New Horse in the Stable

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Don’t know...Jack makes a good point about visibility in the snow.....might be a good idea to put a full size fluorescent yellow cross on the top of it...just in case you do get caught out in the snow and slide off the road.

Hmmm ... did you put one on your White Explorer???? And just for the record ... the roof is pretty much all glass ... it has a full sun/moon roof ... only the front opens ... but it goes all the way to the rear cargo area ... so that dark tinted glass should show up (looks like black rectangle on the roof) ... ya know ... when I drive off the road ... :AGGHH:

 

[paws]

Hmmm ... did you put one on your White Explorer???? And just for the record ... the roof is pretty much all glass ... it has a full sun/moon roof ... only the front opens ... but it goes all the way to the rear cargo area ... so that dark tinted glass should show up (looks like black rectangle on the roof) ... ya know ... when I drive off the road ... :AGGHH:

No I did not put it on my Explorer.... we don’t get that kind of snow in Texas.

We have summer all year-round.

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

No I did not put it on my Explorer.... we don’t get that kind of snow in Texas.

We have summer all year-round.

Might be nice to have when the floods come and you're floating down the street ... :AGGHH:

 

[peteg59]

Are you garaging it or will it live outdoors?

Reason I ask, some diesel trucks/SUV's need to have a block heater on the engine in cold weather.

Maybe FCA had the foresight to equip it with one?

Looks nice, by the way!

 

[peteg59]

WARNING: THREAD HIJACK:::::::::

I'll be towing a 33' Heartland Trail Runner Toy Hauler with my trike and everything else I own. This will be my home.

What's up with that?

'House lose another contract, or are you throwing in the towel in retirement???

(Inquiring minds want to know!)

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Are you garaging it or will it live outdoors?

Reason I ask, some diesel trucks/SUV's need to have a block heater on the engine in cold weather.

Maybe FCA had the foresight to equip it with one?

Looks nice, by the way!

It will live out side, I think ... It does have a block heater. We only get like 5-10 days a year below freezing by much ... usually when we get the inversion where the cold just stays and multiplies. We'll see if I need to use it ... I live in the "Colorado Banana Belt".

 

[Gideon]

Very nice, Fuzzy! All the best with it.

 

[paws]

Might be nice to have when the floods come and you're floating down the street ... :AGGHH:

Wouldn’t help... from the videos I have seen the cars turn upside down and mostly submerge...

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Wouldn’t help... from the videos I have seen the cars turn upside down and mostly submerge...

So put a neon yellow cross on the frame???? :Shrug:

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

It's a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit with a 3.0L ECO Diesel, in white ... with just about every creature comfort you can ask for. The only thing it was missing was a receiver hitch which I negotiated into the deal and will be installed soon.

A little further research shows that the only factory option it doesn't have ... the rear entertainment system ... not sure what that is, but if it's in the back, I probably don't need it. I did find the CD player ... LOL ... it's in the center console ... I won't be using that either ... not sure where I "stored" my CD's :Shrug:

 

[paws]

So put a neon yellow cross on the frame???? :Shrug:

Too late by then...it would be upside down, mostly submerged, and me gone to the happy hunting grounds... you can have my trike and TK-1 trailer.

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Too late by then...it would be upside down, mostly submerged, and me gone to the happy hunting grounds... you can have my trike and TK-1 trailer.

I'm afraid my hunting days are over.:Shrug:

 

[Rollin Thunder]

Alan: That's one Sweet ride you picked up .

Our next car or truck will also be White.

I have a black truck and a Black bike and living in AZ where its dusty everyday isn't easy to keep them clean.

Again Nice Ride

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Surprise ... Surprise ... Surprise

Okay ... so I was sick for a couple days (thanks Mom) ... so been doing lots of sleeping.

The new horse had started making a whistling sound from the blower motor for the heat/AC, just before I came down with the creepy crud. Since I couldn't get on my knees, I took it to my buddy's tire/mechanical shop. He found a missing rubber plug in the vent blower ducting. He put a new plug in and told me no charge. Apparently Chrysler uses the same blower on lots of their cars and one or more of them has a sensor line that goes there. I gave him $20 for the tech and was glad it was minor.

I also needed to get out and get busy with getting a receiver installed so I can tow the trike on the trailer.

Went to U-Haul and they quoted me $350 installed. Not horrible, but, not bad.

Went to my buddies shop "Spring Works". Mainly they deal with trailer springs, truck lift kits, bearings and such. So I tell him what I need and he gets on the computer. I tell him it's a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and he asks me which model. I told him it's the 3.0L diesel Summit. He asks me if that's it outside and I said yep. He said he'd be right back.

He goes out, gets on the ground and looks under the rear of the beast. I'm thinking he is checking out the frame. Since I'm still feeling a little punny, I took a seat. He comes in a few minutes later and says, "It will be $450 and with take 2 minutes."

My response was, "Say what?"

He tells me to come out with him. He shows me the rear and there is a hitch there. I'm getting old, but, I would of noticed that ... LOL. Apparently, the Summit comes standard with the receiver, wiring and a convenient door in the rear bumper to hide it. Who knew.

I was jazzed and offered him $20 for his time, he told me I was a good customer and to forget it. Nice guy.

He then showed me one of the wheels and said, "Notice anything?". I didn't. He told me to look at the lugs. One of them was about 3/4" longer than the others. Apparently the PO had removed the locking lugs and put some on that "fit" but weren't quite right.

I stopped by the Chrysler place and picked up 4 of the right ones, had Big O install them and tipped the tech $10, he said to come back in 100 miles to re torque them, told him I'll do that myself, he said, torque to 110#.

All in all, pretty good day. I was thinking upwards of $600 ... came in at just under $100 .... Chrysler gets $14.95 plus tax a lug ... no wonder the PO put something else on ... LOL.

Almost forgot. I filled up today. Not because I needed to, still had a 250 mile range and was at 3/4 of a tank, but, because I was curious as to what the MPG's would be. I got 20.8 mpg, not bad for around town.

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

I forgot to get a pic with the "door off" ... but ...



You can see the door on the lower center of the bumper.

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Did go out this morning and put the new "clips" I bought for the door over the hitch receiver. When my buddy showed me the hitch, it was obvious the it had never been used. At five or six years old, especially here in the "High Desert", drying of plastic parts is a given. There are two "clips" the door retainers lock into that were really brittle. When I got the new lugs, I also picked up two of those clips. Only one actually was in need of replacement.

Anyway ... while I had the door off, I took a pic of the hitch ... personally, I think the whole design is brilliant. I googled "2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee Summit trailer hitch" and did not find any pictures of this ... they all seemed to be "after market" and below the bumper ... Kind of makes me wonder how many of these things have two hitches ... LOL ... One OEM and One After Market ... :AGGHH:

 

[PosseRider]

Your supposed to RIDE the Trike

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Your supposed to RIDE the Trike

Did today .... the caretaker roll is taking much more of my time that I realized it would ... I'm hoping in the near future ... I'll be loading up the trike and heading south somewhere ... cabin fever has set in and I need a meandering ride.

Problem around here is .. unless you're good with a 20 mile ride, you need to deal with the Rockies or some other mountains and that means cold, frozen roads. I will not "winterize my trike ... I ride all year round ... so, the Jeep will be my means to get outta Dodge and into the wind.

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

McKey's and Mother's

Started the ceramic process with the wheel sealer. I already had an open bottle of the sealer left over from the Tri. I don't know if the wheel sealer "crystalizes" like the paint sealer, so I decided to do the wheels first .. my paint sealer is still unopened.

For me this is a multi step process ... but ... the end result is pretty good.

1) Clean the wheels with soap and water, rinse.

2) Polish the wheel with the Mother's mag polish and the little red ball thing.

3) Wipe down with alcohol and Terry cloth rag.

4) Dry the rim with a micro fiber towel.

5) Apply the wheel sealer (liberally) with the sponge applicator.

6) Allow to dry for about a minute, then wipe off excess with clean micro fiber towel.

Long process with lots of steps, but, the results are pretty good. If I wasn't such a tight wad, and would buy new vehicles, I could skip steps 2 & 3, but then I couldn't afford fuel ... LOL.

Apparently I am not 100% after the creeping crud cause I ran out of gas after finishing the left wheels. Guess I'll do the right side later or in the morning.

Anyway, considering the rims have endured 5 Denver winters and a Corporate VP's driving, I think it was worth the work.

Left Front:



Left Rear:

 

[FuzzyWuzHe]

Finished the wheels

Did the right side today.

Got a before pic of the front, they weren't too bad because the dealer "detailed" it before I bought it. If you look close you can see brake dust starting to build up.



After



Rear