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Many of you who are friends with me on Facebook probably have seen the posts about my friend Deputy Adam Rendall who passed away last wednesday.
As a dispatcher, you tend to at least build a rapport with the people you dispatch for, and sometimes pretty solid friendships. My dad is a law enforcement officer, so I've always had an admiration and respect for those that uphold and enforce the law... yes, I'm well aware that not every cop out there is a good cop, but I'm also aware not every cop is a bad cop - in fact, most of them are not bad at all. Many of the deputies and officers I dispatch for have become like brothers to me. Adam was no exception.
Unless you are a LEO, you can never understand the tremendous amount of pressure they are under.... the public eye, the responsibility to uphold the law on and off duty, the responsibility to act ethically, and the constant fear that just around the corner is a bullet with your name on it. No one truly knows whether it was the pressures of the job, the issues he was going through with his health (brain tumor), or issues in his personal life - or all of the above - but Adam took his own life in his personal car about 15 minutes from his house.
Needless to say, it's been a pretty emotional week. We just had his funeral on Wednesday and it was one of the most gut-wrenching experiences I can remember. I've been toying with the idea of "Theming" my build to the tune of supporting "The Thin Blue Line", "IGY6", etc.... well, with the passing of my friend Adam, I wanted to do something that would honor him, as well as other fallen officers, responders, and even military personnel.
Most of what is currently red on my Jeep will be repainted blue... I'm leaving the engine bay the way it is for now, and I'll be doing some different things with the interior. This isn't going to be a pretty little show jeep by any means - I'll still be wheeling it every chance I get and it's still gonna get banged up, dirty, muddy, and broken. I just want to use it to honor the people that I admire as a way of thanking them for what they do.
My first order of business, and this is primarily to remember Adam, is re-naming the Jeep and "branding" it. I was going to call it "Thumper" after a nickname my friends gave me years ago... but Adam always used to poke fun and give me **** about it and call it a "Hooptie". So I felt it only fitting to go ahead and call it "The Hooptie". Ever since his passing "Thumper" just didn't sound right. My wife even said I should call it that without me even saying anything to her about it... so that was confirmation enough for me.
Without further ado, here's the graphic I came up with it for over the windshield and I'll be ordering it as soon as I have the extra cash built up.
The original design<br/>
Updated design including different spelling and more detail to give more depth.
This is going to be a Krawlin' for the Fallen/Thin Blue Line build... so if you guys have ideas, let me know. I'm definitely going to incorporate some blue striping down the sides of the Jeep, obviously in hommage to LEOs.
Many of you who are friends with me on Facebook probably have seen the posts about my friend Deputy Adam Rendall who passed away last wednesday.
As a dispatcher, you tend to at least build a rapport with the people you dispatch for, and sometimes pretty solid friendships. My dad is a law enforcement officer, so I've always had an admiration and respect for those that uphold and enforce the law... yes, I'm well aware that not every cop out there is a good cop, but I'm also aware not every cop is a bad cop - in fact, most of them are not bad at all. Many of the deputies and officers I dispatch for have become like brothers to me. Adam was no exception.
Unless you are a LEO, you can never understand the tremendous amount of pressure they are under.... the public eye, the responsibility to uphold the law on and off duty, the responsibility to act ethically, and the constant fear that just around the corner is a bullet with your name on it. No one truly knows whether it was the pressures of the job, the issues he was going through with his health (brain tumor), or issues in his personal life - or all of the above - but Adam took his own life in his personal car about 15 minutes from his house.
Needless to say, it's been a pretty emotional week. We just had his funeral on Wednesday and it was one of the most gut-wrenching experiences I can remember. I've been toying with the idea of "Theming" my build to the tune of supporting "The Thin Blue Line", "IGY6", etc.... well, with the passing of my friend Adam, I wanted to do something that would honor him, as well as other fallen officers, responders, and even military personnel.
Most of what is currently red on my Jeep will be repainted blue... I'm leaving the engine bay the way it is for now, and I'll be doing some different things with the interior. This isn't going to be a pretty little show jeep by any means - I'll still be wheeling it every chance I get and it's still gonna get banged up, dirty, muddy, and broken. I just want to use it to honor the people that I admire as a way of thanking them for what they do.
My first order of business, and this is primarily to remember Adam, is re-naming the Jeep and "branding" it. I was going to call it "Thumper" after a nickname my friends gave me years ago... but Adam always used to poke fun and give me **** about it and call it a "Hooptie". So I felt it only fitting to go ahead and call it "The Hooptie". Ever since his passing "Thumper" just didn't sound right. My wife even said I should call it that without me even saying anything to her about it... so that was confirmation enough for me.
Without further ado, here's the graphic I came up with it for over the windshield and I'll be ordering it as soon as I have the extra cash built up.
The original design<br/>
Updated design including different spelling and more detail to give more depth.
This is going to be a Krawlin' for the Fallen/Thin Blue Line build... so if you guys have ideas, let me know. I'm definitely going to incorporate some blue striping down the sides of the Jeep, obviously in hommage to LEOs.
Hey if you need any help with graphic design or logos for The Hooptie let me know! Would love to help a good cause anywhere I can!
Did the 97+ console swap. Didn't get any pics of the finished product because.... well... other stuff happened.
Anyway, I did get some pictures of my progress. Had to make a sheet metal patch for the hole where the newer ebrake goes. Much smaller "footprint" than the earlier design. Then I had to cut part of the original heater duct and plastic weld it to the new one (don't laugh), also had to make a spacer out of wood for the rear bracket on the console because one of the 3 "feet" don't sit flush on the floor, finally I had to make a bracket for the front part of the console to secure it to the shifter bracket. Ended up fitting very nicely.
Also converted a Kobalt workdesk (I think it's too small to be called a work "bench") into a welding table. Added some 3" caster wheels on the bottom of it, cut the back off and secured it to the "wood" top... then went through the arduous process of removing the hardened rubber coating on the metal. I thought it was powder coat, but it was more like hardened plasti-dip. Ended up using almost an entire can of aircraft grade paint stripper, a razor scraper, and a 3m sanding wheel on my cordless drill.... took about 2 hrs, but I got most of it off. Works better than I thought it would as a welding table.
And figured I'd include a shot of my friend's frame-layin' Sonoma. Looks a little like hell right now, but it's built right.
Ended up taking me longer than it should have. I broke a bolt off in the bracket that I made. Had to drill it out, grind off the nut that I had welded to it, then weld a new one on.
Nice, I did the '97 console swap too when I did all that rust repair. Not having it as a daily is fine but that front gap does look fugly for sure. I bought the JCR bracket and bent it and used self tappers to work.
Nice, I did the '97 console swap too when I did all that rust repair. Not having it as a daily is fine but that front gap does look fugly for sure. I bought the JCR bracket and bent it and used self tappers to work.
It's actually not bad since I had already painted the dash black a while back, and painted the console black as well. So between that and the heater duct being black, it's not very noticeable. BUT, I plan on making a sheet metal blank, painting it black and mounting my 3-port power tap to it so it will be really unnoticeable then.
