'twas a day that went from the bottom to the top :)
Wanted to put conical washers over the exposed skid bolts; discovered that most of them already had damage and the ones I could get a socket to fit basically laughed at my Milwaukee impact.
Decided not to break out the heavy artillery. This project will have to wait; I'll also try to find the size (length) of the bolts and have new ones ready so I can replace one at a time.
At least once I tackle the project again, the conical washers will work with 19mm sockets easily.
In the afternoon I headed up to Eric's -- deal was he had to do the roof part of installing the roof rack for the Moab trip.
Morning was muggy. 1pm-ish in full sun it was downright brutal as I got the trailer hooked up and loaded -- the rack wouldn't fit inside the Jeep.
On the way up to Charlton I could see strong thunderstorms, though I fortunately missed most of the rain.
One more round of storms brushed us in the afternoon, after which the air became super dry and awesomely pleasant.
Scott bought a Jeep to tow behind an RV -- and we were comparing. He has more lift, smaller tires and it works out the tail lights end up at the same height.
Had to unhook the trailer to install the rack. Just gonna leave it up at Eric's till I get back rather than take time futzing with it.
Rack clears the Sunrider easily.
Few pics from Oxford and Putnam on the way home...just absolutely gorgeous perfect weather after the storms moved through.
Weirdest darn thing...since last Thursday haven't had much of an appetite and sort of the runs but not quite. Which can happen if I'm not eating a lot too. Even this week didn't really do anything T-We-Th because after noon time my insides felt like I'd have a diarreah, I had rumbles, my butt was clenching, but by laying down I didn't have to go and in the morning would feel fine and poop normal. Sigh.
Friday too. At least Saturday so far all day and things seem to be returning to normal, still not much of an appetite.
So Friday at noon time I did manage to begin wiring in the new outlets.
Would've preferred circular lugs, but this is all I had on hand that would fit.
Wiring in a low-voltage cut off. Do need to pull it out and turn it up so it turns off sooner.
Adding shrink tube over the solder seals just for belts and suspenders...one size of tube I had was too small, next size up I had was too large; shrank fine around the middle but I used a bit of tape on the ends.
Got the dash cam installed :)
So this is all that leaked in the ~week the Jeep has been parked here. Can feel fluid near the fill with my pinky, so I'm OK with this for the trip.
This...is another issue. So the inside rear brakepad is wearing faster than the outer. It will fine for the trip, but the slides likely need lubing (and new pads).
The bigger issue is I wanted to adjust the parking brake. I couldn't break the bolt for the caliper, and the access port is sort of behind it.
I'll try tomorrow to see if I can get an angle at the access port; I tested the parking brakes this afternoon and they definitely positively need adjusting before the trip. I was hoping to avoid taking off the caliper before the trip since that bolt is so hard, I don't want to risk breaking something. I suspect it just needs to some heat to break loctite on the bolt.
Went for a nice long loop through Hampton/Chaplin/Canterbury/Pachaug as a road test.
With drive-bys of a Jeep Invasion in Plainfield, and stopping at Betsy's Stand on Ekonk hill for tomatoes.
I was shocked how many Jeeps were at the show! I just had my schmegy clothes on, maybe next year I'll go.
Was gorgeous perfect Jeep top open weather.
Hmmmm...the old part of Bailey Pond Road is being logged. I did poke in to the logging deck hoping maybe I could finally go down to the old bridge, but they had put brush across the old road :(
Ok, up on all fours. Tomorrow need to:
-- Check the sway bar bolts;
-- Check that the sway bar hasn't touched...I bet that Jeep Invasion had a flex apparatus too which would've been perfect to check it while someone watched to make sure they cleared the body mount :/
-- Grab one of the nuts so I can buy some spares to take with me;
-- Put on the conical washers to protect skid plate bolts;
-- Warm the engine and check coolant reservoir when warm (forgot to do that when I got back from the road test);
When I got to Ekonk, you could see clouds moving in. Was not expecting that -- it had been a nice sunny day. I made it home just as it started to drizzle and got the windows up on the Fusion and had just enough time to sweep the garage floor before pulling in the Jeep.
Sunday before Mom's birthday party...time for an oil change. Beautifully cool & dry in the garage at 8am when I got out there :)
Didn't end up turning on the fan until like 11am.
Gee, I wonder why I invested in heavier duty skid plates :)
While the oil is draining (a) the engine was cold and (b) the Fumoto valve ain't that big of an opening, I pulled off the old sway bar.
First day using the big creeper, haven't had a working creeper in a while. Holy heck this thing rolls way to easy. Took me a few minutes to get used to it since I was flying all over the place.
Currie / RockJock AntiRock swaybar. First, the install was very straight forward and stuff I had seen in other videos of folks warning about didn't exist. But it is also clear to me now there has been multiple generations of this product.
Bit of moly grease in the bushings.
Anti Sieze, you betcha.
Cap installed.
Gonna have to trim that body mount...
So Monday morning ran up to Tractor Supply and bought a pack of cutting wheels for my grinder.
...and decided to run down to Mystic to get some seafood (ended up getting calamari).
Sunflowers are blooming at Buttonwood.
That is as short as these links go and that is way too long. Need to cut off ~2" from each.
After cutting, I used the bolt already on them to chase out the threads.
And a really shitty job trimming the body mount. Probably should've taken a grinding wheel to it afterwards???
Have to figure out how to test to make sure I trimmed enough but I think I did. When the pic was taken, suspension had four inches to the bump stop. I took a tape measure, bent it at the 4" mark, and used the rest as a straight edge to the top of the arms above the pivot and it cleared.
Not pictured 'cause I was getting tired -- started figuring out the layout for wiring in additional power outlets.
Got the wires run through the firewall. Tomorrow I'll pickup a fuse holder on my way home and keep on trucking.
Also got the front end greased today.
Held off on rotating the tires -- it was raining all day, and I would've had to be out in the rain to jack up the back of the Jeep :). Looks like Wednesday is my next rain-free day (thus why I figured I'd start working on wiring).
Gotta remember when I have the rear tires off I want to tighten up the parking brake.
