After about 3 weeks of funemployment spending most of the day perusing Marketplace, Craigslist, and the classifieds, I found exactly what I had been looking for. I came across a post by Garret from Valleytech. This was one of the first bumpers he had built and wasnt perfect, which he was completely upfront about. Perfect for me to beat the everloving s*** out of! The best part? I only paid $1200 for a dual swingout bumper with a tire carrier and jerry can holder. I paid him that Tuesday and Wednesday morning I was on the i70 heading east to Kansas City.
Remember when I said the Cruiser never let me down until it did? Well this is when 21 years and 358,000 miles of use/abuse started to show itself. About halfway to Kansas City, I look down at the dash to see the battery light on. ****!!! Not only was I in the middle of nowhere Kansas, but I had no idea how to change the alternator on this vehicle. I pulled off at the next exit looking for a gas station, only to find a marine repair shop. I pleaded with the receptionist to sell me a battery or hook me up with a charge from one of their vehicles. She looked at me, annoyed, and said no.

I continued begging her until she finally gave in and went to get the owner of the shop. The owner, who was an absolute gentleman, told me to pull around the side so he could hook up his battery charger. SCORE! While the battery charged, he called around to all three of the the local auto parts stores to see if anyone had an alternator for the 2UZ. Within 100 miles, one O’Reillys had the part. It wasnt OEM, but I really didn't care at that point. I’d have to drive about 25 minutes east to pick up the part without the battery dying on the way. I hopped back in the cruiser and headed down the interstate going way faster than anyone has any business going in a 100 series. Luckily, I made it to Salina, KS and set up shop in a truck stop parking lot.
I called Garret to let him know the situation, to which he replied, “Want me to just pick you up an alternator in KC and bring that and the bumper to you? We can install them in the parking lot.” ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! So I sent him some more cash and began figuring out how the hell to get the alternator out. I didnt have much spare coolant, I opted to try to fish out the alternator without removing the lower coolant hose. What a bitch! After about 2 hours, the bad alternator was free!
At about 4p, the angel also known as Garret showed up, alternator, pigtail and wires in hand. He also had a beautiful chunk of steel to hang off the back of my rig.
We split up, I installed the new alternator while Garret installed the bumper.
By 8pm, the installs were complete. We were both exhausted and ready to get the hell out of that windy, cold truck stop parking lot. I thanked Garret endlessly and headed back to Colorado, proud to have successfully repaired the rig in less than ideal circumstances.
I will forever be thankful for Garret’s generosity and kindness in this situation. He is a genuinely decent human being in a world full of dickheads

He is also a great business owner to deal with, so if youre looking for a custom bumper or sliders, I will always recommend people to reach out to him