Jeep Cherokee Blind Spot?

According to this article the Jeep Cherokee has the worst blind spot of any car they tested. maybe they see things differently in South Africa, but one of the things I love about my XJ Jeep Cherokee is the visibility.

I did relocate the rear view mirror higher up on the glass to rid myself of that blind spot , but they are talking about the A pillar.

Even in my Rally racer, we were able to fabricate the A pillar bars so that there was no loss of visibility around the A pillars.

The photo they show in the article looks like form a Lumina APV. My dad has one of those and I hate driving it due to the huge blind spot due to its massive A pillars and strangely sloped windshield.

Anyway, I don't get it. I don't have a problem with my Jeep Cherokee blind spots.

Electric trailer brakes or lack there of

My trailer gets a lot of use. When it is not being used to transport my RallyJeep to and event or Scuffy to the woods, it is being used to haul furniture or maybe scrap metal to the recyclers.

I often pull it with my Jeep Cherokee but if it has a heavy load I pull it with my Suburban. I prefer the long wheel base of the Suburban to keep things stable.

Well, recently I offered to haul a friend's minivan to my shop to replace his steering rack for him.

He lives at the top of a steep gravel hill. It would have been no problem if the trailer brakes were working - but they we not. Click here to read the rest of the story and how I repaired the brakes.

Be careful what you think continued....

Yesterday we again towed our Ski Supreme to Parksville Lake for some boating. It has been a while since we have enjoyed this activity. Normally, we go at least once a week, but this summer we have been busy with other activities.

I commented that it had been so long since we went boating that I would have to be retrained. My words proved to be all to prophetic.

After some time enjoying knee boarding and wake boarding, we headed back to the boat ramp. That is when I noticed the keys to the Jeep were not where I normally keep them. About that time I also remembered accidentally placing them in my pocket instead of where we normally keep them in the boat.

I am sure that if not during my first start on the wakeboard, then during one of my yard sale falls - you know the kind where your board, vest, shorts and gloves are spread out across the water like at a yard sale - the Jeep keys came out of my pocket and were likely swallowed by one of the giant catfish that live in the deep waters of Parksville Lake.

So if you happen to be SCUBA diving or catch a large fish in Parksville Lake and find a Jeep key, please return it to me.

And thanks to Dad for taking me home to get the spare key and the cute girl at the Ocoee Inn that let me use the phone since mine was safely locked up in the Jeep.

Oh and JeepGirl says thanks to the cute guy who towed her back to the dock after the boat vapor locked due to heat soak in the hot sun while waiting for me to get back with the key.

For more on the dark side of manifesting your thoughts, I again direct you to: http://mikestrawbridge.com/dark-side-of-manifesting.shtml

Don't think about what you don't want

I was thinking about how I manifested that flat tire on my trailer by thinking about not having a spare. Sometimes I wish manifesting thoughts was not so easy.

To read more about the Dark Side of manifesting see my article on mikestrawbridge.com

Trailer Spare tire mount

This past weekend, we made a trip to Cookeville, Tn.

We had the trailer and the Suburban loaded with Scott's furniture for his new apartment near Tennessee Tech.

I have always carried the trailer spare rather randomly and I don't really pay much attention to it as I have only had to use it twice in twenty five years of towing this trailer. Once in Missouri and once in Mississippi.

Well with all the stuff on the trailer and in the back of the Suburban, there was not a convenient place for the spare, so I just left it in the barn. I am sure my thinking about not having the spare helped to manifest the big screw that made its way into the right rear tire just before we got on the interstate. I noticed it in my pre entrance ramp check of straps and tires.

So I left Scott to guard the trailer and his stuff while I went back to the house to get the jack and spare and tire plugging kit. About an hour later, we had four properly inflated tires and we were on our way again.

So today, I fabricated a spare tire mount that slides into the receiver tube on the front of the trailer. Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it!

Jeep Stroker Engine update

Jeep Stroker Motor

My stoker from Titan engines is continuing to provide great service.

Now that I am in the process of converting this Jeep from a dedicated racer to a multi use vehicle, I was a little concerned about my cam choice. I specified a high performance cam grind for my planed racing activities.

However, in my testing so far, the engine runs great a t low RPM as well as high. It will crawl along easily with the transfer case in low range and the transmission in second gear with the throttle still closed. It simply chugs along nice and smooth. (In first gear, you can use a sundial to see it move. That may change when I fit up the taller tires.)

I got a little scare on oil pressure the other day but that turned out to be a sending unit problem.

Overall, I still can't say enough good things about my Titan Engines stroker motor. I could not have built on myself for what they delivered this one to my door.