Handing over the keys

[roaniecowpony]

I was born with a wrench in my hand
I grew up in my dad's gas station and have been Turing a wrench ever scene
My last off road vehicle was a Yamaha 490 and that was 25 years ago I am now 65 years old
In 2020 I bought my first Jeep. A 4 door 2020 Willys and of course I can't leave it as is
Front and rear Dana 44 lockers 4 to 1 transfer case, bumpers, 35in.tires,wheels, brakes, 2.5 lift and a lot more
Put when it came time to do the gears I hesitated although I have rebuilt 100s of diffs in my time as a mechanic
I made an appointment at the 4x4 shop in Livermore and they where 2 mouths out
After waiting a few weeks I woke up one morning and said I CAN DO THIS although its been a long long time scene I did one
Pieces of cake. It all came back. It just takes longer and more patience
I now also have a 2018 Rubicon JL I pick up for my wife. This one I will leave as is except for bumpers and brake upgrades
I hope I will be doing all the work on my jeeps until the day I die
Also check out my post on Mushy brake syndrome
The dealer told me there was nothing wrong BUT I FIXED IT

I was thinking of how we grew up similarly, with regard to wrenching at least.

I'm 66. My father was in the USAF and us kids were all service brats to a veteran of 3 wars who was crew chief (lead mechanic) on propeller fighters in WW2. By the time I was 12, I was installing lawnmower engines in Schwinn frames, rebuilding Briggs & Strattens and using meth. Meth to me and my brother was methanol. We modified a Briggs to hopping to run on methanol, and were working on dad's cars. By 14, I machined a new billet connecting rod for the methanol Briggs. At 16, I was driving cars at Lion's and Irwindale drag strips. At 21, I bought an aerobatic airplane and over the years modified it to have more horsepower and flight performance while competing in aerobatics.

But recently, I decided to take my Jeep to a friend to have him do the lift, skids, gears and a few other mods. It just seemed like it was more than I wanted to do in the driveway. My body is feeling a bit old. So, I'm being more selective about what I want to do.

Sponsored

 

[Willys41]

My dad would bring home old carburetors and I would take them apart just to see how they worked
I tore every thing apart bikes, mini bikes, motorcycles, anything I could get my hands on and of cores modify
I remember my sting ray bike I added rear suspension to the banana seat. I must of been about 10 years old
My first car at 16 was 63 ford falcon $300 170cd strait 6 totaled that one
My second car a bright red 64 falcon 170cd 6
I did every thing I could to make it go and handle including stacking front sway bars on the front. No aftermarket parts back then
Now my third at 18 was a 66 chevy chevelle
Started out stock put when I was done and tons of cash later 12 second wheel standing drag car on a trailer. For the day that was pretty good
That was along process and think I sold it on the trailer at about 23 years old
Today my buddy's tell me about a car that will do 0 to 60 in 3 seconds NO THANKS I will take my rock crawler any day over a fast car. I had my fast cars and am done with that
As long as I have something to work on like my jeeps I am happy. NO couch potato here
For about 10 years I was restoring and selling tools on eBay to finance my tool habit But now they want your SSN and will send it all to the IRS . NO THANKS
My largest tool I sold was a DO-ALL band saw at 1700lb and shipped back east
I have a forklift at my house and my largest tool is a 4000lb metal sheer and will sheer 4ft X 1/4 metal
My wife keeps telling me she want to label all my tools so she knows what the are worth if I die.
( Sorry dear you are going to need help with that)
So that's my life in a nut shell
I tell people all the time
If it is broken. take it apart and fix it. If you can't fix it it was broken any way
You will never learn unless you try
Happy wrenching

 

[aville65]

I've been maintaining my vehicles, to include repairs and accessory installation, for 30+ years now.

Continuing this M.O. with my Wrangler, albeit on a modest scale thus far, has compelled to think about how much longer I can reliably slide around on a concrete floor, or an asphalt driveway. For the first time, I've had to acknowledge a ticking clock.

Buying time, in the form of a two-post garage lift, just isn't in the cards. And so having something like the benchmark upgrade of a 2" lift added to my Jeep would probably force me to give the vehicle and the key fob to a shop for the first time, ever. Oddly, it's not the expense of doing so that is personally annoying, so much as it is the abandonment of proud self-sufficiency.

Have you found yourself staring at the same decision, or reality? Have you made peace with it?

I’m with you Heimkehr, sold my full service shop and retired 2 years ago. Had two lifts equipped to the nines. Brought as much home as I could fit in my pole barn but no lifts.
I crawl around to do my oil changes on my vehicles but tire rotations are becoming cumbersome. I actually took advantage of my first wave service on the Wrangler last week.
Very weird feeling handing my keys over to some 20 year old young man for a service we considered very minor. Got it back and still went over every lug nut to correct torque. Just being anal.

 

[txj2go]

but tire rotations are becoming cumbersome

Well the biggest problem is that the darned things can get HEAVY. I'm only on Rubicon 33s and they're heavy enough, you guys with 37s need to be eating your Wheaties. I can do it but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm accumulating future problems in my already injured back. I was thinking about rotating tires to put the spare on the ground and the other tire with the least amount of tread back on the spare. I decided maybe I need to put a hook in my garage ceiling and use a come along to raise the tire up to the spare bracket.

 

[Heimkehr]

Well the biggest problem is that the darned things can get HEAVY.

I decided maybe I need to put a hook in my garage ceiling and use a come along to raise the tire up to the spare bracket.

I have sometimes wondered how the folks with comically large wheel/tire combos manage them during road-side replacement of a flat. This is doubly true if they're alone, or if their passenger(s) aren't capable of providing the necessary assistance.

There but for the grace of BF Goodrich go we...

 

[Retrograde]

... Got it back and still went over every lug nut to correct torque. Just being anal prudent.

Fixed it for you.

 

[aville65]

Well the biggest problem is that the darned things can get HEAVY. I'm only on Rubicon 33s and they're heavy enough, you guys with 37s need to be eating your Wheaties. I can do it but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm accumulating future problems in my already injured back. I was thinking about rotating tires to put the spare on the ground and the other tire with the least amount of tread back on the spare. I decided maybe I need to put a hook in my garage ceiling and use a come along to raise the tire up to the spare bracket.

I’m still on stock Michelins, enjoying the ride.

 

[Willys41]

I have two Harbor freight aluminum jacks
Because I always X rotate I put one jack under each corner of the jeep and use a 3 ft. pry bar to gently lift the tires in to place
As far as the spare go I walk it back and drop it and hope for a good bounce
If I ever get a flat it will go into the back of the jeep not back on the carrier

 

[west tex]

I've been maintaining my vehicles, to include repairs and accessory installation, for 30+ years now.

Continuing this M.O. with my Wrangler, albeit on a modest scale thus far, has compelled to think about how much longer I can reliably slide around on a concrete floor, or an asphalt driveway. For the first time, I've had to acknowledge a ticking clock.

Buying time, in the form of a two-post garage lift, just isn't in the cards. And so having something like the benchmark upgrade of a 2" lift added to my Jeep would probably force me to give the vehicle and the key fob to a shop for the first time, ever. Oddly, it's not the expense of doing so that is personally annoying, so much as it is the abandonment of proud self-sufficiency.

Have you found yourself staring at the same decision, or reality? Have you made peace with it?

Oh, yeah.

I crossed that bridge a decade ago when I was 60. Crawled under a vehicle for the last time. To be honest, I haven't missed wrenching and oil changing a bit. But like you, I definitely took notice of advancing age at the time.

But look at this way; many folks don't enjoy the privilege of living into old age. Many of the friends of my youth are already long gone.

It may take a little while, but you'll find peace with aging. Just be determined to remain active. The wife and I go to the gym 3 times/week and take walks of a couple miles on the days in between. Life is still very good.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Well the biggest problem is that the darned things can get HEAVY. I'm only on Rubicon 33s and they're heavy enough, you guys with 37s need to be eating your Wheaties. I can do it but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm accumulating future problems in my already injured back. I was thinking about rotating tires to put the spare on the ground and the other tire with the least amount of tread back on the spare. I decided maybe I need to put a hook in my garage ceiling and use a come along to raise the tire up to the spare bracket.

I just went to 37s. I'm thinking about one of these.
https://www.amazon.com/VEVOR-Dolly-...cphy=9031046&hvtargid=pla-1424727496519&psc=1

 

[Willys41]

I tried one of these
https://www.amazon.com/VEVOR-Dolly-...cphy=9031046&hvtargid=pla-1424727496519&psc=1
Put returned it to flimsy

I think this one would work better
It looks stronger
You can adjust the width or drill holes to fit your tire size

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HVBH1Y...automotive&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw

 

[NeilP]

For those of us that are already in, or getting close to those "golden years" , don't have a lift or a pit and still want to tinker on our vehicles, I highly recommend buying yourself a set of Quickjacks. They are fairly easy to move around. You can store them under your vehicle or hang them on the wall. I use mine for rotating tires. For oil changes I still use ramps.

Sadly the day is coming for me too when I will have to find a trustworthy shop, but I am gonna keep doing whatever I can for as long as I possibly manage.

 

[txj2go]

For oil changes I still use ramps.

My JLU Sport is at stock Rubicon height, I can slide anywhere underneath it to work on it without using a jack and I'm not skinny. I do have 2 jacks and jackstands if I need to work on the suspension.

 

[Dgr401]

For those of us that are already in, or getting close to those "golden years" , don't have a lift or a pit and still want to tinker on our vehicles, I highly recommend buying yourself a set of Quickjacks.

My ”golden years”, have dust on them LOL.

 

[NeilP]

My JLU Sport is at stock Rubicon height, I can slide anywhere underneath it to work on it without using a jack and I'm not skinny. I do have 2 jacks and jackstands if I need to work on the suspension.

I haven't had my Jeep long enough for it to need an oil change yet, but it looks like it will be easy enough to do with the creeper. So far I have only used the Quickjack system for tire rotations on my other vehicles.

Sponsored