Mr. Pickles

WTF? Up... down... pretty straight forward, right? She prefers *up*..... well, that's just my guess.....

Water soaking through (*cheap*)a cover? That kind of defeats things. A decent vehicle cover should block out anything this side of a tornado really. Or are we talking about some $20 tarp thing? Regarding your mineral/stuff build up, what so far has nor worked? What have you tried? Give the Meguiars cleaner wax a try. If anything, maybe just a paint cleaner/wax? I'd hate to question your technique...

No sh_t. Its been snowing here on and off throughout the day, and I'm going golfing with the guys in the am. BRRRR!!!! I almost considered skipping shorts and wearing pants. Global warming, my ass! Packie, are you going to be over there all summer? I'm pretty busy for a while, but maybe during the summer... My bro-in-law is from e-burg (currently in Chehalis), and it could be cool to hit up the area. He has a pretty stock big Bronco, not really a trail truck at all, but it could be nice to get the family out on some mild stuff if there's something in the area.

Its all about deterring the thief and making it as plain and obvious as possible that you are doing so. Don't crank your stereo around home (your neighbors will approve!), don't flaunt it with stickers and stuff, and try to park in well lit public areas. Tint + alarm + lots of flashing LED lights wired into the alarm system are a VERY good start. I added several to my alarm system, bright as can be. No, its doesn't solve things in the middle of nowhere, but it helps make them think. Most thiefs are looking for the easiest path possible, something to get into and out of as quick and easily (quietly) as possible. After that, keep things out of sight, be it a blanket, cargo area cover, etc. Mount any amps or components out of sight, cause the Unique Whips stuff will get you jacked. Finally, make your stuff hard to take... bolt it down... repeatedly. You'd have to sit there for 10 min to unbolt my stuff without an 800lb gorilla to help. A normal thief is looking for a grab and go, regardless of the vehicle. If its a grab + crowbar + get a couple friends + a bolt or cable cutter, they'll walk away. Yeah, they might cut up or mess your stuff up, but they won't be back for sure.

Nice, they should treat you well

The Cascades are supposed to get another 1-2 feet of snow this weekend, record kind of stuff for this time of year. Sheesh. Time to get ready for Wynoochee in June/July.

I have an ORV park 25 min from my house (Evans Creek). It just happens to be buried in snow.

Nice. It was like "I'll kill you" until I was 18, then "don't F up my insurance" and some even more twisted rath of god BS, f'n arsshole.

Sweet, we'll keep him around for a while yet then... Looks like things are coming together for you! BTW, what do you mean by TBC?

Just make sure he *really* has Grand Cherokee springs. As for pics, there are tons. Some people whine about not getting a lot of lift, others have plently. I've got a rear tire carrier with a 31 MT, plus a sub box and amp in back, and its been level and fine for like 4 years now. This is with a 3" BL + JGC coils, Sway Away Tbars, Rough Country UCA's (and the above gear), and little 31x12.5x15 tires.

I really think this kind of body lift is not the right tree to be barking up. If and when you can pull it off and stabilize the whole structure on top of this lift, the leverage on a 6" body lift is going to be far more than on a standard 2-3" one. I'm sure you can build the mounts and frame to the end of the earth to accomodate the whole thing, but it seems that your base argument is that you don't like SAS because of the ride, which makes no sense at all. You're trying to design by body lift while ignoring the suspension, which built out, leaves you with a really tall truck that's about as practical to drive as a monster truck. Extending the body to big heights above the frame and suspension will make it behave essentially like a big pendulum..

Yeah,not so much... Whelp, now what? Evan's is frozen, Reiter's is no go, Walker Valley is a mystery and sounds like its mostly just for trail bikes, Straddleline is dead, Tahuya is easy so probably not exciting for the built rigs. Could be fun to set up camp there though, and hang out afterward. Other than that, its over the mountains, FS roads (Cascades or Olympics), or down toward Oregon it seems. WTF?

Bummer. Hopefully lots and little, in that order.

Got nothing to say about those tires, but say 'ello to mah little friend Linky

3 + 3 + 31x12.5 15" Pro-Comp MT's

Got mine for $40 already pulled from the truck in Puyallup. Shop around, my man.

Reiter = up in Snohomish or Skagit Co., right? I've never been wheeling way up there. Where is Walker Valley? *looks like same general area* F'n gas is gonna kill us soon enough. Its tough to justify driving all over hell lately. grrr *edit* Huh, can't seem to find much on Walker Valley. The DNR stuff is down or no longer exists, and this is about all I could find on a quick search. Linky Most sites either didn't say anything about 4x4 and focused only on trail or mountain bikes, or were bashing trucks and talking about the terrain they left for bikers. Looks like there may be a 4 mile 4x4 trail, but there's no word on if that is actual trail, or just forest service roads and such to access for the bikes. It doesn't sound too promising, but has anybody been there?

Ditto on the Meguiars stuff if all else fails. We have a bit of stuff in the water out here, plus lots of bs coming off the trees and such onto the cars. I've had great results cleaning it up with various Meguiars cleaner and wax 3-stage products. I think I'm going to give the clay bar a try this year, especially on the wife's black Acura.

We have a little garden, 10'x12' and raised. I turned the soil with compost and manure a couple weeks ago, and planned to plant it this weekend mostly, but now they're calling for a chance of snow this weekend around the Seattle area. Its the middle of April! So that remains to be seen, but there will be red potatoes (already in), snap peas, zuchinni, eggplant, and a few kinds of tomatoes. I might do a couple herb pots, we'll see. Lack of water isn't a problem around here until later in July and Aug., but cold and crappy can be until them.

Ditto on the "buy a cheap Pathy" over an XJ. I honestly kinda like XJ's . Similar size to a Pathy, more power, tons of aftermarket support, etc. But they're still pigs that will generally break down on you. Buy a POS Pathy with the best frame you can find, drive it around for now, then swap parts good for bad and make a solid rig out of the 2. I call bs on that. He probably just didn't properly report it, if needed for the local municipality. Or, was it a stolen frame/body somewhere along the line, or something like that? 4x4's and hot rods have been doing this stuff for years, let alone the tube chassis vehicles on the street build in a shop with no VIN. If its street legal and you dot your "i's" and cross your "t's" on the paperwork, you should be good to go.

Oh man, that sucks. Glad to hear everybody is ok. Metal can be repaired or replaced. That's a shame, that looks very similar to my father-in-law's Pathy, a nice rig. Good luck jumping through the flaming hoops with the insurance company. Not so much. There have already been arguements in WA about how ineffective they are, since they started installing them a few years back. There was a wreck up north of Everett where an oncoming car went clean through the cable median barrier and somebody in traffic on the other side. They put them in on our local highway, and within a few days I saw a skid mark onto the median and through the barrier, nearly into oncoming traffic. They look more like a cheap visual safety net that may or *may not* save your ass.

F40 vs what, a 308? Regardless, that's not much of a competition...

Bad idea, whether for playing or when changing our your brakes. Don't crimp that line. Would you want to risk damaging it and having it blow the next time you have to make a panic stop? Mine does a nice burn with the 5sp and LockRight locker. Not so good for the mud terrains though. Sorry, no pic.

Holy isht man! Sorry I missed the vote... not that you needed it! That's some cool stuff.