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I SAW IT! I TOUCHED IT! WOOHOO!!! Man, where do I start? Obviously, we got to Anchorage OK (and early). We checked into the hotel and did dinner. Since it was already 9PM Alaskan time (1AM to us), I didn't figure we'd do anything other than head back to the hotel, but my folks wanted to tour through the city while the traffic was minimal. My brother navigated and ended up leading us to the Jeep! Man, did it look great in person. Here's the skinny on the condition of things:
Overall,
I'm totally thrilled with the condition. I've had a goofy smile
on my face ever since. I can't wait to get with Dan, drive the
thing and buy it outright!
We're going to drive this thing. Oh yes, we're going to drive this thing!
July
3, 2002 - Anchorage, Alaska Two big developments to report today. I've arranged to meet with Dan tomorrow morning to make the sale official and the parts from 4Wheel Drive Hardware arrived at my brother's place! I should be getting to sleep right about now, but I can' seem to manage it for some reason. More tomorrow, lots more. July 6, 2002 - Anchorage, Alaska
Check out the boxes that greeted me in my brother's garage! There were five of them; two BesTop Trailmax Pro seats, the Hi-Lift and two of the smaller parts (one of which had 107 lbs written all over it). Opening them all up was like Christmas as a five year old! Everything that was supposed to be there was there with the only exceptions being some back-ordered parts that 4Wheel Drive Hardware is working very hard on getting to me. After visiting the parts, I did finally buy the Jeep and I managed a couple of hours to work on it while my family was off doing other things. Dan's main problem with this Jeep was that it was tough to start and he'd had to resort to jumping it to get it going. Therefore, the main goal for the short time I had was to get it started, which didn't look like too tough a task, as I had a new solenoid and starter. A straight jump didn't do it, so I checked the battery/starter cables and found two that needed replacing (even if they weren't the problem). A quick trip to the store and a few minutes more and they were in but jumping still didn't work. I could hear a single click from the starter, but nothing else. I moved on and replaced the solenoid (I hadn't yet because Dan swapped it out recently and it was brand new), but still nothing. One of the spare parts 4WDH hooked me up with was a Mean Green starter, so out came the old and in went the new: still nothing. Since I was trying to jump off of my brother's old Subaru, I thought that I might not be getting enough juice to turn it over, so in went a new battery and you guessed it - no change. At that point I was running out of time and needed to head back to the hotel, so I left things there. Some asking around online and reading up have pointed to the block/tub/frame grounds and the neutral safety switch as the next things to check. Unfortunately, I won't have a chance to work on the Jeep again until Sunday, after my family leaves. I hope to manage to get this resolved quickly so I can discover a new set of things that I need to do! In other Postal news, I headed to the Transportation and Industry Museum of Alaska in Wasilla (as mentioned on Dan's web page) where they have a fully-restored Postal CJ-8 on display! I checked it out and got photos for you folks (and for my future paint job), but unfortunately the batteries on my digital camera crapped out after the first few, so I'll have to add some later that I can scan in from my SLR. It was cool to see how these things should look, with the full interior and detailing, but the real cool thing that came out of this visit came when I asked about the informational plaque that should have been on display but wasn't. I explained why I was interested to one of the women working there and she was happy to go check the records for information. She came down with the actual letter from the USPS that explained that they were donating the restored Jeep to the museum and gave a very specific history to that particular Jeep as well as some basic background on the Postals in general. The most interesting fact that was included was the actual number of them that were bought: 230. To my knowledge, this number has never been officially known until now. Since the curator of the museum wasn't there to talk to me, I left my contact information with them and I was promised that he would look for anything else that they could find and send it to me in one form or another! Seems that the nice people at the museum were thrilled to see someone so interested in one of their exhibits. They were extremely kind and went out of their way to be helpful. They also have some very cool historic vehicles and exhibits and even my family (who mainly came along to humor me) had a good time checking it out. I highly recommend checking it out on your way to or from Talkeetna for your Mt. McKinley summit flight if you visit Anchorage. The next report will most likely be after my next maintenance visit, before which I have to round up some supplies and things that I didn't want to fly on the plane. Look for something Monday or Tuesday
July 8, 2002 - 1:15am - Anchorage, Alaska
I saw my family off this morning and then Jason and I hit the stores to round up supplies and miscellaneous parts that we knew we were going to need. After doing our part to sustain the Alaskan economy, we headed off to visit the Dog. The first order of business was to get the starter to crank after the last failed attempt. My first check was of the grounds and I added lockwashers to the negative battery cable/block connection after sanding it clean to insure the contact was good. While I was down there, I found and checked the grounding strap and it look to be in good condition and was bolted in tightly. This didn't change anything when I tried to start it, so I moved to the next possible culprit, the neutral safety switch. In typical lazy man fashion, I just cut a new wire and crimped on a connector to make a simple grounding wire to bypass the switch. I attached it to one of the alternator bolts and wrapped the other end around the terminal for the safety switch on the starter solenoid. Another turn of the key got us cranking! I didn't try to turn it over yet because I needed to add a lot of coolant and check the fluid levels before the Dog went out for the first time under our command, but needless to say, we were thrilled and that sound was about the sweetest thing I've ever heard. While we were in there, we went ahead and treated the Dog to new plugs and wires, a new alternator belt, a radiator cap and we got rid of the nasty looking bottle heater which isn't going to be needed in NC anyhow. Jason also worked on getting the first of our new seats into the cabin and managed the passenger side before I finished under the hood. What a great improvement! My buttcheeks are already thanking me. We also got new wipers on her to help out in the wet stuff. After topping off the coolant and finishing the other random tasks, we were ready to try this beast out. It took a while with some pedal work, but the Dog fired up and settled into a surprisingly nice idle right off. After assuring ourselves that nothing was going to explode and no vital fluids were being purged all over the ground, the Dog took her first tentative steps (on one low front right tire, visible in the pics). We made it to a gas station to fill the low tire and give the engine a once-over and we were off again. This time we didn't stop until we made it back to Jason's. Jason took over the wheel once back and I think it's safe to say that he liked it. After breaking for a bite and a drink, I went back out and installed the driver's seat, which can now recline a ton and sits back much farther than the original seat, which is great for my 6'6" self. That brings us to where we stand now. I'm about to pass out, lots has been done on the Jeep and today went better than I had thought possible this morning! I can't wait to get out there tomorrow and see how much I can get done! I think tomorrow will be all of the vital fluids and filters, brakes and driving lights. I'll hopefully be back again tomorrow with a report.
7/9
12:38 AM Alaskan time, Jason's place Just a few photos today(I figure everyone reading this is familiar with what happens in an oil change), but I thought y'all would like to see the tool assortment that I decided to bring along. Although I had a great suggestion on the net to buy tools up here from a national chain and then return what I don't use when I get home to save me dragging a ton of tools on the plane, I went ahead and brought most of the stuff from home. I would suggest calling ahead to find out the weight limit per bag before they charge for overweight baggage though. It saved me $80 (or a lot of repacking in the terminal). Northwest's limit was 70 lbs and I had to repack my two bags to get the big duffel under that. Well, that's it for now. Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the rest of the fluids, get the power steering belt changed and then we'll see what else I can do. Since things are moving along well, Jason and I decided that we will be driving the Jeep to Talkeetna this weekend for the Moose Dropping Festival as a test drive. It's about a 1.5 hour drive (one way) with highway and a few miles that are unpaved while they're reworking the road. Ought to be interesting.
7/9
8:40 PM Alaskan time, Jason's Place That's about the extent of it. Nothing too terribly exciting but productive, nonetheless. Instead of keeping on keeping on, we decided that it's important to step back and let it go for a night, hence the movie. We're going to drive the Dog, it'll be the first non-service related trip and the first (hopefully) round trip. More tomorrow, check out the pics, I circled the switch and the new cigarette lighter in the interior picture. (I bet none of you knows what a cigarette lighter plug looks like!)
Well, over the last couple of days I think I've started to experience the true fun of owning a CJ and I also hit my first Postal-only problem - a leaky power steering line. The hose/metal line connection on the end nearest the pump on the pressure line was leaking on and off to the point that it sprayed all over the firewall once. I then called a hose shop to find out what I could do about it, knowing that the line was Postal-specific with the steering box on the right, and they said that they could rebuild the line easily if I brought it in and still had the metal fittings for the pump and box ends. Obviously, this was an easy one. Just get the line off and take it in. Yeah, right. I hadn't really looked at the steering box before other than to notice that, yes, it really was on the right side. I've never seen a part of that size on any vehicle with more bolts in it (including the bracket)! Anyhow, I picked one (the lower bolt on the front of the box and brace) and went to work after hosing it down with WD-40 and letting it soak. I got the Allen wrench on it and hadn't even pulled before the head sheared right off. It left some meat, but it was beyond my capabilities to go any farther, so out came the phone book. A couple of people mentioned a shop here in Anchorage called Northern 4x4 Suppliers, so they were the first place that I called. Since I stopped before I rendered the Dog undriveable, I was able to take it in and show them what was wrong. In order to avoid the possibility of breaking all of the bolt heads off (they all look sketchy), they opted to pull up the grille and the radiator and go at them from the top. The problem was that the line and the fitting were fused together and they had to twist the end off to get the line out. That ended the possibility of getting the line rebuilt and forced me to track down a new or workable used line. I actually managed to find a Postal in a salvage yard AND brand new return and pressure lines! Unfortunately, the delay caused by finding the new lines was too much to allow Northern to get the Dog ready for the trip to Talkeetna and the Moose Dropping Festival. So we went to the festival without the Dog. I went ahead and included a picture of the Dropping Toss, a festival classic, where kids throw moose turds at a target and try to win prizes.
Northern 4x4 took care of getting the new lines on and the Dog is back on the road today and she managed to get us to dinner in fine stead tonight. In other news, the Dog is now wearing the team colors, check out the new pictures. Tomorrow is an all-out assault on the ends of the axles. I hope to swap in the new bearings, get the new slotted rotors and pads on the front, check the rear shoes and change them, if necessary. After that, I'm planning on finding a nice drive to try her out on the highway. The departure date of the afternoon of the 18th is still looking good and everything is on schedule. Stay tuned for more details.
She's ready. Aside from a few minor things, I declared D-Dog ready to go after finishing replacing the shocks, installing slotted, stainless brake rotors and pads, replacing the front wheel bearings, and installing a new steering stabilizer. Everything has gone smoothly and in order to celebrate and shake out the bugs I drove her up to Palmer to meet Dean, a Postal fiend, who has owned five of these beasts. Check out the picture of beautiful downtown Palmer. By dumb luck, I happened to park in front of the auto parts store and thought that was funny. Dean's got one under construction with a new frame, an insane Chevy V-8, 4" lift, a new body tub waiting to be mated to a postal firewall, the coolest looking roof rack I've ever seen and too much other cool stuff to list. He checked out the Dog and thought she looked pretty fit. We then checked out his place and rides under construction. In a HUGE act of goodwill to his fellow Jeeper, he hooked me up with a seatbelt and buckle that I was planning on scouring junkyards for tomorrow! Dean's a great guy and he knows more about these things than anyone I've met this far. If anyone wants more detailed info than I'm able to provide, I'll be happy to get you in contact with him. I've included two pictures from his place; one of the man with the Dog and one with a better view of what you look out on from his front porch. I don't know how he can stand living in a place like that - tough life.
The first of what I figure is going to be a common occurrence happened when I pulled in to the station; someone stopping me to talk. The guy in front of me was in a Toyota truck and was heading in to pay when he saw me pull in. He veered over to me and said "I've got one of those!" This I didn't expect, but he told me about his and what his plans were for it. We talked for a while and he checked out the engine and finally went on in to pay. Pretty small world I figure, even if I am still in Alaska. If it happens in Iowa, then I'll freak out. Although I was really concentrating on the road, the Jeep and the gauges, I did manage to look out the window once or twice and you can see what it looked like in the picture I took out the window. Not bad for not looking, huh? I also snapped a (blurry) picture of the first time that I got her over 55. Luckily, the speedo numbers are big enough to see, anyhow. In total, the trip was 91 miles and I came back heavy one seat belt and no problems! Once again, better than I had hoped. I pray that trend keeps up.
7/18
1:10 PM Alaskan time, Jason's place Nothing major to report on the Jeep front since the last installment, other than to say it's packed to the roof. There might be one cubic foot of space in total that isn't being used in the back, and we're really going to have to work on getting the things we want handy organized up font. Everything that we wanted to get in there is going to fit, though, so that's something. My new worry now is the condition of the rear springs. Packed full, the Dog is riding low in the back and although we're not riding on the stops, there isn't a lot of travel left. There are a couple of pictures to try and show the load in the Jeep and a pic of the CB and inverter mounted up in/under the dash. The CB is just duct-taped to the bottom of the empty ashtray holder. Very classy. After a little over two weeks up here in Alaska with great weather, it's raining today. It started last night and there's been a steady rain ever since. I'm hoping that we'll drive out of it when we head north towards Tok, which is the first major milestone, where we turn back to the south on the AlCan highway and get going in the right direction. We have no plans as to where we're going to get to tonight and we're just going to drive as far as we feel we can make it. This is the beginning of the unknown internet access period, so I'll send in what I can when I can. It's time. Let's get this party started. If you haven't been praying for us yet, please feel free to start now. :)
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