Introduce Yourself!!

[Cheek-Bone]

This is a place like we had at the last forum for new additions to the forum to introduce themselves to everyone else. If you have been here for a while you don't really need to do this if you don't want to.

[Doball]

Hi, I'm Mike and I'm addicted to wheeling. I've been clean now for 11 days.      Oh yeah, OHIO STATE SUCKS!!!!! 

[albsvx]

Hello, My name is Al.  I'm a CT resident for all of my life.  Mostly in the southeastern corner, around the Norwich area.
I'm 33 years old.
My career and hobbies mostly revolve around computers, but I have always been interested in mechanical things.
My name, albsvx, comes from either my first name last initial Al B. or my 3 initial A. L. B. and was sort of given to me as kind of a nickname in highschool.  The svx part comes from the vehicle that was really my first mechanical love, the Subaru SVX.  A high luxury sport sedan from the early 90s.  230HP, H-6,  all wheel drive and pure luxury.  Unfortunately, before the WRX came to america, there wasn't a subaru transmission here that could really handle its weight and power, and as a result, and attempt to use the vehicle as the performance vehicle that it was meant to be was met by very expensive transmission failure.  This led me to eventually leave the svx in the dust, but not the nickname.
My mechanical adventure proceeded to the 2nd Generation Mazda RX-7 sports car.  At one point, I had 4 of them in my possession.  As with many of my hobbies, this was fairly short lived and about 4 years ago now, I bought a 1998 Jeep Wrangler Sport, 4.0, 5sp, to be my daily driver.  It wasn't long before somebody tried to introduce me to offroading, and it was only my first or second trip out that I snapped a stock sway bar link.  At this time, this was my only usable vehicle, and I decided that if I was going to continue with this offroading thing, I would need to buy a cheaper, older, "disposable" rig to use for offroading.  I bought my 1988 YJ Sahara.  It already had a 4.0HO transplant in it, and it had extended shackes sitting on 31"s.  For $2700 on ebay, it was PERFECT!  I'd never have to spend any more money on it other than repairs, and it would save my daily driver from abuse.
Well needless to say, it wasn't long before the 88 did in fact need an upgrade, and it was a major one, and it wasn't cheap.  new axles, new gears, a serious suspension and body lift and 35" tires.
One that was done, the rig was no longer very street friendly, and getting it to and from distant trails became annoying.  A good friend of mine who owned a speed shop was planning to sell all of his worldly possessions  and more to ireland to be with a girl.  Well, one of those was a 1999 Ford F-350 Extended Cab, Long Bed, Super Duty, 7.3L Turbo Diesel V8, with a 20' flatbed car trailer, and he was willing to give me a good deal on it.  So, I decided, there was nothing long with that truck being my daily driver, and I sold the TJ, and bought the truck and trailer to tow the YJ around with.
I've been wheeling it, and loving it since.
Very recently, a fellow CTJeep member decided that he was bored with the 1993 Geo Tracker buggy that he'd build, and he needed to sell it to free up money for other projects and for a home purchase.  Having seen it wheel a few times in the past, I couldn't pass up a great deal, and now I've got 2 trail-only rigs.

I guess that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

I'm sure most of you won't bother to read it, but for those that don't know me, it gives a pretty good insight to who I am and what I do.

To follow up with the rest of my personal life story.

I'm happily married for 7.5 years now, having married my highschool sweetheart.  We were dating/engaged for 10 years before we got married.  No plans for children, but 2 very needy cats.

I currently live in North Franklin, CT.

***NEXT***

[Kral4me]

Hi, I am J.D., and I am a Lifetime Wheel-O-Holic.

(lol! how else would you start this thread!?)

Like some of the guys you will meet, I have been here from the baby stages of JT4x4, (which is coming up on it's year anniversary!!)...and it's been growing pains and baby steps since then! (Ok, so sometimes we have some leaps and bounds too, but it's all good!) It all started with some of the guys seeing my rig, and sending their wives to the school our children all attended, with JT4x4 cards.

At the time I was being pretty picky about who I wheeled with. Disasterous occurances seemed to keep happening all around me. I was new to the East Coasts' version of land issues, and wasn't quite sure where to look for guidance I could trust. People who invited me to wheel would come back saying they got tickets, or ended up trails-end, in someone's back yard, etc. I am very black and white when it comes to issues of ethics/morals/legality. I am, as you will hear some of the guy's call me, "Mary Poppins" when it comes to wheeling. (And yes I really have a whip/the whip they tease about me having!) 

If it ain't legal, it ain't happening. If there isn't permission, it ain't happening. If it isn't Treading Lightly, it ain't happening  I was very hesitant when we moved here 2 years ago, and had to take my time seeing if JT4x4 was a good fit or not.

Sooooo.....I started wheeling with JT4x4, we progressed to weekend BBQs at my house, and during one in particular, they all stopped by and then it was Gastank bellowing out "Oh, we just had the first JT4x4 meeting, and by the way, we voted you in as V.P!". How could you not laugh at the guy's infectious grin?! Having Toxic Turtle (Dave Brill and resident East Coast Wheeling Guru) to solidify the vote left me without an arguement....

There began my love affair with JT4x4. Hours and hours working official work (and some not-so-official postwhoreathons for stress relief  ), fun work, getting things organized and everyone in the club (and I mean everyone) pitching in, and coming up with great ideas, and helping taking JT4x4 to a new level. *Grins* For 6 months, it was fun, it was nice, but once Cheek-Bone moved back into the area, being that he was one of the original founders of the club, I stepped aside and let him take back over the reigns 

So now, my husband Scott (Seabee_BUC) and I work mostly on little bits of everything, and alot of the Event Planning. The club is still getting it's feet wet with exposure, so we have some great Cruise Nights lined up, Wheeling Events, and even some Charity Events in the works.... Can't wait!

Now. As for me personally.  I am 32 (33 come Feb 28th!), we have 2 little girls ages 9 and 5, and I have been wheeling all my life, and so have the girls. I was 5 months pregnant with my 5 yr old when I went to Paragon...so we teasingly call that her first wheeling trip LOL. I had Marissa out on quads out in the Pine Barrens before she could barely reach the handles on my Polaris.

I grew up mostly in SoCal, Alaska, and Costa Rica for awhile. No, lol, we weren't military, but my mom had itchy feet. (She would say "Let's go for brunch, I would agree...and she would say "No, I mean in Vegas!" LOL!). So I was a world traveler waaaaaay before I became military. My stepdad was religiously into making sure my sister and I could "survive in the woods".

Yeah. Ever seen survivor? He did that to us...in Alaska. Hunt your own food, skin your own animals, make water containers from bladders, fire from scratch etc. About as non-conventional as you can get, but it kicked ass and I wish I could raise my kids that way too . LOL. So four wheeling was only a natural follow up. I test drove my first Jeep at 15, on the back open lot being newly developed, and have been hooked ever since. (The salesman wasn't too happy when I brought his Jeep back muddy, but he told me to try it out there! LOL!)

I wasn't able to actually put my hands on a Jeep until 2003. I bought one off the lot, Dana 44 already in the rear, and promptly spent $3200, dropping it into a lift, tires, ARB locker, slip yoke elim, CV driveshaft, and a few other things....and since then, I just keep adding to it 

As for my name? KRAL4ME is on my CA license plates. And I never plan on changing it.  I have wheeled, and hubby has wheeled, at places like Red Rock Canyon (NV), Moab (UT), Hungry Valley (CA), Paragon (PA), Oceana (CA..used to be Pismo for those of you who knew it), Miller Jeep Trail (CA), Catskills(NY), Mohawk Trails (MA), Pine Barrens (NJ)...and those are just briefly listed. That is all of our organized wheeling LOL.

As my signature says, and it's something I whole heartedly believe...."When life gets too hard to stand....crawl." 

Enjoy the club, enjoy the forum.

We do!

[mallcrawl]

well my names Brice and I can stop anytime I wantmaybe

bought the 04 rubicon cause family and friends kept bugging me to get a "reliable" kinda car and its the only thing I've sat in the drivers seat of made after about 93 and not hated right off.


I like to wheel, and am enjoying the company of the club, but the jeeps purpose in life realy will be more to get me far enough back into the woods to be able to set up a campsite where I won't see another human for the weekend.

I also love air cooled VW's and anything with a diesel motor

[Cheek-Bone]

Alright I guess I can say a little about myself. I am one of the 4 original Founding Members of JT4x4. It all started with 4 guys with a passion for wheeling and wanting to start a club in the local area so others with our passion could have a place to call home. But from the very beginning we wanted to do it right and legal, so that is the foundation that we have based our club on. If you are wondering where the JT came from, well it just so happened that 2 of the 4 of us had Jeeps, and the other 2 had Trucks so it just seemed to work.

I have been in love with Jeeps ever since I saw the movie Patton for the first time when I was 10, and watching all of those WWII Jeeps running around. So in 2000 I bought my first Jeep a Brand new TJ Saraha. I live in VA Beach at the time so the only wheeling I did with it was on the beach and in some sand dunes. I traded it in after Melissa had our daughter because there just wasn't enough room for everything that first time parents need for kids. We were like all first time parents and when we went anywhere we had everything you could think of for Hanna, Just in case.

So in 2006 we moved to CT for shore duty and I really wanted to get another Jeep I hated getting rid of the other one but at the time it was the right thing to do and as an E-4 I sure as hell couldn't make 2 car payments. So I started looking around and talking to people and sure as shit Doball had just bought his CJ-7 and was talking about selling the 92 YJ he had, so I jumped right on it. I did all kinds of upgrades and things to that jeep and I definately learned alot along the way about working on them and good places to get parts for the best price.

So Before I got back up here I decided it was time for a major upgrade, the 4 squirrels under the hood just wasn't cutting it for me anymore. So I decided that I was going to do a Bowtie 350 swap. I started talking to Gastank through emails about everything he needed to do his swap. In the end the list got long and the price tag was looking to be between $7000-$8000. Which was fine because that is what I expected. Then all of the sudden I am on NEJeep.org and I see a jeep for sale that the guy who built it had done a running build documentation on the forum so the whole time he was building it, and the whole time I was watching the forum and thinking "Man that is a awesome Jeep". Well sure as hell there it was on the forum for sale. He was asking $7500 for it which was right around what I was going to pay for the engine swap, but the major difference was Mike had alread upgraded everything else. Including the Ford 8.8 rear end, gears, lockers, new engine, new tranny, and a complete list that I put in the Members Rigs section. So needless to say I jumped and had the Jeep bought before I was even back in the state. But I couldn't have done that w/o Jon and Brian going over a taking a look at it for me, Thanks again guys. But that just goes to show the type of people we have here in our club.

If after reading all of our intros if anyone has any questions that you don't feel comfortable putting on the open forum feel free to shoot me a PM and I will do my best to help anyone with anything. If I don't have the answer I will do my best and ask the right people to get the answer you are looking for. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Welcome to JT4x4 and the forum, it's a great group and we have alot of fun. Hope to see you on the trail.

Brian

[ToxicTurtle]

There are some of you who already know my life story... LOL I could take up most of JT4x4's bandwidth with my life exploits. So, I'll try to keep it as short as Toxically possible. 

I was born in Wallingford CT, 42+ years ago. I broke my collar bone when I was 4 and somehow, at the same time, also developed a double hernia. I was in the hospital recovering from surgery and my roommate was a teenager who was building all sorts of cool car models. I wanted to build one too. So, my Dad picked up a glue kit of a convertible 1969 Mercedes Benz. That was my first foray into the world of wheels. I was hooked. I was instantly enamoured with racing, hot-rods, trucks, anything with a motor and wheels. I raced BMX bikes from the time I was 12 until I was 18. I held several national titles and had a factory sponsorship from Kuwahara. I bought my first car at 14. A 70 Plymouth Duster. 318. I did all the body work myself and added 360 heads and cam. Took me a couple of years. When I turned 16, I drove that car for a bit, but then came across a 440 Duster. I sold the 318 and bought the 440. I only drove that car for a few months as I actually realized as a kid, that the 440 would probably get me killed or at least some really bad tickets.

I was a hardcore partier. Started drinking when I was about 15. However, I always did well in school. Took all the Honors and AP courses. Really stood out. Most, if not all of my peers dressed the preppy part or were super geeks.. I wore jeans and an old army jacket and concert shirts. I had high top Keds painted up like the sneakers on Boston's first album. I dabbled in bootleg tapes and did my fair share of scalping tickets.  My Mom died when I was 10 and my Dad wasn't the best at taking care of bills, so, I ended up taking care of many financial things, even as a 13 yo kid. I had a very large paper route, that I had had since I was 8.. It actually paid me about $150 week... back 30 + years ago.

I graduated 22 in my class, out of 350 kids. I went to college for about a year, taking drafting and architectural classes, just continuing on the path I had started in HS, where I won several awards for my designs. I was also living on my own, like I had since I was 17, paying my own way through college. I had to drop out when my wheels went belly up and I needed to get a car so I could work and get to school.. but.. I couldn't afford the next semester's tuition.

At 19-20, I went to work for a sign company. I had at the time, a 73 Duster and a 69 Charger, with a 383 big block, modded only a little. Kept the stock redline Goodyears and stock rally wheels. I was soon engaged to the woman I would end up divorcing.. LOL We got married when I was 22. Soon after the wedding, my Grandfather died and left me some money. I started a sign business with most of it, with my Dad. Oh and I stopped drinking simply because I was tired of waking up feeling like crap... No AA or any defeatist I am an alcoholic for life attitude. Just stopped. I can go out today and have 1 drink or 10 and stop at any time in between.
I soon traded in the Duster for THE 4Runner that today is the Toxic Turtle. Bought her brand spankin new in early 1987.
I picked her up on a Friday and on Saturday, I was in VT, stuck. Yup, second day of owning her, I got her stuck on some real nasty, muddy road in Ludlow VT.
In less than a year, I had met several other local wheelers and we started the Eastern 4 Wheelers. I absolutely loved wheeling. I still liked to go fast though. My wife wanted a Mustang. I told we could be better with a Cougar. I sold the Charger and bought a 69 Cougar. 351, RX-7, loaded. I did mostly super detailed clean up work. Took some trophies at local shows and figured it was time to give to my wife. She put it in gear to back out of the driveway. She stepped too hard on the double sprung throttle linkage and lit up the tires. She jammed the brakes, got out and threw the keys at me, saying she would never be able to drive that car. So.. I traded it for two Jeeps and 2000 bux. I started building one Jeep and sold the other for $2000. I was actually going to keep the runner as a DD and wheel the Jeep. But.. some carb issues got me ticked at the Jeep so I traded it in on a Z41 Pontiac Special Edition Gran Prix. I started building the 4Runner.

My sign biz was up and down, which I found to be not just my biz but the entire industry. My wife felt that I should be taking care of her and chose not to work. I am a laid back guy so it took me two years to get mad enough and kick her ass out of the house. The wheeling community was my sanity. I purchased one of the first Marlin Crawlers here on the east coast and people started calling me Turtle. In a trip in late 89 to Bloomsburg for the massive 4x4 Jamboree/Truck Show (just like Essex) I met up with some guys from the East Coast 4WD Assn. They were raffling off a fiber Jeep body. I stopped and asked.. and before you knew it, E4W was the charter club in Region D Northeast. I became the chairman.

I have since been the Land Use Chair for the region. Been asked to step away completely from the world of wheeling due to false accusations. I have wheeled all over the country. From western upstate NY to GA, to NV and AZ. ME, PA, NJ, MD. I have held the position of Land Use in E4W for nearly all of its years. I have been its president three times and it VP several times. I have held positions and still do on several national motorized enthusiast BODs. I have taught 4WD instruction for Land Rover North America with Camel Trophy driver Jim Swett. I owned my own 4W instructional business, Backcountry Trails 4WD Instruction. The Turtle developed slowly over time. Several years ago, I swapped in the live axle and did the buggy spring set up in the rear.. and also stripped and painted the whole deal. At that point, she morphed into the Super Hero.. Toxic Turtle. I am VERY passionate about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I am very rarely not smiling.. although I do have my sad moments. I have been in several wrecked romances over the years and feel that I have learned from each one... what to look for in others and what was wrong in me.. I am goal oriented and can be difficult to work with/for if I am on a drive. I tend to do whats right, not popular. I have no problem calling the authorities on any group that is knowingly wheeling illegally. Gonna complain that you have no where to wheel but then complain about the stupid clubs... ask me if I care... I have the places to wheel and you don't... either play by my rules or you will pay fines or you simply won't get to play. I am very politically active. I'm not afraid to tell you who I'm voting for or why. I will easily tell you my feelings on politics, religion and the art of zen and motorcycle repair. I hold no secrets and will pretty much answer any questions asked of me... my life truly is an open book. However, just don't ask any questions you don't want my honest answer on.

On the work front, about 8 years ago, I walked away from full time sign and vehicle lettering.. I kept all my equipment cuz I still love designing lettering and grafix for cars and trucks, still do it on the side. But, the ups and downs are a major reason my hair is as gray as it is and I'm only in my early 40s. I was asked to come work for a friend of mine at this place called United Cleaning and Restoration. I needed a steady paycheck, I WAS actually starting to age and I had no insurance, so I took the job. I started out around 10-12 an hour. Being one who can't sit very still, is goal oriented, etc. It didn't take long before I moved up from the starting position as cleaner. Less than 8 years later, my income has more than doubled/ I deal with homeowners who have been dealt a nasty hand by either fire or water loss. I help restore their home and lifestyle back to pre-loss conditions,. I handle all the inventory work with RE to their belongings and I deal with the insurance companies and the adjusters. I work with a REALLY great crew and we laugh all day long while producing the most of any other division in the company. I work with 4 guys who are all into wheeling too!

About 3 years ago, I was out in Vegas for the North American Motorized Recreation Council mtg and the SEMA show. Just weeks before, I was home alone on my couch, feeling depressed and full of the rare self pity moment. I sort of asked my Mom, why can't I find a woman who doesn't have a truck.. but knows what one is. One who would go wheeling not totally because she thinks wheeling kicks ass, but because I am going and she wants to go with me. A woman who wants me to go with her to some art show or on an architectural tour or to a cooking show, not becasue she wants to control me and know where I am but because she wants to be with me... and I would want to go to those places not because I am some art aficionado but because I want to be with her.  A woman who can cook, a woman who I don't have to always take care of but will let me if need be. An attractive woman, physically fit, so she can deal with the rigors of wheeling or hiking or just being outside. blah, blah, blah
So, there I am at Gilly's, on the strip in Las Vegas. THE place to meet the woman you want to marry,right? LOL After two days of bikini bull riding, mud wrestling and steak and lobster dinners, we were just chillin, drinking a few beers. I see this woman across the way and she seems rather interested in me by her frequent looks and waves. My friend tells me to go buy her a beer. I refrain and he threatens bodily harm if I don't. I turn back and... she's gone. Oh well... 10 mins later, I get a tap on the shoulder.. I turn and there she is.. "Hi my name is Maureen".. Hey, I'm Dave, can I get you a refill on the beer? I spend the next three days with her. We talk every day from when I leave. she comes out for my birthday. I go out there to visit. On her next visit, she wants to go looking at houses because her brothers both live within 2 hours of central CT. That day she buys a house here in Guilford. We design the inside of the house together over the phone.. each having the same ideas.. so much so that when we were to choose paint colors, she went out, back west and I did the same here. When she arrived, we compared colors for each room. They were the same. Our design thoughts are the same. She subscribes to.. get this.. and this is before I even knew her... Architectural Digest and Autoweek.
I am happy because I am living what I feel is the life I should be.. I am happy. I am bummed because we have been living apart, 2500 freekin miles apart, for 2 plus, almost 3 years. It is difficult.  HOWEVER... I know we can do it.. I simply look to many of my JT4x4 friends who serve our country and spend long periods of time away from friends and family, defending our country and if you can do it, so can I.

That is as much of a nut shell as I can get... There are of course lots of things I'd like to add but feel its getting a bit long already...   
If anyone really wants to know more... just ask...  LOL

Talk soon,

[HOT-ROD]

DING! DING! DING!

we have a winner Johnny!!!!!!!!!!

[steve-o]

hello,

my name is steve i am a Ec4wda and NTC member and i drive a 86 toyota 4runner that i have sased caged locked and geared. looking forward to meeting some of you guys on the trail

84 front axle, TG dual case adapter, 5.29s, 37in mtrs, hysteer, welded rear, detroit front, tg crossmember

allot more but ill add it as i think of it


from a recent run at the gutter

[HOT-ROD]

i thought it was you!!!

welcome!!! sweet pic's man.

we got like no snow here what so ever. on the shore line all we get is slush.

how is your girl? her dad ever let her wheel with you w/o doors on? lol

[steve-o]

she is doing good

she is not alowed in the truck with no doors but she still comes sometimes not right now though because the cold hurts here arthritis


we got a bunch of snow now you should put together a snow run 

[HOT-ROD]

dude! i want snow badly!!!

i thought you had the half doors made up? rig looks awesome. love the exo. i'll check you later.

again welcome.

[Cheek-Bone]

Welcome to the forum Steve. It's good to see you are already a members of EC4WDA and NTC, that means we don't have to spend a lot of time explaining till we are blue in the face about legal wheeling.

Brian

[Kral4me]

Welcome Steve! Great to see you on the forum  Looking forward to catching you around the trails!

[steve-o]

Welcome to the forum Steve. It's good to see you are already a members of EC4WDA and NTC, that means we don't have to spend a lot of time explaining till we are blue in the face about legal wheeling.

Brian

legal wheeling is the only way to do it, i take pride in it