Well, it took a month to find the time but Cindy and I finally got a chance to make our way down to Hanford, CA and visit Disciple Offroad. And let me tell you, global warming made it what would have otherwise been a 5 hour drive into one that took the better part of the day. These are shots of just how deep the snow was coming up and over the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
May I remind you, our Gladiator is riding on 42" tires and sits well over 7' tall.
This is one of the many snow machines we came across trying to widen things up.
Needless to say, the drive was slow going especially being that there were so many cars on the road who really had no business being on it. I think the worst part was that it was like driving in a channel with nowhere to pull over. These shots were taken at one of the few openings that we could find and as you can see, at a point where the snow was not so deep.
It literally took us almost to the bottom of the western slope to finally find snow shallow enough to pull over and let Ripley out.
Finally! Down in the valley and definitely in California
After an awesome night of fun at the Cen-Cal Suds-n-Grub, we made our way down to Disciple Offroad to see what they can do to help us out.
I gotta say, it's always nice to see a shop that's so clean and organized.
Racked up and ready for the doc to give JAWS a look.
After a thorough examination, Chad made the determination that the crack could be fixed and got started with some drilling to help ensure it wouldn't spread.
The crack was then cut out with a grinder.
A LOT of cleaning and re-cleaning was done before the area in need of fixing was heated up and checked with a temp gauge.
Finally, the repair could finally be made.
Again, this was before...
And this is after - good as new!
A SUPER BIG THANKS needs to go out to Jeremy and Chad over at Disciple Offroad for opening up the shop for us on a Saturday and for helping us to get our Gladiator fixed up. They were extremely professional and very detail oriented in everything they did. If you live in the Central California area or are willing to make the drive, I would highly recommend their services.