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9-2-08: John's bachelor party is over. The crew came home Sunday night, and somehow everybody survived. I realize there's nothing 4x4 related in this video, but it's still pretty d@mn funny. Running time is almost 10 minutes, so depending on your connection speed you may want hit pause and step away for a few minutes to let it load before you try and watch it. Enjoy... 7-26-08: John's wedding ceremony in September is inching closer and closer, while the matrimony became legal last Monday at the courthouse. John, Tony, Shawn and Josh headed out last Sunday afternoon for some pre-bachelor party festivities (the planned bachelor party isn't until the end of August). John threw down the gauntlet in what could be the ultimate gesture of loyalty to both the Evil Ike family and his favorite yellow TJ. That's right, an Evil Ike Tattoo, on which the scar tissue is fading as we speak. Stay tuned for a photo or two... 7-19-08: We ain't dead yet. Sorry for the long hiatus. Shawn finally got off his @ss and posted the rest of the Moab pics. Also... it appears that John will be getting married at 11:05 Monday morning at the County courthouse. What? That's crazy talk you say!? No it's the real deal. Everyone give him a big hearty slap on the back and congratulate him if you see him next week. Monday will also officially mark the start of "Operation: Don't-Let-Emily-Talk-John-Into-Selling-The-TJ", which she has been quite vocal about in the past. Stay strong, John. The Ike brotherhood is behind you. 5-15-08: Moab is knocking at our front door. Shawn and his dad actually hit the road Saturday morning. They'll spend a week at the Nissan sponsored event "GONE Moab" before the rest of the crew rolls into town for the week of Memorial Day. And as you would expect, Shawn will probably be wrenching up until the very last minute. Dan was able to get salvage his old bumper with a little help from Mike @ MWH Fab and get it mounted on his new ZJ. Hopefully we'll get some pics up pretty soon. Oh yeah... Tony and Roxanne are having a baby girl! 5-07-08: Sorry for the lack of updates. Everyone has been pretty busy with work, everyday stuff and Moab prep (you know who you are). The Moab tees are done and have been distributed. They turned out pretty good. Aaron recently bolted up a radiator/engine skid from all pro, as well as some rear control arm mounting point skids. Shawn installed a new clutch about 2 weeks ago, with some help from Aaron. The X will also be getting some limit straps in the front, and will pay a quick visit to Kaiser Brake & Alignment in Eugene for some rear axle R&P work before Shawn leaves for the Nissan Moab event on the 17th. Oh yeah, before you turn off your computer make sure you head over to KDUK.com and vote for Andy and Val's baby, Georgia S., in the Baby Idol contest. 4-11-08: Here it is. Thanks to the art guy at Eugene Silkscreen for polishing up the original design a bit...  4-5-08: The t-shirt order is in, and the good folks at Eugene Silkscreen are putting the finishing touches on the design proof for the back of the Moab tees. Maybe we'll be able to post the proof up here when it's finished. I talked to Josh yesterday and learned that the YJ is in the shop having some diff and axle bearings replaced. Also talked to Andy, he pulled out a stuck Super-Duty on 40" Intercos during a camping trip a couple weeks back, but unfortunately no pictures... Oh yeah. Aaron placed another order with All-pro for some last minute Moab necessities. The FJ will be getting a radiator skid and some control arm mount skids. And yes, Moab is NEXT MONTH (49 DAYS TO BE EXACT!!). 3-19-08: The slickrock gods are looking out for the Ike's crew this year. Plans have been changed, and it looks like Tony is going to be able to swing the Moab trip after all! Now if we could only talk Josh into it... I'm still working on tweaking the trail itinerary. Kane Creek is never a sure deal, as changes in water levels can make it impassable. I'm going to suggest we run the much shorter (and actually higher rated) Wipe-Out Hill. I'm also thinking that maybe we should keep it down to 1 trail on Thursday, just because Tuesday and Wednesday will be very long (and ending Wednesday with a full tour of Hell's Revenge will likely cause a few people to need nerve-calming beers and plenty of rest). TUESDAY:   WEDNESDAY:   THURSDAY:  FRIDAY: GROUP CHOICE I still need to get some feedback on this list. We need to have the list finalized and the t-shirt order in within the next 2-3 weeks if we want to ensure that they're done and ready to go before we hit the road. The silkscreen shop is very busy right now with orders for the spring baseball/softball season. Speaking of... maybe we're big enough now that we can field an Evil Ike's city league softball team. Hmm.... The X is back up and rolling after the big "Titan Swap." Shawn needs a passenger side Titan spindle (the junkyard sent him a Fabtech spindle from a lift kit) to make the conversion complete. Pics coming soon... 3-13-08: We're starting to develop the Moab trip trail list. I think the Tue-Thu trails will go on the t-shirt. Although we've lost a couple drivers, the smaller group will make it easier to knock out 2 trails a day. We'll leave Friday open for "group choice." Hopefully by then people will have an idea with what they are and aren't comfortable with, and we can reach a group decision for the last day (Potato Salad Hill, anyone?). The idea here is start off super easy so that people get a feel for the traction the slickrock can offer, and get increasingly more difficult as we go along. Here's the tentative list so far. Each page should have a link. The number following each trail is the trail rating (per the Red Rock 4 Wheeler's 1-10 rating system). Let me know what you think. 3-8-08: Alright. John suggested a change to the Moab trip t-shirt design to make it more true to form. As stated before, we're going for a faux-rock concert tour shirt (inspired by Metallica) with a list of trails instead of a conventional list of city stops on a tour. Took me about an hour and a half. I had to re-design the "E" by hand, but I think it looks ok.  3-6-08: First the bad news... Josh has officially dropped out of the Moab trip. He's not quite sure that he can get the vacation time. That also means we'll probably be looking for a different condo since the head count has dropped to 6 (4 rigs). 3-3-08: We've added Matt to the group, which also marks our first official full-size. Check out his vehicle on the "Rigs" page. Spent quite a bit of time today updating mod lists and outdated pics. Also added some stuff to the "Stuff" page. There are a few other suprises you might pick up on if your computer speakers are turned up... 3-1-08: Tony and Shawn hit the road today to check out the ship wreckage that's been recently revealed by heavy winter storms in Coos Bay. Go to the photos page to check it out... 2-29-08 (7:45 PM): We just learned that we lost a certain black TJ for the Moab trip, and he's got a valid excuse. Well, it's not an excuse, it's a family situation that needs to be dealt with. Family is family, and we wish him the best of luck with that. That brings the official head count down to 8 and the rig count to 5; The X, the FJ, the YJ, the yellow TJ and the green TJ. Which is, coincidentally, the same number of vehicles we had for the 'Con. We're just replacing a Jeep with a Toyota. If anybody else tries to bail he/she will be rewarded with a free "For Sale" sign to place on their windshield. Maybe we can use the website to hold an on-line auction. Gas is to expensive to drive these things and not continue to use/abuse them, especially when you have an opportunity to go to Moab. 2-29-08: Aaron and Shawn installed the All-Pro adj. rear lower control arms on the FJ today. They also brainstormed a pretty trick *possible* powertank mount. We'll see if it works. Also, Shawn got a delivery from PRG products today in preparation for his Titan swap project. Sway-A-Way 2.5 diameter adj. coilovers, Radflo air bumps for the front and a few other goodies. D-day is scheduled for March 15th. 2-26-08: Back in November of last year we had a list of people who were committed to hitting the road for Moab in May. Now every time I turn around I'm hearing a rumor or some excuse from someone about why they might not go. Now this makes absolutely no sense to me. But, I also understand that it might be hard to understand what you would be missing out on unless you've been there. So... here we go. Motivation in the only way I know how. Photos from the 2007 Easter JEEP Safari;        
Rubi...what? Exactly. Suck it up and save your gas money, or miss out on the end-all-be-all Evil Ike's trip. You don't wanna be that guy. You also know that we'll never have the group together again for something this big, and you know your @ss isn't going there anytime soon on your own. No excuses. 'Nuff said. 2-23-08: Here's your first peek at the new and improved ZJ...  Dan still has a few things to swap over from the old ride, and was taking care of some electrical stuff yesterday. There were a few parts that got upgraded along the way. I spotted a yellow-top Optima and some shiny new Bilstein 5150s. As soon as we can get some trail shots we'll overhaul Dan's vehicle page. Aaron received his adj. control arms from All-Pro over the weekend. About d@mn time. The X is going in to MWH Fab on Friday, March 14th, to have some air bump cans welded to the frame rails up front. Saturday the 15th, the Xterra will undergo it's biggest install yet. Let's just call it "The Titan Swap" for now and you can wait about 3 weeks for some pics... And yes... 2-10-08: The Ike's crew was busy over the weekend. First and foremost, Dan found a '97 V8 Grand Cherokee in Washington yesterday and drove it home. It's got an extra special custom touch that we'll tell you about later. Earlier today, the boys started Operation ZJ Teardown - Phase I, and will slowly be transferring all of the aftermarket parts from the wrecked ZJ over to the new rig. Hopefully we'll get some new pics up next weekend. Aaron and Shawn were able to get the new All-Pro parts bolted up to the FJ today as well. Check out his installs page for more info. Also, Shawn finally installed the Optima yellowtop he's had sitting around for a few weeks. Josh, Tony and Shawn went up to Oakridge in search of snow yesterday. Here's a shot of Josh kicking some up.  And in case you're wondering... |
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