Snow Day!

It's been a while since I last posted- work has been an absolute bitch- I'm usually working a 6-day work week nowadays, somewhere between 49-58 hours! Methinks it's time to find a new job.

I was however able to take time to do a one day outing with my local 4x4 club, the Mathatters of Livermore. I am not currently a member, but I am hoping to one day be, if I feel that the club is a good fit. I grabbed my good friend Anthony to ride shotgun with me.

They had scheduled a snow day of playing at one of the ends of the Rubicon Trail. We started at Uncle Tom's Cabin, just outside of Georgetown, CA. After we mustered in Geogetown, we did the traditional visit to Uncle Tom's Cabin, then we headed for the trail, which was actually really a road covered in snow.

When heading out, I was the first one behind the leader, and I was the first one to get stuck in the snow! The snow got so slushy so suddenly, I wasn't even in 4-wheel drive yet! With a little help from Craig (with his gigantic and awesome Bronco), I was able to get tugged out of my mess. Apparently, I have nothing to be ashamed of, as just about everybody after me got stuck too, as we were waiting about an hour for the rest of the group to catch up. While waiting, I took the opportunity to air down to 15 psi (later 12 psi), and to get to know my fellow wheelers.

All went very well up to our lunch destination, a little clearing halfway up the road. We hadn't yet really had much traveling in snow, although there were some pretty good rocks to negotiate. I don't think anyone disconnected their front sway bars.

After lunch, that's when the shit hit the fan. One of the other locals, Walter, started getting stuck multiple times. He's been piecing together this 2008 salvaged Rubicon. It's bone stock, except for 33" tires. Once stuck, he would spin relentlessly until he dug himself really good ruts in the snow. My little jeep couldn't even tug him out! The first time, he got tugged out by someone from the rear with lockers. But then he got stuck 50 yards down the road again! He tried to winch himself out but he didn't know what he was doing. The Walter getting stuck thing became a running theme.

A little down the road, while I was just conversating with Anthony, not paying attention to what I was doing, I got high-sided on a giant block of snow! I didn't even know what my situation was until Cort behind me pointed out what had happened. It took no more than 5 minutes for us to get strapped together, where he was able to pull me off the snow. I then took a running charge at the incline and cleared the obstacle. Luckily, that was the last time I got stuck for the day.

Ultimately, the snow got too deep. Big Bronco Craig got stuck way ahead and while trying to winch himself out, he pulled his bumper right off his rig! Okay. That was the end of the trail. We all had to find a place to u-turn and head back to safety. Poor Walter kept getting stuck. He blamed his 33" tires claiming they were too small for clearance. I had earlier pointed out that I too was on 33" tires. Must be the driver. Hmmm.... very interesting. Walter literally had to get towed out by strapping onto Cort for at least a mile. He's going to get the boner award.

The day went well. We all had fun, despite the mishaps. I met some new friends and learned a lot about what my little rig can do. It was just a pleasure to get away and not have to work that day!

First Time Out!

Geez! It seems like it took forever for this day to come! I've been wanting to take Bear out for a drive in the dirt to test out the mods for weeks, but work was clobbering me and then I had this vacation coming up, so things were extremely busy. Well, finally I got a free weekend and was able to head out to Frank Raines OHV park to hit the dirt today! Yippee!

The weather was awesome! Clear skies and 73 degrees outside. I went over my checklist to make sure I had all the equipment I needed for today, mostly recovery stuff, since I would be out on my own. I got my CB antenna on the Jeep and got the radio all set up, then off I went headed for Patterson. The drive was only about one hour- not too bad.

It cost $5 to get into the park. There were lots of RV's parked inside and tons of ATV's zipping all around. I was able to find a quiet place to get set up, where I deflated my tires and disconnected my front sway bar. I found 2Low and off I went!

I tried to mainly stay on the green trails  1) since it was my first time 4-wheeling  2) I was unfamiliar with this park  3) I had no idea of the limits of this vehicle and  4) I was wheeling alone and I wasn't looking for trouble.

Upon entering the park, the park aid handed me a map, but it was very general (it was the same shitty map that I printed out from home). The trails were somewhat marked with lots of trails shooting off in different directions (unmarked). I stuck mostly to the big fireroad, but sometimes I would deviate just to try something a little more daring. I found some steep loose ascents, sometimes rutted and off-camber. I found some rutted steep descents, a lot of fireroad. Only once did I have to back up, because the trail resulted in something that looked too scary to try today.

The Jeep performed very well! I had the tires aired down to about 20 psi- they had good traction and I only slipped in one area. I really needed this day to go through the motions of using my equipment, from using the tire deflater to knowing when to hit the downhill descent button. Heading down the steeps, the Bear would modulate the brakes and keep the speed in check. It was interesting driving over loose rocks- the front tires would sometimes need to be turned with over-exaggeration in order to make the cut. I was able to drive some surprisingly steep rocky and rutted terrain, just slowly putting along. The suspension was able to articulate and negotiate everything that I threw at it today.

Now that the Jeep had a test day, I might just put the street tires back on it until the next outing- that way I can get a little more mileage per gallons back :)

Along Came A Spider....

Over the past few days, I've been working on a small side project for the JK. During the Christmas sales madness, I was able to score a Poison Spyder Dana 44 differential cover for the insane price of $59.99 (normally $108.99)!!! This was actually part of my Summer budget, when I'll be working on under armor, but for this price, I just couldn't let it pass me by.

I had seen lots of pictures of individuals painting their PS diff covers and I became inspired to do the same. I decided that a red spider would suit me best, so I picked up a can of Rustoleum red gloss enamel from my local Walmart and I was good to go.

After a couple of sessions of masking up the cover, I was able to shoot it with the paint. I gave it four coats, rotating the subject 1/4 turn each time with 10 minutes of wait time between each coat. After a few hours of dry time, the paint was dry enough to touch. I then spent half an hour picking off the painters tape. There were a few areas that needed cleaning up, so I did that when the paint was still wet enough to delete. The final product came out pretty incredible, if I do say so myself!

 

New Toys for The JK

Since Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I have been on a spending tear for this little Jeep! My Visa sure is taking a beating! But some of the deals are so good that I just can't pass them up and these items are all on my build list, so I might as well buy them now, while I can save some $$$.

Right now, laid out all over my garage, I have my Teraflex 2.5" lift and Fox shocks sitting there. I just don't have any time to install the kit! I was planning on getting it done this past weekend, but then I got called into the hospital to do some work and that spanned into two days and 16 hours! Well, those parts aren't going to pay for themselves! I do have this coming weekend off, so I'm hoping to get the lift and shocks in on Saturday, then I'll take her out for a run at the local OHV park the following day.

In the meanwhile, I've been assembling a winch recovery kit. I've also purchased some ARB items- the flat tire kit and the tire deflator. To blow the tires back up, I bought a Smittybilt compressor. It was inexpensive and got strong ratings.

Today my Hi-Lift jack arrived in the mail. I've been collecting Hi-Lift accessories over the past couple of weeks. Tonight after work, I had a few minutes to get that jack mounted.

Jeep Update- Granite Max

It's been about 5 weeks since I brought the Wrangler home. I've been hard at work transforming this little Jeep into the capable rig that I want to take off-roading.

I spent an afternoon meeting up with one of the local 4x4 clubs, getting to know some of the "members". I also spoke with another work colleague who has been 4-wheeling for close to 40 years. One thing I've noticed is that whenever I speak to a JK "expert", they always tell me that I'm doing the wrong thing and they have no problem trying to spend my money! With the club, they immediately tried to modify my Jeep into a dedicated super-hardcore crawler, asking me to return some already purchased parts in lieu of more durable (more expensive) parts. On the other hand, my work colleague warned me about going bigger than I could reasonably afford, describing stressed-out and broken parts in my future. I have spent countless hours scouring the Internet for pearls of wisdom and I do believe I now know where this little rig is headed.

The first things I did was buy some Rubicon take-off wheels from a local Craigslist seller. I also ordered some insulation (carpet) liners for the hardtop. This basically brought my jeep up to the level of the one that I passed up at another dealership- that dealer was asking $3000 more for their vehicle. It only cost me about $650.

I also purchased some good rock rails from ExtremeTerrain- something that would endure the punishment of some real rocks, but would aid in getting into the Jeep, since my wife and I aren't very tall. Carpet liners are an absolute must in an outdoor vehicle, so I went with Rugged Ridge.

Jeep Wranglers have ZERO security- everything is accessible to the public. So I spent some coin buying a locking gas cap, Tuffy hood lock and Tuffy tailgate enclosure, so I could actually have a locking "trunk" area.

Then came the bigger purchases. I bought a front bumper again from ExtremeTerrain and a rear bumper from Quadratec. Since I snowboard and I will be doing some surfing this coming season, I wanted a roof rack system. I went with Surco, so I wouldn't have to drill into that expensive fiberglass hardtop. I have an old Yakima Powderhound rack that I can use with their bars. I haven't yet decided on whether to buy a basket or an enclosed box yet for the roof.

I searched high and low for a good performing tire that will pull double-duty doing commuter miles plus give me great off-road performance. After much turmoil, I ultimately decided to go with 33" tires. My Jeep has a Dana 30 front and Dana 44 rear geared at 3.21. Any size larger would cause considerable stress on the drivetrain, forcing me to eventually regear and fortify the front axle. I bought some Spidertrax 1.5" spacers and am going with the Goodyear Wrangler Duratrac 285/70R/17 tires. I got a phenomenal deal through my local Wheel Works shop. They're getting installed tomorrow.

I will probably be installing the suspension sometime over the winter season. I'm pretty sure that I'll go with a 2.5" Teraflex lift and some Fox 2.0 Performance IFP shocks with a a JKS quick disconnect. The combination of tires and suspension should be well behaved enough for DD duty, while having enough capability for all but the hardest off-road terrain. By not going any taller than 2.5", I shouldn't have to rework the drivetrain too much and it shouldn't affect the steering.

I'll post pictures as I complete the installations.

There's a New Pony In the Stall

For over a year now, I've been planning on buying a Tesla Model 3. On the day that they went "public", allowing anyone to put down a $1000 deposit for the car, I was on it! Not long ago, Tesla announced that they began building the cars and that it wouldn't be long before my car would be ready to be built. At this point, I started to realize that I wasn't really ready for a Tesla- I'm just not ready to be that grown up yet.

The Tesla Model 3 only has a touring distance of 220 miles on a single charge, which means that I won't be taking it on any long road trips. It's pretty much meant to be a car for commuting and local errands. On top of that, they're really a one-off kind of breed. There are no modifications that you can make to the cars to make them better, to make them your own. I think I will be easily bored with that kind of car. My original dream was to have a house that had solar power and to get an electric car, so that I could basically drive for free. Well, my priorities changed.

For a little while now, there's been this small notion of getting a Jeep Wrangler. I know, it makes no sense, since it's almost the exact opposite of the Tesla. I started looking around at prices on used Wranglers and realized that these suckers really don't depreciate very much over the years. As a matter of fact, it costs just about the same amount to buy a used 2013 vs. a brand new Jeep. So I started doing my research on buying a brand new jeep. By now, the cat was out of the bag- I told my wife and surprisingly, she didn't oppose me on it.

So I went online and requested a refund for my Tesla. The process was actually very easy and a physical check showed up in my mailbox 2 weeks later! It only took a week before we took a long drive down to Gilroy to buy the Jeep :)

Finally! The BMW is Home!!!

Last weekend, I went back to the seller's house with a bag of tools and a new plan to get the car out of the driveway. During the week leading up to the visit, I also upgraded my AAA membership to the "Plus" package, allowing me to get tows of 100 miles. My wife also did some legwork, reading that many people have gotten tows from AAA for old unregistered project cars with no problem, so I was feeling pretty confident about the outcome of the day.

When I arrived, the seller was already unloading her garage space, freeing the car up for access. I jumped in to help finish, then we were onto the game plan! The right rear tire had lost some air over the week, so I gave it a charge before getting under way.

First, I jacked up the front of the car to see if those wheels would spin. Nope. Okay, now I've got work to do. I started with the right side. I opened up the nipple to relieve what pressure was there, then I unbolted the lugs. That front brake caliper was stuck on the disc pretty good, so I squirted it with a healthy dose of Liquid Wrench, then started banging on the brake caliper with a hammer. Soon enough, I had that hub turning! Success! I went to the left side, loosened up the nipple, but when I started removing the lugs, the wheel started turning already! This was going to be easier than I thought!

I let down the front of the car and proceeded with the rear, but first, I let the emergency cable slack all the way, so that I knew that couldn't be the problem holding up the brakes. I put the jack under the pumpkin, then lifted the rear end. I started with the right side, unscrewing the nipple, and again, this wheel was ready to turn all by itself! I went to the left side, and the same thing happened to that wheel! Okay! So we've got a free rolling vehicle now!

I jumped in the cockpit to get the wheels straight only to find that the steering was locked! Umm...yeah, because there's NO KEY IN THE IGNITION! The seller had lost all the keys, even the half key that she swears has the other half in the ignition. Okay- time for an amended game plan. I had to jack up the back of the car again, so that we could align the car in a path down the driveway, so that it wouldn't hit that big-ass palm tree on the left! We finally got the car out of the garage- the clouds parted and the angels sang. That was hard work! So we took a break and got some lunch.

The next phase of our day began. I called AAA and successfully got a tow truck driver out to the house. When he pulled up, he looked at the car and asked me for the registration. Of course I this car isn't registered! Again, we were refused a tow! He offered to tow it privately for about $260. I said forget it- I'll just get the registration completed this week, then we'll take another whack at it next weekend.

Fuck! So we were able to get the car out of the garage, which was a good thing, so that the seller wouldn't have to dig the car out anymore- all her crap could sit peacefully in its newly freed up space. I figured, well, as long as the car is accessible and we've got a little time on our hands, we might as well call down a peace officer to get the car "verified" for the DMV. We called the local PD and it really didn't take long, before a squad car pulled up. He was happy to help, but after looking over the forms that he had to fill out, he backed away, when he realized that he wasn't "properly trained" to verify vehicles and that his name would be on this legal binding document.

At this point, the seller was feeling nervous about leaving the car unlocked in her driveway for the upcoming week's time. She felt that I had put a tremendous amount of work into trying to get this car home, so she said that we should just call for a tow and that she would pay for it. I graciously accepted and we were off to the phone banks making calls. Three of the tow companies just plain hung up on us after beginning conversations- most of them wanted $250-$300. I finally found a nice tow company that said that they would tow it for $125!! No fancy hookup fees, no special fees for a flatbed. Yay!

Amazingly, this guy only took about half an hour to come along! I was kind of expecting some total piece-of-shit tow truck, since they weren't on the AAA preferred tow list and since the price was so low. But no! This was a legitimate tow that showed up- big flatbed truck, all shine and new with all the bells and whistles on it! The driver, Bobby, was absolutely fantastic! It didn't matter that the car couldn't turn its steering wheel- he knew just what to do. He took his time and got my little BMW on the truck with little issue. The seller slipped a wad of cash in my hand and hugged me good-bye, and I was off chasing the tow truck down the freeway!

Half an hour later, we were at my residence. I asked Bobby if he could put the car inside my garage- he said no problem. Bobby was so good about being careful about everything! He had to take two stabs and lining up his truck, since my car wanted to roll to the left, but he got it done. Soon enough, the car was safely parked inside my garage! The seller already built in a $15 tip for the driver, but I was so pleased with the job he did, I ran upstairs and grabbed another $20 for him!

Anyway, what a long day! I'm glad the whole episode has come to a close! Now I just have to start my discovery process and see what kind of trouble I'm getting myself into! This project is going to be pure joy!