Klinger, the Jeep and tales of a winch, and a bumper and stuff…

Klinger, the Jeep and tales of a winch, and a bumper and stuff…

About two months ago I bought a new car, a vehicle... a Jeep...

Specifically, a Jeep Wrangler, sport, unlimited... In English, a traditional Jeep, with 4 doors... and a winch...

Within a week, I visited 4 wheel parts, and bought a trailer hitch... The first sticker had found its place on the window... Equipment was loaded... A shovel, an axe (a Navy damage control axe from the recently decommissioned Kitty Hawk) a jump box, a compressor, a tire repair kit... Ropes, bungee cords... And a machete...

Almost immediately it was named, Klinger... Klinger (my Klinger) was built in Toledo Ohio... The fictional home of fictional Sargent Klinger of MASH... aka Jamie Farr... A friend suggested pearls... The lovely Tina found some pearl Marti Gras beads... She be Klinger....

This is likely a statement car... A middle age crisis car... Instead of a blond (wench) it came with a winch... (eventually) With some hundred feet or so of stainless steel cable... not quite blond... But, when received, the winch was not found... It was ordered... To arrive soon...

It (the winch,) arrived at the dealership a week or so later... Too late for installation before Klinger's first road trip...

That trip, across the Sierra, to Carson, then, across Nevada via Hwy 50 to Ely... While there, I explored a couple of BLM roads... Around the Ruth pit... In search of the Ward charcoal kilns... Dirt roads, but not quite "off road". Home was a fast run down Hwy 6 through Tonapah, over Montgomery Pass down into Owens Valley, then right at Benton Springs... Along the south side of Mono Lake, over Tioga Pass, via Yosemite, and home... A wonderful road trip… away from the highway, the Interstate, a few unpaved roads, but nothing that tested Klinger's off road skills...

Upon return, T and I flew to Vancouver Canada… off on a cruise…  While we were gone, Steph, aka the daughter, took Klinger in to the shop… to install the winch…  There were issues… the winch could not be mounted on the factory bumper… a new bumper was needed… at a significant cost… or maybe a winch plate, or not…

There was a second trip… this to Carson, to Virginia… dirt roads, mine roads… nothing challenging…

It now started to get complicated… It was no one’s fault… but it was complicated… In so many ways…

We, I, the dealer (sales person, service department, etc…) all thought that a winch was just not that complicated… bolt on the bumper, go… It had a Mopar part number… it is covered under the warranty… It was listed on the sales contract…  It was not… (on the jeep, or uncomplicated)

In some way, not yet fully understood, Jeep changed the (front) bumper on the 2012 Wrangler… and as a result, you cannot bolt a winch to it…  A different solution is needed…. I suggested a winch plate… which was thought to be compatible, but wasn’t, but maybe the 3^rd party manufacturer could make it compatible (at an increased cost) but eventually decided not to…

At this point, to make all more interesting, Abby, my sales person, left the dealership... (we are still friends on Face book…)

Now working with salespersons we haven’t met… and sales managers… potential costs are rising… Folks are in damage control mode… I have a sales contract that says my Jeep has a winch… a winch that I think should be installed on the front bumper, which instead is sitting on the floor of the parts department at my Jeeps service department…

Calls are made… calls are returned, or not… calls are made… details are uncertain… I chose a bumper from 4 wheel parts that can support a winch… and is less expensive than the one the dealer chose ($1,800 vs $399) they have a relationship with 4 wheel parts… they could have considered their parts but didn’t).  By the 5^th call I may have been angry, spoken loudly, and made demands…

Eventually, I delivered Klinger to the dealership… was handed the keys to a 2012 used Dodge, and left… The next day I called for an update… (this was the day of the Giants World Series Parade….Go Giants….) and was told that Klinger was done, winch installed... they had called (the home phone… not the cell that we had been using) I picked up Klinger… paid for a bumper, (at their cost, less than I would have paid) but not for installation… We both had lines in the sand… Nether came away happy… but both came away ok…

Saturday… I needed to pick up some artifacts, donated to the railroad museum… I drove to Ardenwood, Picked up the railroad’s trailer… unloaded the Halloween stuff occupying the deck… And headed east to the Sierras, to West Point, and the stuff, Craig wanted us to have…  Craig was a long time member… He was short… very short… like one of Snow White’s dwarfs… tolling in the mines… Craig was much more than that, a historian, a reader, a miner, with an explosive permit…  but the stereotype can provide an image… A short man with incredible  presence.

I met Martha, Craig’s sister at the mine… off Hwy 88 above Jackson, off Hwy 88, on Hwy 26 to West Point… a narrow road on a steep slope above the north fork of Mokolome River… Here for the first time, Klinger got to show off.. 

The mine is one the side of a steep slope… The “stuff” was spread among buildings along a narrow dirt road… His cabin way in…  I walk the route first, then drove in… the road was nearly too narrow for the trailer… I shifted into 4w low… crawled out to Craig’s cabin… once there, I unhitched the trailer, and found, that due to mud and slope I couldn’t maneuver the trailer…

 there was a small area to turn around just beyond the cabin… to small to turn jeep and trailer together… so I unhitched the trailer, and tried to move it by hand… normally easy enough, but this was dirt, bordering on mud, and sloped away from the way I needed to move the trailer… The trailer wanted to head down the slope… way down the slope… This could become a crisis… It wasn’t… I blocked the trailer wheels, turned the jeep around, and used the winch to drag the trailer around…  I almost looked like I knew what I was doing…

I loaded up… lot of stuff,  A Graham Foundry (Newark) SP caboose stove, a portable forge, hand tools, square bolts, including a ton of square lag screws… all good stuff…

Martha (Craig’s sister) and I walked about the property… Then home… downhill, 4 wheel, low, down to Hwy 88, then high range two wheel drive… home, drop the trailer at Ardenwood… In the dark… Then home… winch redeemed… useful…   The lovely T had thought the winch an expensive toy… I hoped never to use it (using it generally means you did something stupid) but, now, 4 days after installation I found it helpful (either that or I was stupid and got myself in trouble)