[maple_leaf_eh]

Today was the day after Canada Day, and Dave gets to work on my Jeep on weekends. A good reason for me travelling was to bring back a lot of extra M151A2 parts Dave won't be installing. It clears his work area, and he's made enough progress that things are just getting in the way.

Today's work was to rerig the battery lines, the battery cutoff switch, and think about better tie-downs than two rubber bungee straps. While I bagged take-off parts, Dave reinstalled the rear differential. It has four U-joint mounts and three mounts. So theoretically, up / down / north / east / south / west possible installations. Knowing the vent would always be on top was important to picking which mounts to bolt up. Drained and replaced all the fluids with some of the new bottles I brought last trip. We got to use the specialty M151 drain plug socket and short flat open-wrench. By the time we were through, the drain pan was a lovely combination of colours.

Watching Dave's shortcuts and explanations will make my user-maintenance better and help keep the jeep living longer. My shopping list is shorter after this trip, but going to be just as much fun!

And the very best part - with the batteries hooked up, the ammeter flickers. There is good spark. With carb cleaner in the air intake and me pressing the starter button, the engine turns over and coughs! It will live again. We did a manly fist bump of happiness.