Some sorrow and some insanity-RIP Jeep
Well I am very sad to say that the blue Jeep Cherokee that I have driven since 1995 likely met its final fate today. I was driving down the road and was sideswiped by someone. He and I both just have liability insurance on these respective older vehicles.
The Jeep is a 1990 and has 224k+ miles on it. The accident took the front bumper mostly off, shifted the front clip about a quarter of an inch on one side. It also pushed a bit of the sheetmetal back into the front tire if it is turning.
Thus the Jeep has likely met it's doom since it is worth about $700 with a good body and now it doesn't even have that.
However in the midst of this sorrow over my very reliable daily driver came a sort of insane idea. I could strap the bumper back on with some metal straps and some bolts. I could use a come-a-long to pull the sheet metal away from the wheel well and then plan a DRIVE UNTIL IT DIES trip.
The only true fear I would have from a trip like this is of course that the motor wouldn't die. I mean sure the last trip it made across the U.S. and back was at 168k+ miles. This trip could being planned as a little more... one way...
I wouldn't intentionally damage anything about the motor. I would just insure proper oil, water, gas and then drive it until it no longer goes. Let triple A tow it to the final resting place. (nearest junk yard) Then proceed to fly or catch a bus home.
What do you guys think?
Nick
The Jeep is a 1990 and has 224k+ miles on it. The accident took the front bumper mostly off, shifted the front clip about a quarter of an inch on one side. It also pushed a bit of the sheetmetal back into the front tire if it is turning.
Thus the Jeep has likely met it's doom since it is worth about $700 with a good body and now it doesn't even have that.
However in the midst of this sorrow over my very reliable daily driver came a sort of insane idea. I could strap the bumper back on with some metal straps and some bolts. I could use a come-a-long to pull the sheet metal away from the wheel well and then plan a DRIVE UNTIL IT DIES trip.
The only true fear I would have from a trip like this is of course that the motor wouldn't die. I mean sure the last trip it made across the U.S. and back was at 168k+ miles. This trip could being planned as a little more... one way...
I wouldn't intentionally damage anything about the motor. I would just insure proper oil, water, gas and then drive it until it no longer goes. Let triple A tow it to the final resting place. (nearest junk yard) Then proceed to fly or catch a bus home.
What do you guys think?
Nick
Comments
If you make it as far as Pennsylvania you can stop by and check out my brand new 2003 VW Jetta Wolfsburg Edition
Think about it. How cool would it be to be able to say:
"Hey NIck, what did you do with that old Jeep?"
"Ah, I drove the ****ing thing to Canada and left it there."
Originally posted by murbot
You can stay at my place for a bit to recharge after your drive to CANADA!
Think about it. How cool would it be to be able to say:
"Hey NIck, what did you do with that old Jeep?"
"Ah, I drove the ****ing thing to Canada and left it there."
Well in a bit of an update it seems I can't leave well enough alone.
I started last Saturday to disassemble the front end of that Jeep. I figured I could do no harm right? Well about 2 hours later I've got all the damaged parts of the front clip off which would be about half of it.
So I go down to Pick-A-Part and look to see if they have some junked Jeeps there. Turns out they had one not only my year and model, but even one the same color!
About another 2 hours and I have all the parts for this huge front end repair and a few more parts I grabbed just because I liked them.
I take the whole thing back, begin putting it back together (about another 2 hours) and at the end, I have my Jeep back.
Of course if you think that means I won't drive up to Canada and take the last beer in your fridge, well.. Bwahahahahaha...
Nick
IT LIVES!!!!!
Screed
Originally posted by sCreeD
What no before, during and after pictures!?
Screed
Sorry I could still take some shots of the mangled metal parts that remain from the repair possibly. I didn't think about it since I don't ever host any pictures to post here. However in reality though it just looks the same as it did. The only difference is the new bumper has some fog lights on it that currently are not hooked up.
Originally posted by alcimedes
nice work, probably saved you well over a grand in repair costs as well.
Well I wouldn't have spent the grand since it is so old and well used. However the Pick-a-Part parts were $100 total.
I still might have to try a long trip in it though. I mean leave at 224k, come back at ???
Nick
My friend Matt (in picture) parked his Subaru on a hill this summer, and the parking brake gave out. (my bet is that he didn't squeeze it tight enough and that it slipped out of gear). Anyway, it slid down the hill into the woods. Then he used the patented Subaru all wheel drive to get it out, only to find that. . . it had no body damage!