Haven't posted in a good while so figured I'd try to update this.
A while back one of my friends told me of a Jeep for sale cheep. $300. Its just a year newer than mine and supposedly had a real good engine, transmission and transfer case. I was hoping to swap some parts and come up with one nice jeep between the two. I bought it sight unseen which was not a good idea even though I was buying it from another acquaintance.
When it arrived here on the trailer it all of a sudden transformed from a good running Jeep to a total RAT's NEST and rust bucket.
I was aware, that it was missing a door, but figured one from my Jeep or another one around the area would fit on it. Not so. Note all the rust on the bumper. The body is like that to. The hinges are rusted so bad that they would not support a door in the open position.
The deal was that the tires and mags won't go with it and he is supposed to come back and get them later.
What you see here is a massive amount of RAT turds and parts of a rat's nest and this is in the rear of the Jeep.
This is under the hood and it is totally covered with a rat's nest and to boot there is a rat the size of a small dog hiding under it. I haven't figured out a way to kill the rat yet, but when I do and remove the nest I'm sure I'll find that all of the wiring has been chewed up as is evident by pieces of plastic conduit and wire insulation scattered through out the nest.
The only good part about this is that there are probably a few small parts I can use off of it to replace bad ones on mine. (If there are any such usable parts?) The suspension parts are supposedly pretty new, but a lift kit has been added which would make my Jeep sit about another 4 or 5 inches higher than is does now. I'd about have to add running boards to it to be able to get in and out of it. It would probably cure the death wobble on mine though, but I don't have the tools or knowledge to swap the parts over so that's out.
UPDATE
Score: RAT 1 David 0.
I got a rat trap and was going to set it under the hood of the new rust bucket. When I opened the hood the rat was on top of the nest and as I reached for the prop rod to hold the hood up the damn rat charged at me. Of course it startled me and I withdrew and when I did that the hood fell on my hand.
I didn't have any bandages around here so I took a clean sock and fashioned the glove out of it to act as a bandage. Fortunately I've had a tetanus shot within the last couple of years so I should be covered even though the edge of the hood that got me was rusty as hell. This was all yesterday evening and even though the trap is set under the hood now there is no sign of the rat either in the trap or out of it. Would be my luck that its headed for another vehicle. Grrrr.....
tffnguy - Was wondering how you were. Reckoned that the Legion was probaby keeping you busy.
ReplyDelete"one of my friends" - with friends like that, who needs enemies? What a shame - and the cheek of the guy to exclude the tyres and mags!?! He could've at least have cweaned out the rat mess - and the rat! Is Shelah any good at catching rats - before it does any damage / chews entry into your place?
Hope you can salvage something from that vehicle - or demand a refund from the seller...? That's a crock!
Dang, you got a bargain, it came with a guard rat (grin). Hope you find enough usable parts to get yours back up to par.
ReplyDeleteDani, I'm stuck with it because he did say he was selling it as a parts vehicle (Despite saying what a good Jeep it was) May take a long while, but I should be able to salvage enough parts to get my money out of it. Shelah spends most of her day chasing rats and mice in the wild, but she won't fit under the hood. Of course I've never seen her catch one so chase may be all she does.
ReplyDeleteDD, You may be right. Not sure I want Shelah to tangle with the rat. Too bad its getting too cool for rattle snakes or I'd try to catch one and put it under the hood to deal with it. I'm guessing a very large rat or bear trap will do the job.
Btw, I've read that feeding a rat maize meal will kill it. Once it drinks water the maize meal swells thereby wiping out the rodent. In your case, you're probably better going with a poison, and leaving a water source under the hood, so that it dies there after drinking the water, and isn't consumed by any bird life.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly wouldn't want it to get into your cabin / food supplies...
Dani, one of the legion customers is supposed to bring me a couple of rat traps and I'll try them first.
ReplyDeleteOr try the bucket dowel water, dowel and peanut butter trick :
ReplyDeleteHttp://fivegallonideas.com/bucket-mouse-trap/
Dani, I figured if I used that then Shelah would be licking the peanut butter off of the spool or what ever it might be called. If I used antifreeze then she might be drinking that.
ReplyDeleteMy goodness Tffnguy like Dani said "some friend"!
ReplyDeleteThe least he could have done is cleaned it up a bit and remove the rats nest.
Now don't go trying to catch any rattlesnakes in order to deal with the rat problem...it could backfire and bite you or Shelah.
Glad to see you blogging again :)
BTW...just checked your last post. Happy Belated Birthday!!! Hope it was a good one.
ReplyDeleteMsB, I've updated this post with a couple more pictures after getting my hand smashed by the hood. I was trying to place a rat trap under it. All that and I still haven't caught the rat and don't have a clue where it is now.
ReplyDeleteNo complaints about the birthday other than I only got one small piece of cake out of it after Melinda baked it for my BD.
You got PHUCKD, the wheels and tires are probably the only good part. Does it run? The drive line is usually worth a $1,000 on a 4X4 but who knows on that thing.I don't understand why the door's don't interchange, I thought they were the same unless one of the jeep's is a two door or a Grand Cherokee.
ReplyDeletesory dude yu spending time an $$ in that. I better not say more man. god bless yu ! (after some time really was not expecting this kind of news from you), best wishes and luck.
ReplyDeleteBkid, the doors from my jeep should fit on that one, but the part of the hinge connected to the body is rusted out so even if I put a door on it it would likely fall off.
ReplyDeleteThat jeep is trash!
Pablo, there's a fool born ever day and I guess I'm one of them.
OK, I've seen a few where the hinges rusted off the door frame. But hey, doors are over rated anyway. Who needs doors anyway?
ReplyDeleteDavid I am so sorry for what happened to your hand. Darn rat!!
ReplyDeleteIt was nice of Melinda to bake you a cake even though you only got a small portion.
Take care :)
Bkid, Cherokees are unibody, which means the doors are part of the structure, which means without them in place the unibody is weakened. Now... when a body is that far rusted then that means the frame rails are also mighty thin because of rust out which means it can't take near the punishment one that is in tact can. That means that the whole body could snap in half at speed either being used off road or on road. I wouldn't want to be caught in that situation. The POS was junk long before the rat came in to play. I'd guess it spent plenty of time on a coast somewhere. BTW he said he was trying to buy your jeep. You going to sell it to him?
ReplyDeleteMsB, this is Terlingua as you know and stuff happens down here.
who is trying to buy my jeep? haven't heard anything about that.
ReplyDeleteDavid - reckon that it may be wise to get some basic medical kit in stock - hope the hand is feeling better...? Ouch!
ReplyDeleteDani, the hand is mending and I do keep stuff to clean, bandage and also anti bacterial salve around. Too much stuff happens around here not to.
ReplyDeleteHope you had a great Thanksgiving, and hope the hand is better too!
ReplyDeleteSUERTE, We had a small crowd here at the legion for the turkey day meal, but it was enjoyable. My hand is doing ok.
ReplyDeleteWhen it rains it pours just thank goodness the rat didn't bite you! I hope you didn't give the guy any money for that jeep he should be paying you for taking it off his hands. Glad you had a good Thanksgiving and that you had it at the post a lot of people want to be where they feel welcome .
ReplyDelete$300 cash bargirl238, (Which is probably about the going price for junk now days)
ReplyDeletePlans are already in way for a Christmas dinner. Ba... Humbug! I was wanting to spend it with family for a change.