The giveaway XJ brokedown

[87xjco]

I don't believe there's a curse or it's a fluke that something happened to each rig, I'd be surprised if something didn't happen!

Whether it's a pro builder or a team of volunteers, most every major build like these have bugs and problems pop up that need to be worked out! Especially when you have builders working their asses off to make a deadline!

Plus when the builders have little or no prior ownership/wheeling experience with the particular rigs being built, that makes the job even tougher!!

And I suspect there'd be some complaining if the builders drove the rigs around for a couple of months after the build for "testing" purposes?

 

[DrMoab]

X2! I think no matter what, I would have put that jeep on a trailer, just because it was a completly untested rig.

My hats still off to the guys who threw it together in a short period of time. It isn't like they got it finished six months ago and had plenty of time to test everything out.

I don't believe there's a curse or it's a fluke that something happened to each rig, I'd be surprised if something didn't happen!

Whether it's a pro builder or a team of volunteers, most every major build like these have bugs and problems pop up that need to be worked out! Especially when you have builders working their asses off to make a deadline!

Plus when the builders have little or no prior ownership/wheeling experience with the particular rigs being built, that makes the job even tougher!!

And I suspect there'd be some complaining if the builders drove the rigs around for a couple of months after the build for "testing" purposes?

 

[postalxj]

You know a few of you say i dont support this forum or group. You are right, and im not red yet i do agree. But i do want to say that is everyone on this sit is great all of you helped me on ideas for building my Jeep! I want to apologize for the BullSh!t post i have been putting on here about the giveaway I have just seen to many wrongs in giveaways and im not compare. Sorry and i hope youall can forgive me. :doh:So im going to go under my bolder now cause a rock or hole cant hold me.

 

[markw]

Well Congrats on Winning the XJ! Glad everyone is safe after such an ordeal.
Oh, and the rules were very specific about who couldn't win the Jeep:
I say so what if he helped work on, advertise for or donate to the jeep build. If he is not one of these named people that couldn't win it then quit pissing and moaning. If I was to guess I would say he probably purchased more tickets than most other people. If you are more involved with such a fund raiser you are more likely to purchase tickets more than 1 time. I bought $50 in tickets a couple weeks before the giveaway. If I would have been more involved I probably would have bought $50.00 worth of tickets each month for the last 6 months. If he had only bought 1 ticket then you may have some justification in your accusations.
I honestly didn't care to win it. Ya, it would be nice, but the donation to an 4x4 organization of this caliber is well worth just giving them the money.


You will have to post up an update and some wheeling pics of the giveaway jeep when you get it out. I really want to see that bad boy in action

If I remember right, he didn't win it. It was his dad's ticket that they drew and it was going to his dad who wasn't there.

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Hey, guys, Rob from NJ here with a brief update on Josh and Nate:

I left Brighton, CO yesterday morning and headed up I-76 and picked up I-80 (resuming my own run home after unexpected repairs of the leaky kind - see my thread in the CO forum). Shortly after stopping for lunch not too far into Nebraska, I saw the "RedHeep Express" in a rest stop. I didn't pull in because I didn't positively ID them until I had missed the entrance, but I needed fuel and stopped at the next exit for some.

When I went to get back onto the road, they were on the side of the ramp - apparently, Josh's rig was experiencing some sort of intermittent ignition cutout or something that they couldn't track down. I offered to tailgun for them for a while, and ended up convoying with them to Omaha, and then again today through Iowa and Illinois and into Indiana.

The intermittent cutting out is still plaguing the Heep, but Nate said that if he pops it into neutral and revs it real hard it settles down. They're getting a fault code for the ballast resistor bypass circuit, which might be a clue (we bypassed the ballast resistor itself at lunch today, but that didn't help - seems to only start after a couple hours' operation. Some sort of heat-soaking problem, they think). Still, it's moving under its own power and only has to get to Nate's house in Ohio, where it can get back on the trailer and ride the rest of the way home.

No curse, eh? How about the fact that not a single wheeled entity in Josh and Nate's little convoy has been spared - the trailer has lost a wheel bearing cap and both load distribution bars, and the tow rig itself almost didn't restart two and a half hours ago when we stopped for fuel. If that's not a curse, someone's been sending some seriously messed up ju-ju their way and needs to stop, NOW.

I peeled of from the rear about 20 minutes after that fuel stop to find a hotel for the night - when I "signed off" over the radio, both the Heep and the tow rig/trailer were running well. Josh and Nate are pushing on to make Ohio tonight (and if the tow rig needs more fuel, they're going to leave it running at the pump!). Hopefully they'll make it without incident - the last thing I want to see tomorrow on I-80 is them stuck on the road again.

Hopefully they'll let us know when they make it home safely - I know I'll be checking for a post to that effect.

Rob

 

[HaleYes]

Thanks for the update Rob!

Hopefully they'll make it the rest of the way without incident. *fingers crossed*

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Thanks for the update Rob!

Hopefully they'll make it the rest of the way without incident. *fingers crossed*

No problem - I know I was happy to hear the updates two days ago while I was cooling my heels at AAMCO, so I thought I'd pay it forward and let folks know they're safely onto the home stretch.

While "flying wing" for a day and a half and pulling a little info out of my FSM on the ballast resistor and related bypass circuit isn't much, at least I could do that much for them. Hopefully a little of the good luck that got me back on the road so fast back in Colorado rubbed off on them.


Rob

 

[87manche]

well we made it into my sister in law's place with tow rig and josh's heep about 1:30 am last night.

I'm at work right now.
I'm sure josh will update when he gets up.

To say that I'm exhausted is an understatement. 16 hours through a rainstorm in a heep with Mt's and a spool is a tiring affair.
I appreciate everyone that's helped, whether it be phone calls or stopping on the side of the road.

We officially named the giveaway XJ "Christine" last night. If it starts straightening it's own sheetmetal then I'm running away.

 

[Rob Mayercik]

Glad to hear you guys made it home all right, Nate.

 

[87manche]

Glad to hear you guys made it home all right, Nate.

Be safe on the rest of your trip Rob. It was nice to have someone else on the road to offer opinions and such.
Josh's heep bucked once or twice more, but smoothly sailed through most of IN and OH.

The plan is to get the wheel put back on it today so we can get it and the MJ off the trailer and it and the XJ back on the trailer so Josh can drive back to NC.

At least we got a decent dinner out of it at Famous Daves.

 

[RedHeep]

Trail Carnage in Moab:

1 gas tank
2 D30 shafts
1 swaybar disconnect mount
1 trackbar bushing


Interstate Carnage:
1 D60 shaft
1 Brake rotor
1 Weight distribution hitch ball mount
1 Trailer axle end cap
1 Unknown hot start diesel fuel problem
1 Unknown fuel pump/ignition old jeep problem

All in all, it was a horrible trip home. Between the troubleshooting stops for things we couldn't fix on the heep and the gas stops for the rigs, we must've spent 6 hours on the side of the road or in truckstops in 2 days. Nothing seemed to happen at the same time, so we'd stop for gas and then an hour later the heep would act up. Then we'd drive for another 3 hours and need gas again, then something would happen 2 hours later.

Ultimately, as smooth as our trip out was, the trip back was just as rough. But even when we were stuck in Colorado, I just mentioned to everyone that Colorado is better than work

The new shaft showed up today and my father in law picked up the new bearing yesterday. A quick trip to the parts store for a rotor and some work with the drill press and the giveaway XJ will be rolling. I'm going to give it a real good inspection once it gets home with me. Dad isn't a wheeler and I'm going to take it with me to give it the finishing touches that Led and Jeff just didn't have time for.

I got a private message from Jeff and I'm sure he'd like it if I kept it private. But I want to say this publicly for everyone to hear:

SHIT HAPPENS. I don't now or ever will hold Led, Jeff, or anyone who worked on the XJ responsible for what happened. There is no way to know what failed or why and judging from the rest of the work on the XJ, I'm sure it wasn't their fault. They thrashed for weeks, strained relationships and busted their ass to make sure this got done. They had big hurdles with parts availability and other things and made it happen. No one will ever need to apologize to me. EVER.

I do totally agree with Ryan. If I would have had trailer space and it was the better option, I would have towed it home. Unfortunately, with Nate's jeep completely out and my heep needing some serious repairs, I just didn't feel comfortable sticking my family in either one of them. The giveaway XJ rode perfectly. The steering is a little touchy in the middle, but once you got used to it, she ran right up to 70 mph straight and true. I really believe that had we not had some chinese brake part fail, we would have made it just like we planned. My wife even said it was comfortable (!).

Thanks again to everyone who helped. Cal coordinated the shaft warranty and it showed up in 2 days just like he said it would. I've been on the phone with Avery a bunch getting parts information and Scrappy called me yesterday just to make sure we were alright. Rob took time out of his trip to fall in behind us at a blistering 62 mph and hung there for almost 2 days. Troy (yellaheep) found us a garage to work in when it was 19 degrees outside.

It's not about this website. It's not about the trails we conquer. It's not about the rigs we build. It's about the people we trade stories with around the campfire.

Josh

 

[Kittrell]

Dad isn't a wheeler.......

Yeah...........about that..........might of kept that to myself.

 

[Boatwrench]

SHIT HAPPENS. I don't now or ever will hold Led, Jeff, or anyone who worked on the XJ responsible for what happened. There is no way to know what failed or why and judging from the rest of the work on the XJ, I'm sure it wasn't their fault. They thrashed for weeks, strained relationships and busted their ass to make sure this got done. They had big hurdles with parts availability and other things and made it happen. No one will ever need to apologize to me. EVER.

Josh

Josh,
Glad everyone is safe and that you have a positive attitude. You're correct these guys did a great job.
Tom

 

[RedHeep]

Yeah...........about that..........might of kept that to myself.

Don't start. 6800 tickets later, everyone had the same chance. I'm sure there were a lot of tickets in that box from people who were happy to donate. I'm sure there were a lot of tickets in that box from people who just wanted to win something, regardless of what they were going to do with it.

It really doesn't matter. No matter the intentions or the preferred hobbies of the winner, the jeep got won by someone. That ticket just happened to have my dad's name on it.

There were plenty of people who were forbidden by the rules to win who had relatives or friends with tickets in the box. My brother had $50 worth. Goatman's dad had tickets, so did Cal's dad and Woody's granddaughter, just to name a few. There is no controversy here, so there isn't any reason for the comments to suggest such a thing.

 

[High2by]

It's not about this website. It's not about the trails we conquer. It's not about the rigs we build. It's about the people we trade stories with around the campfire.

Josh

Amen!

I'm glad everything has worked out. I've been a member for only a short while, but I've met some great people and I still have some great people to meet.

 

[Boatwrench]

Don't start. 6800 tickets later, everyone had the same chance. I'm sure there were a lot of tickets in that box from people who were happy to donate. I'm sure there were a lot of tickets in that box from people who just wanted to win something, regardless of what they were going to do with it.

It really doesn't matter. No matter the intentions or the preferred hobbies of the winner, the jeep got won by someone. That ticket just happened to have my dad's name on it.

There were plenty of people who were forbidden by the rules to win who had relatives or friends with tickets in the box. My brother had $50 worth. Goatman's dad had tickets, so did Cal's dad and Woody's granddaughter, just to name a few. There is no controversy here, so there isn't any reason for the comments to suggest such a thing.

My Grand mother had a ticket in the box, she's 103! My Grandaughter had a ticket in the box, she's 18 months. Everyone had the same chance.

 

[ChiXJeff]

There were plenty of people who were forbidden by the rules to win who had relatives or friends with tickets in the box.

From what I see in the exclusions, it's spouses only. Not brothers. Not fathers. Not aunts. Not cousins. Heck, my live-in girlfriend would not have been covered by the exclusion.

Hope he enjoys the Jeep.

 

[macgyvr]

Just wheel it!!!

mac 'had $100 in tix in the box' gyvr

 

[Skully]

Don't start. 6800 tickets later, everyone had the same chance. ..........................

Redheep I think you misinterpreted Kittrell's post? ..........that is not what I read into it anyway.

Originally Posted by RedHeep
Dad isn't a wheeler.......

Kittrell
Yeah...........about that..........might of kept that to myself.

I think he was giving you grief for openly admitting your dad is not a wheeler.................although with that sweet rig, just add 1 cup of water and a person and instant wheeler. :greensmok

 

[Rob Mayercik]

It's not about this website. It's not about the trails we conquer. It's not about the rigs we build. It's about the people we trade stories with around the campfire.

Josh

Yep - it's the folks who make , not the rigs, the runs, or the trails.

Can't wait to see the pics from Christine's first trail run.

Rob