I got the Jeep back from paint months ago and it has been sitting on the lift in the garage – letting the paint cure as we have had work done at the house (Attic and Basement). I am not 100% happy with the paint, but that is another video. I have been collecting small cardboard boxes full of goodies since last October for the after-paint re-fit. That installation process has begun with the mounting of lights, fender flares, a new bumper, etc… I am giddy with anticipation to get it out in the Seattle summer sun.
Tag: Jeep
This weekend was full. I really need to stop working on my days off.
Welding Cart experienced a failed wheel/axle combo
I said dirty words and decided to replace rather then rebuild
Also decided to upgrade – just a little.
Sourced new cart and used a 20% off Coupon
Assembled new Harbor Freight/General Tools MIG welding cart
Recorded a video of whole experiebce for YouTube channel
Wired in a couple plugs and lights in the attic.
Worked on linocut of our dog Brodie and of a mountain scene print for two letterpress projects.
Wove a 9”+ pine needle coiled basket – because I can.
Made like 6 Instagram posts
Played Ukulele for a bit.
Recorded a couple of riffs and a drum track
Started building a podcast tool for website – slow going
Made a run to the city dump with a trailer load of building material/construction waste.
Mowed and edged yard.
Worked on the washing machine
called it names until it worked
Spent an hour looking for new Jeep parts that disappeared in the garage.
Said more dirty words – there is a theme here…
Found the parts
Installed front blinkers and driver’s side head light.
Completely failed at installing LED tail lights.
Threw a little fit.
Asked questions and then ranted on the Internet forums.
Packet the LEDs back up, returned them, and ordered replacements with regular bulbs.
Sat in yard and drank some Rose’
slept late (8:30) on Sunday morning
Cleaned backyard a little
Took Mom to lunch
Celebrated Mother’s Day
Took mom to nursery for flowers and yarn shop for some skeins of alpaca wool.
Installed new fender flairs on the Jeep.
Installed new Jeep bumper and re-installed winch
HUGE pain and took forever
Two band-Aids with consumed.
Wore good cloths while wrenching.
Wife caught me with grease on shorts
She made wet-cat noise and I got in trouble…
Organized and hauled out all of the recycling from house and garage.
Drank wine in the front yard.
Drank some more wine.
Binged watched season 2 of Westworld to catch up.
I Might need a day off…
This weekend was super full:
- Got a haircut
- Published “Week 4” attic remodel vid on YouTube
- Cleaned out freezer that shut down and spoiled EVERYTHING in it.
- Took freezer and bio-waste contents to dump.
- Bagged and took 1200 pounds of construction waste to dump
- Got Jeep out of garage, charged battery, and fawned over it.
- Cleaned yard a little
- Wrote a couple of letters.
- Had 2017 taxes done.
- Getting a refund for first time in 9 years.
- Wife and I are going to splurge on hookers and blow – her idea.
- Tried to work on the Jeep, but too much shit in my way.
- Cleaned garage some.
- Organized and hauled out all of the recycling from house and garage – there was a LOT.
- Put together new planer stand and mounted wood planer in shop
- Drank wine.
- Made and finished a YouTube video of the planer assembly.
- Installed security camera in the house.
- Installed switch and plug boxes and rafter supports in attic.
- Input time sheets for my J-O-B.
- Played ZERO music.
- Worked on a 3D printing design
- Got stuff ready for next week
- Drank some more wine.
- Going to bed now.
The Jeep Rebuild After Paint
As you know, I got the Jeep back from paint about a month ago and it has been sitting on the lift in the garage – letting the paint cure. I am not 100% happy with the paint… It took 4 tries for them to get the hood and fenders right and there are little spots and dings on the tailgate. There is also some mess just above the nerf bars and a run on the rear fender that makes me twitch, but they will be covered by some trim and the fender flairs, so… I included the Jeep’s homecoming in a video here, but skip to 5:09 as I spent way too much time blabbing about other non-Jeep related crap in the 1st part of the Video.
Anyway, I have been collecting small cardboard boxes full of goodies since last October for the after-paint re-fit. That installation process begins this coming weekend. I am giddy with anticipation.
The part additions and changes from Morris, Amazon, ARB, and Northridge4X4 include:
Duel Battery tray
Halogen headlight Lamp Conversion Kit (wanted LEDs, but don’t want to pay $600+ for headlight!!)
Black Rugged Ridge Fender Flare Kit
Stainless Fender Flair Hardware
Front Side Amber Marker Lights
New Wiper Blades
New thick rubber floor mats
BestTop Bikini Top (uses existing soft top channel) for the 2 months of sun in Seattle this summer
Rugged Ridge LED Tail Lights
Front Parking Lamp/Lens
Black Factor 55 FlatLink Winch Cable Shackle
Burnt Orange Jeep Fender Decals
New Frame to Cowl Weather Seal
Black Powder Coated Stainless Steel Side Mirrors
New Winch Cover
Warn Winch bumper with D-Rings
Black Vinyl Spare Tire Cover
New Aviation-Style Light Switches for front spots and reverse lights
Stainless Steel License Plate Holder (I had it powder coated black)
Second set of D-rings (Powder Coated Burnt Orange to match Jeep Logo)
Hi-Lift Jack Rebuild Kit (sandblasting and repainting origional)
Bronze Door Hinge Bushings (sourced at McMaster-Carr)
Warrior Pipe ½ doors (because I can)
ARB Recovery Tools Bag to organize my off-road gear
ARB Compact Onboard Air Compressor (Got a SMOKING Deal at the ARB booth at a recent Jeep Swap Meet!!)
Getting new bar covers made as well
Spring Has Sprung – 2018
With the official start of Spring – as determined by the fact that my wife was reading a book, enjoying the sunshine, and drinking wine in the yard – we had a busy weekend at La Maison Du Talley:
Moved all the power tools in the shop against the wall for temp storage duty
Ordered material for attic finish
Set up new iPhone (old one a brick!)
Checkout at Pratt to be able to independently use their fabrication shop.
Moved everyone else’s crap out of my basement and temporarily into the garage
Said dirty words about all the other people’s crap being stored in our home
Cleaned the basement completely out
Pruned the apple trees in the backyard
Restacked the firewood wood pile
Cleaned and prepped attic for floor installation
Published two YouTube videos
Set up new condenser microphone in home office/studio
Breakfast with my mom and wife
Went to the Moonshiners 36th Annual Jeep Swap Meet
Did not buy a new-to-me 1946 CJ-2A project Jeep
Stayed Married
Did not buy a motorcycle or boat at the swap meet
Stayed married – there is a theme…
DID buy an ARB on-board air compressor and a duel battery mount – and got a sweet deal!
Signed up for three classes at Pratt for this spring: Block printing, wood carving, and letterpress
Padded and protected the wood floor and built-ins in prep for attic finish
Cleaned the hot tub
Edged and mowed the front and back yard
Spread Weed&Feed on the back yard and parking strip
Re-seeded the front yard
Film Friday – An Update and a Little Ranting
A quick update about why I have not posted here on my blog or been on YouTube for a few weeks and how I have been spending my time: Roadtrippin’, some slight ranting, obscene gestures, naughty words, snowboarding, beer, some boats, a little 3D printing, and a sneak peak at the Jeep’s homecoming after 12 weeks in the body shop are all to follow.
Film Friday – Jeep Paint Prep
…And so begins my plan for interweb domination… This is the 1st in a series of videos detailing my Jeep re-painting project. I am doing the prep work and getting ready for my 1986 CJ-7 to go into the shop for a little cosmetic make-over. It was painted black at the factory in Toledo, has been black ever since, and will stay black until they make something darker. I also give a little bit of an update to what I have been up to of late, some projects that are in the works, and a quick pan view of part of a dirty, disorganized, and cluttered shop.
Car Lift and Jeep CJ-7 Saga/Search/Information
Before putting 4000 pounds of 31 year old Toledo steel above my head for the first time I really needed the correct locations for a 2-post-lift pad placement points on a CJ-7. I like who I am and I have some plans for the next 30 years or so and really didn’t not want to be that guy who squashed himself in his own garage. It happens.
I have seen two jeeps on their sides at dealerships after falling off lifts, countless other lift fails, and have seen CJs put up in the air at least four different ways. I have had a couple of cars in the air since building the garage, referencing their owner manuals for lift placement, but not the Jeep yet. Again, I didn’t want to be the guy that drops his 4X4 pride off the lift in his own garage. I started doing a little research and asking questions.
After a fairly fruitless internet Search, I called the company that built my lift (it is a Rotary Revolution RPT10) and they referred me to The American Lift Institute (ALI) manual that came with the lift. The 2016 version of the manual only goes back to 1991 for most vehicles and when I called them, there was no answer that they could give me. They referred me to “a local Jeep dealer.”
I dropped in the one nearest the house and there was not an “old-guy consensus” on how to life a CJ: on the frame behind the shackle mounts, on the shackles, on the spring plates, on the axles, etc… My Chilton and Hayes manuals have nothing and I am still trying to source a good 1986 Service Manual (can’t find anything in the downloaded ’82) and would love an original Owners manual. I went by a 4X4 shop a bit ago and the tech there said “lift it on the shackles…” and posed it as sort of a question. I walked away swiftly.
So, relying on Cunningham’s Law, I asked the internet via the JeepForum if anyone had some documentation on where to apply the lift arms/pads on a CJ-7 frame and where the balance point/center of gravity of the vehicle was to put in-line with the lift posts? I got some helpful suggestions and a couple answers that were on the edge of trolling, but the general consensus from CJ owners and mechanics on the forum was to follow the guidelines for the 1991 Jeep Wrangler and their frames, suspension, and balance points are very similar: The lift pads are placed under the frame (centered on the pads), directly adjacent to spring hangers/shackles. Sounded reasonable and plausible, so I decided to go with that. The balance point/CoG is between my dash and the bottom of the steering wheel and that point goes on center between the two posts of my symmetrical lift.
I went ahead a couple weekends ago and decided to put it up and do a little general maintenance. After everything checked out – raising the Jeep 6″ off the ground and giving it a serious shake on all 4 corners, raising it up and down a few times, I spent 30 minute for full oil and filter change. I lubed all the zert points on the drive-line and chassis while I was there. No squashing or falling Jeeps. 🙂
Weekend Activities
Seattle is in early summer full bloom. The sun is out and the temperature is perfect! These conditions led to a really good weekend:
Slept had friends stay with us Friday night and Saturday morning
Big yummy breakfast
Picked three big bowls of ripe Lapin cherries
Ate a lot of cherries
Went over to my mother’s house
Took care of house projects for her
Had a yummy dinner
Nice bottle of red wine was opened and mostly consumed
Read American Gods aloud with Stamps-With-Foot before bed
Brunch with Friends
Went to the Sunday farmer’s market
Bought cheese and honey!
Went to the garden store
Bought a bunch of flowers for the yard
Walked the puppies
Planted flowers
Scattered weed&feed in the 1/3 of the back yard that is void of Ireland-green grass
scattered and raked grass seed.
Murdered dandelions
Picked up a mountain of puppy-made landmines 🙁
Mowed the yard
Installed new tire cover on Jeep spare
Put Jeep on the car lift – also now refereed to as “The Jeep Sex Swing”
Changed oil and filter
Only 42 more Oil Changes and the lift pays for itself!! 🙂
Lubed the chassis
Checked and topped off all the fluids
Made happy noises
Had a Coke and smile afterward while sitting in the shade
Printed out GAINT ’84-’86 Jeep Maintenance Manual
Let my internal OCD monster out to play
Custom labels and tabbed separators were made…
Added folders with Maintenance Manuals to shelf in the garage
Watered the garden, yard, and newly seeded dirt patch
More reading
Sleep
Going Topless
I made a short film showing all the steps in removing the Hard Top from my 1986 CJ7 Jeep for the first time in 1.5 years. I couldn’t round up the help to pull it off, so I put on my thunking’ cap and used the lift. The garage is a MESS, but my excuse is that we are still remodeling the house and it has been a wet winter and spring so there are materials and projects in work everywhere.
My Week in Review
This past week has been a week of mish-mash happenings:
90-day Post-surgery hip appointment: Could have gone better.
Fruit tree pruning
I built a lid for the compost boxes
A rat didn’t like my lid and chewed through the side to get at the worms in the compost bin
I said dirty words
Mounted 7 up-cycled cabinets in the garage
Finished painting 80 liner feet of 1/4 round trim.
Sweep and cleaned GROP
Organized some stuff into new shelves and cabinets.
Finished painting the corner shelf doors – 5 total coats of fresh paint
Installed the hinges and hung the doors on wrong cabinets
Said dirty words
Re-hung doors on the correct cabinet.
Scratched paint
More dirty words
Touched up paint
Finished corner cabinet install
Did some Physical Therapy for my Old Man hip
Mowed and edged the yard
Read a book
Made a few Instagram and Twitter posts
Amazon sent me a new tool!
Flew drone one afternoon after J-O-B
Planted the boxwood shrubs
Bought garden starts at Nursery: tomatoes, corn, squash, zucchini, peppers,herbs, lettuce, etc…
50+ hours at my J-O-B, hustlin’ to keep us fed and the lights on
Watched about 2 hours of NetFlix
Gave away a bed in our home office
Had to delver it to new owner
Drank some French wine
Worked on cedar log garden table
Bought couch/guest bed for the office/TV room
Braved the gauntlet at IKEA – three hours to pick up a pre-ordered couch 🙁
IKEA gave me a $50 discount for the trouble
Had to source clear glass Victorian-style pull knobs for the corner cabinet doors
Spoke to both of my children for Father’s Day
Heart Happy
Planted summer garden
There was some coffee drinking and puppy snuggling
Took top off of Jeep for the first time in 1.5 years
Started Raining the second I took it out of the Garage
Made grumpy noises
Had coffee and listened to a bluegrass jam session at favorite coffee shop
Watched a movie
Was prolific on Twitter and Instagram
Murdered some dandelions
Rode around neighborhood on errands in topless Jeep when it stopped raining
Made happy noises
Sent some J-O-B e-mails from home
Started reading American Gods out loud with my awesome wife
Went to bed to start it all over again on Monday morning
Film Friday – Closing Out 2016 with a Snowboard Trip with My Son
For Christmas break this year my son, The Ruminator, wanted to do a little Snowboarding. I figured it would be a nice positive cap to a so-so year personally, physically, politically, etc…
Note: This is the fist film edited and made since my switch from GoPro Studio to iMovie and since my conversion from a Windows 10 computer to my Mini Mac for video and Audio editing. It was so much better to use and just worked! See this post for more detail.
Christmas Vacation 2016
Christmas vacation this year was pretty good. I got great stuff Christmas morning, my mom stayed over Christmas Eve, and Stamps-With-Foot made a yummy Honey-baked ham for dinner on Christmas Day. I took the week between Christmas and New Year’s off from my J-O-B. The time was spent just hanging out with The Ruminator, finding a little adventure in the mountains, and getting some stuff done around the house and garage. My vacation this year looked like this:
Up at 6:00 Christmas morning and made coffee.
I got an XBox One and Battlefield 1 for I could play with my 40-year old adolescent friends online.
Got lots of other great stuff!
Worked a little in the basement on Boxing Day (the 26th).
My son, The Ruminator, flew in the day after Christmas.
Second Christmas morning with son on the 27th.
I put him to work that afternoon moving stuff in the garage and basement.
Pulled 4 circuits worth of wire in the garage.
Hung 3/4 of crown molding in the dining room.
Hired a carpenter to help with the finish of the crown molding and window install in dining room.
Hung pocket door and built last wall for bathroom downstairs with carpenter.
Installed structure in attic for chandelier installation.
Went to see Rogue One.
Loved it.
Snowboarding trip to Crystal Mountain in the Jeep.
The Ruminator rode really well
I am a fat old guy, but can still ride.
Owners rented the cabin we had reserved to someone else – insert grumpy face
Drove home.
Snuggled with wife.
Up early and drove to Snoqualmie for 2nd day of riding.
Glorious day in the mountains!
Watch a movie all together for New Year’s Eve.
Had family over on the 1st for long lunch.
Tried to edit snowboarding trip film.
Failed.
GoPro Studio sucks balls!
Serious online gaming session.
Brunch at Easy Street.
Got The Ruminator’s cracked iPhone glass fixed.
Picked up new kitchen floor tiles at Lowe’s special order desk.
Dinner with Nana.
Dropped off Ruminator at Airport.
Teared up in Jeep on the way to work.
Worked late first full day back to work in 2017 – an inauspicious start.
2017 New Year’s Resolutions:
Stuff I will do in 2017:
Eat my veggies
Lose weight – back to 175!
Go to the gym regularly
Box more
Write more: Blog, letters, notes, fiction, non-fiction
Take a lunch at least 4 days a week at work
Show up to yoga at least once a week
Take a pottery class
Take a Blacksmithing class at the Pratt
Read 1 book every 2 weeks – minimum
Play my uke, banjo, and guitar with others
build a skin-on-frame canoe
Run and bike
Start a guitar building class
Pay off all credit cards
Go Sailing
Give lots of $$ to Heifer and MFS
Make movies and post: Adventure, craftsmanship, and family.
Lessen my Social Media presence (Blog doesn’t count)
See my kids and granddaughter more
Be involved in popitics more: financally and time wise
Work on my Genealogy database a little
Finish the house remodel
Finish the garage/shop/GROP build
Make Stuff!!
Ride my skateboard because I am not too old or too fat
Road trip in WA more
Have two hives of healthy, happy bees
Kayak lots!
See my friends more
Take my wife on vacation
Plant a spring garden
Fix up the front and back yards
Climb more inside and outside
Have an awesome Griswald-like Christmas light display!
The F-Bomb Garage completion is getting closer!
I was out of town this past week on a work trip to merry ol’ England. I came home to a sweet surprise: I have a new 10,000lb two-post lift installed in the F-Bomb Garage. I got a decent deal on a . Went with the Rotary Revolution RPT10 because there is a local dealer, local support, I got a decent deal on the lift+install, and some experience that some friends and colleagues have had with this and other lifts.
We are getting closer to finally building some stuff inside/voiding warranties/modifying the jeep. My contractor had a foreman out last week to deal with the framing punch-list items: a couple of anchor bolts, some trim, loose siding, a funky corner, and I had him re-install my three windows with the proper flashing tape – I could see light in all the corners. A leaky window after I have stressed the importance of proper installation and showed them what I needed twice would throw me into fits. He also swapped the door trim, but not everything on the list got done and now there is more stuff that needs attention. I have the contractor stopping by to go over it all tonight. Very frustrating to spend this sort of cash and to deal with all the little things over and over.
The electrician is 3 weeks out – everyone is building and remodeling in Seattle and contractors are super swamped, so I am going to concentrate on the outside in the mean time: Paint and gutters as soon as the siding issues are dealt with.
Jeep Trailer
I have been posting a LOT about our remodel and garage build in the last couple of months, so I thought I would mix it up and post something not remodel related – mostly not related…
Simple and unassailable fact: A grown man needs access to a truck or a trailer. Since our move back to Seattle from France, I haven’t really had either and have been visiting U-haul for my hauling/dumping/moving/logistic needs, but that is getting both tedious and expensive. I finally bit the bullet and had a trailer made to match my CJ7 Jeep. I had it built because there wasn’t one available retail that matched what all I wanted to do with it – remodel work, hauling heavy loads of dirt and lawn debris, moving, climbing base camp set up, camping, SCA events, hauling firewood, etc. I also wanted a shorter and narrower trailer than the standard 5X8 utility trailer that you can find at the roadside truck and trailer dealers. I wanted it to both look good with the Jeep and I plan on hauling it places that a bigger trailer would be a hindrance so I took the opportunity to have a little customization done to get exactly what I want.
The specs for the new trailer are as follows:
- 4X6 tube steel frame with extended tongue
- Wheel base to match the Jeep’s so that it will track in the same ruts off-road
- 6 lug 225 wheels with grease zerts right on the hub
- Steel load-bearing fenders
- More ground clearance than the Jeep for dodging stumps and rocks on trails
- Long lasting LED brake and running lights
- Spare tire mount
- Treated wood bed with 6 D-Ring tie downs
- 3500lb rated axle, so I can load this thing up with dirt or concrete
- Black hardened acrylic paint to match the Jeep
- Swing rear gate that is also removable
- Welded lip for ramp mounts
- Swinging front wheel jack
- High replaceable wood sides to match the lines on the jeep.
- I will be adding:
- Uni-strut interior rails on the sides and bed.
- A triangular tongue tool/storage box.
- Three Jerry can holders for gas and water on the outside.
- One propane bottle holder for the grill/heater when camping
- Load-bearing torsion box cover
- Removable rack for carrying sheet goods and lumber
I used it the first day I owned it to haul some granite and paint for the bathroom and it will be full of doors and windows on Friday.
If you want to hear God laugh, tell him what your plans are…
As mentioned a few weeks ago, we hit a snag on the garage build. Super frustrating. There is some stuff in the house that takes precident – they just have to happen and happen right now. Thankfully, we are in a place to take care of it, but my dream shop has been pushed a couple of months. That hasn’t stopped me from getting everything prepped though. I have completely cleared out my current GROP and moved all the innards into storage for the duration of our build/re-build. A few things like ladders and yard tools are left, but after giving away an entire trailer load of scrap lumber and plywood it is all open space. It hurts a little that the cleanest my garage shop has ever been is right before I tear it down to built a new one…
The other day, I had to do a little fiberglass repair on the Jeep top and swap out my floor-mounted headlight dimmer switch. Not super a fun/sexy mod, but taking the door off made it easy – ish. I will not be bright-lighting folks for my entire commute anymore. It was nice to have a dry spot to work during a Seattle winter. Also, this was the only time in 6+ years that a vehicle had been in it.
We had to start the house remodel before the garage and start in the rear bedroom (NW corner of the house). The interior walls had to come out to repair an issue(s). After we take care of the repairs, a new arch will lead into the kitchen, there will be a 4′ French door with a 12″ balcony looking out into the back yard, and we will have wainscoting up to 68″ and a coffered ceiling in what was the back bedroom and what will be the new dining room. Here are some shots before the full wall removal, some replacement studs and new headers.
The basement stairs are also in need of replacement and will be taken out and rebuilt next week. The new HVAC will go in the week after. It has been and will continue to be a test of our resolve and patience.
Serious Road Trippin’
The Ruminator and I just finished a 2900+ mile road trip in my 1986 CJ7 jeep – The Black Pearl. We drove from Little Rock, Arkansas to Seattle between Christmas and New Year. I thought it would be a nice father/son bonding trip or at least I would have him caged for a week to give his mother a respite.
After a two-day prep and checkout, we hit the road and drove right into monsoon rains then freezing temperatures. We crossed the Great Plains, filmed the whole trip on a GoPro, scaled the Rockies, drove over the Continental Divide, crossed the Cascades, suffered -17° bone chilling cold in Wyoming, had a frozen starter, black ice, 4 stitches in my forehead (whole other story…) snow, high wind, and a broken brake line coming down a mountain pass in Oregon. Nothing like bleeding a new brake line in a parking lot in 3° weather…
It was an adventure and we had a great time, even when everything didn’t go as planned. My 15 year old son was the DJ and I was the driver/chief mechanic. I will treasure the trip and the time with The Ruminator for all my days!
