the bike running and the kickstand is still down. After I finished doing the kill switch bypass, I gave it a quick test by starting the bike and putting the bike into first gear with the stand still down. To verify that the bike was truly in gear, I slipped the clutch and let the rear wheel spin a few rotations at a slow speed. Well, after that, the bike was never the same. From then on, the ABS light would be constantly flashing no matter what.

I went online and tried to do combination button resets, riding the bike past a specific speed, etc. Nothing would reset the light. It was probably tripped because the computer thinks that there is an ABS deployment case, when the front and the rear wheel are turning at different speeds. I asked the forums and got radio silence. Some forum informations suggested that it was an OBD issue and that the stealership can just hook up their reader and reset the light. I realized I was over my head and that I should just take it to Honda and let them reset it.

After calling around, the only local Honda dealer that had immediate time slots to reset the light was in Berkeley, so I rode the bike there. After a couple of hours (I got there just in time for the techs to take their lunches), Carl, the service department rep, informed me that it wasn't as easy as a quick reset. and that the system was reading a speed sensor error code. They needed to order the part and they would call me when the part arrived. I rode back home with the problem unsolved. Two weeks later, I was back again to install the speed sensor part.

Again I waited a couple of hours. Apparently the new speed sensor did not fix the problem either, so the tech was on the phone getting advise from Honda, the mothership in Ohio. They finally told me that they needed to order a couple of more parts to try on and that again they'll call me when the parts arrive. Again, I rode home issue still in hand.

A couple of weeks later, I loaded the bike on my hitch rack and I was back at the dealership, but this time, I was advised that they would need to keep the bike, while they'll have to correspond with Honda to get the problem fixed. I called them every week hoping for progress. They swapped out more ABS parts including the rear ABS disable switch. Nothing seemed to work. They had to order another ECU, thinking that could be the problem.

Five weeks passed. FINALLY I got the call that the bike was ready for pickup!! When I picked up the bike, I asked Carl if they ever figured out what caused the problem. He told me that nothing that they replaced fixed the issue. They even tried a different (new) ECU and that didn't do the trick either. Then suddenly the blinking light went away! I could've been a loose/bad connection in the loom and that by messing around with it so much, the connection finally seated. Who really knows? He said that if the problem comes back, I can always have them check it out again. Well, that's just swell.

So if I never brought the bike back to Honda, there is no way that I would ever have intentionally fixed the blinking light. Maybe over time, it could've fixed itself. This also means that for anyone with this bike (or me in the future), this problem or something worse could happen to them/me, more than likely after the warranty has expired.

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....

T-Minus 5 Days and Counting.....

It's been soooooo long since we've last been on a cruise! Finally we're heading out back to sea! We booked this cruise vacation two years ago!! but as Covid would have it, the cruise was canceled last year, so we had to wait until the coast was clear to cruise again. For the sake of safety, I completely understand I it's worth it to wait- I feel safer sailing now.

The original itinerary that we chose was departing from somewhere in Florida, while the highlights were stopping by the Grand Caymans, Cartagena, Columbia, Panama, and Costa Rica. It was such a rare itinerary- one that we had never seen offered before. But that cruise was canceled. Instead, if we chose not to get a refund with the cruise line, they offered a "similar" itinerary- Cartagena, Columbia, the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao), and the Grand Cayman (which later was changed to Nassau, Bahama, since Grand Cayman still doesn't allow cruise ships to dock there).

Well, my packing is almost complete and I'm ready to go!! This is going to be quite a different kind of cruise. The ship's capacity is only at 50% (maybe a little bit more). So it's going to be a lot less crowded than normal. I see it as having all the best parts of cruising without the worst parts of cruising. We will never witness this again. We're all set with a Veranda Stateroom cabin. We've got unlimited Internet and the Premium drink package! I lost 16 pounds in preparation of this trip, so I am planning on eating  and drinking everything in sight!

Stay tuned for pictures!

Holle- Back at It Again!!

Holy shit! After almost a 2 years hiatus on the BMW, I think I'm just about energized to get working on it again! I've been cleaning up and organizing the garages in preparation of getting Holle back on the road this upcoming Spring. But for some reason, last night in my dreams, I started thinking about working on getting that darned starter out.

I dug deep into my archives and found pictures of the last time I was working on her- mid-January 2020. I was a little worried, considering I've got random parts laying around from my last attempt. I went out on errands in the morning and found an array of wrenches at Lowes, wrenches that I returned before, but knowing that these were probably the most suited to do the trick. I got my thoughts organized and went to work on it.

I started by trying to reorient myself on what were the problems I had the last time I was in the engine bay. I spent a few minutes looking at forums on how to remove the started. All were convinced that the intake manifold does not need to be removed, perhaps just the oil dipstick tube and a bracket. I checked my previous work and found that I had removed those things.

There are only two bolts that hold the starter to the transmission bell housing and one of them was already loose. The back one was the problem where I lost my mind. I removed a couple of hoses to get more access for my wrenches. Miraculously, I was able to get the 17mm wrenches on both ends of the bolts fairly easily. I broke tension and was able to get the bolts out! Just like that! With a slight effort in navigating the starter through the space to the front of the engine bay, that broken beast found its way out! Oh my God!! I got it out in about 45 minutes! I didn't even bleed!

I went back to the computer to examine all the old pictures to make sure I got the wires back in the right places. Then I installed the new starter. I used red Loc-Tite on the bolts. I got the driver side bolt snugged up just fine, but the other bolt was a little more of a problem. Maybe the new starter mount is slightly thicker, but the bolt barely had any threads to hold on to. I decided that I'll just run to Home Depot tomorrow and find a longer bolt. No problem.

I hooked up some of the wires, but thought it might be nice to clean up the manifold sensor before installing it back in again. Half an hour later (and a lot of Brasso and elbow grease) it was looking almost good as new! I wrenched it back in and attached the wire. With any luck at all, tomorrow the car will start again! Wahoooooo!!!