Changing of the Guard

[ldgregory]

It's a bittersweet day! After nearly 20 years of service and 240K miles, my 2005 Power Wagon that launched this forum is officially retired. Stepping into her shoes is my new (gently used with 14K miles) 2023 Power Wagon. The comparison between these two vehicles is drastic. My 2005 was as basic as basic can get and the 2023 has all the creature comforts.

Instead of trading her in or selling her to a junk yard, my long time best friend SilverWagon05 is going to take her home where she'll get some needed love and attention to rebuild her as a hobby truck with his son.

I can't believe after 240K miles, the only things I had to do to her before now was rebuild the tranny, replace the transfer case position sensor, a parasitic battery drain that has eluded all my efforts to troubleshoot and find, and about $10K in bushings, motor mounts, tie rod ends, shocks etc. She's got some problems now though... AC compressor is toast, the catalytic converter is shot and the oil pump died with the unfortunate downside that I didn't notice immediately so she's got some knocking going on in the motor.

Hands down, she was the best thing ever bought. So many years of happiness spent in the driver seat on so many wheeling adventures.

I can't wait to see what she becomes after spending some time in her new home with SilverWagon05.

[Mule007]

Leif: may your 2023 PW serve you as well as your 2005. Also , special recognition, thanks & grateful appreciation for both the Registry & this forum. Many years, great growth & an incredible collection of shared discussions, info exchange, & experience on all facets of our wagons. Who knew,,,,Well done !

[RustyPW]

Great to hear from you Leif. Time marches on. Your PW had a good life. Hopefully your new one will be just as good as the old one. I'm sure Carlos and his sons will bring it back to life. Be a good father, sons project for them.

I traded mine in for a '22 diesel Gladiator. Mother Nature started to claim mine with rust. Otherwise, I would be buried in it.

How have you been? And Carlos too?

[ldgregory]

Leif: may your 2023 PW serve you as well as your 2005. Also , special recognition, thanks & grateful appreciation for both the Registry & this forum. Many years, great growth & an incredible collection of shared discussions, info exchange, & experience on all facets of our wagons. Who knew,,,,Well done !

Wow! Long time no see man! Life got busy on my side and I just don't have much time to frequent the forums. BUT!!!! Now what I've been out of the game for so long, I absolutely promise to ask the dumb questions like what's the biggest tire I can fit on my 2023 stock alloy wheels without doing a leveling kit and how can I improve my gas mileage and the pros and cons of hanging fuzzy dice from the rear-view mirror.

[ldgregory]

Great to hear from you Leif. Time marches on. Your PW had a good life. Hopefully your new one will be just as good as the old one. I'm sure Carlos and his sons will bring it back to life. Be a good father, sons project for them.

I traded mine in for a '22 diesel Gladiator. Mother Nature started to claim mine with rust. Otherwise, I would be buried in it.

How have you been? And Carlos too?

Another blast from the past! How you been Rusty? You know, it's funny, I think most husbands would jump at the chance when the wife says something like, you really need a new (gun, motorcycle, truck etc.), but I told her no for so many years. Now I can't stop going out into the garage to putz with it or take it out for a quick spin.

Life has been good. Really busy, but good. Youngest daughter is in her third year of college now, wife and I are getting uncomfortably close to retiring. Carlos and family have been doing good too. The oldest about to get married and the youngest kicking ass in college. That kid is gonna be famous one day!

[RustyPW]

Great to hear from you Leif. Time marches on. Your PW had a good life. Hopefully your new one will be just as good as the old one. I'm sure Carlos and his sons will bring it back to life. Be a good father, sons project for them.

I traded mine in for a '22 diesel Gladiator. Mother Nature started to claim mine with rust. Otherwise, I would be buried in it.

How have you been? And Carlos too?

Another blast from the past! How you been Rusty? You know, it's funny, I think most husbands would jump at the chance when the wife says something like, you really need a new (gun, motorcycle, truck etc.), but I told her no for so many years. Now I can't stop going out into the garage to putz with it or take it out for a quick spin.

Life has been good. Really busy, but good. Youngest daughter is in her third year of college now, wife and I are getting uncomfortably close to retiring. Carlos and family have been doing good too. The oldest about to get married and the youngest kicking ass in college. That kid is gonna be famous one day!

I been doing good. Jacqui past away from cancer in 2011. Remarried in 2013. In that process, picked up 3 stepsons. 2 in Co., one in Bloomfield NM. So, we are out west about twice a year now. Daughter got her PhD and is getting married for the second time next weekend. Got 6 grandkids total. Retired early in 2015 at the age of 60. Got bored and went back to work doing different jobs in 2017. When I get tired of one job. I quit and find another one. Health wise. I'm good good.

[ldgregory]

Great to hear from you Leif. Time marches on. Your PW had a good life. Hopefully your new one will be just as good as the old one. I'm sure Carlos and his sons will bring it back to life. Be a good father, sons project for them.

I traded mine in for a '22 diesel Gladiator. Mother Nature started to claim mine with rust. Otherwise, I would be buried in it.

How have you been? And Carlos too?

Another blast from the past! How you been Rusty? You know, it's funny, I think most husbands would jump at the chance when the wife says something like, you really need a new (gun, motorcycle, truck etc.), but I told her no for so many years. Now I can't stop going out into the garage to putz with it or take it out for a quick spin.

Life has been good. Really busy, but good. Youngest daughter is in her third year of college now, wife and I are getting uncomfortably close to retiring. Carlos and family have been doing good too. The oldest about to get married and the youngest kicking ass in college. That kid is gonna be famous one day!

I been doing good. Jacqui past away from cancer in 2011. Remarried in 2013. In that process, picked up 3 stepsons. 2 in Co., one in Bloomfield NM. So, we are out west about twice a year now. Daughter got her PhD and is getting married for the second time next weekend. Got 6 grandkids total. Retired early in 2015 at the age of 60. Got bored and went back to work doing different jobs in 2017. When I get tired of one job. I quit and find another one. Health wise. I'm good good.

Wow my friend!!! I know the feeling about retiring. I don't know if I could fully do it. My thought process right now is to retire, start drawing on my pension and go back to work as a code monkey. No management of anything, no supervision of people, just me, a computer and getting geeky all day long. Maybe even part time and spend the rest of the time fishing and wheeling. One of these days when you make it out to NM again, Me and Carlos could meet up for some drinks and food.

[RustyPW]

The next time I head for my youngest stepson's place in Bloomfield NM. I'll let you know.

[Bill2014]

Leif - It's always exciting to step up to a new Vehicle - Congratulations. I suspect my Powerwagon is gonna outlive me since I only manage to put about 2K miles a year on it - It even still has the original tires after 10 years.

The addition of my Redeye didn't help things - too many toys and not enough time...