DATE: 04/30/2008 04:16:42 / MOOD: disappointed

Everytime I think I am getting close on this thing it takes 2 steps back. After getting settled into the new place we really started making some progress. We are to the fun part now of making sure everything works as it should and sorting through the issues that arise when things don't work. Hopefully we will be able to make a test drive around the block and flex her out in the next couple of weeks. Will get pics up later.


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DATE: 01/27/2008 09:55:16 / MOOD: don't know

Well, sometime this past year I felt it necessary to destroy a perfectly good Jeep for the purpose of making it better. In 2 years I only broke a hub and 2 stub shafts, but I felt the need to install new axles. I had a set of built 60s sitting next to the house and it was killing me I guess.

So we cut out all of the perfectly good equipment from under the Jeep and started away. Then we discovered we were going to move a month later so then it was a mad scramble to get the thing mobile enough to get on the trailer. So then we come to now. The frame has been cut off, the front axle is ready to mount, the radiator is being pulled out to move, the rear D60 has been pulled in trade for a 14 bolt and the project just keeps getting longer and longer.

I will work on getting some progress pics posted up this week. 

 

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DATE: 12/05/2006 23:25:40 / MOOD: ready to wheel

So we come into December already this year and I count less than 10 wheeling trips this year. What a bummer, missing that minimum of 1 trip per month mark. Hopefully 2007 will yield much better for being able to make the trips and hopefully Moabe is in our future.

That brings up the whole aspect of New Year's Resolutions. I typically don't believe in them or even attempt to make a promise that I know I won't keep, but this year it is time to change some. My resolutions this year that I hope to truly work on and make my self better are:

1) Lose at least 25 pounds. It has come to the point where it is harder to carry it than lose it.

2) Make that jump from being dependant on a paycheck to being fully independant. Already started since my employer couldn't afford me any longer. HAHA

3) Take my wife on at least 1 trip this year for vacation with no computers, phones or kiddo.

4) Try to be a much more patient person.

5) Get more involved in the day to day life at home, don't focus so much on work.

6) Listen a little more

I know they sound stupid, but like I said before all resolutions are stupid unless you really attempt them. Since most of these are already in motion it will take just a little more effort to accomplish them so I think I can do it.

What are your resolutions this year?

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DATE: 09/25/2006 22:45:39 / MOOD: full of life

I didn't really know what to expect this weekend when were were headed out to the WEROCK bowl competition, but WOW is all I can say now. We met some awesome folks out there competing and the show they put on was simply too good for words. We are working on getting the 200+ pics that Traylor took in 2 days uploaded now that we are waking up after being so tired. Keep looking in the gallery that is a priority for this week. We will hopefully start getting event coverage posted as it happens for next season.

For all those guys that were out there, especially Team Green, great show and can't wait to see you compete again.

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DATE: 09/01/2006 02:41:13 / MOOD: angry

So I take my nice new truck to Vist* R*dg* GMC (don't want to give them good name recognition in the search engines) about 1.5 months ago to get a couple of simple things fixe. There is a noise coming from the front and rear of the truck and the headliner isn't quite tucked in properly. So the truck sits there for 3 days with no loaner/rental car which completely blew my mind.

Used to it was if they couldn't turn it over night due to mechanical issues you got a loaner/rental, now it is if you can't drive it safely. I told them no tires/wheels mounted on it was pretty unsafe, still didnt work. So I suffered through with NO communication from them for 3 days before I decided to get an update. I was told that a new headliner was being ordered and the noises in the front and rear were resolved. I was pretty happy at that point, but the trouble was just starting.

I get there only to find out that in 3 days they decided they couldn't hear any abnormal noises on either end. Even my wife who doesn't notice things like that due to riding in my noise arse Jeep asks every time we hit a bump if the rear is falling out. So they basically just lied to me about fixing it and didn't even look. The head liner that I was told was ordered on Monday wasn't actually ordered until right before I arrived on Wednesday afternoon. So I take a big sigh to keep from yelling and think well they at least got the oil change.

Now here comes the fun part of the story. They left it sitting outsid all week so it was filthy. The guy that pulls it in the bay asks me if I would like them to wash it (since it is included in the oil changes and the filth was from them) and I say of course. As he backs up he isn't paying attention and BAM!!!!! he hits the wall with the front of my brand new truck. 7000 miles on it and I haven't so much as put a swirl in the paint from drying it with a bad tow and now I have a bumper pushed over 3", a plastic bumper cap destroyed and a chrome bumper torn up. Now after the week of dealing with them I think it is kind of funny that they could do something so stupid and careless. Sadly the kid driving it was the one that checked me out and the only person in their service department that actually cared we were there or had a clue about how to move stuff along.

Well, needless to say they are giving me all kinds of help now that they tore up the front bumper. The collision guy is rushed over where he tells me they will have a new chrome bumper and cap ordered and setup for my truck to be installed on Monday. I go back Monday and drop it off (they decided to front a rental this go around) and I leave it. I get a call on Wednesday night around 6:30 that it is ready to pick up could I come get it then. I am out with family and explain that I will be there in the morning, they didn't care for that too much. I go back only to find out that instead of replacing the chrome bumper they tore up they tried to buff out chrome that had a brick wall shoved against it. It isn't horribly noticeable, but I like to destroy my own vehicles not others. The headliner is STILL hanging and now it rattles and the Oh Sh*t handles are not fastened in.

I am starting to get pissed at the incompetence at this point and start expressing it. I have tried to be nice and calm up until this point, but these jackals are making it next to impossible. I am promised a new bumper will be ordered and the problems on the interior will be fixed. I tried to leave it with them, but they said come back when they had the bumper. I call before I leave for my trip to Mexico and no one returns my call. I am gone for a week, no one returns my call. I get back and call them this past Monday and no one returns my call. I call Tuesday and no one returns my call. I finally call yelling and screaming on Wednesday and just everyone that is the path gets a piece. I have had all I can take at this point since no one has an answer.

After much yelling I finally get someone on the phone that suddenly has my correct bumper sitting there ready to install and the headline parts to properly fix. Amazing how that had been missing for over 2 weeks. So now the saga continues as I get to take it BACK to the dealership tomorrow and leave it for an undetermined amount of time. Oh and no rental/loaner again while I am left to go figure out how to get to and from my office.

Will keep you updated as I get screwed more. :)

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DATE: 08/13/2006 22:50:33 / MOOD: ready to wrench

After our run to Nocona the Jeep must undergo the knife and welder once again. Seems I have some bad u-joints in the DS again, ripped a bracket off the axle and the frame and blew the bearings somehow in the rear. Most of this is from 2 years of wheeling the crap out of it, but it just sucks I have to wait now.

Parts are ordered and we will get back on it after I return from Mexico on the 19th. Viva la Wheelin!!!!! Will keep ya updated with what Mrs. TJ will be up to next. I forsee some frame choppage in this little venture.



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DATE: 07/14/2006 13:49:14 / MOOD: full of life

A blog or Web Log is a place for you to post what you have to post out on the web. Some use them for posting stories, some for articles, some for feelings and others just to have something out on the web.

I included the blogs here so people have a medium to post their stories from wheeling trips and hopefully see some tech articles and build stories. You have the capability of adding pictures all throughout your posts and smilies. It is a great tool to let the world know what we do.

I hope you guys start playing with some of the tools here and find it as a good alternative to some of the other sources we don't have to post our adventures.

Kris

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DATE: 07/14/2006 02:01:52 / MOOD: other

I know there is a long ways to go here to make it what we all want, but it is a good start I believe. Feel free to browse around and send me any suggestions you have. I know we want to change some of the options to make them less kiddie like MySpace keeps all of their junk.

Unlike Myspace we will hopefully have more adults that want to truly show off their wheeling trips and their rigs. This communities full focus is for Jeeps in our everyday lives and our fun times of bashing on rocks. So hopefully the MySpace stigma won't bug us too much, but it will really help us have a good home here.

Have a great day!



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