'98 Sahara build: "Staying the Course"

Squatch said:
Where I need to hand out is in the garage. The wife said to me last week "I really look forward to driving your Jeep. Hint, hint..." ;) Seriously, it sounds like it would be a blast, but I'm looking at taking a couple/three weeks off again when the weather warms up, and the time will be spent in the garage. And yes, I know it's a deja vu situation. You guys are gonna start doubting I even own a TJ... :rolleyes:
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I am pretty sure I read somewhere you are stacking parts in your closet. I think you should install those parts so you can start filling up your closets again with more parts. Now that is the circle of a life!
 
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Squatch said:
Where I need to hand out is in the garage. The wife said to me last week "I really look forward to driving your Jeep. Hint, hint..." ;) Seriously, it sounds like it would be a blast, but I'm looking at taking a couple/three weeks off again when the weather warms up, and the time will be spent in the garage. And yes, I know it's a deja vu situation. You guys are gonna start doubting I even own a TJ... :rolleyes:
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You need to go mate..... because your wife lived in New Zealand and that's about as close as I can get to being there haha
 
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We never doubt you intentions and we know that 'life' can get in the way sometimes...(like me taking 4 weeks to build an ammo box center console :censored: )…..
 
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+1 I have a quad with a year of expired tags. I have new ones to put on it, but they are sitting on my desk in my office. Been there since November. I should get up, and put them on right now, but no oh.

You'll get there, we are all really excited for you. You have some choice parts, and we are excited to see the pictures.
 
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In my head, I can see it backing out of the garage, built exactly as I have planned...

It's funny...I find myself envying those who can find/make the time to do some of their projects, but it makes me wonder how? I swear that if it isn't a family thing going on, it's 35 degrees in my garage, or one of the family chariots is needing repairs. It never used to be like this. I always had the time to wrench. Always. But now, it's family first, I ache like hell if it isn't at least 50 degrees, and the cars...well, they're cars. There will always be maintenance and repairs.

Sorry for venting, @ac_. Just a little frustrated these days...
 
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Squatch said:
In my head, I can see it backing out of the garage, built exactly as I have planned...

It's funny...I find myself envying those who can find/make the time to do some of their projects, but it makes me wonder how? I swear that if it isn't a family thing going on, it's 35 degrees in my garage, or one of the family chariots is needing repairs. It never used to be like this. I always had the time to wrench. Always. But now, it's family first, I ache like hell if it isn't at least 50 degrees, and the cars...well, they're cars. There will always be maintenance and repairs.

Sorry for venting, @ac_. Just a little frustrated these days...
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Nothing to be frustrated about! I get overwhelmed all of the time. I want to go camping really bad, but I have so many projects. I usually go out every other month and do something, and this year has been bad. I haven't been out since Thanksgiving dunes. It is a sad set of affairs. I have the opposite problem. I work too much. I need to play more.

35 degrees? Sounds like you need to lift up and move to AZ. It was 65 today Burrrr. It is rarely lower than 50 degrees here all year. Course in the summer we hit 118 and that aint right, but the winters make it worth it.

It has been unusually cold here this year, a few weeks ago, I came out to a frosty car, but two hours later it was 60 degrees. In the 10 years I have been here that was the first time I have had a frosty car.

Sometimes I don't have time or I laze out, and I try and do things in the house that I can. Like for my switches, I built the harnesses in my house while watching TV with my lady.

Oh and the switch panel.

Yeah I hate it when life gets in the way of some good man cave time.
 
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ac_ said:
Sometimes I don't have time or I laze out, and I try and do things in the house that I can. Like for my switches, I built the harnesses in my house while watching TV with my lady.
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I brought in the driver's seat from my Lincoln, plus a battery charger, and proceeded to replace the seat motor/transmission unit...on the coffee table. Had to get power to the motor to reposition the tracks for disassembly. Some bolts were buried behind brackets, and such. The wife was only mildly amused... ;)
 
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I've found that as I get older, the time I have for hobbies diminishes, so while my interests don't go away, the hobbies do. I've really started focusing on the things I REALLY like to do, and letting the rest of the crap fall by the wayside. So, I no longer golf, work on garden tractors (I use them as tools now instead of toys), a lot of vehicle maintenance that I used to do is now being done by others, Same with Home improvements. I use my time and resources on the few things that I like. Hockey, Mountain Biking, Jeep, and Family (not necessarily in that order).

I had a cold garage too. I finally just bit the bullet, and installed a heater. It makes my workspace so much more usable. I HIGHLY recommend it. It doesn't matter what the weather is, I keep it at 50 and bump it to 60 when I'm working. No delay in garage time, I can paint anytime I want, I don't get cold fingers and rusty tools, etc.
 
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Squatch said:
The garage heater is on my list of things to do, but I first need to put up drywall and insulation in the ceiling. That's got to happen before next winter, for certain.
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Especially if next winter is anything like this one. Record snows? I don't miss that!
 
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lowranger said:
It's been nice weather these past 7 days, going to be 72 here today. Warming up up there Squatch?
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Ready for the same old song and dance? I spent Saturday and Sunday rebuilding my floor jack, diagnosing my son-in-law's Blazer's electrical problems and ordering parts for its repair, and adjusting valves on my Dodge Cummins pickup. The weather has been sunny and mild. I hit the sack by midnight, achy, but feeling good.

2:30am rolls around, and I'm wide awake. WTF? I have today (Monday) and Tuesday off, as the weather is supposed to be gorgeous. Today, I'll do an oil change on the truck, and flush the tranny, including filter replacement. I will then pull my wife's XJ behind the garage, and pull the oil filter adapter and replace the leaking O-rings in it, and then do an oil change. Oh, and I'm supposed to go pick up a pallet large enough to ship one of my D44s to Texas.

On Tuesday, I will pull the Lincoln around back and pull the rear axle shafts from the 8.8" to inspect them for damage. The 2003 Panther platform (Crown Vics, Grand Marquis, and Town Cars) had a run of soft axles, I discovered. All the signs are there for mine. The outer bearings actually ride directly on the axles shafts, and have been known to wear grooves as deep as .050" into the axles. Wonderful. With the noises coming from mine, I suspect that's what I'm dealing with, so I need to pull the shafts and inspect them, and deal with the situation accordingly.

So, there you have it. The TJ awaits its turn, as usual. Like I said, same ol' song and dance...
 
Hey Squatch...... I think they are prejudice here in Colorado.
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Man I wish this TJ would get built!
 
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