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walkerhoundvm's rebuild thread

Some more work done in the past couple of weeks:

1. Picked up an OEM nutmeg center console and a Laredo wheel; installed. Thanks Scott!!

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Interior is now all but done. Only thing I'd want to do now is pull the carpet, wash, and reinstall. It's old and tired, a few cigarette burns and other stains, but cleaned up it should look OK. I have a Laredo dash complete with gauges and an AMC AM/FM/cassette player (thanks, Eric!!), so that'll go in when the body work and paint is done.

2. Installed an OEM nutmeg half soft top and doors. Had to mend a couple of mouse holes in the top and sew zippers etc. The auto upholsterer said it was in rough shape, but I thought otherwise. Some serious cleaning and vinyl treatment, and it's almost as good as new :) I know it looks caddywhompus, but I was trying to use holes that had already been drilled. Thanks again, Hugh!!

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It's a good thing I've got it on for a bit, it's going to be my daily driver for a while...the head gasket blew on my Subaru and it's going to be in the shop for a while. It's for the best, though, I've got a 3000 mile road trip to Canada coming up next week, and it's much better I have it being worked on now!!

3. Also pulled the rocker trim and bump stops; painted the trim and bump stop mounts and put in new Prothane bump stops.

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Now I think I'm about done with all I can do, save body work. Interior: check. Drivetrain: check. The floor boards are in terrible condition, so I'm going to eventually be looking into either a new tub or reworking the metal. Of course, the blown head gasket in the Subie is going to set me back a bit :)
 
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Almost forgot, Dain, pulled off my old side steps (one of which was busted, the other will show up on eBay someday) so that sooner or later I can attempt to install those side steps you sent me. (Thanks Dain!!)
 
I just hope that you can get the one side without the mounting hardware to work.
 
Very nice, love the nutmeg top/interior :thumbsup: :cheers:

As for the carpet, try a Bissel carpet cleaner. I "borrowed" my moms the other day to clean up some super crusty TJ carpet, worked very well, with no ill effects:twocents::thumbsup:
 
Looking great and even more so since I got to see it just a few weeks ago. Keep up the good work :thumbsup:
 
Jeep is looking good. Are those the abonamal sasquacth snowman foot prints?
 
Just returned from my two week extended vacation that included: a drive through the Tetons and Yellowstone:

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Where we saw my first Grizzly:

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Then on to western Montana for my first real western bear hunt, which involved a pack trip to the Great Burn Wilderness:

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Epic water crossings on horseback (my first real riding experience), and one of our group finally got a bruin:

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My first bear necropsy - the guys thought it was hysterical that I wanted to do a complete examination after taking the hide off and quartering it. A colleague needed a bone marrow sample from a black bear, so this basically equated to a business trip.

After that, on to the west side of Glacier National Park, where we spent a night at Bowman Lake (near Polebridge - if anyone has ever been there, you know what a hoot that place is):

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This pic was taken at about 10:30pm - sunset this time of year is about 9:45 if you can believe it.
 
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At that point in the trip, it was absolutely the most beautiful place I had ever been. I've spent a weekend in Glacier a few years ago, and I would totally recommend the trip to anyone on the forum. Either side, but make sure you have plenty of time to spend there. We only had a night, because the bear trip ate up most of the time we had before a conference I was attending in Banff, Canada. On top of that, we had our dogs, so couldn't spend more time in the backcountry.

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After Glacier, it was on to Banff, which soon outpaced Glacier for the running of most beautiful places I'd been. We spent a week there, with three nights backpacking at lower elevations. It rained almost the entire trip, but the brief periods of sunshine more than made up for all the rain:

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Moraine Lake

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Lake Minnewanka

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Packing out from the lake and onto Glacier Lake in northern Banff NP

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Moose sightings in Kootenay NP

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And another Griz in Banff.

The trip was a long one with a lot of driving (3700 miles total), but was absolutely the best time I've had road tripping and backpacking. I'd recommend any and all of the places we stopped to anyone! :)
 
Next year, our conference is in Trieste, Italy, and I'm hoping to extend the trip with a week in Madagascar. Any recommendations? :)
 
I have cousins that live in Montana... been to both sides of Glacier, US/Canada and fished/hunted/camped all through there... one of the prettiest places in the world to be, especially at sunrise and sunset. It is truly an incredible place and all your pics have brought back a lot of good memories.

Unfortunately, I have Jimmy Buffet in my head now... as well as the girl ;)

I can't help it honey
You're that much a part of me now
Remember that night in montana
When we said there'd be no room for doubt

cb
 
More true than you know, cb. I had to look that one up, she's a Jimmy Buffet fan...
 
awesome trip and great pictures... do you have a summary of the entire mapped out trip? may follow your path one day...



walkerhoundvm said:
At that point in the trip, it was absolutely the most beautiful place I had ever been. I've spent a weekend in Glacier a few years ago, and I would totally recommend the trip to anyone on the forum. Either side, but make sure you have plenty of time to spend there. We only had a night, because the bear trip ate up most of the time we had before a conference I was attending in Banff, Canada. On top of that, we had our dogs, so couldn't spend more time in the backcountry.
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Wow, this seems like it was a pretty neat trip!

I hope to do some of the same explorations in the DeScrambler when finished.

You're not a half bad photographer either!

great pics, great story.

Randy
 
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