LittleDog
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 16, 2020
- Threads
- 33
- Messages
- 648
- Reaction score
- 936
- Location
- New Jersey
- Vehicle(s)
- 2020 Sahara JLU
- Thread starter
- #1
Drove some folks to the airport today, and as I was leaving a guy came up to me and asked if I wouldn't happen to have some jumper cables. I told him, of course, but actually one better even, as I had a giant jump battery that wouldn't require futzing about with aligning the cars for a jump in the busy airport departure lane.
While we were walking back with the battery, for conversation's sake I asked him how many people he had hit up before getting to me. Turns out I was actually the first person he had asked and he was really just waiting for the airport maintenance vehicle to arrive, but took the chance to ask me. He said, "I saw all the stuff(junk) in your car(sic) when you were unloading and thought that you look like someone that would have jumper cables and know how to use them"
To clarify, since getting her a few months ago, I've been seriously/pretending to prime the jeep for a cross-country trip, so I suppose that there is a lot of (lifesaving) stuff(junk) in the back, and she does sport more antennas than absolutely necessary. With regards to my person, after spending ten days on an aborted trip to California two months ago, I misguidedly vowed to not shave until I successfully made it to the Wrong Coast; I am decidedly scruffy now. I was wearing a worn-out, faded Carhartt jacket, beat up hiking boots, and an old hat that might still be a hat in name only. How stereotypicalist! Stereotypist? Stereotyperist. -ical?
End of story, after detecting 11.2V initially, the big Noco jumper started the little four cylinder Accord anyway. Guy said that he had driven two hours to the airport for a trip to Miami, and his wife with kids were waiting past security inside; he had already figured on missing his flight and sitting Standby for the next, since the airport truck wasn't expected for an hour yet. I wished him luck catching his flight and told him to try to organise getting a jump battery to the airport so he could be on his way as soon as they returned and to get his alternator looked at. As he pulled out and passed by, my only regret was forgetting to ask him to contribute to the battery maintenance/beer fund. And telling him that cabbies often carry jumpers. (Do they still?)
I don't really consider myself a 'car guy'. I remember there being quite a few spare parts after tearing down and rebuilding a lawnmower engine in autoshop all those years ago. (It still ran!) I hadn't been under a vehicle in a long time, random loose bits and broken belly pans notwithstanding. Simple mechanical and electrical stuff is alright, topping off fluids, bulbs and fuses and such. If I had to, brakes and plugs would probably be alright, but direct injection and all the computer stuff is beyond me. I'd say I have basic car maintenance skills, though it seems a bit like today's driver doesn't need to do many of these things anymore.
After getting the Wrangler though, things have changed a bit. Even stock, it's tall enough for me to get under with just a crawler; I've already been under there a dozen times just for the alignment. (Aside: My bad steering is pretty much gone. 8,400~ miles now. Wandering all over the road until I lowered tire pressure, rotated tires, got an alignment, and adjusted center many times. Seems that there was a break in period for mine, but beforehand it was as bad as all the terrible steering issue posts suggest. The cold seems to help too. Hint: Solid front axle and the crown of the road will drive you crazy thinking that things aren't centered when they actually are. Drive in the passing and exit lanes on at least a three lane before even thinking about non-centered steering wheels.) I've even parked and given the adjustment collar a turn with just a glove and a crescent wrench.
After years of paying for them, oil changes are a breeze now. I'm pretty sure the gunk at the bottom of my oil drain pan was the evaporated remains of 4+ litres of oil from my last self oil change twenty plus years ago. Not that I even need the pan anymore. At 5 quarts per, the precise amount in a large jug, the old-oil containers are theoretically self-sustaining. And no more finding those 'How old is this?' half bottles.
Sorry, got sidetracked. Long story short, some dude saw my jeep and my uncharacteristically hairy facade, and presumed that I was a bonafide car guy. In comparison, I was, but it looks like I'm headed towards being even more so in the future. So I just wanted to say I appreciate the ease of fiddling with the Wrangler for starting to get me back into cars a bit more, and hope that the enthusiasm sticks past the first claim that I've voided the warranty on.
While we were walking back with the battery, for conversation's sake I asked him how many people he had hit up before getting to me. Turns out I was actually the first person he had asked and he was really just waiting for the airport maintenance vehicle to arrive, but took the chance to ask me. He said, "I saw all the stuff(junk) in your car(sic) when you were unloading and thought that you look like someone that would have jumper cables and know how to use them"
To clarify, since getting her a few months ago, I've been seriously/pretending to prime the jeep for a cross-country trip, so I suppose that there is a lot of (lifesaving) stuff(junk) in the back, and she does sport more antennas than absolutely necessary. With regards to my person, after spending ten days on an aborted trip to California two months ago, I misguidedly vowed to not shave until I successfully made it to the Wrong Coast; I am decidedly scruffy now. I was wearing a worn-out, faded Carhartt jacket, beat up hiking boots, and an old hat that might still be a hat in name only. How stereotypicalist! Stereotypist? Stereotyperist. -ical?
End of story, after detecting 11.2V initially, the big Noco jumper started the little four cylinder Accord anyway. Guy said that he had driven two hours to the airport for a trip to Miami, and his wife with kids were waiting past security inside; he had already figured on missing his flight and sitting Standby for the next, since the airport truck wasn't expected for an hour yet. I wished him luck catching his flight and told him to try to organise getting a jump battery to the airport so he could be on his way as soon as they returned and to get his alternator looked at. As he pulled out and passed by, my only regret was forgetting to ask him to contribute to the battery maintenance/beer fund. And telling him that cabbies often carry jumpers. (Do they still?)
I don't really consider myself a 'car guy'. I remember there being quite a few spare parts after tearing down and rebuilding a lawnmower engine in autoshop all those years ago. (It still ran!) I hadn't been under a vehicle in a long time, random loose bits and broken belly pans notwithstanding. Simple mechanical and electrical stuff is alright, topping off fluids, bulbs and fuses and such. If I had to, brakes and plugs would probably be alright, but direct injection and all the computer stuff is beyond me. I'd say I have basic car maintenance skills, though it seems a bit like today's driver doesn't need to do many of these things anymore.
After getting the Wrangler though, things have changed a bit. Even stock, it's tall enough for me to get under with just a crawler; I've already been under there a dozen times just for the alignment. (Aside: My bad steering is pretty much gone. 8,400~ miles now. Wandering all over the road until I lowered tire pressure, rotated tires, got an alignment, and adjusted center many times. Seems that there was a break in period for mine, but beforehand it was as bad as all the terrible steering issue posts suggest. The cold seems to help too. Hint: Solid front axle and the crown of the road will drive you crazy thinking that things aren't centered when they actually are. Drive in the passing and exit lanes on at least a three lane before even thinking about non-centered steering wheels.) I've even parked and given the adjustment collar a turn with just a glove and a crescent wrench.
After years of paying for them, oil changes are a breeze now. I'm pretty sure the gunk at the bottom of my oil drain pan was the evaporated remains of 4+ litres of oil from my last self oil change twenty plus years ago. Not that I even need the pan anymore. At 5 quarts per, the precise amount in a large jug, the old-oil containers are theoretically self-sustaining. And no more finding those 'How old is this?' half bottles.
Sorry, got sidetracked. Long story short, some dude saw my jeep and my uncharacteristically hairy facade, and presumed that I was a bonafide car guy. In comparison, I was, but it looks like I'm headed towards being even more so in the future. So I just wanted to say I appreciate the ease of fiddling with the Wrangler for starting to get me back into cars a bit more, and hope that the enthusiasm sticks past the first claim that I've voided the warranty on.
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