Jeep Day

I spent most of today in and on the Jeep. First, our neighbor with his '99 Wrangler invited us to go for a short run out on the desert. We found some trails that challenged both Jeeps, although I didn't have to put my lockers on, I did air down and ran in 4 wheel drive low range on a couple of sections. The Trail Limo did great. The more I get out on the trails, the more I appreciate it. It is a big vehicle for the trails, but it is quite capable, and the new suspension from Rubicon Express seems to work very well.

The neighbors Wrangler had a little problem with one section of rocks, where he got spread-eagled on a couple of big rocks and lifted both wheels. He had to back down, and then hit the rocks with more speed, allowing the momentum to carry him past the rocks. I took the same line as him, and the new suspension was very impressive. All the wheels followed the rocks almost perfectly. I was going very slow, and one tire slipped for just a moment, then grabbed and we continued to crawl over the rocks. After driving a little further up the trail, I remembered that I had not turned on the sway bar disconnect, so I could have articulated even more, probably avoiding the small slip. I turned off the sway bar, and continued on with no problems.

We finished the trail in about 3 hours, and headed back to the RV Park. I had procrastinated putting all the Kilby gear and the winch on the Jeep, so I decided it is time to get moving on this project. I hoped to get the old bumper and tow bar adapter off and mount the new bumper before the start of the NASCAR race on tv. Unfortunately, the old parts had a different schedule in mind.

When we mounted the tow bar adapter last august, Dale and I struggled to get the plastic trim nuts out on the plastic skid plate, and had to mess them up to get them out. We put in some new ones, but they were even harder to pull out today. I ended up having to pry them up, then chisel them out. Once they were out, I tried to remove the large bolts holding the adapter to the frame. Two of the bolts refused to come out.

I remembered that when we installed the adapter, the kit came with some funky nuts that had a long rod welded to them. We had to slide them in from the front of the bumper mount, then hold them up in front of the frame holes with the long rods while screwing in the bolt. The funky nuts had serrated sides intended to dig into the frame while we tightened them. It worked fine for mounting, but I found that when I tried to take out the bolts, the funky nuts just spun. Grrrrrrr! I was able to get them out by holding the nut, and then hitting the nuts with a chisel to turn them off. It was very tedius, but after about an hour I managed to get all the bolts out, and dropped the adapter and bumper a few minutes after the bolts were out. During the rain delay of the race, I bolted on the bumper. It looks awesome. Makes the tires look larger. Can't wait to see what 35's look like.

Tomorrow morning, I plan to put on the winch and the skid plates. Another day wrenching. Oh, boy!

It's getting late, and I need to pick up the tools and get them locked up.

Man-yawn-ahhh