Preventative Maintenance

It's been a while since i last posted. In fact, since the last oil change. This change came at 22250. It was ready and so was i. Commuting 15 miles one way 5 days a week gets old and when the jeep does this lurching thing in 1st gear while crawling toward a stop sign, you know it needs new oil.

Fresh oil and man is that thing happy! Such a cheap, easy thing to do and man what a difference it makes to the health of the rig. Let's get back to the fact that i haven't posted in a while. It will all tie in later.

August 1st 2010, my partner and i had our 3rd child, a boy. A few months later we finally got a name, Bodhi Kai Taubitz. What a wondering little blessing, he truly is a gift. That's a huge reason i haven't posted; there's not much jeeping going on! Basically 100% family outside of work. During this time i have totally forgotten to change my own oil. Sad to say but true. I am lurching and sputtering. For me it's stress that manifests itself in what feels like chest pain or really bad heartburn. Both of which at my age should be checked out by a doctor. Whatever!

Two weeks ago i said screw it, exercise every day; and do it right! After a short two weeks of preventative maintenance i am worlds better. Still not great, but man what a difference. And in short, that's what this blog is about; forcing yourself to maintain a symbol of freedom. In that connection you remember that in a short 100K miles a beautiful machine can become broken down and decrepit unless you take the time to care for it. Likewise our short 100 years can become miserable and shortened if we don't take care of ourselves.

That's the jeep attitude, work and play hard and through it all take care of yourself! Sometimes taking care of yourself is changing the oil on a jeep, while other times it's going for a 5 mile hike with a good friend.

The 2 older kids and i have been to Uwharrie once since Bodhi's birth day, a nice day trip with the doors on and all the top with us. It was a nice cool peaceful day and we thoroughly relaxed. The rig and i are ready to spread our wings and look for new parks to conquer. I have a short list of items (mainly including tires) that we'll need to feel confident in exploring new unfamiliar territories. i am really looking forward to it.

To keep the body in good health is a duty... otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear. ~Buddha

Calm before the storm

In preparation for tomorrow's heat fest i changed the oil and did the first differential oil change, front and rear. What's a heat fest? In this case it's when your son and his neighborhood friend convince both father's to go to Uwharrie for a day trip when it's 110 degrees. That's why i changed the oils.

It's been 2,696 miles since the last oil change. The still stock JK has 18,253 miles on the OD. i've been having thoughts of a 3.5" lift! i have done some research and there are some very moderate lifts that accomplish this and it will probably be time soon. i've been doing some research and i think i'm in that ~$500 price range. This should alleviate the customization of the skid plates and the need for much more armor.

i am also beginning to look for a camera so that i can better document this jeep before it gets modified.

pshhhhht! Just cracked a beer... Cheers to the JK. It's gonna work hard tomorrow.

Uwharrie National Forrest OHV Trails - What to expect

i realize looking back that you might not know what Uwharrie is, in the context of jeeping. This post is all about, in the context of wheeling/off roading, what Uwharrie is and what to expect if you take a trip for yourself. i will give you a good idea of what to bring to make the experience a peacefull one. Stress sucks!

i've been going to Uwharrie OHV since before they charged, since before the campgrounds had facilities or camp hosts. Over 10 years of experience. I remember my first time, no knowledge of the area, no trail map, no internet knowledge, a brand new 2000 TJ sport. We hit the first trail head which happened to be going UP Daniel. Time after time that's how we would start our journey, up the most difficult hill in the whole park! We felt nervous about getting stuck, about breaking our rig 'in the middle of no where'. It's sad in a way that i won't ever get to feel that way about this park again.

Today i virtually don't need a trail map. i know where you can do any type of wheeling, camping, hanging out that you desire; from the 'big rock' at Kodak Rock, to the 'fall off the side of the mountain' Daniel trail, to the mud pits and large group camp areas. It's high time i give that knowledge back. Ok ok, enough of memory lane.

Let's talk about the day trip and what you'll need (besides a good rig :). The day trip is essentially the same as a 4 day camping trip once you hit the trail and that is the important part. You're going to NEED:

• A cooler packed with some food for lunch and lots, more than you think, of water. Water bottles with caps are great so they don't spill.
• First aid kit.
• Toilet paper and/or paper towel.
• A shovel for all kinds of reasons. One shovel for a group of vehicles is all you need.
• Tire pressure gauge.
• Trail map!!!
• Good boots.

These are the things i consider necessities as well:

• CB Radio.
• Breaker bar and socket that matches your lug nuts.
• A 5th/spare tire that is THE SAME SIZE as your other 4 tires. You don't want to have to put on a smaller tire out on the trail, trust me.
• Tow strap.
• Spare parts for common ailments. Surpantine belt and spark plugs for example.
• Tools to change spare parts and disconnect sway bar links. Break down your tools to what you need, don't bring a big tool set. It adds weight, takes up space and you'll only use the tools you need to change those parts.
• Music :)
• A good hammer.
• Service points on the jeep. For my stocker jeep i take a hitch to put that tow strap on the rear. Make sure you have hooks up front as you don't want your friend pulling your axle off!

These make your trip much more enjoyable:

• Snacks and treats for kids. What defines a snack is up to you. At one point in my life a treat was a bottle of bourbon!
• A chain and lock to lock your jeep doors to a tree or post.
• A good video camera.
• A change of clothes and some toiletries to get cleaned up after the day is done.

After you're all packed up, set the cruise, take it easy, and drive to the Eldorado Outpost. Here is where you will air down your tires, my stock tires to down to 20 or 22 lb. This allows the sidewall to be more flexible for those sharp rocks. If you can, disconnect your sway bar and make sure to disconnect both sides. These two things are hands down the best performance improvements you can do. Take your top down and pack things for a bouncy trail ride. Go inside and purchase anything you like but make sure to get a trail map and a day pass, i got my season pass this year for $30.

Hit the trail and have fun. Remember, slow as you can, as fast as necessary. The guys giving their rides hell always break them and it destroys the park. If your rig isn't capable of going over that obstacle without flooring it, don't do it! Take the bypass or turn around and find another trail. Learn to stay 'on top' of everything even if you have a thousand foot deep gap under the jeep. Stop thinking like you're driving on the road and start thinking like you're driving on slippery rails.

Sometime around lunch time, make sure you stop at the top of Kodak Rock and eat. Hopefully you'll get to see some wheelers do what i told you not to! Hey it's fun to watch someone else break their rig and it's the most gut wrenching hollow feeling when you break yours.

If you're inexperienced, please take a friend with his rig. Getting stuck for 4 hours is NO FUN! Also remember that the trail at night is significantly different (in your mind). Small drop offs look like the end of the world and every little rock looks like a boulder so you might want to plan to get off the trail before it's dark. Remember your way back to the Outpost and that it will take you some time to get your rig ready for the road again.

Reconnect that sway bar. Air those tires back up. Here's a good hint, the bottom of the fill station has a red button that turns it on. I mean, if you feel like putting quarters in there, go ahead, but i don't :) Get under your rig and check for damage, especially leaking fluids. If all is good, head home and clean that jeep! This NC red mud turns into brick if left on in the hot sun. It gets everywhere so you need to climb under there and power wash it real good. It's gonna take a couple times of cleaning to get it good and clean. Also, i avoid the mud as much as i can. This mud is usually really fine silica in water that tends to get into idler bearings and destroy them. In your JK you probably should get some spare idler pulleys as i've heard of more than one jeeper losing one in a single day on the trail. Losing one tends to trash the belt so having both is a great idea!

Oh, if i didn't mention it, have fun and look around, enjoy the view. October is a spectacular month to go, the colors are awesome. i'll put together a post about the 2 person overnight camp trip in the fall. Camp out on the trail if you get the chance and you'll be treated to awesome stars at night!

As always, Cheers!

Father's Day Hotness Causes Carnage

i took the kids wheeling on Father's Day. It was hot. It was the kind of hot where the fan is constantly working harder to cool the motor, leaving the rest of the rig to soak in it's own heat. So hot that when i was reconnecting the sway bar and my forearm touched the front differential, my body reacted on its own and pulled away. That's hot. That's a great reason to change the diff oils.

The 'black dragonfly' as our family calls the jeep, definitely performed differently. I would go so far as to say that an older jeep would have boiled over or destroyed a battery... something! i also noticed that we humans acted differently, more sluggish. We're just different when we're that hot and the proof is in the fender, i mean pudding.

i was letting the boy sit in my lap and steer, as he likes to do. He decided that he wanted to take a trail offshoot and climb the hill. As it turns out the hill was easy, lame even, but turning off the trail proved difficult. The boy turned to the right and out of no where comes the chilling sound of plastic and metal doing the dance of death. The jeep had turned right into a fallen tree and the roots were like fingers coming out to rip sh1t off passing vehicles in a fit of mother nature fueled rage. When it was all over the passenger front fender popped 4 or 5 clips and the quarter is slightly bent in one spot. All in all not bad, but combined with the more than average underbody metal on rock sounds the day was just 'off'. It was sort of like listening to Bieber's voice and then finding out the voice belongs to a male. Something just wasn't right.

i re-learned this father's day that NC heat is no fun to wheel in during the day. This time of year save your wheeling time for early morning, late evenings, and best of all, night wheeling!

i'm gonna have plenty of repairs to keep me busy this winter!

Dude's trip and oil change

My friend and i recently got the chance to leave the family behind and go wheeling. i do enjoy wheeling with my kids and family. That being said, there's no jeep trip like the '2 dudes' trip. It is the quintessential off roading experience. You take the back seat out and fill the back up with all the luxuries that 2 dudes might require.

We set out to Uwharrie (duh!) with our packed jeep and no doors. It rained. Uwharrie was totally different. That finely crushed sub micron Mars dust turns into a thick greasy mess that clings tighter to your tires than a dress on Lady Gaga! Let me tell you that this is when your stock jeep goes from 'hands down the best offroading machine available' to the equivalent of driving a Nissan Sentra through 2 feet of snow. My stock tires absolutely rot in the mud. It makes me look forward to the day the warrantee is expired so i can heavily modify the rig or at least get good rubber on the rims. We camped out at Kodak rock and were essentially the only jeepers out there. The weather treated us extremely well and the only thing that was marginal was our wood (The kind you burn in a pit, get your mind out of the gutter).

After we returned from our redneck site seeing tour, i got the oil changed at 15527 miles and once again it drives like new. It's amazing how these newer tighter tolerance engines run like total ass with dirty oil. Don't worry about high priced oil, find the cheapest you can and keep it changed.

i'll be getting after the differential fluid change here shortly and i plan to use the Lucas oil stabilizer. I think that will really help for offroad wear and tear where the diff is just rocking back and forth and not flinging up any oil.

Jeep Tunes, iPhone Style

Some times it's nice to go for a jeep ride, the radio off, just listening to the sounds of the road, nature, and all that surrounds you. Sometimes. Most of the time it's more nicer to listen to your favorite tunes. There's really only a few options available to listen to music and even fewer to listen to podcasts. AM/FM radio is ok, tapes/CDs are a little better, satellite radio is just a little better (redundant!), and the best situation is when you can listen to your MP3s. My jeep allows me to have 6 DVD disks crammed full of digital media. That's about 24 gigabytes for those keeping count. Yes, in dash is great when wheeling, but most of the time your iPhone rules! If you're bored of the iPod just switch on Pandora or Slacker Radio! But managing that digital media has been a chore, a real tedious bore. Pairing your iPhone to one computer just plane sucks for those that travel and are on the go, or for someone who just wants to get a new song at work. There's just never been a reasonable solution. Until now, go get a Mac. I have a MacBook.

Here's what i did. i knew that i didn't want to pair my iPhone with my work machine and that i didn't want to clog it up with all my photos and music. Plus what happens when you have to give the Mac back?

I put all my music and photos on an external hard drive. This is a great way to keep a mobile/offsite backup of your precious photos and music! i took the MacBook that work gave me and created my Windows 7 VM. You can use VirtualBox, VMWare Fusion, Parallels or whatever. I chose Parallels. Inside that VM i installed iTunes. i pointed the music library at the external hard disk. All the files i sync with the phone are on that disk, which keeps the work machine free of it. i keep the snapshots/backups of the VM on the external disk as well in case the machine is lost or dies. I can now move that VM, and along with it all my data, to any machine. Further, there's no need to copy all that data to the new machine and there is no 60+ GB transfer of the VM when moving to another host.

So, i sync my iPhone to iTunes running in a VM. It's totally portable! i'm no longer stuck!

If i am ever traveling and i break my phone or whatever, i can fire up the laptop, plug in the external drive and sync. Elegant ain't even close. Ya, you don't need a Mac, the solution works on Windows too, but a PC won't run Windows like a Mac will :)

Oh, not to mention, now i can use the work machine as a portable music powerhouse. When i am on vacation i use iTunes as a media server and put the Roku where the drunk partiers can play whatever they want without fondling my Mac.

Another day trip to Uwharrie

i totally forgot to blog about my last oil change. i know, the topic is so riveting right? It actually is! You see the oil that came out of my jeep looked pretty much like the oil coming from the Deepwater Horizon. Luckily though, my oil spill wasn't burning. Anyhow i need to get the mileage on the change. I'll get that from the trip B odometer and edit this post in a bit.

The real reason i am posting is because i took the kids to Uwharrie for a day trip yesterday. In short, we had a blast! The 9 year old boy took the wheel for the first time solo. We jacked the seat close enough and he got his instructions from the old man. Yep, i was riding shotgun while the youngster took control of the rig. "The rig", anyone have a suggestion for names? It's a tradition in my family to name your vehicle and i have been lame enough to not give it a name.

Well, the boy did good. He once did what we all have done, step on the brake to stop and NOT push in the clutch. Doh! It was interesting to watch, the boy standing on the brake while the jeep keeps powering through in 4 low 1st gear. LOL, we all learn. It finally stalled out and he got to start it up again. He drove for another 5 minutes and gave up the controls. He likes to sit on my lap and steer. Kinda nice as a father to know he's still not a man. I would miss my boy terribly if he was.

Here's the bitter sweet part...



Ya, the kids just want to play in mud so bad. Like, they want it more than Jennifer Anniston wants to prove she can be as motherly as Jolie! The sweet part is watching my spawn giggle with delight at getting muddy and seeing mud waves splash over the hood. The bitter part is knowing what it takes to clean that sh1t off! Ahhhhhhhh. I'm gonna have to work harder than an 11 year old in a Chinese gaming sweatshop to get this mud off. The weather app says it should "pour" like a banshee today and i'm hoping that saves me some time and munney at the do it yo-self car wash.

Anyhow, jeeps get rebuilt, they're just machines. Your kids don't, they get old and before you know it they don't want to go jeeping with you anymore. Do what they want to do, give them a childhood to remember. And there's my 2 cents.

Jeep life lives on

i have been slack, no doubt about it. All those poor people out there wondering if my jeep will be ok and me, sitting here with no concern for said people. i apologize for that and offer no excuses.

So... i have to give it it Chrysler, they did it right this time. They towed my jeep away and that same day it was fixed and returned to me! It turns out that the #2 cylinder threw a misfire code. Chrysler says it was a bad spark plug... When is the last time you had a spark plug go bad at 12K miles? Anyway it's running fine now.

So what's new? What's happening? Uwharrie. I know, beating the dead horse but hey, it's the only real place to prove how awesome the jeep really is!

The black JK and i set out to have a 'kick ass' opening weekend. Uwharrie OHV trails opened on April 1st 2010, a Thursday this year. We traveled down to the Badin Lake Campground, site 20, with 2 vehicles the white hot knife and the black jk. We setup the camp and promptly went night wheeling.

Let me tell you that we did it all. I mean all of it. We covered 95% of all the trails and all of the core trails multiple times. It was just me and a 9 and 6 year old and we went where no one thought we could. We went up Kodak rock. We went down Daniel (including Daniel Rock). We went up Dicky Bell. I mean we did it all and gracefully.

We did have to say goodbye to one friend, a BF Goodrich A/T tire with 12K miles on it. The poor thing just couldn't handle the pressure! Changing a tire in the field usually sucks major puppy water but i had the help of 2 great friends, snag wood and tim dogg. It was like nascar on the trail. Hell, we were the fastest jack in in Montgomery county! Thanks to Shawn and Tim we overcame obstacles and had a great time doing so.

I can find no reason to modify my stock Sahara. If there was something that i couldn't do... maybe. But there isn't, that JK is simply the most capable off road machine built today. Did i mention the tires SUCK! Now, i realize that most Visa jeepers who purchase a Sahara don't take it off roading in the first 40K miles but PLEASE! Chrysler, offer us the 'i am going to take this jeep and use it for what it was built for' package!

2 days of cleaning and the jeep is back to normal. i changed the air filter and the oil and filter. One thing to note is that the oil took a major beating. In Uwharrie i couldn't have done more than 20 miles yet the oil aged a good 2 to 3 thousand miles! 4 days of hard trail riding is like 5K rode miles!

Oh ya, if you have some great JK wheels with those awesome Wrangler off road treads, give me a call. i need some new wheels!

And they're off again!

You wake up in the morning, ready for a jeep ride on your day off. Perfect. Get in the jeep, its cold out, perfect. Start it up. perfect. drive 1 mile, um not so perfect. SO, my first time since starting it that i attempt to go above 2 grand. When i do, the jeep goes all hollow sounding and gets the shakes. Engine light comes on. Under 2 grand the engine light goes off. I pretty much make an immediate turn around to home. Definitely one or more out of 6 ponies ain't fir'in! Now dag gone it all... If you actually read this blog you'd see the previous post where i did a bunch of back breaking labor.

So, a real man with a jeep blog would FIX IT! But am i a real man? No, i have a warrantee! That's right, come pick that thing up and take it away! i don't want it any more!



A friendly man came and kindly took it away without giving me a single piece of paper. Paperless billing... i hope. So he asks me for the guys name at the steelership that i talked to, i say "Joe". "Oh Joe Ya!" Then proceeds to chain the jk to the flat bed and move it into place. After a few minutes of this he responds, "What was that guy at the..." "Joe" i respond. So warm and cuddly i'm feeling. So either i have an iphone photo and a Chrysler phone call, and one to the steelership, or i hope i never see the jeep again. Those 2010 jeeps look pretty cool. Ha!

Anyhow, we'll let you know how this trip does. So if you're a yankee, that last sentence reads, Anyhow, i'll post again as the situation progresses.

Fresh Oil

i have been ready to change the oil for quite some time. The gritty coarse feeling revs, sustained high idle during starts, jittery acceleration, etc told me it was time. i decided to wait patiently for the duty cycle oil change indicator to arrive and yesterday i was prompted with 2 lights all flashing the same thing 'Insert More Money to Continue'.

The low tire pressure i've been dealing with for a while, both front tires lose about 10 lb a week. This all started after smashing through icy puddles with the kids. When it's warm enough to rotate the tires i'll pull them off and find the leaks.

The oil change was very simple, as usual. The oil was ready, but the engine definitely runs clean.

This vehicle is no exception to the rule 'fresh oil makes it feel like a new vehicle'. With fresh oil you can literally drop the clutch in first gear and the jeep will start going. Instead of feeling uncomfortable around 2500-3000 RPM, it revs all the way to near 4 with no problems. The engine/exhaust sound is smooth and confident.

The mileage was 11,117. I am so ready to go wheeling! In spirit of getting ready i also put a whole gallon of windshield washer fluid in.

6 quarts 5w20 $2.79
STP filter $3.something

i haven't posted in a while. So then why? Well, mostly because it's still winter like and jeep stories really aren't that good. But i have been living the jeep spirit and there's a few comments on that.

First, I've been waiting for the change oil indicator to come on. In my opinion it's been too long. You can feel the hesitation, it runs rougher and the mpg is down (and no not just cause it's cold). So i've been taking it easy on it. Soon it will be time to change the oil and filter, check all the fluids, rotate the tires, change the differential fluids, soap the zippers, and generally get it ready for another topless season. Look for all that PM coming to a post here soon.

I've noticed the 18" with bridgestones are just plain junk for offroading. Both front tires now lose about 10lb of air a week! I'm now hunting for the guy with a new jeep that wants to off the rubicon wheels.

Enough about hardware, let's talk about that jeep wave. When i was young the wave was simple, the guy with the better rig waited for the other jeep to waive first. That's just the way it was. Was. I said was. Now it's simple, you have to weed through all the visa jeepers who don't live the lifestyle. They'll attend camp jeep (it's dead now) but it ends there. I see them regularly.

There are still true jeepers out there though. Regardless of options and add-ons winches and wheels they have the jeep attitude. A healthy helping of I don't give a crap what's going on outside i'm going out in it with a dash of may freedom reign and just the right amount of leave the campsite better than you found it. These individuals deserve the wave and i don't care who has the cooler rig.

It's rare, rarer every day and i salute you. Keep the dying attitude alive. You've got my wave.