Ascent Overland

Where are we now? Jeep is finished and making memories in the middle of no where, where are your adventures taking you?

I know it’s probably worse than Maaco, but hey it’s a budget build. I used rustoleum sand colored truck bed liner. My only complaint with this product is that you really need to shake it for 3-4 minutes and continue to aggressively shake while painting otherwise you end up with slightly different colored areas. Not exactly the “spray touch up” you’ll want for those nature badges in the future.

Breaking into replacing some hubs. I’ve been wanting one of these 1/2” drive impact guns and this was a perfect excuse to run down to ol’ harbor freight and grab one. May not be the fanciest of them, but it made quick work of a nut that I put all 220 lbs of my dad bod into busting loose without luck. Definitely a huge asset for various projects where sheer willpower simply won’t cut it.

Having a properly functioning emergency brakes is probably one of the most overlooked pieces of equipment on a vehicle. Many of the vehicles I’ve ridden in suffer from a half functioning or non-functioning ebrake and the most common thing I hear is, “eh, it’s an expensive fix that’s inconvenient so I let it ride.” Well, I’m here to tell you that with a little research and understanding your product brands and quality, you can get this project done for typically under $30 and about 2 hours of finicking around with the springs that hold these in place. By the time these rigs are finished there are thousands of dollars invested and hundreds of hours of love. You might as well protect it and yourself with a small investment that cost less than your monthly coffee budget. Travel on.

How awesome is it how “YouTube easy” some of these projects look. The person recording the video has often times disassembled the item prior to making a video so they don’t have mistakes while recording. Well, for those of us breaking through years of build up and rusty bolts, it can be a bit defeating. Just remember, they probably had a similar amount of difficulty the first time and taking a quick step back makes all the difference in the world. Breathe.

When taking the transfer case and adapter down at pick and pull yard, I took the time to document each step of the process with pictures (I’ll probably just record in the future) and it really helped with the “I’ll get around to it” timeline that ended up happening. With a pregnant wife, two toddlers, and a small business to run, this a definitely a small project here and there venture. That said, this was no small project.