This Old Fixer Upper, part 6: Restoring the Antique Douglas Fir Floorboards

Submitted by Danny on Tue, 02/13/2018 - 15:17

When we bought this house last winter, we did it assuming that there was a hardwood floor underneath the carpet. We were right: antique douglas fir planks! But repairing and refinishing them was not easy. We made a few mistakes, and one of them I can honestly say was the biggest mistake we've made yet during our renovation.

DIY roof rack rails for my Jeep Cherokee XJ

Submitted by Danny on Fri, 01/26/2018 - 11:49

I just bought my first welder. It's an inexpensive DC inverter stick welder from Amazon, and at $170 I think it's a really really good value. Before I move on to building my own custom bumpers, I wanted a smaller project to practice on first. So I chose to replace the stock roof rack bars with a custom one. The one I build will have removable crossbars, and the crossbars create a high amount of drag on the road, so it will also be more aerodynamic as well as stronger and better looking. 

building a custom diy jeep xj roof rack rails

How to: Jeep Wranger TJ mirrors on a Jeep Cherokee XJ

Submitted by Danny on Mon, 12/11/2017 - 16:05

I've always hated the mirrors on my 1997 Jeep Cherokee XJ. They're too small and they look dumb! A rugged, manly vehicle deserves rugged, manly mirror. Right? I got these mirrors from Amazon for less than $40 for the pair and I'm really happy with them. They're for a TJ Jeep Wranger but they also look like YJ mirrors. 

installing wranger tj mirrors on a jeep cherokee xj

Booger welds galore! I made a homemade skid plate for Project Cherokeeper

Submitted by Danny on Wed, 11/22/2017 - 15:16

Project Cherokeeper -- my 1997 Jeep Cherokee XJ -- needed a little protection for its soft belly. The aluminum transfer case is totally exposed and if it hangs up on a large rock, it can crack. And if that happens, neither axle is moving and I'm going nowhere. Here's how I built my own.

Backpacking, Dispersed Camping along the Redwood Creek, and Horseback Riding in Redwood National Park

Submitted by Danny on Wed, 10/25/2017 - 09:51

In the middle of our epic California coast adventure, my fiance and I decided to try a little backpacking along the Redwood Creek in the Redwood National Park in Northern California - it's the only place in the park where dispersed camping is allowed. We followed that up with an experience I'll truly never forget: horseback riding on the horse trails that go through the heart of the Redwood National Park. Amazing!

redwood creek trail, redwood national park, dispersed camping

I Made a Bike Barn

Submitted by Danny on Wed, 10/11/2017 - 10:07

Johhny and I built this "bike barn" out of scrap wood we needed to clear out of the garage. I don't think we used the measuring tape once. We just slapped the boards together as quickly as possible. Sometimes we cut them to length and sometimes we didnt. Fun!

4x4 Trail Report: Hayden Pass Road, through the 2016 Hayden Pass Fire

Submitted by Danny on Wed, 07/12/2017 - 16:44

This was the last 4x4 trail we drove down during out 3 day excursion through Colorado. And by far the most challenging. But here's the thing with Hayden Pass: last year there was a forest Fire - The Hayden Pass Fire - and the 4x4 road does go through the burn scar. I was really worried that the road would be covered in a thick layer of ash, making it impassible. My only other experience with traversing through a burned out area was during a backpacking hike through Yosemite. The trail was completely destroyed and we lost it because the earth was so scorched and covered in ash.

Hayden Pass 4x4 trail road in Colorado of the Sangre De Cristo mountain range

4x4 Trail Report: Mount Rosa and Mount Baldy

Submitted by Danny on Wed, 07/12/2017 - 10:57

Colorado or bust! That was my mantra while driving from Eastern Kansas to South Central Colorado - a 10 hour drive - to go off-roading in my new Jeep XJ Cherokee for the first time. Not only had I never been off-roading in the Jeep, I had never been off-roading in Colorado either! So it was about to be a whole new experience for me. However, I promised myself that I wasn't going to attempt any "rock crawling" on this trip due to the lack of skid plates and the true soft belly of the aluminum transfer case. And while I didn't have to break that promise on the Mount Rosa and Mount Baldy trails, I would eventually break it by the end of the trip!

Project CheroKeeper: fender trimming & hood vents

Submitted by Danny on Mon, 07/10/2017 - 15:50

The technique for cutting the sheet metal is an old, tried-and-tested process in the Jeep XJ community. Just search youtube or any jeep forum and you'll see the same method each and every time. Trim the sheet metal up front, and "cut and fold" the sheet metal for the rear fenders. What I did was I tried to trim off just a enough so that there would still be a little tiny metal fender flare left. This meant cutting right along a bend in the sheet metal - which also meant the shape/profile of the fender arches would remain mostly stock - or, in the case of the rear, cutting up to that bend and folding the sheet metal over at that point. This also allowed me to keep the windshield wiper fluid reservoir hidden between the outer fender and the inner fender. After trimming the sheet metal, I cleaned them up with some truck bed liner paint, and the end result looks great and functions beautifully. 

Project CheroKeeper: cooling system overhaul

Submitted by Danny on Mon, 07/10/2017 - 11:30

This story, chronically my attempt to overhaul the jeep XJ's cooling system and overcome a mysterious overheating problem, was orignally posted to the website cherokeeforum.com. I ended up replacing the entire cooling system except for the heater core, and in the end it's vastely improved yet the motor still runs a little hot in the summer. 

How to install tongue and groove panels on a ceiling

Submitted by Danny on Fri, 05/26/2017 - 12:17

For my This Old Fixer-Upper project, we decided to cover the plaster ceiling with pine tunque-and-groove panels rather than try to scrape off the wallpaper and paint the ceiling. The original plan was to use 4' x 8' sheets of panels that looked like tongue-and-groove boards painted white, but we found the actual stuff at Menards for only a little bit more money per square foot. A pretty good deal I thought. All of the materials cost me a little over $400, including the brad nails, paneling adhesive, polyurathane, etc. 

how to install pine tungue-and-groove boards paneling on ceiling