First solo trip to Uwharie

I've always felt very vulnerable when i picture myself wheeling through Uwharrie by myself. It's like i'm a little boy again, lost in the woods all by myself...

Anyway, i had a friend bail on me and decided, what the heck, there's always a first time and when you find yourself married with 2 kids, well, another first time actually sounds kind of fun! Exhilarating almost!

So, i packed up my gear, put the entire top on, took the doors off and headed toward the outpost. i went as cheap as i could and splurged for a sixer of Heineken.

At the outpost i pulled a most painful, yet typical (for me), move. While disengaging the sway bar and airing down the tires, i placed my sunglasses on the front bumper. After purchasing my day pass and a couple bottles of water i was on my way, ready to hit the trails solo! Solo i was, with no sunglasses. Frick! i hate that.

not 10 minutes off the road i was hung up. i came down on the passenger side frame right when a few jeeps rounded the corner of the trail coming the other way. They were courteous and helped me stack some rocks and spotted me. In less than 5 minutes i was on my way again. i didn't hit any advanced sections and pretty much just went to check things out. I went down trails that i had not seen in a while.

i had a great peaceful day and i highly recommend a solo trip for any experienced wheeler. It keeps your mind in check. i find myself all too often wheeling with a couple friends and i'm like, 'hey that obstacle ain't sh1t'. Oh look i'm stuck and i damaged my jeep. Doh!

Don't underestimate the power of the han solo trip. Just make sure the force is with you. Check out a few pics and 1 vid from my trip here. Thanks Picasa!

The 85 dollar 13 cent fix

Ahh yes, Chrysler. i love to support American made products. No really i do!. i bought a new jeep and suffered the abuse from my wife for CHr1st sake!

However, i'm not to keen on the idea of paying 653 times the cost for simple parts. You may (probably not) remember the post where i told you not to let friends help you put your top up. Well, i went to the 5 star stealership to get a replacement windshield clamp for my soft top. i was surprised to find that the very simple lever was 85 dollars! Yes, US dollars. That's just for one side!

So, i hit Home Depot, no luck. i hit Lowe's, no luck. Finally i went back to my roots and hit up the lowly Ace Hardware. What an amazing place. Not only do they have Fels Naptha soap to cure my wife's poison ivy from hell, they also carry the perfect steel rivet that fixes said windshield clamp. Total cost, $.13 (Thirteen United States of America Federal Mint pennies).

I brought the broken part and the rivet home, put the rivet in the hole, placed it in the vice, squeezed it against a nail, and voila, clamp works better than new. A little shout out goes to my wife (who is also happy with Ace Hardware) for turning the vice whilest i held said part in position.

Ace is the helpful hardware place. Chryler is the 'we have no clue about economics' place.

Oil Change

Oil change time. The duty cycle based oil CHANgE indicator did not come on but i had 3400 miles on the oil and i could tell by the way it drove that it was time.

I changed the filter and oil. The old oil was very dark but didn't seam to be destroyed. Nothing really to note.

With new oil tho i'm getting about 1 more MPG (based on computer) and you can just let the clutch out with no gas pedal in 1st gear and it starts out smooth.

Oh, don't let friends 'help' with putting your top on unless they've done it to their jeep. i need to get a new clamp on the passenger side.

Jeep is back in action

So, the stealership recovered, kind of. I went in for service and they had my appointment, they got the work done in a timely fashion and 4x4 works! So good job guys, you did what you said you would do.

While they were tooling around with my rig, i went and saw the parts guys. I explained very simply, 'This seams like a part prone to breaking and it's NOT one you want breaking. it's gonna break when you use it, right when you need it and right when you're no where near a dealer'. The parts guy ordered me 2 spare sets of the clip and bushing, for a total of 3 extras. Hey you never know when some other poor sap might need one.

When i told him about the other guy saying it would void my warranty if did the work myself, he said 'It's a basic part, just don't tell no one'. I agree whole heartedly. The only problem is, it's been at least a week and i haven't been called. I'll put money down that the parts are sitting in a bin, ready to be sold to some other guy. I'll need to drop in and get those parts i'm owed!

Anyway, i'm out in Denver now, headed back today. I'm setting up a Topsail island beach camping trip for Maia's 6th birthday! Pics and posts to come from beach wheeling! I'll start to use picasa i guess.

It's been a while, where's the parts?

I was in the break room today at work when a coworker asked me if i had cleaned my jeep. Now we all know there's no need to clean the jeep as the transfer case selector is currently a piece of sh!t. It has been a while, so let's give old Cryler a courtesy call.

I call the dealer and it rings for like ever; i get the automated prompt and press 1 for service. I'm on hold for a spell and a woman answers and asks me how she can help. I let her know the situation and that i would like to check on the parts order that i am currently waiting on. She says ok and transfers me to the parts department.

After 4 attempts at spelling my name the guy puts me on hold for about 5 minutes. He gets back and asks me if i was waiting on a bushing. I correctly respond with, "How would i know? You won't let me fix my jeep without voiding my warranty and never told me what part exactly was broke. The transfer case selector doesn't work."

Hey says, ok this must be it.......... After a long pause I say, "Ok well you guys said you would call me when you got the parts in. I guess i need to make an appointment (hopefully with different results this time) to get my jeep in and get it fixed." He says 'ok, let me transfer you to service'. Click. Pause. Dial tone. A$$hole.

So let's call back. The well meaning woman asks me what my phone number is. I figure their caller ID must be broke or that technology hasn't made it to the Chrysler 5 star dealers yet. After asking me if i own a Wrangler (I didn't have the heart to respond 'no, the bank does') she asks me when i'd like to bring it. i tell her Tues or Thursday afternoon and she says, 'let me check'. Click. On hold music. She comes back on and says 'i can do Tuesday at 2'. I say that will work and she asks, 'what is this appointment for'?

At this point i'm thinking, you just made an appointment and reserved some jerks time and you don't even know what you're doing.

So i tell her that i would like to get my transfer case selector fixed and the parts department just verified that you have a bushing and a clip that is apparently going to accomplish that but that i am not a mechanic.

Anyway, Tuesday at 2PM. So far this 5 star dealer is scoring about a 1.5 out of 5. More to come...

Rotating tires

I did my first wheel rotation today. Yes, i rotated in the 5th, of course. I took the 5th and put it on the driver's rear. The driver's rear went to the passenger front. The passenger front when to the driver's front. The driver's front went to the passenger rear. the passenger rear became the fifth.

I cleaned each wheel and the jeep as i pulled each wheel off. There definitely was funk from-unda. It's good to do this. I think it would be good to go wheeling just before you rotate wheels. That way you can inspect and clean after a major off-road excursion. Hey, major off-road excursions about every 5K is good times.

A little TLC was reasuring that the drivetrain is in good shape.

Time for that extended warrantee, first breakage

So, i go to Uwharrie and wheel around all day, advanced stuff. Hardly a dent! I didn't beat the rig at all.

So i'm back in Apex at the local do-it-yourself-car-wash making a deposit and i get the bright idea to clean the cracks, to polish it all up, make'er'shine.

The jeep is parked, engine off, radio playing. I pull the transfer case selector lever back, towards 4-high, so that i can clean the dirt out from-unda. Boom, the lever moves all the way back and is now free moving. Shit!

Lever broke, transfer case stuck in neutral. I fish around and find the cable and notice that yep, it's off the lever. So i do what any god fearing wheeler would do... Git'r'done!

So now i'm kinda stuck in 2 wheel. I'm like WTF mate it's summer and my 4x4 works about as good as our countries economic stimulus plan.

I call the stealership and make an appointment for 2pm. I ask the well meaning woman on the phone if she could verify they have stock of the part i need. "You're all set for Wed at 2", she says.

The big day arrives and low and behold i don't have an appointment. After i show her my Michigan-get-the-fuck-out-of-my-way member card she slips me in. Guess what? You guessed it, no part in stock.

So i say to the gentlemen lending a hand, "i'll just fix it myself". He informs me that will void my 100K lifetime warantee. So now i'm totally fucked because what if there is a trail i haven't ridden yet and i see it. What will i do? This economy is getting everyone down!

It's been a week. A whole damn week without 4high. 170+ hours without 4low. I'm calling another stealership today to see if they want the business cause this is really killing my buzz.

In the meantime it's 2,500miles on this oil and almost 5k on the Odo. I'll pacify myself by rotating in the 5th and changing the oil. God bless Alaska and the Middle East without which we couldn't possibly find another way to lubricate my internal combustion engine.