I’m sure you are as shocked as I am that this post is about yours truly working on a jeep! It’s truly a miracle!

This all started because this weekend and into the early part of next week, we will have record hot temperatures, the hottest of which seem to be centered on ol’ little Prosser, Washington! (See the Axios story here) … records are going to fall.

Because things are supposed to heat up, I wanted to clear room in the shop so we could move a couple more vehicles in there. To do that, I wanted to move the racing jeep underneath Patterson (which would be lifted up on the hoist). But, to drive the racer within the hoist stands, I wanted to remove the wheel spacers to reduce the width.

Sounds simple enough, right? So, I jacked up the rear, pulled one rear tire. That’s when I saw this mess: several of the Allen bolts have been stripped. Ugh. WTF?

I figured I had a minimum of 2 solutions:

1. I can weld Allen wrenches on each of the stripped bolts, then (hopefully) spin them off.
2. I can drill out the Allen bolts.

Thankfully, I don’t want the spacers anyway; if they get ruined in the process, so be it.

But, before I started, I figured I would throw my dilemma out to you folks to see if there are any other ideas floating around?

Joe-in-Mesa was kind enough to donate an FC-150 sign he won a few years ago while attending the FC-Roundup to eWillys HQ. It will have a ‘most excellent’ place of honor in the shop. Thanks Joe!

To keep it safe for the moment, I put it on the fireplace mantle. It is covering a lithograph my great grandfather bought in the UK in 1924.

In case you are curious, this is how it normally looks. Upon his return from Britain in 1924, my great grandfather Karl Eilers gave it to the Engineer’s Club (this was shortly after the club built their golf course and country club near Roslyn, NY, on Long Island), where Karl was a member. At some point, my grandfather, who was also a member of the club (and President in 1930) was given the lithograph back. Subsequently, the lithograph hung for years at my grandparents house over their fireplace, which was a done floor to ceiling in rock.

You can just see the edge of it in this mid-1960s Christmas time photo of their house on Hayden Lake. It’s interesting how much lighter the matte looks in this photo. It must just be the light, as I doubt the matte was ever changed.

Grandfather Eilers on the left. My aunt Martha on the swivel chair. My grandmother Eilers standing. That place looks smaller than my the way my child-self remembers it, lol.