I was home from Afghanistan from 12-12-12 to 12-29-12. It may sound like a good bit of time off (don't get me wrong it is), but when you have to fix things around the house, catch up of everything in life, see friends and family, ect you are not left with much time to wrench.
I set a low bar for myself while I was home, mate the motor and transmission and drop it in the frame. Or so I thought... The transmission was pretty much ready, but needed a bit of wire wheel work and paint. I realized that I needed to bolt in the frame cross member that the transfer case rests upon. I then realized in my efforts to add some stiffness to the frame (I boxed it) that I had welded sheet metal over the cross member mounting point. This led me to break out a telescoping magnet and a new light that Mike and Rusiko gave me for Christmas (see photo) and try to drop the bolts in place from inside the frame. Not fun, but it happened. I next realized that I need to put a bit of a squeeze on the frame so that the cross member would fit, again not much fun but done.
The transmission and transfer case was bolted in leaving me just the job of slotting in the motor. Right! I knew that I needed some nuts and bolts from Ace Bolt in Bryan and had laid out the parts next to my keys so that I could wake up in the morning and get the parts I needed. I failed to grab one of the parts I needed and this led to me making two trips to the bolt store before 0900. The rest of the day did not get much better. I had a bolt snap in the flywheel (I was able to drill and use an easy out successfully for the first time in my life), you guessed it, back to the bolt store.
In the end I made six trips to the bolt store that day. In the end my motor hoist was not long enough to swing the motor into place. I tried everything, but even with the help of a kind man (Thank you Dick) I was not able to get the motor and transmission to line up. I struck upon the idea of using a threaded rod and some nuts to bring the two units together. This worked well because I was able to line up the splines and pull the units into place evenly.
Not much left at all now... Just fuel lines, brake lines, steering, body work, seats, wiring, paint, roll bar.
Oh yeah, here is a photo of Mike shooting a bow that my father bought me when I was his age.
Enjoy the photos!
I set a low bar for myself while I was home, mate the motor and transmission and drop it in the frame. Or so I thought... The transmission was pretty much ready, but needed a bit of wire wheel work and paint. I realized that I needed to bolt in the frame cross member that the transfer case rests upon. I then realized in my efforts to add some stiffness to the frame (I boxed it) that I had welded sheet metal over the cross member mounting point. This led me to break out a telescoping magnet and a new light that Mike and Rusiko gave me for Christmas (see photo) and try to drop the bolts in place from inside the frame. Not fun, but it happened. I next realized that I need to put a bit of a squeeze on the frame so that the cross member would fit, again not much fun but done.
The transmission and transfer case was bolted in leaving me just the job of slotting in the motor. Right! I knew that I needed some nuts and bolts from Ace Bolt in Bryan and had laid out the parts next to my keys so that I could wake up in the morning and get the parts I needed. I failed to grab one of the parts I needed and this led to me making two trips to the bolt store before 0900. The rest of the day did not get much better. I had a bolt snap in the flywheel (I was able to drill and use an easy out successfully for the first time in my life), you guessed it, back to the bolt store.
In the end I made six trips to the bolt store that day. In the end my motor hoist was not long enough to swing the motor into place. I tried everything, but even with the help of a kind man (Thank you Dick) I was not able to get the motor and transmission to line up. I struck upon the idea of using a threaded rod and some nuts to bring the two units together. This worked well because I was able to line up the splines and pull the units into place evenly.
Not much left at all now... Just fuel lines, brake lines, steering, body work, seats, wiring, paint, roll bar.
Oh yeah, here is a photo of Mike shooting a bow that my father bought me when I was his age.
Enjoy the photos!
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