Ta-Dah!
Well the new rim arrived at OkOffroad on the 18th of Jan, it was shipped to me on the morning of the 19th. Then it arrived at 1900 on Sat., Jan 23. All the tire shops are closed on Sundays so I had to wait until Today to take it down with the bad wheel and get the tire swapped.
One way to the shop is thirteen miles and there was no waiting in line for service so it was done quickly and then I drove home and removed the spare. That's when I found that the block of wood the jack was on had compressed under the weight and now the bottle jack was at a dangerous angle. I wasn't too worried as I had a jackstand in position all these last 2 months( Really? 2 MONTHS!).
Out from the depths of the garage came the floor jack and I put it under the axle housing and brought the axle up enough to where the bottle jack fell over. It was pulled out and the crushed wood. Because the ground was so soft from the recent rains, 2.5" yesterday, the floor jack just kept sinking.
This time I got a larger footprint piece of 3/4" plywood and put the bottle jack on it and jacked up the axle so the wheel would go on. I spun the new lugnuts on the new wheel studs pulling the new rim to the hub and tightened them so they wouldn't be loose when I set it down.
That is what occurred next, the red floor jack was removed and the yellow jackstand, then the pressure valve opened on the gray bottle jack allowing the black tire and rim to sink into the soft brown dirt which surrounds the chunky white limestone rocks which makes up my sloping driveway.
The tyre place had put 60psi of nitrogen and I had to measure my other tyres to set it the same. They were at 40psi so after a minute or so I had all 4 the same.
With the engine running I pulled it forward and removed the blocks from behind the wheels. I left it running with the defroster going as all the rain had left much condensation in the cooler temps. While this was going on a transfer of tools progressed from the 88 to the 109. The spare was put back on the rear door. Once the migration was complete I thought I would have lunch prior to a test drive.
MMmmmmm Lunch..............
I had noticed some oil on the bottom of the mainbox/xfercase/OD so I wanted to investigate that first. I don't need to blow up my tranny on my first test drive! Pulling the Roamerdrive dipstick showed no oil so I looked around and couldn't find any extra(?). I changed out of my dirty clothes and put on some clean and took my motorcycle the 6 miles to the FLAPS and bought some and came home. It sure felt good to be out of the house and on 2 wheels :^)
The cubby box and center seat cover had to come out and the fill plug removed and then I put in 2 glugs and glunk and checked the dipstick. Now it was over full so I know it's not leaking badly.
By now it was 1500 and I hopped in and went 13 miles to the shopping center where I had a cuppa joe and watched the birds. Pigeons, ravens, 1 seagull and some red wing blackbirds. After coffee I ambled next door to the grocery and picked up a few items. Then returned home.
Both at the shopping center and when I got home I popped the bonnet and checked for leaks. None to be found! The head rebuild seems to have worked. BIG sigh of relief!
Now a few more test drives to lull me into thinking all is good before Murphy strikes again.
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