What did he do? (1 Viewer)

[handcannon]

Thankyou for sharing your blog with us.
Thankyou for sharing your faith
Thankyou for loving your husband and honoring his dreams
God will bless you and is blessing others through you.




You number my wanderings;
Put my tears into Your bottle;
Are they not in Your book?

Psalm 56:8


For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.


Jeremiah 29:11

Sylvia

My condolences on your loss.

I hope you don't mind if I read your writing in a Bible study class next weekend. This article and thread are such a good example of how we each touch others around us. Most of the time in ways we will never know, sometimes not for several years. The way we live our everyday lives is so important.

I find it difficult to put my thoughts and feelings into words. You did a fantastic job of writing. Just like Texican, and I'm sure others, I was having a hard time seeing before I got to the end.

Don

 

[Fast Eddy]

Sylvia Here's the picture...titled "Last Ride"...

I'll take my last ride in a Cruiser.

What's the appropriate period of mourning before we can start picking on his front shackles?

 

[Rzeppa]

Thanks for all the condolences and tips. We were in Riverton WY. I'm pretty sure his username had some form of "Jeff" as part of it. I've dropped Woody a note to see if he can help. Dan is planning to take a look at it for me Sunday.

Jeff bought an axle, I believe it was, from somebody around Salt Lake. The name Jeff Zepp is familiar but not sure that is who we bought that item from. He also bought our Lexus off this forum Oct 2007 just two months before being diagnosed w stage IV colon cancer at 39 years old. Crazy world.

We were on the trails nearly every weekend in the summer. The FJ40 was his baby.

Hi Sylvia,

My condolences on your loss. My name is Jeff Zepp, and I have never sold any part to anyone, but I have given lots of parts away, and traded many parts. I don't think I have given any axles away though.

I live in Colorado near Denver. I have had a web site since 1998 which features many things cruiser-related, including the restoration of my beloved 1976 FJ40. I get a lot of calls and emails from people who have visited my site, perhaps Jeff and I had correspondence or phone conversations? I have also served in various officer positions in the Rising Sun 4WD club (Denver TLCA chapter), and have served as TLCA Central Individual Rep and as TLCA President. We may have met or spoken or corresponded in any of those capacities. Do you know if Jeff ever attended Cruise Moab or if he ever made it to the Rising Sun Rally in Lakewood Colorado? If so I could have met him at one of those events.

Just curious, is your last name xxxxxxx or something similar? I seem to remember corresponding regularly with a Jeff xxxxxxx from somewhere in WY.

In any case, please let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Should you choose to keep it, I can help with getting things fixed up, and should you choose to sell, I'll let any friends who haven't already seen your story know about the rig.

 

[Sylvia]

HA HA HA!!!! He would have joined right in. It never was quite right and he knew it! BUT- don't tell me about it right now. If I want to keep the rig, I've got to get a handle on getting the body put together. Don't start on the shackles for my sake. It will overwhelm me.

 

[Rzeppa]

What's the appropriate period of mourning before we can start picking on his front shackles?

I saw those too...

 

[waiting for time]

Sylvia,
Sorry to hear about your loss, I have to say I admire your strength.

Just over 2 years ago a good friend canceled an appointment to come and visit us and see our new house. I was a bit disapointed until he told me the reason, he had been diagnosed with pancreas cancer. I remember how shocked I was and not a day went by withouth me thinking about it. He asked everyone to leave him alone with his family and he kept us informed of his condition through e-mail. In the year folowing this we got all kind of news some negative but always with optimism and a will to survive. 3 months ago he and his wife came by to visit us to see our (new) house, he survived the cancer untill now, prognoses is good for now. When they visited his wife told me what she had been through and what an emotional rolercoaster their life had been for the last few years. I was feeling sad but never came close to realising what they where going through.
I guess what I mean to say is I don't think you can imagine what it is until it happens to you or your family.



Thank you for sharing.

 

[Rzeppa]

Sylvia, I just now went and read all chapters of "Jeff's Story" in your blog spot and now see that this was indeed the Jeff xxxxxxx I had many, many emails with over the years. I even have a Jeff xxxxxxx folder in my email client.

I would send you a PM here but my box is full and I haven't cleaned it out yet - long story. Anyway, click on the website in my sig line and you can find my personal email there. Please write to me, I have a few things I'd like to share with you direct.

 

[Rockets2000]

Sylvia, your story has touched my heart and I hope you can find a way to keep Jeff's toy and continue his strive for Cruiser awesomeness. I think it's safe to say that you have the full backing of all of us here to make sure it turns out right.

God bless

 

[brian]

mark me down in the keep it camp.

 

[carlosfj80]

I am siting at home sick today and of couse reading mud. I must say that Sylvia your blog is amazing!! Your stories make so much sense. May Jeff rest in peace and you continue to write for the Lord.

 

[Sylvia]

Sylvia

I hope you don't mind if I read your writing in a Bible study class next weekend. This article and thread are such a good example of how we each touch others around us. Most of the time in ways we will never know, sometimes not for several years. The way we live our everyday lives is so important.



Don

I'm honored that you would share it. Someday... on That Day... we'll all be amazed at the ripple affect our lives have had- for good or bad.

We had an altar call at the funeral. About a hundred people came forward to commit/ recommit their lives to God. It was a different kind of funeral to say the least. But my daughter still smiles with joy when she comments on how Dad will be so surprised at the number of people his life touched- especially given the fact he kept to himself in so many ways.

This thread will certainly add to that number. That's something I had no intentions of when I started this thread. I never would have written the IH8Mud post if all the variables hadn't lined up the way they did with my visitors on Sunday. And I just saw today how many active members there are here. WOW! It's a big crowd.

 

[TCSTARK]

To Sylvia and all of the wonderful members of MUD,

To me, this thread represents what our community is all about. It is a closeness that a non-cruiserhead could never comprehend. In the beginning we all scour the threads to learn and without knowing we wind up teaching others.

Thanks to Jeff's love of cruisers we have had the opportunity to meet Sylvia. She has touched my heart and shared her strength and for that I am grateful.

Sincerely,

The entire Stark Family

 

[Texican]

Wow, my youngest daughter just called, her father in law, a great guy, was diagnosed with stomach cancer about a year ago, all his kids and grandkids came in this past weekend, he passed away this evening........kinda like he waited til he saw everyone one more time.
He was only 54

 

[Sylvia]

Wow, my youngest daughter just called, her father in law, a great guy, was diagnosed with stomach cancer about a year ago, all his kids and grandkids came in this past weekend, he passed away this evening........kinda like he waited til he saw everyone one more time.
He was only 54

The will to survive does amazing things. I'm sure he did wait.

Here's a post I had changed over to "draft" version on my blog a while ago. Most of my average readers at the time didn't seem to care a bit about it. This crowd will appreciate it more, and since about 500 of you have visited my site, I'll throw it back up for viewing.

Lexi | Cover With His Life

Enjoy.

 

[cjgoode]

That is touching post. I am glad he got it and was able to enjoy it. Having a car you dream of owning, and getting to own one is a very special thing. My family prevents me from getting to work a lot on mine, still trying to get it on the road. When I do work on it my daughter usually hangs out with me in the garage, she is only 11 but she is claiming ownership of it when she gets older. My headlights are in a box somewhere in a huge pile of parts, but I still stand in front of it with my hands out in pure joy that I own it. My son 16 loves them the way they are, he claims ownership of the other one and wants to keep both of them all beat up and rusty looking. They have also seen the light of these unique vehicles. It is a passion we all share. Luckily my wife loves and supports me as it sounds like you did of him. He was lucky to have had a good family and a fun vehicle. Its not just the vehicle, but the times you get to have with your family in them.

 

[Sylvia]

So I chatted with my brother in law about the shackles issue last night. He says the leaf springs are supposed to provide a 2 1/2" lift but do not have the arc they should. The shackles were a "cheater". But Jeff thought if it was configured any other way he'd have to cut some of the fenders away to accommodate for the tires...??? He didn't want to do that. So how do I keep the amount of lift, ditch or modify the shackles without modifying the body of the truck?

 

[Rzeppa]

So I chatted with my brother in law about the shackles issue last night. He says the leaf springs are supposed to provide a 2 1/2" lift but do not have the arc they should. The shackles were a "cheater". But Jeff thought if it was configured any other way he'd have to cut some of the fenders away to accommodate for the tires...??? He didn't want to do that. So how do I keep the amount of lift, ditch or modify the shackles without modifying the body of the truck?

I run the exact same tires on my 71 FJ40 with only about 2" of lift. The only rubbing I get is on the pitman arm when making a sharp left and the tire is fully stuffed - that combo really doesn't happen very much and when it does there is no harm done. I have stock shackles on the front so I don't have to worry about caster angle caused problems with my steering. From the pictures, it looks like you have plenty of lift from the springs and don't need anything more from those shackles. If it were my rig I would ditch those front shackles and go back to stock, or nearly stock.

 

[DanS HJ-45]

I run the exact same tires on my 71 FJ40 with only about 2" of lift. The only rubbing I get is on the pitman arm when making a sharp left and the tire is fully stuffed - that combo really doesn't happen very much and when it does there is no harm done. I have stock shackles on the front so I don't have to worry about caster angle caused problems with my steering. From the pictures, it looks like you have plenty of lift from the springs and don't need anything more from those shackles. If it were my rig I would ditch those front shackles and go back to stock, or nearly stock.

Bingo. Sylvia the shackle angle isn't quite as bad as the pictures here make it out to be (they aren't quite vertical guys, but are probably at about 15 degrees of vertical). As long as it drives OK for you, there's no safety reason to worry about them, the truck will just ride a little harsh on the road.

Options for "fixing" them start at all new suspension ($1300 ish), so removing the shackles and seeing where that leaves you. I didn't see the old shackles in the boxes of parts, but if you wanted to do that, I'll mail you some shackles. I've got a box with LOTS of them that I have taken off of cruisers over the years...

From that point, you'll get a good idea of just what those lift springs are doing, and whether or not they are worn or not (springs collapse over time). You might be able to get away with having them re-arched if you needed, or some other cheaper solution. Or they may be fine as they are.

Dan

 

[Sylvia]

It's a pretty squirrelly driver on the open road. Sounds like those shackles might be the culprit?

Hey Dan. That bench seat I've got in inventory. Any chance that may have come from an old FJ45? Jeff posted a couple pictures of it on here a while back hoping to trade it. He ended up selling it. I'm going to visit the purchaser and thought I should return the seat if it belonged with the truck.

 

[Fast Eddy]

It's a pretty squirrelly driver on the open road. Sounds like those shackles might be the culprit?

Almost for sure. They're tilting the axle forward and reducing the camber making it twitchy.

If you decided to keep it, you probably aren't going to wheel it like Jeff was planning, so you could trade those big tires down just a bit smaller on stock wheels so the lift didn't matter, put on stock shackles and get the steering geometry to work well so it was nice to drive.

Then you could sell the old crappy dodge. :whoops: