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Cross-Country Scrambler Recovery
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The beginning of two days... The beginning of two days of crappy weather: on the west side of the pass going through Vail, Colorado. Before I was done, I'd see 4 inches of snow on a three lane interstate, 17-degree low, and a 15-mph top speed for 3 hours on the same interstate, a half-hour ESP workout (the light was flashing for at least 30 minutes thanks to ice and snow on the road and pulling a trailer up through 7,000-8,000 feet of elevation), and a 30-degree jump in temperature making the inside of all the windows on the tow rig fog instantly at 70 mph. With A Little Help From My Friends
As you might imagine, being in the business of writing about Jeeps, a person meets a lot of people that are into Jeeps. So, when I headed off on a half-cocked hair-brained trip to cross this great country of ours twice, I sent tons of emails, and made a plethora of calls to people I've met not only in the last four years of writing about Jeeps, but the last 15 years of living them. So, looking back on it, I'd like to say thank you to my friends who made the dream that I've had for half of my life of owning a Scrambler come true. Thanks to Mike from Ohio for nabbing the thing for me, keeping it in his yard for months even though his wife wasn't thrilled about it, and donating an inline-six and front clip to the cause. Thanks to John in New Jersey for taking a day off of work, killing his back helping me load the trailer, and most of all, helping me pull my hand out of the cherry picker once the jury-rigged setup collapsed and crushed it. Thanks to Jon and all the other guys in Ohio that helped bring the engine, the cherry picker and the tools to that Wal-Mart parking lot. Thanks to Phil, Heather, Adam, and all the other people who came to help and heckle during the engine swap, transmission and transfer case install, and too many other parts swaps to even begin to mention here. Thanks to Bob, Jason, Mike, and all the guys in Wyoming. Bob for the killer deal on the body and associated parts, and the other guys for making a major swap happen in a matter of hours. Thanks to Cody from Reno, Nevada, for schooling me on trailers, trailer tires, and the safe way to change them while under load. Sure, it was really late in the trip, but better late than never.  I had lined up a trade of...  I had lined up a trade of one of my old AMC V-8's for a transmission and transfercase, and needed to load the engine on the trailer. The problem was the hydraulic cylinder on the cherry picker was dead and I needed to get the engine out of the back of my sprung over Jeepster on 35's and the over the rail and onto the trailer. The solution was to use the winch off this CJ-5, a piece of engine stand, and some jumper cables from a running Dodge truck. The strap holding the engine stand part didn't come until after I had crushed and possibly broken a finger or two on my right hand.  I knew I'd never smog the...  I knew I'd never smog the CJ-8 in California with a '78 304, so I talked Mike out of his J-10's old 258 I-6. We put it in the Scrambler in a Wal-Mart parking lot in Wellsville, Ohio. Some of the guys who were on the trail run that day lent a hand. I mean, how often can you say you put an engine in a Jeep on a trailer in a parking lot while it was drizzling?  If you ever have the option...  If you ever have the option between a J-truck 258 and a CJ 258 for your CJ, go with the CJ engine. There are enough differences between the two engines that would require parts-swapping the CJ engine is the better choice. So, I traded the J-truck engine to my buddy Phil in Wisconsin. Apparently, this is the preferred method of pulling engines in Wisconsin.  The V-8 I grabbed in New Jersey...  The V-8 I grabbed in New Jersey was traded to Phil for a transmission, transfer case, a skidplate, and some other parts to get a complete drivetrain in my new Jeep. Note the high-end tarp covering a couple thousand dollars worth of tools and parts that served all the way until Wyoming.  It wasn't until the tub was...  It wasn't until the tub was on the ground that it dawned on me just what kind of shape my new Scrambler was really in. This was after dragging it for 6,000 miles and at least two nights of little-to-no sleep working on it. Even born and raised in the rust belt as I am, this was an eye-opener to me.  How many guys does it take...  How many guys does it take to lift a complete clean Scrambler body? About two more than it takes to move a rust-eaten Swiss cheese tub. I made a deal with my friend Bob in Wyoming for his CJ-8 tub that was no longer in service. Part of the deal was a complete tub, front clip, doors, soft top, and organizing a miniature army to help pull the old parts off and put the new parts on. We rolled a complete looking Jeep in, pulled the body, put on another one, and rolled a complete looking Jeep back onto the trailer in about six hours.  After we'd swapped tubs, put...  After we'd swapped tubs, put the front clip back on, and loaded the Scrambler back up to the roof with tools and parts, I was ready to go. However, Bob noticed one of my trailer tires was about ready to come apart. So, we swapped the spare on that I'd bought just before this trip. Look at the tread, or lack thereof on that tire laying on the lawn. Nice, huh?  Even with swapping the spare...  Even with swapping the spare on in Wyoming, I still lost a tire to tread delamination just over the Nevada state line. I swapped on the tire we'd previously pulled, and went to town to buy yet another tire. That's not to say the remaining tires on the trailer looked like they'd last that long, but trying to keep costs down, I only replaced one.  By the time I'd hit Reno,...  By the time I'd hit Reno, Nevada, about 7,500 miles into my trip, it was time to crash. My buddy Cody, a long time rancher (read: pulls horses and equipment on trailers all the time) quickly schooled me on trailering and trailer tires. I had three out of five tires that weren't worth spit. So, we put two new tires on the trailer and Cody helped me build a trailer ramp, which made changing tires on a loaded trailer way less scary than using the stock Grand Cherokee jack.
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