4-wheel

Have you ever felt like you were going around in circles? That all you were doing was spinning your wheels? That the next round that life dealt you would be just the same as the last? Well no, not normally. That is until today when Paul asked me if I’d like to get out of the house and go for a spin in the Jeep.

A few minutes away was the Centerville City ATV Area where you are welcome to drive your vehicle in the “dike” as long as you don’t deviate from the marked area. I took some short videos while we were there.

This is what making those circles looks like from inside as a passenger. The initial filming is of the view from the side window. I don’t mind telling you that it made me a little sick. There is a reason why I work on F-16s and not fly them.

I had had enough of the circles so Paul drove up and around a bank.

This is what it looks like from the inside:

And now you know why I don’t carpool with Paul to work.

Paul decided it was time he took up four wheeling so he bought a 1993 Jeep Cherokee. There was one problem — there always is: when Paul tried to shift into 4-wheel drive there was “a grinding and crunching noise,” as Paul described it, coming from the transfer case. This newly acquired 4-wheel drive vehicle would not go into 4-wheel drive.

Jeep Cherokee drive chain

Paul inspected the transfer case and found that the drive chain was loose. If you click on the photograph of the chains side by side, you will see that the old chain has stretched a good 3/8 inch longer than the new chain. Once the replacement chain was installed Paul had a 4-wheel drive Jeep that could actually drive four wheels.

There were a few minor issues like replacing the 90% water antifreeze with a 30% water mix, fixing the blower motor, and two new window winder handles.

Of course a quick test was in order so we headed to the mountains to check Paul’s repair work. It looks like he is good to go, judging from this superb video I filmed. Click here if you cannot see the video.

I took several photographs with the sun low in the sky which gave the Cherokee a definitely uncool pinkish color look.

Rickety signature.