Monday, February 27, 2006

Brake Break at 100AW

Ken Block Subaru
While prechecking the route as part of my Steward Duties at 100AW, I shook loose the un attached Emergency brake cable inside the brake drum of my Jeep Cherokee. The end of the cable strated rubbing against the back of the wheel studs. This made a very loud clicking sound that resonated up the cable through the hand brake handle.

By Saturday noon, I had had as much of this noise as I could take. As I arrived in Ellington to inspect the service facilities, I ended up parked across the street from Ken Block's Subaru Service crew. That his car pictured in this post.

They were kind enough to jack up my Cherokee and loan me an impact wrench to pull the wheel and brake drum so I could rearrange the loose cable end to not make noise any more. They were a bit surprised at how fast I made the repair. They even loaned me a torque wrench to reset the lug nuts.

Not long after this good gesture, I learned that Ken had moved into first place in the event and went on to take the overall win. Good Karma from his service crew I am sure contributed to his success.

Congratulations to Ken and thanks again to the service crew!

Friday, February 24, 2006

100 Acre Wood Rally


I am working the rally in the 100 acre wood this weekend. I have been following the progress of the only Jeep entered in the event. This one is an MJ 2.5L 2wd pickup.

Dirven by James Stevens with Tess Rudder navigating.

This is their first rally. I saw really big smiles on both their faces at the service stop.

In true Jeep form, they only had to check the fluids and keep moving. No repairs were needed.

We will see what the final scores have to say tomarrow.

Scores are posted at www.rally-america.com

Monday, February 20, 2006

Death Wobble cured with bushings

On Scott's XJ Wagoneer, the control arm bushings had been damaged by the constant oil leak from the air box. See the previous post on the engine swap to see why the blow by was so bad on this engine. The soft bushings were allowing the axle to shake despite all the normal cures for death wobble. Rather than just replace the bushing with stock parts we used this opportunity to upgrade the suspension. The poly bushings make a huge improvement in on road handling and have the added bonus of being easier to install than the stock rubber ones. If we had chosen the stock replacement, I would have replaced the entire arm with a new part complete with factory installed bushings.
death wobble gone

The complete installation is documented at mikestrawbridge.com/bushings.htm

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Jeep things in life

I am not sure who first said it because it has been attributed to many different philosophers, but the phrase goes like this:

"Happiness comes not from the achievement of a goal but in the struggle to accomplish it."

At first glance this philosophy makes no sense. But those of us who would rather drive through a door handle deep mud hole or across a pile of boulders than drive on the nice paved road beside these obstacles, we understand. It a Jeep Thing.

Why do we chase after a girl who is aloof when there are plenty of friendly ones nearby. The thrill of the hunt.

Success that comes easily does not bring happiness. Look at all those lottery winners that are broke again in just a few years.

So next time something appears to be difficult or troubling, just look at it as another Jeep Thing. Have fun overcoming your obstacles. Comments?

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

How I attracted my Jeep Girl

Jeep girl jeep babe jeep chick
Last night I saw a commercial on TV that, after I stopped laughing, reminded me of the days just before JeepGirl and I started dating.
I remember that not long after we had gotten to know one another she got a visit at school from her nice boyfriend. I made sure she saw me flirting with some of the girls from the other school that were visiting with the group. I made sure she saw them laughing and having fun with me. I also pretended not to notice her at all.

I ended up going to the basketball game that night with another group of girls and made sure we sat across the gym from JeepGirl and her boyfriend. She admitted (years later) that she had been watching me all during the game and wished she was the one laughing and joking with me.

Have fun, be yourself and get the girl. That is how the alpha male works. Too bad I did not understand any of that back then. Luckily, some of it happened naturally.

If you want to learn more about the psychology and sociology of attracting people to you, I highly recommend you check out a course by John Alanis. Click here to learn more.