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Operation Hammer Down aka Operation Red Team Blue Team

Hey look at the bright side, you got your jeep back in good condition, and lived to tell us that story. I'd call that a win-win !
 
This is awesome! AND you got the Scrambler and parts and no one got shot. Raymond can handle it...
 
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Some of the factory 19,000 mile items.
Factory suspension, rear tire carrier, rear bumper end caps, etc.
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That's a crazy story!
It's a relief to see this Jeep found it's way home safe.
I'm new to the forum but I actually had the first opportunity to buy this Jeep and I'm still kicking myself for not jumping on it.
I met Jay, the owner, at a gas station in Frisco, CO before he listed it for sale. We struck up a conversation about his CJ-8 after he saw the one I had just bought in Grand Junction and was towing home. He showed me some pics and if not for the fact I had just purchased one hours ago, I would have bought his, and probably should have.
He said he was going to list it on the forum about a week later when he got home. I knew it wouldn't last long.

Any chance you might want to part with that tire carrier Jeep Addict?

This was my jeep I had just picked up and was driving back to Loveland.IMG_3000.JPG
 
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Mother of God, I thought that guy was dead when I saw the picture of him laying underneath his truck. Like it got struck by lightning while he was holding the driveshaft! It's even scarier that he is alive and looking like that actually. :oops:
 
Tommy was in a real bind on this one. The owner was in one location, the Scrambler in another. The two locations were not close. He tried to get a more "reputable" delivery service involved, but NONE of them would commit to picking up the Scrambler in the three day window that was available. This, now know to be not a good transporter, U-Ship driver was the only service that would commit. The first red flag was that he was late picking up the parts at Location A. He was then late picking up the Scrambler at Location B. Once this occurred, I was already committed to helping Tommy out anyway I could.

When Tommy told me that he could not find a company to haul the Scrambler, before the U-Ship driver committed, I suggested a few alternatives:

1) Ship my tools/spare parts out there, buy me a one way ticket, and I would drive the Scrambler back. This, of course, has risks of its own. Also, it would put miles on a relatively low mile original Scrambler. Worst case, if it broke down on the way back, I could rent a U-Haul and a trailer. All sounds fine and well, except for the fact that I am super busy at work on Monday's and Friday's. So, I would have a two day window to drive the Scrambler back. If no problems occurred, this is doable, but no "slack time". Any delays would push me outside the two day travel window. I drove back my now red Scrambler from Indiana when I bought it; I drove my green Scrambler back from the middle of Mississippi when I bought it; and I drove back a Jamboree, that had been sitting for ten years, from Colorado back to Louisiana. Besides my red Scrambler's fuel/rear brake issues, I made it back with no problems. So, I am pretty confident I could have drove this one back, too. Am I 100% sure, no. Every option had risks.

2) Same as above, but Tommy fly out with me. This would have been helpful if any issue would have popped up. "Two heads are better then one" sort of thing.

3) In hindsight, probably the best option, let a forum member, like "jatepper", pick the Scrambler up, and store it until a more "reputable" shipping option became available.

4) The final option, the one we ended up having to use, we take Tommy's truck/trailer to Arizona, pick up the Scrambler, bring it back to Louisiana. This could be done in two very long days, which we made happen. Not the best option, but in the end, it worked out fine.


I know we are all piling on "U-Ship", but I'm pretty confident that this "misadventure" is not the norm for them? IIRC, I shipped my tan Scrambler from California to Louisiana using U-Ship, no problems at all.

It's easy now to "Monday Morning Quarterback" this situation, but in the end, luckily, it worked out fine, thankfully. We had a good trip, Tommy picked up a great Scrambler, and we got to meet "jatepper" in person.

And besides, we got a great story to share with everyone.

And, those pictures "jatepper" took of old "Bork" are priceless :rotfl::rotfl:

A more "reputable" shipping company would not have created such enduring memories/great stories/chance to meet some great people :twocents:

That being said, pretty sure Tommy/I/anyone reading this story will have reason to pause before using "U-Ship" again :thumbsup::wave:
 
A few pictures I took. I did not take too many, I was either sleeping or driving.


Getting ready to leave Baton Rouge on Friday night. Note - Tommy's "short bus" is in the background!!

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Taking a picture while driving, getting into Houston late Friday night/early Saturday morning.

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"Buckey's" truck stop, somewhere in Texas.

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Random windshield scenery, west of Houston, east of El Paso.

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I remember this one, somewhere in El Paso.
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Somewhere west of El Paso, probably New Mexico.
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More New Mexico pictures.

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And finally, into Arizona. I was never more happy, and simultaneously upset, to see this sign. Glad we were finally there, upset that we had to drive this far, knowing that we would just have to turn around and go back. The whole time we were heading west, I just knew old "Bork" was going to get his truck fixed and meet us, thus saving a bunch of time/miles. Never happened.

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The restaurant in Vail, Arizona, where we first met "jatepper". It is called "Hot Rods", has a whole hot-rod car motif going on, pretty cool place.

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Thanks to "jatepper", he pulled the Scrambler to his home in Vail. This saved us a couple more hours of driving north on I-10 past Tuscon, where old "Bork" was broken down, near a city called "Casa Grande, Arizona. This also saved us time because he unloaded the trailer and haulied the Jeep behind his truck, while we were still heading his way. Most importantly, saved us time, no hole in the middle of the desert had to be dug.
 
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This is not my Scrambler to being sharing pictures of, but I'm sure Tommy wont mind me posting the few I took. After all that time/energy/miles, these were the only pictures I took of this Scrambler.

Loaded up, ready to leave "jateppers" house in Vail, Arizona.

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First gas station stop on the way back home, somewhere west of El Paso, Texas. After these picture were taken, I aired the trailer tires up from 45 psi to 65 psi.

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And finally, back in Louisiana.

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The straps fell off somewhere north/west of Baton Rouge, but miraculously, the Scrambler stayed on the trailer.


Just kidding.

A few interior pictures. I used to hate Garnet, but after seeing it in person, it is actually very cool. The garnet interior goes well with this exterior color in my humble opinion.

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That's all the pictures I took.

Like Tommy said earlier, so far, I was the only person to drive this Scrambler during this trip. But, very short trips:

1) Off old "Bork's" trailer/homeless camp, drove about a block in "jateppers" neighborhood, then on to Tommy's trailer.
2) Off Tommy's trailer, around Tommy's office neighborhood, then backed it into his warehouse.

Anyway, it starts up easy with the fuel injection. Seems to drive really well, based on my limited seat time. Steering, brakes, clutch, transmission, transfer case, lights, gauges, signals, all seem to be working well.

Anyway, that's it from me on this one, unless I am able to wrench on it in the future.

It seems to be a super great Scrambler, still kicking myself for not buying it :banghead::banghead:

Congrats Tommy :cheers:
 
I chose the guy with a 0 feedback since I wanted this to be as challenging as possible. JJ, your a Uship driver! You told me in the past you’ve slashed prices to pick up vehicles to cover gas since you were already headed that way. I assume this is how you know so much about Uship. My feedback on Uship is only 2 or 3. Does that mean I’m a terrible person? My eBay feedback is almost 800 maybe more. How does that correlate again?
I chose the guy with a 0 feedback since I wanted this to be as challenging as possible. JJ, your a Uship driver! You told me in the past you’ve slashed prices to pick up vehicles to cover gas since you were already headed that way. I assume this is how you know so much about Uship. My feedback on Uship is only 2 or 3. Does that mean I’m a terrible person? My eBay feedback is almost 800 maybe more. How does that correlate again?
woah - its a simple question - i am sure we are all curious how this guys feedback record is/was based on what we have seen in the near death and near Scrambler wrecked/flipped/stolen pictures....was it good? how many jobs, etc? And no I am not a Uship driver. the last I touched Uship for anything was 2012.
 
Deep breath. Tension are high on this one. Deep breath.

On a side note, I see a 4.0 air filter box. Any bets that Raymond is begging Tommy for that box? :bacon:
 
Deep breath. Tension are high on this one. Deep breath.

On a side note, I see a 4.0 air filter box. Any bets that Raymond is begging Tommy for that box? :bacon:

How do you know that I didn't already snag it :christmas:
 
How do you know that I didn't already snag it :christmas:
Raymond where you going to mount it once you get to that point. Before I sold my wife's 96 Cherokee I was looking around to see where I could mount it. I just didn't want to move that much stuff around.
 
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