What did you do today for your bug out vehicle?

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Went and made Bluehawk (aka The Chimpmobile) Texas legal by getting it inspected, insured as well as transfering the title and registration into my name.

I am now once again amongst the mobile UFoZS'ers.

I cannot thank NT2C and Mrs. NT2C enough for gifting me the truck and I am forever grateful they chose me to be Bluehawk's new caretaker.

Well, Bluehawk is an old member of the family, we decided he needed to stay in the family.

And I appreciate that greatly.

[Rednex]

What did i do today, well after 2 hours I knocked about 3 pounds of rust off it. I was trying to fix a blown brake line ( hard line) . So i cant get to the connection end where it goes up over the rear axle, then connects to a bracket where the soft line runs to. Move the spare tire ... nope it has a safety double lock on it. I put the winch all the way down but the safety thats on the top side where you can't see or reach is rusted/seized and wont disengage. I had a 3 foot crowbar, 4 foot pipe, 8 lb hammer and got nothing down. I also followed directions of crank it up then 2 clicks past tight then lower several times, and my floor jack to trick it to unlock.

[majorhavoc]

If anyone else wants to do the thing, the things are 16" long, 2.5" high, matte white, and cost me $11.49ea on Amazon.  Other colors and finishes are available.  The font is Serpentine Bold Oblique.  I put a 16" max length limit on it because, as @12_Gauge_Chimp will attest, it can get pretty huge.

https://a.co/d/cTohTQq

(I'll add a picture below of a 3" one I ordered without setting a limit. It's 45" long.)
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Look what arrived early!  I neglected to take measurements on my car; in my mind, I thought I had more height where I wanted to put it.  Glad I ordered the 2.5" tall font instead of the 3" I was leaning towards.  It just barely fit.

And yes, I know it sorta looks like it's photoshopped onto my car.  It isn't. If I had, I would have at least centered it better ...

I think it looks awesome! 

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

If anyone else wants to do the thing, the things are 16" long, 2.5" high, matte white, and cost me $11.49ea on Amazon.  Other colors and finishes are available.  The font is Serpentine Bold Oblique.  I put a 16" max length limit on it because, as @12_Gauge_Chimp will attest, it can get pretty huge.

https://a.co/d/cTohTQq

(I'll add a picture below of a 3" one I ordered without setting a limit. It's 45" long.)
You cannot view this attachment.

Look what arrived early!  I neglected to take measurements on my car; in my mind, I thought I had more height where I wanted to put it.  Glad I ordered the 2.5" tall font instead of the 3" I was leaning towards.  It just barely fit.

And yes, I know it sorta looks like it's photoshopped onto my car.  It isn't. If I had, I would have at least centered it better ...

I think it looks awesome! 

I love the unintentional face reveal in the window.

[NT2C]

I did a better

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[12_Gauge_Chimp]

Now y'all got me thinking of getting a sticker for the camper on the Chimpmobile (aka Bluehawk).

[wolf_from_wv]

New front brake pads and rotors.

[NT2C]

Added up front ditch lights as an experiment.

(pic uploading)

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I also straightened out the nudge bar lean and now my parking sensors work again.

[NT2C]

Did stuff

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Can't see the URL well on the Jeep from this angle but from closer the flat black looks silver-grey.

[wolf_from_wv]

So that brings me up to:

brake pedal switch
main drive shaft
4 wheel bearings
4 new tires
front brake pads and rotors
rear brake pads and rotors
rear caliper
front wheel speed sensors
tie rods, inner and outer
radiator

I had the alignment shop put the lower control arm on so they could do the alignment with the tires.  That pot hole was a killer.

I have both front CV axles waiting to put them on.

[Rednex]

Back at it again, with more of a plan. Moved truck clso to workshop, fired up air compressor and got the 1/2 impact gun out. Got 5 of the 8 bolts holding the bed on out, cut the other 3. Got 3 guys coming 10 tomorrow to pick the bed off. Then spare tire winch and brake line work. Took me 3 hours of wrenching and prying before i decided to just start cutting, and order new bolts.

[EBuff75]

Back at it again, with more of a plan. Moved truck clso to workshop, fired up air compressor and got the 1/2 impact gun out. Got 5 of the 8 bolts holding the bed on out, cut the other 3. Got 3 guys coming 10 tomorrow to pick the bed off. Then spare tire winch and brake line work. Took me 3 hours of wrenching and prying before i decided to just start cutting, and order new bolts.

I spent several hours over a weekend once just getting the old spare tire hoist off my old truck.  Soak nuts in penetrating oil; wait an hour; turn several shades of purple trying to get the nuts to move; spray with more penetrating oil; rinse, repeat...  Eventually I degraded to beating on the whole thing with a sledgehammer, which was finally enough to get them loosened up.

Worst part with those is that they were retained bolts that were welded to the undercarriage.  So I had to be careful that I didn't damage them, or else I wouldn't have been able to put the new hoist on without taking the truck somewhere to have new ones welded on.

I always end up keeping old nuts and bolts (I have whole bins full of them), but replacing them with new ones is usually a lot easier!

[Z.O.R.G.]

@majorhavoc Nice ADK sticker below UFOZS!  I'll be there later this year camping.

[majorhavoc]

@majorhavoc Nice ADK sticker below UFOZS!  I'll be there later this year camping.

Ha! You get bonus points for noticing that, Z.O.R.G.!  I grew up on the northern edge of the Adironacks in St. Lawrence County, on the Canadian border.  At least a few times a year, Saranac Lake, south of where I lived, was the coldest spot in the continential US.  The 'Dacks are beautiful; an ancient mountain range with spectacular wilderness to explore.  Lake Placid is kinda touristy (I call it the Gatlinburg, TN of NY State), but if you get there, check out the Olympic Ski jumps at Mt. Vanhovenburg.  You can take the elevator to the top and get a look-see on what competitors have to stare down to start their runs.  I always wondered: how the f*ck do you work up the nerve to do it the for the first time?   

As always, pictures just don't do it justice ...  (this one's from the smaller, 70 meter tower - the "baby" jump)

[Z.O.R.G.]

We usually camp SW of Lake Placid, outside of Old Forge.  Now if you had an Old Forge HW sticker...

[majorhavoc]

Oh heck, you know it well then.  You're not far from Blue Mountain Lake.  We used to take school field trips to the museum there.

[NT2C]

My exs family had 40 acres near Ticonderoga.  That was our regular camping and hunting area.

[eugenenine]

Drove the 500 mile round trip to the farm and back last weekend

[NT2C]

New wipers all around on the Jeep. It lives outside now and winter is coming so I went with some Bosch Icon blades.

[slipkid42]

Changed the backup lights to brighter LED bulbs