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walkerhoundvm's rebuild thread

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
And remember with this inflation genie now out of the bottle, building another will likely be orders of magnitude more expensive.

I can also speak from experience here; as you get older these projects get more difficult and require more down time to recover from. I used to pull an engine on a Saturday, mountain bike Sunday, go back to work Monday. Now if I pull an engine, it takes me two days to do it and three to get back to normal!
 

Pman

Busted Knuckles
Lifetime Member
City
Mount Pleasant
State
SC
^^^This! I remember knocking out my CJ5 in a couple of months (loads of engine/bodywork/paint) when I was in my 40’s. Endless energy. Then one day I was putting one piece axles in another Jeep and blew my back out. Now on the late side of my 50’s, it takes me FOREVER to do anything. Recovery time for the most minor tasks is huge. Heck, I injure myself sleeping! Can’t wait to see what my 60’s/70’s have in store! o_O
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Redmond
State
OR
And remember with this inflation genie now out of the bottle, building another will likely be orders of magnitude more expensive.

I can also speak from experience here; as you get older these projects get more difficult and require more down time to recover from. I used to pull an engine on a Saturday, mountain bike Sunday, go back to work Monday. Now if I pull an engine, it takes me two days to do it and three to get back to normal!
^^^This! I remember knocking out my CJ5 in a couple of months (loads of engine/bodywork/paint) when I was in my 40’s. Endless energy. Then one day I was putting one piece axles in another Jeep and blew my back out. Now on the late side of my 50’s, it takes me FOREVER to do anything. Recovery time for the most minor tasks is huge. Heck, I injure myself sleeping! Can’t wait to see what my 60’s/70’s have in store! o_O
Wow! You guys hit the nail on the head. I turned 60 late last year. I was always able to get stuff done. I can still do most things but the recovery period is harsh. And on a good 8 hour day I can work about half of that and spend the other 4 sitting and working up the energy/drive to continue. The two things that really get me are lifting and bending over. And working on the ground. I think I have one build left in me after Red. My wife disagrees, but I’m not giving up yet!
 

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
The one consolation to aging is wisdom and it is truly wasted on the old.
 

CJ7Pilot

18436572
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
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City
Yuba City
State
CA
I turned 50 in November, and I find working on the ground is certainly not as much fun as it used to be (i.e. it's the shits)!

As I plan my new garage/workshop, I'm hoping to incorporate some sort of lift. Even easy things like brakes would be more fun to work on if I could get them up a couple of feet higher off the ground.
 

Pman

Busted Knuckles
Lifetime Member
City
Mount Pleasant
State
SC
I turned 50 in November, and I find working on the ground is certainly not as much fun as it used to be (i.e. it's the shits)!

As I plan my new garage/workshop, I'm hoping to incorporate some sort of lift. Even easy things like brakes would be more fun to work on if I could get them up a couple of feet higher off the ground.
CJ7-
A couple of years ago during a truly crappy bad back event (they are all starting to run together), for the first time in my entire life I drove a Jeep (in this case, my Wagoneer) to my buddies shop and let them do the rear main seal. I just had no desire to lay on my back with oil dripping on my face, loosening bearing caps and hammering out old seals. I can do an RMS in my sleep but yet, here I was, sourcing it out!

I'm thinking about buying that Bend Pak MD-6XP that I can leave on the floor in my garage and roll out to the driveway. Doesn't solve everything but will make brake and tire work and bodywork much easier. Only thing is I need to keep it a secret from my friends or everyone will be camped at my house ready to use it. That happened when I bought my MIG and Plasma torch!
 

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
I turned 50 in November, and I find working on the ground is certainly not as much fun as it used to be (i.e. it's the shits)!
I turned 51 in November and funnily enough that didn't make me feel as old as my 20 year labour union pin did when I got that a few years ago....
 

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Kim Dawson

CJ-8 Member
Member
City
Molalla
State
Or
You guys have years of hard labor left in you. It does suck when your mind says yes and your body says you'll be sorry in the morning. At almost 74 I try to spread my time around between framing/building onto the back of the house (hell on the back, knees, shoulders and ankle) and doing harness leather work for antique cars, and upholstery leather work (including steering wheels and grab bars) and restoring Jeeps. Sometimes the weather determines what I can do, and sometimes my body says get a wheel or a grab bar ready to sew and sit down for awhile.
 

Pman

Busted Knuckles
Lifetime Member
City
Mount Pleasant
State
SC
You guys have years of hard labor left in you.
Kim- You got me at the hard labor... This is sounding like punishment. Time for me to come up with more excuses!!

Seriously, it's encouraging to see you still at it at 74 years young. My 83 year old dad just did some serious work on a farm tractor a couple of months ago, so maybe there is a future ahead!
 

walkerhoundvm

Just trying to stay upright
Lifetime Member
City
Cave Creek
State
AZ
Man, most of you guys don't sound a day older than 40 on the internet! I would never have guessed Kim was clocking in at 74.

Went to look at this today, which is in no way shaping my decision on the Scrambler. Just getting tired of all the BS going on with the Bronco release lately and I'm not convinced my order would come in before 2023. Not quite as roomy as I was expecting, and I feel like the Scrambler has a better field of vision.

86e5c33cffffa10b759917d3d0be5301.jpg
 

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
I went to order one when they came out: manual transmission, sexy, why not? Was heart broken to discover that at only 6'6" I was too tall to fit in it. I still love them though.
 

walkerhoundvm

Just trying to stay upright
Lifetime Member
City
Cave Creek
State
AZ
I went to order one when they came out: manual transmission, sexy, why not? Was heart broken to discover that at only 6'6" I was too tall to fit in it. I still love them though.
I'm 6'7" and it's a bit tight. We had to move some of the window stickers so I could see while driving. We couldn't reach a deal this morning, but the dealer has called and texted me like a drunk ex-gf ever since. Might be working something out, but I want the wife's opinion before proceeding. Want to make sure there's enough space in the back seat for a couple rug rats.

This one, and most they had on the lot, was an automatic. They certainly aren't selling as well as the 4Runner my wife bought a couple weeks ago. They were being sold the second they landed on the lot.
 

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
Automatic? No!!!! Don't do it, you'll regret it. I ordered my Silverado baby duramax exactly as I wanted it, but could not get a manual (they simply don't make it). It's the first auto I've owned and although I love the truck, I HATE the auto. It bores me senselessness. I loath it in traffic: the engine pulls against the brakes so I have to push hard on the brakes to hold it or put it in neutral.

My good friend here bought a gladiator about 6 months ago. The dealer told him the same thing about the manual ("they are all auto, it's all we can get"). He said he'd only buy a manual and left.... then lo- and-behold, they called him 20 minutes later..... they found one just a hundred miles away.

Best part was when he went to pick it up: they couldn't find anyone who was able to drive it to him from the detail bay so they let him go into the back and get his own Jeep out of the detail bay.

Does your head hit the roll bar? That's the problem I had: couldn't get the seat where I didn't hit the roll bar.
 
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walkerhoundvm

Just trying to stay upright
Lifetime Member
City
Cave Creek
State
AZ
I'm not even kidding, I wasn't 5 miles down the road before they were calling me. 4 calls and three texts in an hour and no joke they're calling me now as I type. The sales guy looked pretty green and I think he thought he was playing hardball before he realized 10% of 0 is still 0.

Wife and I are going in tomorrow morning to kick the tires and see if the baby seat fits. And if I fit, @Chamba! There's a seat lowering lever, and I fit OK I think on the test drive, but I'll pay closer attention tomorrow. Only drawback was field of view.

My Bronco res is for an automatic. I'm happy with auto for a daily driver, at least as long as I have the scrambler I can get my manual fix.
 

Pman

Busted Knuckles
Lifetime Member
City
Mount Pleasant
State
SC
Good grief I'm 6'2" and feel like a munchkin with all this 6'6-6'7 talk!

I enjoy the manuals on my CJ's, but I've gotta say my old YJ had the Torqueflite 999 in it and I liked it for daily driving and the boat ramp.

Keep us posted on what you end up doing with the drunk ex-gf. Sound like the new name for your Gladiator. :ROFLMAO:
 

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
My 8 is my daily driver. If my silverado were my daily I'd go mental: the automatic annoys me that much. I drive my silverado 100 miles to work and back and to tow our 25' camper trailer.when I am home I drive my 8 rain or shine. Automatic is OK on the highway but in traffic and around town it's maddening. It would be the perfect truck with a 6 speed.
 

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
So you bought it? Do you love it? I can't believe your head doesn't hit the roll bar. I was heart broken I didn't fit.

If I went for the auto I'd have done the diesel myself. The manual non-diesel gets another 2 mpg, which is decent. 27 mpg on the diesel is nothing to sneeze at. My baby duramax got 31 mpg before I lifted it, 3" lift and I'm averaging 26mpg.

My scrambler gets 13 mpg with the 351w, but I figure with the joy factor it equates closer to 30 mpg.
 
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