Welp it's been awhile since I've been on here, life has been busy. Unfortunately, we are no longer in Colorado but we miss it everyday. Nevertheless, life goes on and so does the Jeep build; however with minor changes.
My wife and I were blessed with our first child right before the pandemic (true covid baby the docs say lol). A couple months before little man was born, our stint in Colorado came to an end and we packed our belongs and moved across the country to Florida. Due to the addition to the family the build is going to take a slightly different trajectory i.e. I need to make it more comfortable and handle better off and on road. My goal with this build was to drive it to difficult trails wheel "hard" (relative) and make it home. In a sense I've done that, but now the trails are just much further. At some point I will get a tow rig but I enjoy the idea of piling everyone into the Jeep and just going. Likewise, I want to make it look good again (paint, interior etc), the salty air and constant humidity is having it's toll on any exposed metal.
The first thing I need to figure out, however, is my transmission. When the Jeep is running at operating temperature for awhile it doesn't want to go into gear. I'm not sure if it's a bearing (pilot, input/output), synchros or fluid issue. Glutch is engaging fine. Once it's not 110 outside I'll drop the transmission and poke around until I figure something out. It's due for a service anyhow.
With that being said, the Jeep has been tinkered with since I've been here (prior to transmission issue). I swapped the leafs, added rear frame stiffeners, and built a hitch for the bumper. I also bought the Rusty's steel fenders and they are hopefully being fabricated as I type this. I've been putting fenders off for years but now that I'm constantly in wet conditions, I bit the bullet.
Lastly, I did drive the Jeep up to NC and met with some military buddies this time last year. We camped and explored the Pisgah NF area for a week and had an amazing time.
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