4X4 ICON 2000 - 2008 The
DVD!
After several trips to the tire shop for
my free rotate and balance, the aggressive use of an impact wrench (despite a torx stick
being used...) two of the lug nuts had been ruined - the cap that is apparently soldered
on to cover the open end of the nut cracked off, leaving two ugly lug nuts that were still
functional, but did not look nice. When my Jeep was in for some more significant
attention, Jeff generously gave me a handful of lug nuts which I was grateful to have to
replace the bad ones. I installed two of the nuts on the spare and the improvement
was worthwhile. I also picked up a center cap to replace the one that got lost along
the way.
CAP, Wheel Center
5DY0 7TAE
Somewhere I saw the idea of putting a
couple lug nuts in the empty holes in the wheel on the spare. It appealed to my
sense of order and symmetry so when I was completely burned out from required repairs and had no money (or Willys Points) left for
gratuitous mods, I grabbed the two remaining spare lug nuts I got from Jeff during my axle
debacle and headed out to Home Depot.
It was utter chaos. My first
mistake was in thinking I could expect Ted and Tom to behave long enough for me to find
two- 1/2" x 20 (fine thread) bolts that would do the job. My second mistake was
in thinking Home Depot had wheel studs or even more mundane, fine-thread standard bolts.
I was wrong on both counts: The kids went wild with boredom while I pawed the
hardware bins, and in the end I did not find the bolts.
We drove across the parking lot to Pep
Boys, the store that should have been my first choice, and soon found what I was looking
for. I grabbed a couple lock washers in the correct size, a couple nuts to take up
the length of the bolts (they didn't have short ones) and, after parting with $5 and
change, I went out to the parking lot.
There we were greeted by some teen-age
boys who were admiring the Jeep. One said to me "Your Jeep is 'Pimpin',
man!" with the prerequise twisted wrist and downward-stabbing hand motion to the
side. I knew what he meant, but had to work hard in my head to keep from being
insulted that someone thought my steel-armored, ruggedly utilitarian Jeep was
"Pimpin' ". I have turned into my father...
I thanked the boys in the parking lot,
and set about installing my high-dollar modification in the parking lot. It was an
easy 5 minute modification.
Now all that stands between me, my Jeep
and some Feng
Shui is those 7 ounces of wheel weight! I took a couple pictures to show just
how pimpin' my ride be:
