Yesterday was interesting. I had decided Sunday that Monday would be a “work on the XJ” night. I wanted to get the front drive shaft pulled and rig up the front seat so that I could see if I’m still getting the vibrations. Most importantly, I wanted to get the donor Jeep put in the shop so I can start dismantling it. Around 4 that all changed. The old man decided he wanted to finish his retaining wall because the rocks were back in stock. I didn’t want him out there killing over when it was almost 90 all day so I went over and helped. Spent about 3 hours carrying retaining wall bricks from the trailer and dumping a whole bunch of filler rock behind the wall. As I left his place to head home on the bike I damn near lost control of the bike on the turn due to some loose gravel. I’m pretty sure that was almost a “change my underwear” moment.
I made it home much later than originally expected but I still wanted to get something done on the XJ. I got the front drive shaft pulled hoping that would be the cause of the vibration. I drove it and it wasn’t at all. Didn’t impact vibration at all. So it’s either the transmission or the rear drive shaft. The rear drive shaft has brand new u-joints in it, however, the Jeep is technically lifted so I’m wondering if the angle of the drive shaft is too great for the u-joints. I’m still going to push forward with the swap and deal with the vibrations after it’s done.
Then I got to push the damn thing. The front tire on the donor was flat. I thought I could overcome that given my driveway is relatively flat. However, I was wrong. Pitch black outside I got the pleasure of swapping the tire for the spare out of the good XJ. Those lugs were rusty as all hell. Finally got it swapped and after way more energy than should have been required, I got it pushed into the shop. After a thread on GarageJournal I was inspired to do a night shot so I went ahead and got one of the projects and the bike.
Last week I had decided I wanted to buy a Miata. In order to get said Miata I made a deal with the wife that I would donate plasma to compensate for the payment. I decided to give plasma today, after all of the work I had done yesterday. I was exhausted! However, despite fears I had from an experience at the plasma center on a field trip in 6th grade, it all went well. Except I wasn’t able to give because they weren’t able to find my vein in my right arm after doing something to the left arm making it not able to give. However, I did get poked and it went just fine. So … now it’s time to add a Miata.