[Louie4]

Looks like you'll be having a lot of fun.

[Sundowner]

Originally Posted by MattGATRTJ

Sweet build. Any ideas to prevent radiation poisoning?

You know...I happen to have a Geiger counter laying around.

Originally Posted by dwbrown

Do you have plans for a Fat-Man launcher?

No, but I have a working M1919-A6, and it wouldn't take a lot to convert it to a twin-spade grip for use on the roll bar pintle mount. It's basically just a matter of pulling the side plates to change out the rear plate and trigger bar. Does that count?

Originally Posted by XJcaveman

turn up the AC next time anna helps

Dude...that would kill you, and if it somehow didn't kill you, it would definitely unhinge your jaw.


I'm behind on updates today because I went up to RubiTrux to check out their operation. Anna has to get something else to drive - her Mustang is just too low to the ground to be comfortable while entering and exiting, due to the back injury - and we're thinking hard on trying to trade her car for an LJ Rubicon, straight up. Then we'd go with the half-cab conversion, because I think we can handle that in the garage at home without breaking a sweat. We're going to try to get down to Lexington, SC and check out a GR8 Top, as well. From what I see so far, I like the GR8 Top better than the AEV unit that RubiTrux uses.

[redrelyt12]

I can't wait to read through this!

[contdevelop]

Subscribed to Annabelle...and your jeep! LOL

[Sundowner]

The Saga of The Problematic Rear Shock, Part One

For the slower members of the class, the moral of the story is this: always, always, ALWAYS check your parts before you get started. WAY before you get started. You need read no further...but you'll miss out on me being really frustrated if you quit now. With that said......

One of the best things about finally saving up the money to start on your Jeep build is realizing that if you do some careful shopping, you won't have to spend it all! Party on! Bonus!

So, yeah...I shopped around and scored a pretty good deal on OME's 2.5" setup. N66's and N67's, and the 933 and 942 springs. I got the heavier springs because we anticipate loading the Jeep with some heavier gear down the road...the lighter-weight springs - and OME confirmed this, incidentally - would be too soft, and I'd have more sag in the rear than is desirable...and nobody wants a sagging rear. Believe it or not, I ordered the whole deal from Amazon...they had the best price, and free shipping. Along with the springs and shocks, I ordered a set of Alloy USA wheel spacers and the Daystar body lift. Everything showed up about three days later. I was busy all day so the boxes sat in the living room until late that evening/early next morning. When I started unboxing things, I found these lovely wheel spacers...

The red even goes well with the black and white color scheme of the Jeep.




Little-known-fact: If you feed your wheel spacers after midnight, they multiply.




Now, why are we seeing wheel spacers in a thread about a problematic rear shock? Mostly because I got excited over them to the point that I didn't un-box a single additional part until after noon on the Friday that I was about to get started ripping things into pieces. That's when a now-familar situation occurred.




As I've said before, that's an improperly-boxed shock. Now, consider that as I'm unpacking these babies, it's about 4:30 on a Friday and the Jeep is already partially in pieces...and that's when all the fun started. I don't have pictures of the fun, because they would only include me pacing around the garage on a cell phone, wondering how long my partially-disassembled Jeep was going to take to get put back together.

I ordered from Amazon, so I got in touch with them. Amazon Customer Service Girl knew about as much on the subject of shocks as Ginger or Mary Ann would have. Actually, Mary Ann might have been more useful...Ginger was just a bimbo, though. Here's what happened, in order:

- Amazon Customer Service Girl suggests I just send the entire order back and that they refund the money.
- I inform her that my Jeep already being on jack stands precludes this option.
- She tells me that they'll just overnight me a replacement shock due to the circumstances.
- "Oh, that's perfect!" I reply.
- She then tells me that - after checking inventory - they don't stock this shock anymore.
- I respond with "Uh..."
- She then tells me that - after checking inventory - they don't even stock the entire kit, anymore.
- I repsond with another "Uh..."
- She suggests that they give me a partial refund, since I'll have to see about getting one from the manufacturer.
- I tell her that this will be fine, as long as they cover the cost of shipping.
- She then asks whether or not 20% of the order total will be an acceptable refund.
- I reluctantly agree to this amount.

After this, I call ARB to check on getting a new shock. Calling ARB is only slightly more efficient of a process than I imagine calling Interpol to be. In the space of ten minutes, they had the replacement shock on the way to me. Shortly thereafter, a refund notification from Amazon shows up in my e-mail, for not just 20% of the price of the spring and shock kit, but the order itself...so I got 20% off the body lift and the wheel spacers, too. Schwing!

The shock showed up the following Monday, and I finally managed to get it un-mustarded, so that it matched the rest.




Everything seemed to be working out just fine, at this point. I had much refund-age, and I had worked out a few potential issues with other parts that I had questions about. Little did I know, however, that The Saga of The Problematic Rear Shock was far from over...

to be continued...



P.S. All relevant and appropriate apologies to both Tina Louise and Dawn Wells. However, the resultant typecasting was fair, Tina...it was fair, and you know it. And you also know that the world being forever saddled with Judith Baldwin is totally your fault.

[Sundowner]

Warning: This post contains some awesomely Fallout-esque parts-scrounging.

Pop Quiz: What do you do with the following items: an old cell phone charger, some Chap Stick, two butt-splices, a piece of red tubing that fell off of an aerosol can, some superglue and a random momentary contact switch?




Answer: Add one can of Throttle Body cleaner and build an injector cleaner.




Valuable Information: This thing worked ridiculously well. I learned that it's really not a matter of pressurizing the injector as much as it is just holding the solenoid open while shooting cleaner through it. If I had to buy the parts to build one, I'd just get an on/off contact switch, and make life easier. To operate it, you first backflush the injector by holding the injector solenoid open with the switch and then spraying cleaner through the injector itself in short bursts. Then you reverse it and spray through it in the normal way. This won't do the job of an ultrasonic cleaner and total rebuild, but it will get nasty varnish deposits off of your injectors and help them spray a bit better.

[bobthetj03]

Simply Amazing! Well done sir, well done! Sorry to hear about the whole shock issue, and I couldn't agree more about de-mustarding those shocks.

[RedStep]

Glad I caught you relatively in the beginning of your build, everything looks awesome subbed

[Sundowner]

Originally Posted by bobthetj03

Simply Amazing! Well done sir, well done! Sorry to hear about the whole shock issue, and I couldn't agree more about de-mustarding those shocks.

It gets worse, my friend...it gets worse. We haven't gotten to the part where - to all impressions - a small bird seemingly gets trapped near the evap canister and refuses to make noise on command.

And yes, that paragraph will make sense when you read Part Two.

[bobthetj03]

Originally Posted by Sundowner

It gets worse, my friend...it gets worse. We haven't gotten to the part where - to all impressions - a small bird seemingly gets trapped near the evap canister and refuses to make noise on command.

And yes, that paragraph will make sense when you read Part Two.

I'm on "pins & needles" waiting!

[CherokeeTamer]

Subbed for Annabelle

jk... kinda...

anyways i love the build so far, keep it up

[LeeMasterGT]

Random insomnia sucked... Until I read this thread at 4 AM.

[MattGATRTJ]

Originally Posted by Sundowner

Warning: This post contains some awesomely Fallout-esque parts-scrounging.

Pop Quiz: What do you do with the following items: an old cell phone charger, some Chap Stick, two butt-splices, a piece of red tubing that fell off of an aerosol can, some superglue and a random momentary contact switch?




Answer: Add one can of Throttle Body cleaner and build an injector cleaner.




Valuable Information: This thing worked ridiculously well. I learned that it's really not a matter of pressurizing the injector as much as it is just holding the solenoid open while shooting cleaner through it. If I had to buy the parts to build one, I'd just get an on/off contact switch, and make life easier. To operate it, you first backflush the injector by holding the injector solenoid open with the switch and then spraying cleaner through the injector itself in short bursts. Then you reverse it and spray through it in the normal way. This won't do the job of an ultrasonic cleaner and total rebuild, but it will get nasty varnish deposits off of your injectors and help them spray a bit better.

I thought you were making a mini flame thrower. My interest was peaked until I found out it was a cleaning device

[Zorty]

Crawled. Looking good so far

[Sundowner]

Originally Posted by CherokeeTamer

Subbed for Annabelle

jk... kinda...

It's okay, man...I drool over her too.

Originally Posted by MattGATRTJ

I thought you were making a mini flame thrower. My interest was peaked until I found out it was a cleaning device

You mean to say that your interest was piqued...not peaked. And flamethrowers are interesting devices, no doubt. I think we've all ignited a stream of something that comes from an aerosol can at least once or twice in our lives. However, if you really want to build a flamethrower, keep the following points in mind:

- All of the plumbing HAS to be leak-proof. You're standing in a furnace when you carry one of these things.
- You need a high-pressure three-tank system: twin fuel tanks and a central pressure unit. This keeps the tanks balanced on your back.
- Diesel or jellied gasoline for the fuel, nitrogen for the pressure gas, and a magnesium flare for the ignition. These are your cheapest options, because flamethrowers can be relatively expensive to operate.
- You'll have better results if you saturate an area with unlit fuel, and then hit it with a short, ignited blast. This prevents you from suffering the heat blast off of the flamethrower to the greatest possible degree, and also prevents a huge amount of fuel burning on the way to the target.
- They're highly illegal to possess without the proper paperwork and/or tax stamps. Act accordingly.

Originally Posted by LeeMasterGT

Random insomnia sucked... Until I read this thread at 4 AM.

Are...are you saying my thread put you to sleep??

I'm kidding. Glad you enjoyed it.

Originally Posted by Zorty

Crawled. Looking good so far

Awesome! Thank you! There's more on the way!