Topless Day Event!

by cr1ck3e

Before discussing Topless Day, we have a small announcement. Tog passed her vin inspection, and now we just wait for the state to do their thing and she will be legal for the streets. In preparation for this glorious occasion, Pappy bought her new shoes!

Ain’t she purdy? A far cry from her trip to the toj experience headquarters for her rebuild process which was just a short 6 months ago. Congrats Pappy!

Topless day was rescheduled for April 29th, due to a poor weather prediction for May 1st. Many would ask why not postpone such an event, but here at the toj experience we’ve found we’ve grown quite tired of old man winter, and decided to force our will upon the weather. Its snowed twice since Topless Day. Do we care? Nope!

So off the tops went, as we enjoyed a day of semi warm sunshine and a nice cruise.  The sad news of the day was that rai, because of a daughter and a car seat in the back of toyj, decided to opt out of Topless Day. His own personal Topless Day will happen soon enough, and the summer gear will go on in a flash, but for now, he chose to keep his full soft on.

This left MCP, Pappy, and cr1ck3e alone to remove some skin, and mounting hardware, which they did with pleasure AND pride.

Did your Topless Day go as well? Did you participate in the toj experience’s annual topless celebration? Send us your photos and show off your toplessness to the whole world here at the toj experience!

What’s happening at the toj experience..

We’re working tirelessly to bring you new content, so you can expect now that Jeep summer season is almost in full swing, we’ll have many trails and photos to share with you. And your chance to roll with the crew at the toj experience is at hand! Also, with any luck, we’ll tell you about this: 

Stay tuned for more details!

Going Topless!

by cr1ck3e

 UPDATE

So here we are, ready for another pre-summer update. When we last reported to you, mcp’s jeep was out of commission, and Pappy’s jeep had a clutch going wrong. We here at the toj experience are happy to announce that after a day of work on each project, each jeeps are fully operational. For anyone who has reworked a differential, you know how bad this sucks. And for everyone in the shop other than Pappy.. we learned too, just how bad it sucks.  For everyone who has done a clutch, you know how bad it sucks… and for everyone in the shop other than cr1ck3e, we all know now too.

Needless to say, many sore muscles, and headaches later, we are pleased to announce each jeep in the toj experience is now ready for departure on the trails.

The good news is here in Jeep country, we’re having an early spring, and an early spring means that we get to go topless sooner than later, and we are now on a countdown to the official day where the tops are going to come off.

So the day is coming, and its coming fast, are you ready to go topless?

How do you know if its time to go topless though? Well, for one, there’s no more snow on the ground, and there’s dark clouds looming in the sky. The air is warmer, the grass is greener. It is time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you ready to go topless? Do you want to enjoy Topless Day with the toj experience crew? Email your Topless pictures today, and find yourself posted with the crew, NOW! And for the Topless Day celebration on May 1st, email us today, and you’ll find yourself directions to the party. It’s the first major step to summertime, make sure you’re ready!

Spring Training

by Rai

The Spring Jeep training has begun for the group members of the Toj Experience. At Clan McMenzies Jeep Specialties, the work has been tireless all winter, and we’re almost there, now, just in time for Spring. So here’s where we stand:

Pappy- (ALMOST TRAIL READY)

His ‘74 CJ5 appropriately named TOG  (The Ol’ Gal)  has come to fruition and is almost jeep ready. When Pappy acquired this rig back in December, it was in dire need of TLC. The last 3 months, Pappy has taken this ol’ rig and really spruced her up. There’s a couple of things left for trail preparedness and we’re running out of “winter” to get the Clutch and registration done. However, Pappy will come in on time and will be trail ready in a few weeks.

 

cr1ck3e- (TRAIL READY)

 
What an annoying winter for TOJ. cr1ck3e has been befuddled along with the rest of us trying to fix a sputtering problem under load on his Jeep for the entire winter season. Finally, after multiple sensor replacements, sparkplugs, wires, gas caps and treatments, the problem has ended. (hopefully) TOJ and cr1ck3e are ready for the trails.

 

MCP- (NOT TRAIL READY)

MCP’S TOJS has some serious problems. With a differential bearing exploderating this week, she now is in need of a differential rebuild on the rear. Ring and Pinion Gear are functional and MCP is making the tough call about now perhaps being the time to replace or upgrade. Decision currently not made, but this weekend the bearing kit will be installed and the diff rebuild to stock up upgraded. After this repair, MCP is trail ready.

 

RAI- (TRAIL READY WITH RISK)

 
RAI and TOYJ had a mild winter, an oil change, the instillation of a fire extinguisher and a master clutch cylinder replacement. Also, TOYJ got herself a pretty new set of TJ Fender Flares fit on to her YJ body. This is not only an upgrade for looks, but also clearance for the rear tires. TOYJ is in dire need of a tire carrier to avoid further damage to the tailgate from bearing to much weight from the over sized 32” tire. That is on the short list of items to procure soon in the season but other than that RAI is trail ready.

 

First trails on the List-
Balanced Rock Road and China Wall

Our New Member

Its always a glorious day when we welcome into the fold, the brotherhood, a new member. Meet Pappy. He has become our oldest member and with it, his baby, tOG, the old girl, a 1974 CJ5.. she is the oldest ride as well!

Lets take a quick history lesson. Pappy hails from a Jeep heritage. He once owned (and coincidentally still does own) a 1967 Jeepster Commando. That jeep has not ran in over a decade and is awaiting her mechanical savior, the White Wizard, to rebuild her engine. Pappy has recently become fed up with the poshness of Club Xterra and thus, rejoined the ranks of the awesome.

Now, lets meet the old girl. When we saw her ad go up for sale, here is what we knew. She was a 1975 CJ5 in need of new tires and a new battery. A bit later we learned she was a 1974, with a cracked bell housing, a bad starter, but with a Ford 351 under the hood and yet still in need of loving, but the price dropped to an unbeatable rate, so we pounced on her. Regrettably, this meant she had to come home not under her own power or wheels, but on that of a trailer pulled by a big ol ford. She made it to her new home though and it was game on. 

It didn’t take long to diagnose a few things. First off, she does not have a Ford 351 engine. She has the stock AMC 304 V8.  Then we found the cracked bell housing. Its cracked where the starter attaches. So we ran a bolt through it, and nutted it on the back side and we’re good there. Oh, and the starter worked. The new battery was too small to really fire her up, and we ended up frying it. Thanks to a charger hooked up, she had enough juice to turn the beast over. We realized then, that because she had not been started in a year and a half, the gasoline.. was not good. That said, it took about 3 hours to get her started, even if she wouldn’t idle on her own.

The next day she got new new sparkplugs, new gas, some fuel treatment, new sparkplug lines, a new fuel filter, and a new thermostat. She then would idle on her own, but with backfiring. We have a cylinder that doesn’t seem to want to work just right. But we find the longer we run her, the more she frees up. So, carburetor cleaner, seafoam and new gas mixed with running her, and she's smoothing out more and more.  

We have since run water through the engine, based on a few recommendations, which surprisingly, has worked quite well. She now is idling with very minor backfiring and when the backfires do happen, they are mild. One cylinder seems a bit sticky, but she is working out. Not bad for a 36 year old motor. On the agenda: Body work, paint, bed liner, a top, doors, windshield wipers working again, new lights.. she needs love. Follow her progress as she becomes trail ready before summer. The tOj experience staff will be working hard with many all hands on deck calls to get her up to standards. It will be an exciting and long project, but in the end, worth it. She is already happy to be with us, and Pappy.. He seems pretty happy with his old girl.  Here’s your proof of Jeep’s superiority. This short video shows proof that even after not running for many moons, a 36 year old motor has still got it. Enjoy!

The Month of July

The month of July was another month in the history of tOj's. It saw many trails. The highlights had rai getting stuck in a corner and digging into the earth on a wicked climb, that took a full back down from the hill and a 2nd gear shot at it.. cr1ck3e with 3 wheels in the air on a strong gunning of the gas and a bad line.. and mcp.. well he was there too. A video to follow! Enjoy!

Schubarth. 6/13, 6/20

by cr1ck3e

On Sunday, June 13th. MCP and I made our first trip up to Schubarth trail.. after 3 consecutive days of rain. We went in search of a good time and mud. We found both. Schubarth has a giant Y in it. The decision was made to take the right side, which lead to a fair amount more of splashing. Schubarth is ranked a 3-4 difficulty rating, and the 4 comes on the right side of the trail.

There;s a nice dead end that gives a pretty photo op, there’s a pretty meadow, and ultimately if you take the right turns, you will end up looking out over the USAF Academy.

The downside of Schubarth is, its not a through trail, and so you end up having to turn around and go back the way you came. The upside of that is, well if there are puddles, this gives you ample opportunity to hit said puddles.. twice.

There are groves of aspen, there are climbs and decents, one good rock to climb over and you’re there. It was a cloudy rainy day which killed the lookouts but, the fog presented a unique outlook everywhere.

  In combination of the tight spots in the trail, its also tight over head. We ended up adjusting every light on MCP’s beautiful light bar at least once.. And even my tOj ended up taking a bit of the trail home with her. “Mind your head” is something that’s often said in situations we find on this trail.  Before we begin on the Schubarth experience from Sunday 6/20 – we’ll add in a couple last photographs from our cloudy day on the 13th. 

 

 

 

 

 Along the trail.

  

 

 

cr1ck3e at the meadowed dead end.

 

 

 

 

MCP at the meadowed Dead end.

 

The peak.

Sunday June 20th.

Schubarth once again. This time, not much mud, but lots and lots of dust. We did of course, the same side of the hill, only this time we also tackled the other side of it, which again, dead ends. The dead end occurs at the base of a really steep incline. You can climb the hill, yes. As you will see in the following video, both rai and I decided to climb it, mcp sat this one out. Once at the top of the hill, the trail goes on for a bit, but gets very narrow. After wedging toj between two trees last year, we came to the conclusion that the continuation of the trail is for 4wheelers, dirt bikes and hikers only. The left side of the Y provides a different set of scenery and challenges. There are some big rocks to go through, and its very narrow at times. Both sides are a wonderful drive.

We started off the day with a nice jaunt through Garden of the Gods out of CO Springs, down Rampart, across to Schubarth, both sides, back to Rampart, over to 315, down to Mt. Herman, and back down into Monument. A lovely tour of the hills. Thanks to rai for most of the footage from today, and from here out, there should be plenty more to come!

 

Cargo Netting

by: cr1ck3e

So I’ve been wanting a set of cargo nets for the ass end of my opened up summer love jeep, and I’ve found only a couple places that sell then. The first one, I decided upon last summer, but put it off due to monetary compensation. This year, right before I ordered them, I found another company that made and sold this cargo netting. This company is Dirty Dog 4x4. Their  product looked better, and though it cost more, I dropped the necessary coin to make the power of purchase. Hilarity ensues.

First off, after a week of backorder, my shipment was set to go. But then it didn’t ship because the bank thought it was a fraudulent charge. So after some time on the phone with Mike @ Dirty Dog, and with my bank, we got it straight and the product was on the wagon to the grand old US of A. That’s right, this product marks the 3rd good thing to come out of Canadia, and that is a super thing!

On to the installation. I received the package and checked it out, upon inspection, its not fragile, so there was no need for packing peanuts or anything.. but the wrapping was nice, it was divided up into two pouches, one held the two side windows, one the back. The directions were also in there. Not that they couldn’t have been figured out, but it was much nicer anyways. Furthermore, the directions were in English, not Engrish. There were pictures.. which were color! It looked more like the people there printed it off their computer fresh and stuffed it into the packaging before it went out.. It does not look like something that has been copied a trillion times over. This is a very good thing. 

The directions state to install either window first, and each one is clearly marked with a tag. The installation is simple. velcro strap which is very stout wraps around the cage, through the clip and down. Simple as hell. The straps hold the clips for the back window to be able to be lifted and secured easily. I should state at this point, I should say a few precautionary things. First off, I had to take my Safari top loose to the front to put these on. This was simple enough. Also, I had to take my deck cover loose as well. Also easy as pie. Finally, I had to take the shovel off.

Then the third and last piece. It snaps in place to the side windows, and then at the top between the speakers on your roll cage, if you have a TJ at least, its just like the side windows. Same velcro, yet sturdy straps to hold it in place. A couple go around the top center bar of your cage, which was the reason I had to take loose the Safari top all the way to the windshield. Once everything seemed in place, the tightening began. This too was an easy process, just had to remember to tighten each side evenly so the straps didn’t look too funky.  

Following the tightening, the installation was complete. It was really rather easy, and I’ve now spent a week with them on. I’m as happy with them now as I was the day they came in. Now for the downsides. If you run a set up like mine, you’ll run into these issues. The Netting sits a little lower then the ass end of the deck cover.. this makes the boot that goes around the cage a little scrunched up, but I don’t think it looks too different that way. The Safari top still fits on the exact same way, so no troubles there. All in all, a great product, worth the cost of the thing. Looks fantastic. And customer service from Mike at Dirty Dog was a pretty chill guy, who knew how to keep good contact with his customers. A pleasure doing business with  this company, I would highly recommend them for any Jeep owner.  This is a great product, and I’ve even tested it to the full extent of its usefulness and stuck my dogs in the back seat  a couple days ago. Worked like a champ. 

I then drove it about for a little bit, no any real extra noise to deal with.. just fantastic. I can’t tell you enough how pleased I am for this product, it does not seem over priced or uncool.   If you’re thinking: Maybe I’ll do that… hear the voice of cr1ck3e reason, and listen. The final step was to remount the shovel and I suddenly found myself complete. All in all, took 30 minutes to an hour to complete. Cheers!