Hey thanks guys. As I write this it's early morning Vegas time. We won our second match last night and are into the next money round! Not sure how much further we will go, but we put up a very strong effort last night. If anyone is interested you can follow the brackets on the compusport app (we are the Cue Cutters), and there will be live streaming coverage of the final round 3pm Tuesday
https://poolplayers.com/live/.
Who knows, maybe we will be in there.
To update you on the vehicle news, we ended up getting a newer 2016 Jeep Rubicon Hard Rock Edition, 2 dr manual 6 spd with the 3.6 liter V6, white with black 3-piece "Freedom" hard and new never installed soft tops; and it has red accents, so I'm thinking of sticking with the winter camo paint scheme for the camper, but doing it to match this scheme... or I might go back to my original plan and do scallops, red with black pinstriping over white.
There's just 39k miles on it with a ton of nice features and after market upgrades. The Hard Rock Edition gets a bunch of nice upgrades over the "base" Rubicon, which is already nicely optioned. It has the "Power Dome" hood with actual vents in it to help keep the radiator cool when running at slow speeds in low range for hours at a time. The rocker protection is upgraded with extra tubular rub rails. It has all steel bumpers, as opposed to plastic covers, and the front bumperettes (ends) detach to provide added front wheel clearance and approach angle when running obstacles. The front bumper has a winch/grille guard bar and is "winch ready". Just pop the center panel out and add a bolt in "factory fit" winch plate. The rear bumper also appears to have a feature for adding a more robust swing out style spare tire carrier, and is closer to and attached to the rear xmbr for better departure angle and strength (whereas the std Rubicon bumper is deeper and slightly further back than the Hard Rock). I will need to order a specific receiver hitch for this model, and there is a 4/7-pin wiring option available. The Hard Rock gets a second rear tow hook, and a few changes to the dress-up trim, like black on aluminum wheels instead of gray. (Unfortunately the wheels and wheel bolt pattern no longer match the camper, nor the extra wheels I bought for it.)
As with the base Rubi, it has 4:10 (or 4:11) differential gears with lockers front and rear; 4:1 low range in the transfer case; and electronic disconnect front anti-sway bar. It will certainly climb any possible obstacle that I may care to challenge!!!
The first owner added an aFe air intake and performance muffler; it has just the right amount of burble when you get on the gas a little, but is not obnoxious at all going down the road, with no droning. It has the heavy duty floor mats; GrabBarsUSA grab bars at the font A-pillars; and some high end neoprene front seat covers over heated leather seats (and steering wheel). Not sure if I like the seat covers. The drivers side seat bottom tends to twist out of position and they feel a little squirmy when your body weight shifts around. I'll leave them on for now, but my opinion is, "why have leather seats and not enjoy them, only to have them get worn out under the seat covers?"
It has/had the 7-way (or is it 9-way?) speaker Alpine stereo option with rear deck mounted subwoofer, but the original owner swapped out the head unit with a Pioneer that has a backup camera and all kinds of connectivity that I haven't figured out yet; though I think I will be able to make my cell phone and WIFI capable GPS unit work through it off of the steering wheel controls and voice activated features. (I'm no techie, tho, more of a technology dinosaur!)
Anyway, we are loving the new Jeep and I'm trying to sell the old one w/o having to do too much more to it... only had a couple of nibbles so far.
Thanks again for staying interested in my exploits. Once I get home from Vegas, work off the time I took for the trip with very limited PTO yet, and get the black Jeep sold, I hope to get going on TPCE again with new vigor.
by KCStudly » Mon Dec 31, 2018 9:52 am 
All I have to do today is pin some cabbage to the curtains … 
